Headboard wall before. Wall texture was skim-floated and sanded smooth , then sealed and primed with Gardz .
Done. Bokeh refers to the out-of-focus areas of a photograph . The colorway is called Pastel Candy . Pattern name is Bokeh .
The brand is Spoonflower . They make three types of wallpaper , but I don’t like (and won’t work with) their Traditional Pebble heavy vinyl , nor their Peel & Stick . I do, though, greatly like their Pre-Pasted Removeable Smooth material, which is what we have here. Note that the seams are meant to be overlapped , which does leave a slight ridge down the length of each seam . Look closely to right of center in this photo and you’ll see what I mean. With busy patterns, this is not very noticeable . And it does make for a stronger seam , and prevents gaps at the seams , which can occur when the paste dries and the wallpaper shrinks a bit . Overlapping also reduces tension on the wall along the seam area .
For fun, here’s the bedding and a play house that are also in the room – the colors all coordinate nicely with the wallpaper!
Accent wall before. Wall texture was skim-floated and sanded smooth , then sealed and primed with Gardz .
Here it is with wallpaper !Larger shot.
From a distance, the ceiling line is probably the most noticeable feature of this wall. Because the ceiling isn’t level , I knew that if I hung my wallpaper true to plumb (along a plumb line ), the checks would start tracking up or down ( going crooked ) as they moved across the wall, and wouldn’t run straight below the ceiling . So I decided to railroad the wallpaper. This means that instead of hanging the strips vertically as is usually done, I hung it horizontally . This made for long strips – more than 16′ I wanted the solid blue line along the ceiling, so I used a razor blade and straightedge to trim off the line of white half-squares that was along the edge of the paper. In the photo above, if you look at the bottom of the strip that’s on the wall, you can see what I’m talking about.
A 16′ long strip of wallpaper , that’s wet with paste , is awkward and heavy for a sole lil’ gal like me to work with. One trick is , instead of booking the paper in two sections as usual (do a Search here to learn more), I fold the pasted material in accordion pleats, as you see above.
Then when you’re unbooking the paper, you’re manipulating shorter lengths at a time. Working between two ladders as in the 4th photo helps, too, because I can step from one ladder to the next without taking my hands off the paper. Also note that I’ve used a push pin to hold the paper to the wall when I need to climb down and move the ladder s .
Close-up.Closer-up.
This material had a non-woven backing , and could be hung by the paste the wall installation method . But I usually prefer to paste the paper . This had a vinyl surface, which I’m not crazy about, but overall, it was a nice paper.
The pattern is called Picnic and is by Hovia , a European company. The home is a new build and is in the Garden Oaks / Oak Forest area of Houston .
The homeowner has used blue painter’s tape to stick a sample of blue gingham checked wallpaper onto the accent wall of this baby boy ‘s nursery .
Uh-oh! Removing the sample and the tape has pulled bits of paint away from the wall .
Here you can see where the paint has pulled away . This is a new home, so there’s no other paint underneath there. So the grey is either primer or the bare drywall / Sheetrock .
Or dust. It’s possible / likely that construction dust was not wiped off the walls before the primer and paint were applied .
Nothing sticks to dust . So just the tug of ” removeable ” painter’s tape is enough to cause the top coat / paint to come off the wall .
Across the hall, another wallpaper sample taped to the wall in the toddler girl ‘s bedroom .
Same issue here.
Why is this important? If these various layers of coatings don’t adhere well to each other, you have an unstable wall surface , and the potential for delaminating surfaces – which means, the surfaces can come apart. Not a big deal with paint. Paint dries and just sits on top of the wall. But wallpaper is different. Because most wallpapers shrink as the paste dries , and that shrinking can put tension / torque on the seams , and that tension can be enough to pull the unstable paint beneath it apart – resulting in a split or popped seam . These are difficult to repair / re-adhere , because there can be many layers and thicknesses involved , and wallpaper adhesive won’t re-stick paint back to the wall . Even with a good wallpaper primer on top of the paint , which is designed to withstand the tension of drying paper , it’s not strong enough to hold up against a dusty or chalky wall . If this is an issue on your project, some options are to use a bridging wall liner paper on the wall before you apply the wallpaper . Some papers put less tension on the wall as they dry, because they are dimensionally-stable , meaning that they don’t expand or shrink . These are the non-woven or paste the wall materials . Also, some brands that are designed to be overlapped at the seams prevent this problem, because there is no open seam tugging at the wall. Similarly, some installers run special tape, like cash register tape or seam tape from the Wallpaper Tool Store (on-line company) under where the seam will fall . This disperses tension and helps prevent the paint underneath from coming loose . There are some penetrating wall sealers, like Gardz , that can soak in and dry hard and hopefully pull all loose areas together. But it can only penetrate through porous surfaces, and only so deep. And it won’t go through glossy surfaces . That brings us to … stripping all that top coat of paint off the wall, and then chipping off any and all loose stuff underneath. Stablilizing the sub-surface (as with Gardz ) , skim-floating the wall to smooth it, and then applying the appropriate primers. Whew! Or, if the flaking is not too severe, you can always take your chances with priming, and then applying your new paint or wallpaper on top, and hoping for the best. Which is how it usually works out.
