This is a 2-room powder room in the Memorial Villages area of west Houston. The home is new and openly spacious, but has many classic elements like very elegant moldings and trim work. I absolutely LOVE this 1890’s Victorian era marble sink with metal legs – a lucky eBay score. The homeowner has young kids and an active family and wanted to do something ” wild ” in the powder room. I’d say this Wonderland pattern fills the bill!The look is especially effective due to the homeowner’s bold choice to paint the woodwork this rich mustard ochre color. Looking from the sink room through the arched doorway into the potty room. Cute, cute pattern! And lovely material to work with. The glass flower light sconces are vintage, too, dating to the ’50’s or ’70’s. A similar-themed glass, floral, and brass chandelier will hang in the adjacent potty room. This is the mirror that will go up, almost touching each light sconce on either side. The grey tones in the mirror look super good with the grey marble vanity / commode sink. Manufacturer is Borastapeter distributed by Brewster , both fine companies. It’s a non-woven material and can be hung by the paste the wall method or by pasting the paper. The original wallpaper came from Finest Wallpaper in Canada, a good company. But the homeowner ordered half of what was needed, and was not able to get more in time for our install date. I suggested she call Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams on University in the Rice Village (713) 529-6515) and, sure enough, she found a source that had the paper in stock and could get it here lickety-split. This is the second time I’ve hung this paper in one week, and I’ve hung it several times previously and have it coming up again – always in this dramatic and colorful black version. People sure love the whimsy of frolicking frocked pigs!
BeforeFinishedLooks super with antiqued brass faucet and handles. Notice metallic flecks of copper within the pewter surface. Looking up at corner over the toilet and under the stairs. Notice that the material is made up of 7″ squares of cork. A 3′ x 3′ swatch of ceiling was left white; the dark cork material over every square inch of space would have made the room dark and claustrophobic. When it’s got her name on it, you know it’s going to be glam and glitz! The Candice Olson line is made by York, one of my favorite brands.
At first, I didn’t think the contemporary feel of this metallic wallpaper would look good with the homeowner’s traditional style furniture, including this family heirloom console vanity base. But once the room was finished – it’s darned handsome!
Hard to see in the second photo, but there was a gap of only about 1/4″ on either side of the granite countertop. And about 1″ between the wooden cabinet and the wall. It definitely took some gymnastics and ingenuity to get the wallpaper into those spaces and smoothed against the wall.
Cork is a natural material, and you should expect some inconsistencies in color, pattern, and texture. It’s also lots thicker than most papers, so seams will be more visible.
The home is in the West University neighborhood of central Houston.
Beautiful with the burnished brass faucet and light fixture. If you could run your hand over this, you’d feel the slight “raised ink” texture. Not that you should go around touching your wallpaper! But it does add a very subtle dimension and warmth.Serena & Lily – one of my favorite brands.
The homeowners have done some nice updates to their 20-something suburban Houston home. This palm leaf pattern in their powder room was one of the final touches.
I had a schedule change and was able to get their wallpaper up more than a month ahead of their scheduled date.
Serena & Lily makes really nice paper, so today was a pleasant install.
tThe homeowner loved the coppery-hued colors in this “Carousel Stripe” pattern by Cole & Son. The colors mesh beautifully with the wood tones, and also the brass faucet, in this home bar area.
What’s interesting is that I think the colors (especially the red) are more intense now, than in the samples she got from the vendor. In fact, one complaint of hers was that the vendor sent just one small snip of the paper, and didn’t show the full color spectrum of all 10 stripes that make up the pattern.
No matter. The finished effect really sets off the bar backsplash, and will be a fabulous backdrop once the bottles and glasses are back in place.
This wallpaper is a non-woven material, which is made of synthetic fibers rather than wood or cotton pulp. Instead of the paste-the-wall installation method, I chose to paste-the-paper. This made the material more flexible and manageable, which helped a lot, because when it was dry, it really wanted to crease and flake.
TFor instance, the racks sitting on the counter in the first photo could not be removed. Manipulating, fitting and trimming the wallpaper around the sharp bends and angles without marring the wallpaper was very difficult.
The non-woven, synthetic-origin material (think fiberglass) was also really hard to cut. Even with a brand-new razor blade, I had trouble getting perfect cuts around moldings, and also in a whole lot of other simpler areas.
These two rooms were hard enough, with minimal angles and corners and intricate moldings. If this had been a bathroom, or another room with a lot of turns and fancy cuts, it would have been really difficult to prevent creases and other damage to the wallpaper.
As it was, I spent about nine hours hanging these four single rolls of paper.
This is a wonderfully restored 1939 home in the Rice University area of central Houston.
This is an alcove leading into a master bedroom in a new townhome in the Houston Heights. This niche is recessed between bookshelves on either side, and above.
The geometric pattern of blocks and angles with gold metallic accents adds a modern touch, and the soft color promotes the feel of calm relaxation. Brass sconces will be mounted over the electrical boxes, and the homeowner has a settee that will be placed in the center.
This was a non-woven wallpaper, and I hung it using the paste-the-wall method.
This large powder room (it has a shower!) in a new home in the Houston Heights originally had all-white walls (like the rest of the house). Interior designer Stacie Cokinos suggested wallpaper to warm the room and add personality. The homeowner had never used wallpaper before and was skeptical, but she tentatively agreed.
What a wonderful choice this turned out to be! The wallpaper defines the space and transforms it from timid to bold. But, because the color palette is limited, the feeling is not chaotic. The color coordinates beautifully with the dark brass wall sconces. Previously, the white woodwork blended in with the white walls. But now the dark color of the wallpaper makes the beautiful door moldings stand out.
This is a popular pattern, and I’ve hung it, or variations of it, a number of times. The design is by David Hicks and is made by Cole & Son, a British company. It’s a non-woven material, and is meant to be applied by the paste-the-wall method, but I had better results with pasting the paper.
The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos, of Cokinos Design. She works primarily on new builds, and mostly in the Heights neighborhoods. Her look is spacious, clean, and crisp, with a little fun tossed into the mix.
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