I papered this teen gal’s bedroom about a week ago, so scroll down to read about that project. Note: the pink stripe is where a piece of crown molding was removed, revealing paint color from a previous occupant. Today, we’re talking about those too odd angled boxes jutting into the room at the upper left and right corners. This room bumps out from the main house a few feet, tucked in between two rafters – and the portion of those rafters that come through the house are now wrapped in drywall, and are what you see in the photo.
Wallpaper has been installed on the walls , and the sloped rafter area remains. It’s a little tricky, because, with the many angles, it’s not going to be possible to match the pattern in every corner. I’ll be able to match the pattern to one surface only. After that, all the other corners will have a pattern mis-match. Luckily, this faux marble design is a good one for disguising mis-matches. At first, I planned to match the pattern to the horizontal wall to the left of the corner of the window molding . That was about 12″ high.
But then I realized that the wall on the far left has a much longer surface that meets up with the angled rafter area – about 30.” This would be the more visible place, and the better place to match the pattern. It was more tricky that it sounds, because the pattern was going diagonally across the strip of wallpaper. I had to mark carefully where the swirls on the wall would meet the swirls on the rafter box. Then I trimmed the paper along my marks with a razor blade and straightedge. Because this drywall box angles upward, it required three pieces of wallpaper to cover it. Difficult to explain.
Here’s another picture of it done. Even though it really matches only on the far left angle / corner, it looks pretty darned good on the other corners, too.
Here is the twin rafter box on the right side of the room.
This pearl and white design is called Mindy Marble and is by Designer Wallpapers . It’s a traditional paper, and is nice to work with and good quality . The home is in the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston .
The textured wall has been smoothed, primed, and is now ready for wallpaper. Previously, this wall had a Laura Ashley small print floral wallpaper . After 20 years, it was time for a freshen-up. The homeowners are from the U.K. , and like the classic British décor styles , and also color and pattern . No minimalist all-white rooms in this house!
Done!
I didn’t want to center a column of these robust flowers down the middle of the wall between the windows / behind the bed . Just didn’t think it would look right. Also, if one column was down the center, then the flanking columns would have been pushed to the right and left, and we would have ended up with flowers being cut off by the windows. Instead, this way, we have two full columns of flowers . Plus some equally balanced butterflies on either side. The pattern falls nicely on top of the windows, too. All this, you have to plot out and engineer before even cutting or hanging any wallpaper .
The design has a background that resembles loosely woven fabric . Coincidentally enough, before the kids fled the nest , just across the hall, I hung a wallpaper with all butterflies in the daughter’s bedroom .
This pattern is called Bloomsbury and is by Graham & Brown , which is, coincidentally, a U.K.-based company. I like their papers a lot. They offer a wide range of designs, and have been branching out into some fun and funky stuff, as well as murals. Their goods are non-woven , paste the wall material . On a simple accent wall (not one with windows ) this is pretty DIY-friendly. G&B wallpaper is not stiff like some N-W, and is pliable and flexible , which is quite welcome as an installer trying to work around windows and other fixtures in a room ( sinks , toilets ) . The home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks / Heights neighborhood of Houston .
Plumbers run caulk along the top of the sink where it hits the wall , to make a neat looking edge , and to prevent splashed water from dripping behind the sink and down the wall. But wallpaper won’t stick to caulk (it’s glossy). So, while I was priming the wall, I also brushed some of my wallpaper primer onto the caulk. My primer will stick to just about anything – as long as it doesn’t come under stress. But my primer, as you see on the left, has a light blue tint. The new wallpaper is a kind of murky blue / mud brown color , and that stripe of light blue was going to look out of place. So I used a small, angled artist’s brush and some craft paint from the hobby store to apply a more suitable color over the caulk.
