Repairs I Made This Past Week

In my last post, I mentioned that people should save leftover paper in the event that they may need to have wallpaper repaired down the road.

This past week, I did just that – and did a darned good job of it, too, if I do say so myself!

The homeowners had had foundation work done, and this caused the usual diagonal cracks above doorways, and twisting / shifting of the paper in corners.

This was a heavy, woven fabric-backed, solid vinyl paper that had been up for quite a few years. For some reason, only very small scraps were left over from the original installation. Nonetheless, “some” is better than “none,” and, with careful plotting and patience, I was able to make the repairs.

Two diagonal rips above the doors were easy to fix, by peeling back and repasting the paper, or by removing damaged pieces and patching in small replacements.

The corners were another story, though. The damaged areas needed to be removed, then retaped and floated with Sheetrock tape and mud, sanded, primed, and repapered.

The kicker was that the length of the repair was 8 feet – the height of the wall. But the scraps of wallpaper that were left from the original installation were less than a foot tall. Once the pattern was matched and the excess discarded, the scraps were even smaller.

So, to repair the 8 foot tall area and match the pattern correctly, I needed to use 13 short pieces of replacement paper. THIRTEEN!

It turned out looking great.

So great, in fact, that the homeowners began looking around the room to find other corners I could fix.

Whoah, I said. We only talked about fixing these two places above the doors, and this one really bad corner. Besides, I have used all the scraps, and there is no paper left over for more repairs.

But they were so delighted with the repair, and so desireous of having one other (less noticeable) corner in the room fixed, that they began digging through all the closets to find if surely there weren’t just a tad more paper somewhere.

And there was! The wife finally uncovered more miniscual scraps… this time, instead of being short scraps the full width of the roll of paper, they were long scraps only about 2″ – 4″ wide. Not much to work with!

But, intrigued by this new challenge, I set about plotting, measuring, matching, splicing, and scheming, and – Voilà! – There just happened to be two pieces with just the right pattern match, that could be spliced together in the corner to make an almost indetectable repair.

The homeowners loved it! And I have to say, even though the bathroom and entry I papered in the home turned out lovely, I am almost more proud of those repairs.

Save Those Leftovers!

When I finish a job, there is always a some wallpaper left over. People often ask if they should keep this extra paper, or just toss it in the trash.

I strongly urge them to keep the paper! You never know when you may have to make a repair.

Lately, I have been doing a lot of repairs. Cats clawing grasscloth. Stains from water leaks. Break in pipes inside the walls so the plumber has to cut into the wall. Foundation shifts causing cracks.

Often repairs can be successful and even unnoticeable. But in virtually every case, new paper will be needed, because it’s usually impossible to use the damaged paper on the wall.

So, find a cool, dry place, and stash that leftover paper in storage – just in case.

Wallpaper and Victoria

The March/April issue of Victoria Magazine has, on page 23, in its “Favorite Things” column, a beautiful photgraph of colorful bolts of fabric and wallpaper.

“Celebrate the splendor of spring in all its colorful glory with oversize floral pattens and sumptuous silks.

“Influenced by 18th century rococo design, “Amalienborg” fabrics in Rouge and Celadon feature larger-than-life painterly flowers enhanced with shapely metallic leaves and stems printed on cotton.

“Gleaming with gold metallic designs and white floral garlands atop shimmering silk, the Garilande Clover fabric captures the artful grandeur of the season.

“Well suited for curtains, loose covers, and upholstery, these three fabrics from Designers Guild also coordinate with matching wallpaper.”