The wall where the crib will sit, before. The paler color on the wall is the original. The homeowner had the other three walls painted a slightly more taupe-y color, to coordinate with the colors in the wallpaper, as you can see on the walls on either side. I’m getting ready to apply my wallpaper primer.
Here it is finished . Unlike most faux grasscloth options, this one did not have a pattern to be matched from strip to strip. That’s why you see the break in pattern at each seam. Actually, this isn’t really a bad thing, as it more closely mimics the look of real grasscloth – without the disappointing differences in color / shading / paneling . Search here to learn more.
Here’s the primer I like to use, when going over paint , be it matt or gloss . Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime . Lots of reasons to use this primer, or at least a primer that is made for use under wallpaper. Don’t hang wallpaper on top of plain old paint, or latex anything. Search here to learn more.
Using my laser level to shoot a red line on the wall.
Here’s my first strip, positioned against the level beam .
I’m using a Bosch that was purchased from Lowe’s .
Here’s a close-up to show you the texture . Actually, the surface is not really textured – it just looks like it is. For the design , manufacturers use photographs of real grasscloth and print that onto their wallpaper .
As mentioned, the pattern could not be matched , so this is what the seams look like. Also, the material is intended to be overlapped at the seams by 1/2″. So there is a slight ridge running the height of each seam. Not very noticeable. Some advantages to overlapping are that you don’t have to worry about the material shrinking as the paste dries and then gapping at the seams. Also, the overlapped surfaces disperse tension as the paper dries, and there’s no gap between them, so, in the (rare) event of an unstable surface underneath, less worries about those surfaces pulling apart / delaminating and causing the paper or seams to come away from the wall. Search here to learn more.
The pattern is called Seagrass and is from Pottery Barn . Williams Sonoma is the mother company. Yes, a kitchen outfit selling wallpaper !
Instead of traditional rolls / bolts , this material came in panels , each one being 25″ wide x 108″ high. After overlapping at the seams, each panel was a bit narrower … 2′ wide x 9′ long. It’s a pre-pasted product, and only needs water to activate the adhesive. I do add extra paste, though. From the website information, I assumed this was going to be like papers from Anthropologie , which are thin and flexible and usually made by Sure Strip which is made by York , and I like their material a lot. Instead, this stuff was pretty darned thick – thicker than card stock – and had a heavy vinyl coating . It took me a while to figure out that it’s actually a non-woven material . Being non-woven and dimensionally-stable (not supposed to shrink as it dries ), I do think it would have been OK to butt the seams instead of overlap. But I’ve never worked with this brand before, and didn’t have a track record of how it would perform, so I opted to follow the mfgr’s instructions to overlap the seams . This worked just fine on this accent wall. But I did find it pretty darned thick , which would have made it difficult to install in a room with turns and objects to trim around , such as a bathroom or a room with windows and doors. Non-woven papers will strip off the wall easily and in one piece, with no damage to the wall , when you redecorate . The home is in the Bellaire area of Houston . Baby boy is due in just a few weeks!
Sorry for the blue photo – don’t know what’s up with that. I’m usually pretty picky about hanging wallpaper on smooth walls , because texture can show through and look bad, and because it can interfere with good adhesion . But in this case, the texture was very light . Also, the faux grasscloth wallpaper is thick and has a textured surface . After discussing with the homeowners, and to save them sanding dust from the smoothing process , as well as an additional day’s labor cost , we agreed it would work fine to hang on the wall as-is. Another advantage is that, in case they ever want to remove the paper from this accent wall , the wall will have the same texture as the other three walls in the room .
See? You certainly can’t see any texture showing under the wallpaper . This is called Seagrass and is from Pottery Barn .
Here is the entry wall before wallpaper , as viewed from the family room .
Close-up
The manufacturer is Spoonflower . They offer their wallpaper s in three substrates. I don’t care for their Traditional Pebble vinyl , and, like most other professional installer s, I won’t work with the Peel & Stick / Self-Adhesive option. But this is their Pre-Pasted Smooth , and I do like it a lot. One thing that’s different from other brands is that it’s meant to be overlapped at the seams and not butted . This does leave a vertical ridge running the length of the seam . Depending on where you’re standing, where the light is coming from, and how busy the pattern is, you many not even notice this. Overlapping does have advantages, too, because it eliminates the worry of wallpaper shrinking as the paste dries and then leaving small gaps at the seams. It also minimizes stress put on the wall surface from that same drying and tugging paper. This is the same house in the Energy Corridor area of west Houston as my previous post about the dog pattern in the home laundry room . The two rooms are somewhat within view of each other, and the homeowner did a wonderful job of coordinating the colors between both areas.
As noted in the previous post, the homeowner and I discussed, and we loved the idea of adding the wallpaper pattern in between these four windows on this dining room accent wall . See the three skinny strips on my work table .