Now, over time, these surfaces may still delaminate (come apart). Also, with no backsplash to prevent water from hitting the wallpaper, splashed water could pool up along the edge of the sink and wick up under the wallpaper. Then you will, for sure, get curling and peeling up. The solution is to run a bead of clear caulk along this joint, covering the brown paint and sealing the cut bottom edge of the wallpaper. Now the paint can’t come off, and the wallpaper can’t curl up! Sorry, no pic of the caulk. I use a tube that can be squeezed by hand, although painters often use the larger round tubes that fit into a caulk gun . Many clear caulks will yellow in just a short time, so I’ve found one that I believe will stay clear and clean looking. I get it at Home Depot or at Southland Hardware in Montrose ( Houston ).
Design is Majestic Palm and mfgr is Milton & King . Good quality non-woven / paste the wall material.
Beautiful room, but time for an update. The homeowner wants something more nature-themed, to go with the view outside the window. Usually, I insist on stripping off existing wallpaper. But this particular paper posed challenges. It’s what we call a British pulp material … thin , porous , delicate , no protective coating , and, depending on how the previous installer prepped the walls , it can bond very tightly to the wall . Often, this type of paper comes off in small (1″) pieces, and can take hours and hours just to strip. And, trying to force such a material off the wall, no matter how careful and gentle you are, can leave little bits of the pulp backing stuck to the wall, or cause gouges and delaminating and damage to the wall itself. So, this one rare time, I opted to leave the original paper in place, and to hang the new paper over it. Note that you don’t “just” slap the new stuff over the old. The surface has to be prepared properly . The seams need to be smoothed over, and a primer needs to be applied. More on that in a later post.
In this post, we’re discussing stains bleeding through the existing wallpaper . If you look carefully at this photo, you can see blotchy areas . I believe the previous installer used a clay-based paste . Clay has a reddish-tan color, and has been known to work its way through all sorts of paper, particularly thin simple wallpapers like this one, but also grasscloth and other materials. Problem is, if the staining bleeds through this existing layer, it’s going to bleed through a new layer of paper, too. And a coat of wallpaper primer won’t stop it.
This room also had a few other stains , like this red mark. I don’t know what it is, but anything containing ink or oil or marker will bleed through wallpaper, too. For the record, other things that can bleed through and / or stain wallpaper include tobacco smoke , tar , water stains , rust , blood , wax , crayon , and grease from food .
There are stain blockers out there that will seal these things off. But if possible, I like to actually remove the spot entirely. Here I’ve used my putty knife to dig under the top, printed layer of wallpaper, and pull that red stain off and be done with it for good.
To seal off the blotchy areas, here comes what we call a stain blocker . There are two that I like. This one is called BIN and is by Zinsser . It’s a shellac -based coating. It’s thin and soaks into the surface just a bit, giving a firm bond. Also makes it messy to apply, as it is prone to dripping and splattering . One thing that helps with that is a micro-fiber roller cover , as you see in the photo. BIN has a bit of a strong odor, but it’s fresh sort of smell, and it’s not toxic . Might make your eyes water, but you won’t get high. The other product I like for this is KILZ Original oil-based primer. Fantastic stuff. Also thin and splattery, but not quite as thin as BIN. KILZ will make you high, though. So I use a chemical respirator to prevent inhaling the fumes. And ventilate the room well, of course. Both of these products are designed to block off stains and prevent bleed through. Another benefit of shellac and oil based coatings is that they will seal off the porosity of paper wallpapers . Because they are not water-based, water will not penetrate through them. So you can skim-float the wall, or hang your wallpaper and the moisture from the joint compound or the paste won’t penetrate through the primer into the surface below. Or, when stripping old wallpaper off a wall that’s been primed with BIN or KILZ , you can get the wall as wet as you want and water will soak through only the wallpaper you’re trying to remove, but not through the primer, so the wall itself stays intact. Great stuff. Only thing is, wallpaper paste won’t adhere to oil-based primers, and probably not to shellac, either. So you’ll need to follow up with a primer made for wallpaper. More on that in a different post.
Rolling on the BIN stain blocker . The edges around window molding , ceiling , baseboards , and corners will be cut in with a bristle brush .
