This is my second time to hang this “New Orleans Toile” by Katie Kime in a year. That company has a number of toile patterns that showcase various major cities around the country. These are the kind of patterns that you have to look at “up close and personal” in order to see all the antics going on in the design.
This came as a printed vinyl surface bonded to a non-woven substrate. It was pretty nice to work with. I’m not usually fond of vinyls. But, since the room had numerous corners that were not even approaching being either plumb or straight, the vinyl material ended up being relatively simple to make conform to these variables, and to ease out wrinkles. I was also able to work the edges so that the next strip of wallpaper could butt against them.
Red dot on back of wallpaper substrate.Red dot shows through to front of wallpaper.There were a few blue dots, too. Being tucked among the foliage helps hide the dots.
This is the second time in recent weeks that I’ve had strange red and blue dots show up on the back of my strips of wallpaper. These are not flecks of wood fiber or string that can be picked out of the material.
They are either inherent to the material the substrate is made of. Or they could have come from substances splashing onto the wallpaper during manufacturing.
What’s upsetting is that they are capable of – and have – bled through to show up on the surface of the wallpaper.
Another fear is that ink bleeds and stains … do a Search here on my blog for more posts. In today’s case, I worry that these tiny dots will bleed and leech over time, and grow to larger stains on the surface of the paper.
This wallpaper is by Katie Kime. Their website says that they use “eco-friendly” inks. I hope this is true. Because water-based inks have less chance of bleeding through than do oil- or solvent-based substances.
II hung two test strips today. We’ll see tomorrow if any of these small dots have enlarged.
Splotches in between the tree and the drum, and above and to the right of the paddlewheeler steamship. Smears / blotches right where my pencil is pointing.
These misguided daubs of ink are a result of the printing process. Excess ink probably got stuck to a print roller and dripped onto the wallpaper. These occurred throughout all the bolts of paper. A larger company (Thibaut, York) would not have let this pass.
But, really, once the whole room is papered with this busy and fun pattern, these little flecks of ink are not going to be a big deal.
I did check with the homeowner before hanging, and she OK’d it. I think she made the right decision.
Before. The textured walls have been skim-floated and sanded smooth, and then primed. Welcome to the Jungle!Notice the watercolor-y look of this design. It reminds me of impromptu sketches by artists who work in “plein aire.” “Frida” by Pepper Home
The homeowner was browsing Pepper Home’s website and was instantly smitten by this rather uncommon theme and design. It’s called “Frida.” It sure is fun!
This paper is sold by the yard, was custom-printed, and came in one continuous bolt (54 yards!). It had a selvedge edge that had to be trimmed off by hand (see future posts). The inks are clay-coated, which imparts a rich matt finish, and the substrate is way better than what many other companies are printing on.
I positively loved working with it. The trim marks were spot-on, minimizing a pattern mis-match at the seams. Once pasted and booked, the material became very supple and flexible, and it could be “worked” much better than standard brands. Even better – the seams virtually melted away (became invisible).
I ran silicone caulk along where the wallpaper meets the top of the sink. This will prevent splashed water from pooling on the sink and then wicking itself up into the new wallpaper – which could cause the new wallpaper to curl and peel away from the the wall.
Hard to see in the photo, but there is a tiny, 1/4″ wide gap between the edge of the wallpaper and the window frame. It tapers down to about 1/8″ toward the bottom.
Little things like this eat up a lot of time. I could cut, paste, and hang a whole full-length strip of wallpaper in the time it took me to fill in this teeny narrow area.
And they eat up a lot of paper. Ideally, I would have something on my scrap pile that would work here. But most likely, I would need to use a whole new 8′ strip of paper, to get the 1/4″ wide piece needed.
Moving along the top of this door, and then working to keep the paper straight as it fell along the right side of the door frame, the wallpaper developed a couple of wrinkles.
To eliminate the wrinkles, I eased things up by using a single-edge razor blade to cut along a pattern motif that connected with the corner of the door. See 2nd photo.
Strip is gonna extend 1″ to the left of the door molding. Meaning, I’ll have to add a strip of wallpaper to the left of the door, plus a pesky 1″ strip next to it. Slicing the short strip vertically along the foliage design. Moved the strip 1/2″ to the right, overlapping at the cut area. It’s impossible to tell that the spacing is a tad narrower. I did the same thing to the next strip (on the left). 1/2″ + 1/2″ = 1″ … so I have effectively “shrunk” the paper by 1″ in width.
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Butting up my next strip along the door frame. No need to add a puny 1″ strip.Untrimmed piece (with the blue tape at the top) overlaps by 1/2″ onto the strip to the right of it.
Hanging wallpaper strips over the door, moving to the left … the strip was going to hang over the space by 1.” This would mean that I would have to hang a wide strip of wallpaper, and then fit in a narrow 1″ strip between it and the door frame.
By “narrowing” two short strips over the door, I was able eliminate that skimpy 1″ strip, eliminate a seam, and bring the wider strip to where it butted up right against the door frame.
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