The homeowners had this elegant wainscoting added to the bottom of their dining room when the house was built . But for seven years, the room was bland and boring . The new crystal chandelier adds glamor , but the room is still lacking .
Wallpaper to the rescue! Now there’s soft color and soft pattern . And a little gold shimmer !
I’m encouraging the homeowners to paint that band of wall under the tray ceiling a very soft aqua color, to meld with the misty feel of the wallpaper .
It’s a soft aqua color , but enough to stand out against the woodwork . Now you see the beautiful moldings and trim work . South wall beforeSouth wall doneI positioned the tree pattern to fall down the mid-point of this space between the two windows . This shot with the chandelier dimmer turned down allows you to see the pattern more fully.
This wallpaper pattern is called Luminous Branches and is by York , one of my favorite brands , in their Designer Series line. The material has a slight raised / embossed / textured effect. It’s a non-woven product, so is strong , durable , stain-resistant , and designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece and with no damage to the wall when you redecorate later. Non-wovens can be hung by the paste the wall method , but I generally prefer to paste the paper . NW requires no booking / soaking time , so they install a little faster , with no worries about shrinking or gaps at the seams . In fact, the seams are near-invisible . The home is in the Braes Heights area of Houston
Kinda bland, huh?Well, let me fix that for you! With just two colors and a simple, yet flowing design, this wallpaper pattern breathes life into this room – but doesn’t overwhelm. Pattern is nicely centered between the windows.This is another wall that also has two windows . I was able to center the pattern between these windows, too. Centering on two different walls in the same room is actually something of a feat – but that’s a story for another time. From a distance .This home has bull-nosed / rounded outside corners and edges, as well as the arch . Very tricky to get wallpaper trimmed to these areas neatly and evenly . See other posts for more info on this.Close up. The design has a weathered fabric texture sort of background . The copper colored foliage is lightly metallic , so has a slight shine – but only when viewed from certain angles , so it’s a subdued luster that’s added to the room . Note how the coppery color coordinates with the light fixtures / chandeliers . The wallpaper is by Graham & Brown , a good manufacturer with quality papers. The pattern is called Twining . This company makes nice non-woven papers , which have a polyester content which makes them stain-resistant and durable . They are also designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece and with no damage to your walls when it’s time to redecorate . G&B ‘s materials are usually flexible and nice to work with – although this particular one did tend to drag and tear when being trimmed – even with a new blade. I usually paste the paper , but non-woven materials can also be installed by paste the wall . The home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks / Heights neighborhood of Houston . This project took me three days, to smooth the textured walls , and then hang the paper around four walls , and trim around those pesky rounded edges and the arch .
Before. Waaay too much white. Bland, boring white! Primed with Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime and ready for wallpaper . Done! A small, tight design in just a few colors, as well as placing the pattern above the wainscoting (instead of papering floor-to-ceiling) keeps this from being too busy. If these homeowners really wanted to pump it up, I could see painting those ” beams ” a semi-gloss black. Or maybe the recessed ceiling areas inside the beams . What do you think?I love the way the white flowers play off the white molding and wainscoting.This shot shows the true colorsThis is by Rifle Paper . This brand has exploded in popularity since they expanded into selling wallpaper . And no wonder – their patterns are overwhelmingly cheerful and fun. The material is a non-woven , and can be hung by the paste the wall method , or by pasting the paper . I usually prefer to paste the paper as it makes the material more flexible, as well as ensures that paste gets to every surface. The home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks area of Houston . I papered this couple’s nursery a few months ago, and almost immediately they were eager to enhance another room with wallpaper.