This gallon can was dented on the bottom and wouldn’t stand up straight , so was marked down at my neighborhood store ( Southland Hardware ). One I saw at Home Depot today was $86. I’ll also toss in that the microfiber roller cover cost $7 and the chip brush was $1.50. The primer is too complicated to wash out, so both those get discarded . And we’re still not done with prep, because we’ve got to follow up with smoothing compound ($12), a wallpaper primer ($80), oh, and the wallpaper paste ($85). Well, didn’t mean to change the focus to job costs, but it does help to keep in mind the various factors that go into getting wallpaper up onto the wall.
This home in the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston was built in 1935. Drywall didn’t come into popular use until the 1940’s. So the walls of this house surely started out as plaster over lath. As the years move along and people update their homes, quite often drywall is added. The best way, IMO, to add drywall, is to pull off the wooden door and window moldings. Then hang the wallboard. Then replace the moldings (or install all new moldings). Since most drywall comes 1/2″ thick, the drywall over the lath now makes the walls thicker. That means that the moldings don’t always fit back in their original place, so some carpentry might be involved, too. All this is, of course, quite involved, takes a lot of time, makes a lot of mess, and costs money, too. So drywall companies invented 1/4″ thick material, that can be installed over plaster walls without having to remove the wooden trim. (1/4″ drywall has other uses, too.) Only thing is, when you add 1/4″ of wallboard next to door or window trim, which is usually about 1/2″ thick, you’re losing half of the depth of the trim. That’s what you’re seeing in this photo … the drywall “eating up” much of the molding.
Half the depth of the window trim has disappeared. To me, it looks a little odd, because your eye is accustomed to seeing the traditional depth of molding. Sometimes there’s also a visible gap between the wallboard and the trim. Or, a gap can develop over time as buildings shift. Here the gap has been filled in nicely with caulk, which is holding up well.
Now we’re looking at the baseboard. Again, the drywall has gobbled up 1/4″ of the depth / thickness of the molding. I’m not sure what’s going on with that wrinkled edge, but this entire east wall had similar along the baseboard. Maybe weather conditions, house shifting on the foundation – who knows?
What it has to do with me is, this doesn’t leave much of a surface for the new wallpaper to grab ahold of and cling to. Also, that craggly edge was really hard and I was unable to cut or chip it off. So was stuck with it, and hoping the wallpaper would stick and would look alright. Luckily, down there on the floor, it’s not too noticeable.
These days, a lot of people enjoy the all-white-and-grey-minimalist decorating style. Not this young family! Since moving in five years ago, they’ve always wanted to liven things up. But “must-do’s” took precedence. Now, finally, the time is right to add some life and color and whimsy.
Most of the time, homeowners want simple texture and color on the backs of bookshelves . These guys went bolder! The dark color and dancing critters pull your eyes and draw you in. I really like the way it looks. Tomorrow, the dad will replace the shelves and the books and decorative items will go back on them. Yes, when those things are in place, the look will be a little busy. But it will be loaded with fun!
Dominant pine tree centered down the middle, and nicely balanced on either side. What do we have here? … cheetah , peacock , deer , shorebird , flowers , fruit , foliage , and trees .
No wonder the pattern is called Menagerie .
Brand is Rifle Paper and manufactured by York. This is a non-woven , paste the wall or paste the paper product . It went up very nicely. Many times when I’ve hung Rifle Paper NW’s, the material was thick and puffy , and it creased easily . There were even creases deep inside the bolt , caused at the factory, that made as much as 6′ of wallpaper unusable. So I was really happy to work with this today, and not have any of those negative issues. Maybe York heard our (polite) complaints, and changed their substrate. I sure hope this is the material I’ll be working with on future installations . The home is in the West University / West U area of Houston .
