Difficult Day at Work Today

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Today, I papered the walls and ceiling of an under-the-stairs powder room in a new home in the Museum District of Houston. Shantung Silhouette is a beautifully pattern. It is printed on a non-woven substrate, which many wallpaper companies are moving toward. Unfortunately, Schumacher, the manufacturer, chose what has to be the worst possible option for it’s non-woven substrate.

It was extremely thick and stiff, and was a painn to work with, and which made it difficult to press against the ceiling or woodwork which made it hard to get a tight cut. It is unmalleable and could not be maneuvered into position. It dried out too fast, which left insufficient paste at the seams to hold the paper to the wall. It expanded (stretched horizontally on the wall), which non-wovens are not supposed to do, which caused pattern distortion in corners. And all the seams wired at points (“pouched,” or puckered – simply did not lie down flat).

Oh, and let’s not forget the typical problems with Schumacher, which are printing defects. Today, I had smudges on many of the monkeys (see photo). There were also hairs’ breadth areas on the edges of the paper that did not have ink. With a white paper, this would not be all that big of a deal, but with charcoal grey paper, you do definitely notice the areas void of dark ink.

Schumacher used to be a name that meant high-end and high quality. No more.

Tags: houston, museum district, non-woven, powder room, printing defects, schumacher, shantung silhouette, wallpaper