Stains Bleeding Through Wallpaper and Primer / Stain Blocker – Continuation to March 9 Post

Re my post from two days ago … I do think my fears were correct, and the mottled look was not part of the pattern , but was from discoloration from some substance in or under the wallpaper . Even after applying the BIN stain blocker , and my wallpaper primer Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime , today I found a couple of specks like this, which had worked their way through . Some of them I spot-primed with KILZ , and some I just took a razor blade and cut out of the wall. If not treated or removed , stains like this can work their way through the surface of both paint and wallpaper . The paper I’m hanging today is black with a busy pattern, so you’ll never notice a 1/8″ speck of brown . But I still like to give my clients a pristine job . So was happy to apply the additional coat of stain blocker .

Different Rolls = Different Pattern Match

It’s important that all your wallpaper rolls have the same run number , also called batch or dye lot . This means that they were printed at the same time with the same ink . Paper printed later with another batch of ink may be every so slightly different in color / shade . Looks bad on the wall.
The same thing can happen with trimming at the factory. Different runs can be trimmed differently from each other.
With this paper that I hung in a dining room last week (see previous post), the labels on all the rolls / bolts listed the same run number . But there was one bolt that was wrapped in not one, but two plastic wrappers. This raised an alarm in my head, because this indicates that it may have been a roll sent back to the factory, for whatever reason, and then repackaged. When this happens, you cannot be absolutely sure that the run number is actually that which is printed on the label. Somebody at the factory could have just grabbed a handy label and stuck it inside the wrapper.
I tried not to use this double-wrapped bolt of wallpaper. But on the last section of wall, I got to a point where I just needed to use it, for just two 6′ strips. I was pleased that the color of both the background and the motifs matched perfectly.
But not happy with this pattern mis-match.

It was easy to see that the factory trimmers had been placed about 1/8″ to one side, from where they had been placed when trimming the previous rolls.
It’s a busy pattern, and, from a distance, this undercut wasn’t all that noticeable.

But on the other side, there was repetition of the motif , and this will really catch your eye.
Happily, this only affected one seam, and since it was a very busy pattern, from just a few feet away you couldn’t notice it. Still, it bothered me.
So I pulled this strip on the left off the wall, laid it on my table, and used my straightedge and razor blade to trim off that repetitive leaf tip – about 1/8″ from the right edge of the strip.
The second strip, since it came off the same roll and had been trimmed the same, matched perfectly . This was also my last strip, so no more drama with mis-matched designs at the seams .

What the overall pattern looks like.

The pattern is by Rifle Paper , which has been finding its way into a lot of homes lately. This brand is usually a good quality non-woven material , and can be hung by pasting the paper or by paste the wall . It is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece, and with minimal damage to the wall , when you’re ready to redecorate . Very cute , cheerful patterns , and good price-point .
Note that the run number is printed on the label.
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Slight Color Difference

Look closely, just to the left of center, and you will see that the strip on the left is slightly darker than the strip on the right. This is called shading, and is because, in this case, the left side of the wallpaper is a slightly darker color than the right side. Therefore, when two strips of paper are butted against each other, the difference in color can be seen.

In this powder / laundry room, with poor lighting and a busy pattern and a relatively mild case of shading, I didn’t consider it bad enough to halt the job and reorder more paper, and so I went ahead and hung the room.

Everyone loves the finished room.

I am probably the only one who can spot this minor color difference.