“Older teen?” Well, she’s driving and managing her own money. So time to let go of the pink hearts and fairytale themes from younger years. Note: The pink stripe was where a piece of crown molding had been, somewhat awkwardly placed mid-way between the angled portion of ceiling (under the roof slope ) and the wall. The gal’s mom had it removed, and that revealed pink paint from a previous occupant of the room. (I also saw remnants of deep red and navy blue paint , in addition to the more recent white.) In the photo above, I have not yet prepped the room. The textured walls needed to be skim-floated / skim-coated and then sanded smooth . Then wiped free of dust , and then primed . All that took me two full days.Here’s that wall done. Entry wall and east wall before. The room has a number of white stone and marble accents – shelving , stool, bath fixtures – so this marble -themed wallpaper fits right in. Entry wall and closet wall before. A subdued and soothing pattern and colorway . Sleek and stylish .
Close-up of the sloped area under the roof line. Note that you don’t wrap a strip of wallpaper up from the floor, across the wall, and then onto the slanted area. Walls, angles, joins, drywall, yada, are never perfectly straight or level or plumb , so trying to wrap a continuous piece will result in the pattern going off-kilter , warps , wrinkles , air pockets , gaps + overlaps at seams , and more. So you slice the strip horizontally at the angle , leaving about 1/8″ wrapping onto the new surface. And then apply the severed section as a separate piece, overlapping the 1/8″. Actually, the way I do it, I hate that you loose 1/8″ of the pattern, which leaves you with a bit of a pattern mis-match . So I’ll take a whole new fresh piece, match the pattern precisely, and then put it into position. This whole process is a lot more complicated than I’m making it sound. And it eats up a little extra paper. But the continuous pattern looks much nicer, and there are no air pockets or void areas. Still, walls are wonky , and you have to be accepting of imperfections here and there.
This is a faux marble look design , in a white / cream / pearl colorway with a bit of iridescent sheen .
The pattern is called Mindy Marble and is by Designer Wallpapers . It’s a standard paste the paper material and was nice to work with. It’s thin and will hug the wall tightly. It’s not real stain-resistant, but the resident is beyond the peanut butter fingers stage, so I expect this will stay clean and shimmery for years. The pattern will be suitable well into adulthood.
Here I am, hanging wallpaper in this teen gal’s bedroom. Working from right to left, over the door and down the left side. The paper is 20″ wide. 12″ of that width is in the short area above the door. That leaves an 8″ width to work its way down the side of the door molding . The next strip moving to the left will need to be butted up against this 8″ wide strip. Problem is, 8″ isn’t very wide, and with a strip of wallpaper wet with paste and flexible, there’s a good chance that narrow strip won’t have enough stability to fall perfectly straight as it goes down the wall. So I may need to tweak it, in order for it to be straight on its left edge. That’s why I haven’t trimmed off the excess that’s lapping over the door molding. That’s that little bit of shadow you see on the left side of the door molding . I also have not smoothed or pressed the bottom 3/4 of the strip tightly to the wall. We call that leaving the strip open . That way, I can come back later and make adjustments if needed. Note that the top section has been smoothed into place and trimmed along the crown molding and the top of the door molding.
So what I’m going to do is hang the next strip. I’m butting it up against the top portion of the previous strip. Since this strip is a full 20″ wide, it has more stability. When I unbook / unfold it, it will fall pretty straight, with both the right and left sides being straight. I do make sure to use my level to make sure it’s falling true-to-plumb. Now I can work a bit in reverse, and butt up the narrow 8″ wide strip on the right, against the new, full-width strip I just hung. In some areas, I need to smoodge it to the right, and in other areas to the left , so it will butt up and give a tight seam . In the top 1/3 of the photo, both strips have been butted and smoothed into place, and the narrow strip has been trimmed where it meets the door molding.
Moving down the wall, now both strips are butted , smoothed , and trimmed all the way down the wall and along the door .
Here’s what the overall pattern looks like. A sort of faux marble in white and pearl . By Designer Wallpapers , a good brand and material .
A smart way to know if you really will love a wallpaper pattern is to invest a couple of bucks and order a sample , preferably of a decent size, like this one. Then tape or tack it to the wall in the actual room you want to decorate , and live with it for a few days.
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