I cut strips from the sections from the centers of that panels that were not used, because of cutting around the windows . Allowing for placement of seams and other factors, I tried to keep the pattern contiguous and matching from top of the strip to the bottom. Turns out that didn’t really matter much, because the flowers changed so quickly that there really was no continuation , especially once that white strip of molding / window trim was in between.
Because this non-woven / paste the wall wallpaper material doesn’t expand when it gets wet with paste, I was able to take accurate measurements and then use my straightedge (not pictured) and a razor blade to trim my strips to fit the narrow spaces perfectly . Interestingly, over 35″ height , the width of the strips varied from top to bottom by as much as 1/2″.
Here it is finished. The wall has so much more punch and definition now. See previous posts. Note: After I stood back and looked from where this photo was taken, I realized that the two outer strips had ended up with almost exactly the same floral pattern. See that yellow sunflower? This wouldn’t do! I took some scraps and cut a new strip that had a fresh design , for that third space on the right (no photo). As mentioned above, since the flowers were so wild and loose, it really didn’t matter that the design wasn’t exactly true to how it was printed on the mural panels .
The pattern is called Floribunda , and is by House of Hackney . I do like their designs and their quality a lot. See previous posts for more information.
Re yesterday’s post, here is the finished dining room accent wall with the floral mural . It looks really nice. But I thought it would have more punch, and carry through the floral theme better, if the pattern also appeared in between the windows .
The homeowner agreed immediately, and so here is how it turned out. Now, instead of seeing a bank of white windows , you see a field of colorful flowers , and they’re framing a view of nature outside (which can be seen when there’s daylight ). The narrow strips of wallpaper also define the windows and accentuate the pretty molding / trim .
The pattern is called Floribunda . It comes in a 4-panel set .
The brand is House of Hackney . I like their papers, which are non-woven / paste the wall material . Do a Search here to learn more about the advantages of these NW products.
Textured wall has been skim-floated , sanded smooth , primed , and is now ready for wallpaper . The homeowner has been planning this project for a couple of years, considering patterns , scouting out alternatives , factoring in schedule and budget . Finally went with her heart and opted for her first choice …
Rather than regular wallpaper with a repeating pattern , this is a mural , which has one pictorial design spread over four panels . What’s super cool about this one is the way the flowers taper off at the top, just as they would in a real field in the country. They fill the space so perfectly above the bank of windows . And the flowers look so nice with greenery right outside the windows . It took three 4-panel sets to fit the width of this wall.
The panels are printed in one continuous strip , so you have to cut them apart.
Here’s a diagram from the manufacturer , telling you how to cut the panels apart. They also suggest rolling the strips backward. This is a helpful tip. This reduces / eliminates the memory of the paper wanting to stay rolled up tightly, and makes it easier to work with. Also, since this is a paste-the-wall material, if you’re going to install using that method, having the goods rolled with the back side facing out, keeps paste on the wall from getting onto the face of the paper as you take it to the wall and work into position. This is also when you’ll double check and fiddle with the dimensions of the mural and wall. This mural was printed nearly 10′ tall, but our wallspace was only about 8′ tall. That means I had to decide how much to cut off, and whether from top or bottom – or a little from both. In this case, since we wanted those thinning flower tops at the highest point of the wall, I took off the excess 2′ from the bottom of the panels. The homeowner might use those scraps for lining drawers or cabinets, or for framing as artwork to use in other parts of the room. I really like the idea of pulling the design and colors onto blank white walls on other sides of the room.
More cutting the strips / panels apart. The four panels are printed head-to-head and toe-to-toe, so you’ll want to get them apart and then make sure that they are all coming off the roll in the way you want (head first or foot first). The design looks like it was hand-drawn by an artist using pastel chalk .
Here is my first set of four panels cut apart and rolled backward to reduce the curl . I hold them in place with elastic hairbands from the “health and beauty” section of the dollar store . Getting ready to do the same with the second set of four panels .
The pattern is called Floribunda . The photo shows one set of four panels .
The brand is House of Hackney , and I like this outfit a lot. The homeowner gets a whole lot of things from Anthropologie , and on-line site, so this may well have been purchased there, too. It’s a durable, stain-resistant non-woven material, which is relatively easy to hang, and which will strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate , with no damage to the wall. It can be hung by pasting the wall, but I usually prefer to paste the paper . The home is in the Heights neighborhood of Houston .
The room has lots of pink accents , so the pink and orange in the wallpaper coordinate nicely .
The pattern is called Garden Party and is by the very popular Rifle Paper (made by York , one of my favorite brands).
The flowers just look like they’re smiling! Other brands have tried to knock-off this design, but nobody gets the flowers right like Rifle Paper!
Many Rifle Paper wallpaper s are on a non-woven / paste the wall substrate . But once in a while you get one like this, on a traditional paper material. Different installation techniques, but both are good papers. This was purchased below retail price from Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village . She’s super at helping you track down your perfect pattern . Call first as her hours vary. (713) 529-6515 The home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks area of Houston .
The Wallpaper Lady's Blog 