Wallpaper Featured in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine, September 2021

Jungle pattern in dining area.

Paisley, green, and purple invoke the Inner Bohemian in this bedroom.

Paint-splatter look in kids’ homework station.

Subtle palm fronds.

You can get away with a lot of drama in a small powder room!

Colefax & Fowler historic wallpaper pattern.

Just about every month, this magazine shows at least one home decorated with wallpaper. This month’s selections cover a wide variety of tastes and styles.

“Scalloped” Wallpaper in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine, January 2019

The January 2019 issue of Better Homes & Gardens has a feature on “scallops” in design.

Here you see wallpaper (Burke Decor), bedding, and pillows with the perky and popular motif.

Veronica Solomon / Casa Villora Interiors in Better Homes & Gardens

This beautiful bathroom, featured in the November 2019 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine, was designed by Veronica Solomon of Casa Vilora Interiors, based out of Katy (Houston), Texas.

I have hung wallpaper for this gal, and can attest that she does stunning work. Congratulations for getting a full-page spread in this national magazine!

https://www.veronicasolomon.com/

Deceiving Wallpaper in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine

Better Homes & Gardens is good about featuring wallpaper in its stories. I’m tickled to see the bedroom dressed in toile, in the photo on the left side of this page.

The paper in the middle, though, the so-called “removable” paper (by Chasing Paper), is an unfortunate choice, IMO. This is one of the new-fangled “peel-and-stick” papers that manufacturers have written a lot of glowing things about – most of which fall short of promises.

The paper is not ‘easy’ to install. It’s so difficult that I and most of my colleagues won’t work with it.

The paper is not ‘easy’ to remove. And it will take much of your wall paint along with it, requiring repairs to get the wall smooth and intact again.

Fern Wallpaper Trending in Better Homes & Gardens

Ferns were all the rage with the Victorians, and, of course, are popular with gardeners these days. This month, Better Homes & Gardens magazine highlighted ferns, including a couple rooms of fern-themed wallpaper.

The first room even made the cover of the magazine!

Cute Slanty Dash Wallpaper Takes Back Stage

This fun wallpaper pattern is not meant to steal the show. The small, light design full of movement is a good background for the pretty mirror and wooden table.

This photo of an entryway came from Better Homes & Gardens magazine’s December 2019 issue.

Notice Anything? – Wonky Wallpaper

When I first looked at this picture in Better Homes & Gardens magazine’s December 2019 issue, I wondered why the installer had not positioned the circle motifs so they landed at the top of the wall.

Then I looked closer, and realized that he probably had – at a starting point in another part of the room. If you look at the crown molding line, you notice that the pattern is moving up the wall from left to right.

Often this is because of unplumb walls and/or unlevel ceiliing lines. But I looked closer and saw that the pattern is also crooked as it runs down the side of the window. Again, this could be because the whole house – walls, ceiling, doors, and windows – has shifted out of plumb (foundation issues – if you live in Houston, you know all about that!).

If the installer hung his paper true to plumb, it will always look crooked in house that is not plumb.

Sometimes, there are tricks you can do to make a pattern look straight, even if the house is wonky. Almost always, they involve pattern mis-matches in corners or at seams.

So it’s a toss-up as to which is the lesser of the two evils – pattern getting chopped off as it travels along the ceiling and moldings, or pattern mis-matches at the seams.

What I probably would have done in this case would be to position a half-circle at the top of the wall. This way, if the pattern starts tracking up or down, you don’t readily notice if the half-circle is a little taller or shorter, as compared to the top of a circle getting sliced off.

Doggone It – It’s P&S

That first pattern is darned cute! It’s called Puppy Pile, and is from Chasing Paper. Unfortunately, like most of their products, it is a peel & stick material, which is extremely difficult to work with. It comes in 2′ x 4′ panels, which are some pretty odd dimensions, if you are trying to paper a wall.

I don’t work with P&S materials, and most of my colleagues won’t either. If you love the look, there are surely other companies making a similar design, printed on traditional wallpaper stock.

The second photo shows a fun design used as a backdrop to beds in a cabin guest room. This pattern would be overwhelming on all four walls, but in the bed alcove, it is snug and inviting. Sorry, I don’t know the manufacturer.

Both these photos were found in Better Homes & Gardens magazine, a current issue.

Palm Leaf Wallpaper Behind Bookshelves – Too Busy, IMO

It’s become popular to put wallpaper on the backs of bookshelves. But usually, people choose a texture, or at least a very small, tight pattern. That way, the wallpaper serves as a backdrop, and the items that are placed on the shelves will stand out.

I spotted this photo in Better Homes & Gardens magazine. I can’t say I love the look. I think the palm leaf pattern is too busy, and detracts from the artful objects that have been placed on the shelves.

In my opinion, that tropical pattern would work better on the walls outside the bookshelves. Or, since it’s such a strong pattern, just on one accent wall.

Pattern Similar to Yesterday’s Post

Interestingly enough, in an issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine, here is someone else who wallpapered a room with maps, and very similar in color to those used by my client in the post below.

A very good, and very personalized, look!