Arrrgh. Another boring all-white room. So much warmth and character – with a modern edge – added by wallpaper on just this one wall . I do think that this pattern on all four walls would have been a bit ‘enclosed’ feeling. So a single accent wall – which is visible from the entry – is the perfect choice.There is a definite Art Deco / 1930’s vibe to this pattern .The room has other gold features (plant stands, mirrors), so the metallic look of this pattern pulls all that together . The metallic areas are shiny , so it’s important that I spent the first day here smoothing the textured walls , because that texture would show under the new paper and look bad. This paper arrives nicely rolled up , with no creases in the inner part of the roll / bolt , and every inch was useable . Compare this to the problems and wasted material I’ve had with Rifle Paper recently – do a Search to read previous posts . The pattern is called Beau Gatsby and is by Graham & Brown , a company I like a lot. This is a non-woven material and is designed to strip off the wall easily and with no damage when you redecorate. Many of their NW papers are soft and flexible , but this one was rather crisp and stiff , which is a little more difficult to work with. I usually prefer to paste the paper , which makes it more supple . But today I decided to paste the wall , which is a fast and clean way to install wallpaper. The home is in the Timbergrove area of the Heights neighborhood in Houston .
This small hallway in a 1936 bungalow in the Eastwood neighborhood of Houston was very dark , with just this hanging light fixture . It’s gorgeous … Art Deco style , and probably original to the home. But just not putting off enough light for me to install wallpaper . So here’s my easy solution . The metal fixture has an open hook type area that will hold my extension cord . But if not, I have dollar store hair bands (beauty dept) that I can rig up there to hold the cord. The plug-in socket s are available at Home Depot or the like for about two bucks. You can also plug them into a wall outlet .
Originally, the whole room was this not-quite-milk-chocolate brown. Dark can look good in a small room like a powder room. But stark dark with no pattern is often claustrophobic. Since this is a 100-year old bungalow with many layers of paint and potentially incompatible wall coatings, I was worried about unstable conditions inside the wall. Long story short, these conditions can lead to stress on the wall and delaminating layers, which also mean wallpaper seams that don’t stay down. Do a Search here to learn more. So the homeowners agreed to have the walls lined, as a way to avoid these potential problems. Read previous post for more info. The photo above shows the walls covered in the white liner. Finished!William Morris’s designs, and Strawberry Thief in particular, have been very popular the last two years or so. His patterns are studies in symmetry and rhythm , and evoke the era of Art Nouveau and even Art Deco . Last corner magically ended up with virtually no mis-match. Morris & Co is the manufacturer. This is a nice, supple, non-woven material, and can be hung by pasting the wall , although I prefer to paste the paper. It has a vinyl coating and will be fairly washable – good for this family with a toddler. It’s also designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate. See previous post for a pic of the label of the liner paper.
A lot of my clients are choosing designs that harken back to the turn of the (last) century, particularly by William Morris. A lot of those are made by higher-end companies, and the material can be hard to work with. So I was thrilled when my favorite wallpaper sales person, Dorota, showed me these new books at her Sherwin-Williams store in the Rice Village. British Heritage is by Wallquest , a brand I like a lot. Below are room-set photos from those books.This is the very popular Strawberry Thief by William Morris. I’ve hung it before, and have it coming up again soon in the Heights ( Houston ). Arts & Crafts designs are very rhythmic and stylized. Some, like this, have a lot of color and impact.Others, with muted or tone-on-tone color pallets, are more subdued.Revival is another wallpaper selection book with designs of the same theme. A Street Prints is by Brewster, another great company. Most A Street Prints are on a non-woven , paste-the-wall substrate, which makes them quite user-friendly and affordable. CFA Voysey was a designer of the same period. I would say he was far ahead of his time, with some patterns reminiscent of MC Escher, and others bordering on … well, sort of psychedelic. Very progressive for the 1880’s! He continued to design through the Art Nouveau ( 1920’s ) and Art Deco ( 1930’s ) periods. I have his Bat & Poppy in my powder room. Search here to see photos. The fluidity here speaks of the Art Nouveau style. Alphonse Mucha was a European artist known for his elaborate theater and advertising posters in this style. I was lucky enough to have seen a fabulous exhibit at the Taft Museum when I was in Cincinnati for a Wallcovering Installers Association annual convention.
Not all Sherwin-Williams stores have wallpaper books, so call before you head over. Dorota isat the 2525 University store. This store has more wallpaper books than any other in Houston. Her hours vary, and someone may have checked the books out, so call before you head over. (713) 529-6515
I hung this gold-on-grey Art Deco inspired wallpaper in a powder room in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston a few months ago. I was back to paper another room, and couldn’t resist taking a shot of the completed room. The house is from the late 1800’s, and – cool fun fact – the mirror was found under the house and is believed to be original to the home.
