Before. The previous installer did a beautiful job with this earthy grasscloth. But it didn’t suit the homeowner’s taste, nor did it fit with the feel of this 1939 cottage in the historic Norhill section of the Houston heights.Done! The dark towel and mirror really set off the pattern and colors.Wall behind the toilet. This Asian-influenced design, with its pagodas and minstrels, is referred to as a Chinoiserie . These designs have been popular for centuries. Close-up. The green and blue tones coordinate beautifully with adjoining rooms in the house. I rolled the wallpaper out on the floor, so I could see the full-size design. This one has a 46″ pattern repeat, which is awfully long, and means there can be a lot of waste. This design had a straight pattern match, and came packaged in a 24″ x 33′ bolt, like traditional wallpaper. It did not come as an A-B set, as many M&K products do. I couldn’t find a full-size room-set photo on-line, so I availed myself of the Milton & King ‘s ” chat ” feature … I was connected with a live and knowledgeable representative in mere seconds, and he very quickly sent me a link to a picture of this pattern in a room. In the photo, I’m using my yardstick to determine a centerline of the design motifs.As are most of Milton & King ‘s wallpapers, this one was on a non-woven substrate. Rather than paste the wall, I chose to paste the paper, which works best in a bathroom with things to cut around and tuck paper behind. miThe pattern is called Mulberry . Milton & King’s bolts come packed individually in protective boxes – no worries about banged edges with this outfit!
Before. Getting ready to prime. Note that I have protected both the floor and the baseboards with dropcloths. Done! Dramatic!Detail.This bolt had been damaged in shipping, and the right edge had dings / dents. With this thick, puffy non-woven material, these could show at the seams when butted against the next strip. So I plotted the placement of my strips so this one would be on the far right end. That last strip was not the full width wide, so 8″ of the right side got cut off where it met the adjoining wall. That eliminated the worry of those dented edges showing.I used the paste-the-wall method to hang this non-woven wallpaper. With the wall wet with paste, it would be easy to get paste all over the wallpaper if you used the traditional installation booking technique. So I’ve learned to roll the material up with the print side in, and then secure with a hairband (from the dollar store). Then you can easily carry the rolled-up strip up your ladder, remove the elastic tie, and then let the paper fall into place. Only the back side comes into contact with the paste on the wall. Once you get good at this technique, you will never have to wipe paste off a seam, nor off the woodwork or adjoining walls. Cole & Son says that this “Woods” pattern has roots dating back to 1959. I guess that makes it truly iconic. I can say that it is quite popular – I’ve hung it a bunch of times.
One of my big complaints about wallpaper is when it arrives with banged up edges – damage caused by poor packaging and mishandling during shipping. Depending on the extent of the damage and the type of paper, these banged edges can render wallpaper unusable.
This manufacturer (Graham & Brown) has got it figured out – the paper was nicely wrapped in plastic and came in a good enough cardboard shipping box. But the extra step was these cardboard end-caps that completely protect the edges of the rolls of wallpaper, and protect them from dings and wrinkles.
One of my big rants is about wallpaper that has banged up edges, due to being bashed about during shipping. “All the manufacturer has to do is add a little bubble wrap,” I say. Some companies use thin cardboard “collars” around the ends of the bolts – but these end up being too tight and crimping the wallpaper, which creates dents and scars.
Well, this manufacturer went a mile beyond, and came up with a way to keep the bolts of paper free from any shipping damage.
Each roll of wallpaper is encased in a plastic sleeve. At either end of each roll is a “puck” made of corrugated cardboard (not visible in the photo), custom-cut to fit the diameter of the bolt, and with a tab in the center that pokes into the center of the bolt of rolled up wallpaper, ensuring that it stays in place. All inside that plastic sleeve.
Then each of those bundles is placed inside a custom-tailored-to-fit box made of cushioned corrugated cardboard; one double roll of wallpaper to a box.
Then all of those boxes were placed inside a large shipping box, also made of cushy corrugated cardboard.
This is by far the best thought-out and most-effective protective wrapping I have ever seen. Every single bolt of wallpaper arrived in perfect condition.
The product line is A-Street Prints, and the manufacturer is Brewster.
In the top picture, you see a mark on the wallpaper, which is common with the first foot or so of paper as it comes off a new bolt. The second photo shows edges that got banged up during shipping. Sometimes these will flatten out as the paper dries, but other times I try to avoid using them.
The third picture shows a speck of black ink on the back of the wallpaper. I discarded this piece, because I feared the speck would show through the front side, especially once the paper was wet with paste. In the last photo, I am holding the paper up to the window, and you can definitely see the dot from the front side. Better to not risk using it.
These all reasons to purchase a little extra paper, so you can reject defective pieces, and still have enough to paper your room.
I haven’t had this complaint in a while, but here you are – edges of wallpaper rolls that got banged up during shipping. Sometimes these bashed edges flatten out once the paste dries, but sometimes they still show.
This was packaged in a cardboard box. But – com’on, Thibaut – all it takes is a little bubble wrap in the bottom!
There can be all kinds of flaws and defects with wallpaper, but mostly I complain about banged up edges, which happen during shipping. Most manufacturers put ship their merchandise in cardboard boxes with no padding. Some even send it in paper envelopes, with no cushioning whatsoever.
Today, I arrived at the job site and saw this. Wow!
Maybe someone in the Powers That Be got the message ? … These four double roll bolts came packaged in a custom-sized box, with just enough room for bubble wrap on top, on bottom, and on either end. That bubble wrap effectively did the job to cushion the ends of the wallpaper from dings during shipping.
Here’s a winning look, wallpaper that mimics the cut agate stone, complete with a pearly shimmer – so characteristic of designer Candice Olson!
I hung this in a powder room in a new “tall skinny house” in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. The home’s style has a Victorian feel, but the homeowner’s furnishings were what I would call “elegant contemporary.” This wallpaper pattern is a perfect blend of the two.
I did have a little trouble with banged edges, as you can see in the last photo. But I was able to work around the worst of them, and there was enough paper to finish the room.
The paper is by York, and was bought at a discounted price from Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
Unrolling this wallpaper revealed some disappointments – In the first photo, you see a ridge that has been pressed into the paper. Also in that shot you can see the bane of my existence, the all-too-common-but-so-easy-to-prevent-if-they-would-just-use-a-little-bubble-wrap-before-shipping banged edges. In the second photo, most of this roll got caught somehow in the printing press, and got wrinkled.
Sometimes banged edges will flatten out when the wallpaper is dry (These are too noticeable and so the roll is unuseable), or sometimes you can plot so that that edge of the paper will be cut off, for instance, when you come to a door. But the wrinkles are inescapable, and caused an entire 9-yard bolt to be unusable.
The paper is by Thibaut Designs, usually one of my favorite brands for both pattern and workability. Luckily, I had the client order enough paper so we can still get the room finished, without having to use any of this defective stuff.
This wallpaper was made in England, and – wow! – look at how carefully it was packaged. A double-thick cardboard box, cushioned with bubble wrap AND foam inserts at the ends of the box, to protect the edges of the wallpaper. All this did a good job, too… No banged edges! 🙂
Funnily enough, though, the paper itself had some manufacturing faux-pas, with little ruffly areas along the left edge, for about 1/3 of each roll. I was able to cut around most of this (Note: Always buy extra paper, just in case!), and what did end up on the wall was not very noticeable.
This wallpaper is made by Bespoke, a British company.
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