Dining room in the Oak Forest area of Houston, before. All white and crisp – but bland .Here with just a touch of color and texture . The homeowner took my suggestion to use an embossed vinyl faux grasscloth product, which is very consistent in color . The problem with real grasscloth is that so very often there are disappointing color variations between strips , even if they come off the same roll . We call this shading and paneling . Do a search here to see previous posts about this. Note that with both materials you will see the seams. With this faux material, once you got 3′ away, you can’t see the seams at all. The paper along the top of the wainscoting chair rail is to prevent my wallpaper primer from splattering onto the molding . I do the same for baseboards and bathroom backsplash es .Opposite corner done. Close-up showing the realistic texture of the vinyl product .This is by Designer Wallpapers and was purchased from the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village , by Dorota , who has been selling wallpaper for 25+ years and is THE expert on helping you select your perfect pattern .
Taken from the current issue of The Installer , the newsletter of the Wallcovering Installers Association ( WIA ).
” The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shelter-in-place mandates brought home as never before how crucial interior décor is to our everyday lives. Surrounded by our own walls, we learned that bland, dull interiors make for a boring and dull life, while vibrant interiors create a sense of energy and liveliness. “
This has got to be one of the smallest powder rooms I’ve worked in. Bland and boring, too. People think that wallpaper will make a room look smaller. But in actuality, it visually pushes the walls away, making the room feel larger. The white paper also bounces light around better than dull painted walls, which brightens the room and makes it feel bigger. It has a slight raised ink texture. Feather by Serena & Lily is sure popular, and I’ve hung it many times, mostly in this navy / denim . S&L makes nice wallpaper. The home is in the Villages area of near-west Houston.
Vanity area before. Note the nice homeowner had the plumber remove the wall-mounted faucet and handle. This made the wallpaper installation so much easier – and eliminated a zillion relief cuts around these objects that might later give entry for splashed water to wick under and loosen the wallpaper. Done. I centered the pattern on the wall so it hits both corners equally, and it falls perfectly around the faucet (no photo). The light fixture was hung a tad off-center. Burnished gold accents of the light fixture, faucet (to be installed later), and toilet paper holder, as well as a gold-painted ceiling, compliment the gold lines in the pattern, and really pull this room together. This non-woven paste-the-wall material is made by Trend, and is in the Jaclyn Smith collection. It has a slightly textured surface, and appears to be vinyl on the surface. This makes is more durable and stain-resistant than most paper wallpapers. It is thin and flexible, and I liked it a lot. The home is a contemporary new-build in the Lindale Park neighborhood of central Houston.
The two large dogs who live in this home in the Woodland Heights (Houston) have their own room (which is also the home’s mudroom). They may have fancy digs, but the décor was bland. See top photo.
A little wallpaper changed all that. This “Trot” pattern by Stroheim is fresh and cute, but not in a cloying way – while it’s fun, it’s actually pretty sophisticated for a rear entry. The Stone color goes amazingly well with the paint on the wainscoting and other trim in the room.
The interior designer is also the homeowner – Stacie Cokinos, of Cokinos Design, here in Houston. She works a lot in the Heights neighborhoods, and works on a lot of whole-house remodels, and new builds.
The homeowner said she just couldn’t make herself love the powder room in her new townhome near the Galleria (Houston), with its bland, blah, boring walls. She had a vision, but her husband was having a hard time seeing it.
Well, once the wallpaper went up, Hubby got the vision, too – he said it looks fantatic. It’s clear that the wife’s idea for this room was a wonderful choice. No more boring walls, the hue brings life to a home that has little other color, the somewhat scratchy background works well with some distressed furniture in the adjoining rooms, and the ever so slightly Oriental theme echoes the theme of the artwork (elephant in silver frame, not shown).
In fact, I was trying to talk the homeowner out of replacing the small framed pictures, because I thought they would not work with the paper, and would be too small against the medallion design (and because I hate putting holes in my new wallpaper 🙂 ). But I put the picture hangers back in their original spots and rehung the artwork and – man, was it a perfect compliment!
You can see how the silver frame on the mirror compliments the wallpaper, as well as the chrome faucet and soap dispenser. Here is an example of a homeowner with a good eye for what she wanted, went out and found it, and ended up with a fantasticly lovely powder room.
The wallpaper is by Thibaut Designs. It was a paper product with a satiny feel to the ink, and was nice to work with.
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