The interior decorator is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design.
I just got back from a week upping my skill-set at the Wallcovering Installers Association’s annual convention, this year held in Cincinnati. We stayed downtown at the Hilton Netherland hotel.
The hotel opened in 1931, and was built in the Art Deco style. This place is an amazing testament to the glory of that fantastic, fanciful design style! … And everything is intact (not torn down, like they do in Houston to any building over 30 years old).
Enjoy the photos!
The last photo is not Art Deco – it’s a picture of the roof of the building, showing large tubs of potted flowers, surrounded by beehives. The large outbuilding on the right bears a painted sign, something like “Bee House.”
This mid-1930’s home on the eastern edge of the River Oaks neighborhood of Houston has a lot of cool Art Deco features. For the powder room, the homeowners chose this intertwined diamond-and-bird pattern. I think it suits the home perfectly, and it looks great with the marble wainscoting (sorry, no pic! 😦 )
This wallpaper pattern is in the Antonia Vella line by York, and was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
The July 2019 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine has this page, highlighting a return to the Art Deco style in decorating. They show four different patterns that reflect this, and list the manufacturers.
A few words of aviso … Just because you see it in a magazine or read it on-line, doesn’t necessarily make it a good thing.
The first paper on the left is by Chasing Paper. This company makes the deceptively-described “removable wallpaper,” a new trend that is unfortunately luring many homeowners down the wish-I-had-never-heard-of-it path.
This “peel and stick” material is extremely difficult to work with. I mean, it’s hard enough to get Contact Paper smoothly onto your kitchen cabinet shelves … Imagine trying to wrestle a strip 2′ wide by 9′ long onto a wall, around a window, behind a toilet, and trim it around a pedestal sink. It is also not “removable.” … Oh, it will come off, all right. But it will take chunks of your paint and maybe drywall along with it.
One of my colleagues recently posted on our private Wallcovering Installers Association Facebook page of his experience with this particular brand, and he was very unhappy. I won’t hang peel & stick, and most of my friends won’t, either.
On to the next pattern above, the blue and white half-circle blocks. This is by Hygge & West. H & W has adorable patterns. But, bless their hearts, they have not put research into substrates, inks, compatibility, etc. My experience with their papers is that the ink swells when it gets wet with paste and then curls back, resulting in a tiny “pouch” in every spot where the ink crosses a seam. Do a search here to see my previous posts on that brand and their seams.
So many companies make lovely paper. I wish that H & W would network with them and find a better paper and ink combination for their products.
The last pattern in the photo is by Tempaper. Another company making peel & stick stuff … Enough said.
Back to the photo … the purple fan design in the middle of the page. Finally a hit! This is made by Bradbury & Bradbury, a company that specializes in vintage designs, especially Victorian and Art Nouveau. They have a wide variety of other styles, too, and are branching out even more in recent years, to include ’20’s, Atomic Age, and other eras.
This pattern reminds me of the marques and fanfare around movie theaters in the Art Deco period of the 1930’s. So it’s fitting to use in a large living room / TV room in this townhouse in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston.
Since the area where the pattern hits the edges of the paper is dark, and the paper is printed on a white substrate, I used dark chalk pastels to color the edges, to prevent white from showing at the seams.
The paper is by A Street Prints, and is a non-woven material, and I hung it using the paste-the-wall method.
The homeowners have a lot of artwork in the form of colorful glass plates and other pieces, and this pattern will be a fabulous backdrop.
The original viny pattern was hung by me 20+ years ago, in the dining room of a home in West U (Houston). (Still in absolutely perfect shape, I might add. 🙂 ) This was a very popular look back then – but the homeowners (who are now empty-nesters) were ready for an update.
They chose this tone-on-tone pattern in a fluid, uplifting design. It reminds me of a movie theater marquee back in the 1930’s Art Deco era.
This wallpaper has a slightly textured surface. It is made by York, and is in their Sure Strip line. It is designed to strip off the wall easily and with minimal damage to the wall, when it’s time to redecorate.
This product is pre-pasted, which means it has adhesive on the back that is activated by water. Since the paper has a textured surface, I didn’t want to run the paper through a water tray, so instead I sprinkled water on the back and then used my paint roller to spread the water to all areas of the back of the paper. I added a bit of clear wallpaper paste, to augment what was already on the back.
Booked and allowed to sit for 3-5 minutes in a plastic bag to prevent drying out, and it went up beautifully. Sure Strip is one of my favorite papers, both to work with and for longevity on your wall.
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