Luminous Branches Breathe Life Into Dining Room

Before

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 before

South wall done

I 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

Black , White , and Gold Geometric on Dining Room Accent Wall

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 . 

Branches Sparkle Softly in Powder Room

Oh, boy – more boring white walls .

Now brightened with soft blue color and lightly shining / metallic gold trees .

The gold branches and trunks have a raised texture .

The manufacturer is York , one of my favorite brands.
The pattern is called Luminous Branches , and is similar to their Shimmering Foliage pattern , which is bolder and is in the Candice Olson line .
This wallpaper is a non-woven material , and can be installed by the paste the wall method – but I usually prefer to paste the paper , especially in a powder room with pedestal sink and toilet and other objects to trim around and slip paper behind . N-W papers are minimum 20% polyester , and thus are strong and durable and more resistant to stains than traditional paper wallpapers . When the surface is prepped properly and the paper is hung properly, N-Ws are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece and with minimal damage to the wall when it’s time to redecorate . They’re also easier to install and more DIY-friendly .
The home is in the Memorial Villages area of west Houston .

Rabis and Rappers – Brooklyn Toile in Sugarland Powder Room

About all this powder room has going for it is its size – it’s LARGE . But it’s also BORING .

Wallpaper adds personality and visual interest , and keeps the room from feeling too massive . In addition, the Brooklyn icons hold sentimental value to the homeowner .

Here is the opposite corner of the vanity .

AND the short space between the ” floating vanity ” and the baseboard. I was able to do this space fairly easily because, first of all, I’m small and can pretty much fit under there. But what really made this possible is that, once I knew what the pattern match could be to the adjoining wallpaper strip , I was able to pre-trim these six short strips horizontally at the point where they would sit above the baseboard . Then I trimmed their height to 4 1/2″ – the exact height of the wall space way under that cabinet . From there, after pasting , it was a (sorta) easy task to squirm under there and put the strips into place.
Yeah – nobody’s going to see it. But the husband wanted the wallpaper to be under there. And you know what? Even if the homeowners had not requested the paper go down there, I would have done it, anyway. Because leaving that bit of wall uncovered would have bugged the heck out of me.

”

Corner opposite toilet .

IIconic scenes from life in Brooklyn , New York .

The pattern is called Brooklyn Toile , and is by Flavor Paper – they are known for some unique and wacky designs . Some Flavor Papers can be very difficult to install . I pretty much won’t work with their vinyl , and definitely not their (or anybody’s ) peel & stick . But I do very much like their EZ Papes option . This is a thin , pre-pasted material that goes up beautifully , seams are invisible , not affected by humidity , it adheres nice and tight for decades , and will strip off the wall easily when you redecorate – as long as you use water and follow the directions .
This brand doesn’t have a strong protective coating , and the mom has concerns about the three young kids touching or splashing the paper as they reach for towels or soap or toilet paper . So she’s exploring various alternative options for towel racks and TP holders . Like laying a hand towel on the counter top , and a stand for the TP, or placing the rolls in a decorative basket .
Their wallpaper is packaged differently from other companies . Panels are 24″ wide x 10′ 4″ high, with two strips in a pack , or ” roll .” So the total width of a “roll” is 48″ (4′), and then 10′ 4″ high. So if you have 8′ high ceilings , you’re going to be throwing away 2′ or so with each strip. And for the areas over doors , same thing … a full 10′ 4″ strip will be needed, even if the space above the door is only 12″ high. There are a couple other companies that package similar to this, with Spoonflower , House of Hackney , and Mind the Gap being good examples.
Fkavor Paper is also a pricey brand . But very worth it, if you want something fun and unique . I mean, these guys even offer scratch-and-sniff wallpaper!

White Flowers on Black Background in Dining Room

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 colors

This 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.

Two Color Rhythmic Print for Heights Breakfast Nook

Before. Grey and boring .
The built-in banquette seating has been removed.

Finished.

Closer look.

Showing the pattern centered on the wall, and with the shutters. The dimensions of the paper not corresponding well with the width of the window, along with logistics of pattern placement at the ceiling line but starting my first strip under the window all created some plotting and engineering challenges. Fun, but time consuming. But it turned out great!

The original idea was to just paper the nook area, ending at the vertical door molding. But it would have looked odd to stop the wallpaper above this doorway. So the homeowner and I decided to run the paper along the top of the doorway, and then down the left side (not shown), which dead-ends into some cabinets and the granite countertop. It looked good and was the right call.

It tickles me that this is quite obviously a riff on the very popular Strawberry Thief wallpaper pattern by William Morris , which is quite popular right now (do a Search here to see my installations of it). When a company comes up with a hit, you can be assured that a competitor will soon be making its own version of it.
The original has a lot more color, but this version is limited to just two colors. Even though there is a lot of contrast between the black and the white , the pattern doesn’t feel busy, because the design is so close and tight .
There is a lot of symmetry , repetitiveness , and balance in Wm Morris and similar styles .

I love the raised ink texture to this material .

Whoops! A slight pattern mis-match . The overall design is busy enough that small imperfections like this (as well as some color variations / shading ) are not really noticeable .

It’s odd to me that the printing defects are different in different strips / rolls of the wallpaper . You’d think that if the print roller was out of whack, it would create the same image every time it strikes the wallpaper surface. Or maybe it’s the trimmers that are off. If they had cut 1/16″ more off that left edge, we might have a perfect pattern match .

The manufacturer is York , one of my favorites , in their Sure Strip line, also one of my favorites.
It’s in the Magnolia Home collection , by, yes, Joanna Gaines , of HGTV fame with the show Fixer Upper .
SureStrip is a pre-pasted , thin , flexible , non-woven material that is easy to hang . It’s also easy to remove when you’re ready to redecorate , because it’s designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece with no damage to your walls .
installer houston birds

Andy Warhol Didn’t Sleep Here – But He Would Have Wanted To!

Incredibly boring and blah powder room in a newish townhome in the Montrose area of Houston.

Wow! Now THIS makes an IMPACT!!!

This is not an Andy Warhol design, but it’s exactly like what he liked to create.

Shot of mirror over vanity. Pattern is perfectly centered over mirror and coming down both sides.

Lips! Pic is off-hue … The background is really a vibrant yellow.

Rolling out the material. Each ” roll ” contains three strips, , or panels , each of which is 20.5″ wide by 118″ (just under 10′).

The manufacturer is Mind The Gap , and the pattern is called Neon Kiss .
This is a strong, un-tearable, stain-resistant non-woven material. It is easy to hang on flat walls, and you can use the paste the wall installation method. I usually paste the material , though, especially in bathrooms with vanities to cut around and toilets to squeeze behind.
The substrate is soft and supple and easy to trim, and the surface is quite washable.

COVID Pandemic – Insight re Wallpaper ‘s Impact On Our Homes and Our Psyche

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. “

Summer 2022 issue

Dramatic, Colorful, Surprise, WOW! in Heights Powder Room

The homeowner has lived in more than a dozen homes, but has never had wallpaper. Previously this new townhome had boring beige walls. The homeowner wanted to liven things up and fell in love with this bold botanic and bird pattern.

I love the slightly mottled background, and the way the colors pop against the black.
There’s some slight shading / paneling ( difference in color ) between the strips, but it’s minimal.
(It shows up more in this photo than in real life.)

Likewise, the seams are much less visible in person.

Close-up showing the lightly textured material. It looks a lot like an oil painting .

This wallpaper is by BN Walls . It’s a non-woven / paste-the-wall material with a textured vinyl surface.
It’s more durable and washable than most traditional papers, and is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate.
houston installer

Bright and Fun Retro Look in Powder Room

No boring beige or all-white walls in this home of a growing and active family in the Cypress / Jersey Village area of Houston.
Throughout the home, the mom has added touches of blue, green, yellow, and pink, along with a heavy dose of mid-century modern furnishings and accessories.
Time to pull the powder room into the mix!
Originally, this room was wallpapered in a typical ’80’s pattern, complete with a border running below the ceiling. Did I say ’80’s ?!
That wallpaper had been removed, and the walls were painted a dark tan. The room was very boring and boxy and uninspiring.

But … add a little wallpaper and – nothing boring here!
And the look definitely invokes the ’50’s, ’60’s, and ’70’s – can you say Flower Power ?

Spoonflower sells several types of wallpaper. Definitely do NOT get their peel & stick (see my page to the right), and I’m not fond of their vinyl material. I do like their pre-pasted smooth , which is what my client chose.
Spoonflower doesn’t come in standard dimension rolls. It comes in 24″ wide ” rolls ” of 1′, 3′, 9′, or 12′ lengths. So measuring and calculating is a little more complicated than for traditional wallpapers.
(The mermaid kitchen towel on the right is also by Spoonflower – and they have wallpaper to match!)

Strips of this material are designed to be overlapped at the seams. This is good, because it prevents gapping at the seams as the paste dries, and it also eliminates stress on the wall that could cause underlying surfaces to delaminate and come apart. Do a Search here to learn more.
The downside is that this overlapped area does leave a ridge running the length of the seam. Most people don’t mind the look, especially with a busy pattern like this one.

Pattern # 4330883 is called Party Posies.
This material is custom-printed. The homeowner ordered 11 rolls, and here you can see how the manufacturer has numbered each of the rolls in sequence (5th roll of 11 total).