Handy Motif Placement by Mfgr

It’s nice when a manufacturer does this.  Notice that all of the pattern motifs are contained within the width / borders of this strip of wallpaper.  Nothing passes across the seam.  There is nothing to match from strip to strip. 

Even if the walls are out of plumb , or the ceiling is not level , this allows me to keep the same design element at the same spot below the ceiling, all the way across the wall or around the room .  See photo.  All seven strips across this nursery accent wall have the design motifs at the same distance below the crown molding.  Not having to connect a pattern motif to another across each seam means that I can pull each strip up to where I want it under the crown molding.  No going off-track or sloping / tracking down or up. 

This cute pattern of pastel hot air balloons is by Caitlin Wilson and is in the Sure Strip line of pre-pasted , easy to install and easy to remove wallpaper s made by York .  I like this material a lot. 

Pastel Hot Air Balloons for Toddler Girl ‘s Nursery Accent Wall

Accent wall before, textured wall has been smoothed , primed , and is ready for wallpaper .

Hot air balloons , pastel colors , works for boy or girl , and will grow with the child as he/she ages . 

Here is the bold white child’s headboard that will be placed against the wall . 

Coordinates beautifully with the other three walls , which are painted a dusky pink . 

The wallpaper is by Caitlin Wilson , and is made by York .  It’s in the Sure Strip line, which is a thin , pre-pasted material that is water-activated and easy to hang / install .  It’s also designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate .  I like this stuff a lot.
The home is in the West U area of Houston .

Mud Room Gets More of the Navy Blue Roses

Continuation from yesterday’s post … the adjoining mud room got the same wallpaper pattern.

This room was done with a different run / batch number from yesterday, and the pattern match was better at the seams. See yesterday’s photo.

There were, however, some very faint lines running through some of the material. I’ve had this same thing happen recently with other York papers. Very disappointing. Today’s lines were pretty faint, and I went ahead and hung the paper.

This paper is by Caitlin Wilson and is in the Sure Strip line by York . It’s a pre-pasted material and very nice … one of my favorite brands.

Blue Rose Floral in Laundry Room

A few months ago, I papered the adjoining powder room in this same watercolor -y wallpaper pattern. Now that the homeowner’s new custom cabinetry has been installed in the laundry room, I’m papering that area, too. Here’s the before picture.

The homeowner made the point that, after all the money they spent on the carpentry, everything was swallowed up by the all-white walls. Well, a little color and pattern from wallpaper changes all that! Besides being beautiful, note how the wallpaper makes the moldings and cabinets stand out.
Here the roses look purple … they’re actually more navy blue in color.

Close up. The design looks like real watercolor brush strokes.
Note there’s a slight pattern mis-match at the seam. This is a very close-up shot. From three feet away, you don’t notice it.
Tomorrow I’m hanging another room with the same pattern but from a different run … Let’s see if the pattern matches better in the new run.

The pattern is by Caitlin Wilson and is in the Sure Strip line, made by York , one of my favorite manufacturers.
This is a unique pre-pasted material, as it’s designed to strip off the wall easily when you redecorate. I like Sure Strip a lot.
Do a Search here to read about my install techniques with these.
This is a nicely renovated and updated home in the energy corridor / Memorial area of west Houston.

Brighter Powder Room

Room originally painted above the bead-board wainscoting with navy blue semi-gloss paint.

Same color concept, but brighter with the white background and more fun with the lively floral pattern.

Shot from outside the room.

Close-up. This is a very popular wallpaper design, and many companies have knocked off the pattern, creating their own version.

The pattern is called Highland Floral by Caitlin Wilson. It’s in the Sure Strip line, which is made by York, one of my favorite brands. It’s a pre-pasted material, went up nicely, hugs the wall tightly, and should hold up nicely for many years. In addition, the Sure Strip brand is made to come off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate, leaving no damage to the wall.

The home is in the Energy Corridor area of west Houston.

installer

Cute, Sweet Pink & Blue Hallway

This is one of those houses that has a lot of crystal and glitter. The little girl’s bedroom has a LOT of crystal, glitter – and PINK.

So this hallway, which leads to both the girl’s room and to a glitzy guest bedroom, is fittingly outfitted with a navy-floral-on-pink wallpaper pattern. The colors show up much better in real life than on my phone camera shots.

The wallpaper is by designer Caitlin Wilson, made by York, in their Sure Strip line, and is one of my favorite wallpapers. It is a pre-pasted material. It is designed to strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate.

‘Tis The Season – for Defects

This is the second time in a month that I have not been able to finish a job for a client, due to problems with the paper. In this case, it is not a defect in the paper itself, but rather, damage caused by improper storage – most likely at the vendor.

Look closely at the top photo and you will see slight light line along the far right edge. This is where ink has been pulled off the surface. There are also remnants of ink along the right edge of the backside of the wallpaper, as seen in the second and third photos.

What happened is, the bolts of wallpaper must have gotten a tad wet along one edge. Perhaps stored in a warehouse that had a water leak that accessed the wallpaper. Or the delivery guy spilled his Ozarka and a tiny splash found its way into the edge of the wallpaper.

Whatever happened, three of the five double roll bolts of paper were damaged.

What happened is, the wallpaper is pre-pasted, which means it has a thin layer of dry paste on the backside. When the spilled water reached the edge of the wallpaper bolt, it was absorbed, and the moisture re-activated the paste. The paste stuck the rolled-up layers of paper to themselves.

When I came along and started to unroll the wallpaper, the backside stuck to the printed front side, and pulled some of the ink off. Hence you see color missing from the surface, and color stuck to the back.

There is no way to know if this happened at the factory, or at one of the many middle-man vendors popping up on-line these days, or on the delivery guy’s truck.

This is a pretty minor flaw. Yet, once up on the wall, it would result in a faint, pale, vertical line from floor to ceiling, along each seam – every 27.”

I thought the homeowner deserved better, so I declined to hang it. She will have to reorder, making sure to get a different run number, which means the new paper will have been printed and shipped at a different time. Or, she may choose a whole different pattern altogether. Either way, it’s pretty sure that the new paper will not have encountered moisture that could cause this problem again.

The wallpaper is by Caitlin Wilson, and is made by York, in their SureStrip line – which is actually one of my favorite brands.

Cheerful, Colorful, Fun Finish to a Little Girls’ Bedroom

Maybe two months ago, I papered one accent wall (top photo) in this bedroom shared by two little girls. The mother kept thinking the room would look sweeter and more complete if all the walls were papered. I agree!

The wallpaper is by Caitlin Wilson, and is a pre-pasted material, and was quite nice to work with. The 2-story 1920 home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston, and has been nicely renovated and updated. The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design.

Bold Watercolor Floral for a Toddler Girl’s Bedroom Accent Wall

Here’s a bolder twist on pastel flowers for a 2-year-old girl’s room. I’ve hung similar patterns for other little girls (do a Search here) done in this water-colory look, but in “sweeter” colors of pink and peach.

Interestingly, these all appear to be made by the same manufacturer (Sure-Strip, by York), but the design and colors have been changed just a bit, and then distributed through different vendors. Today’s was sold by Caitlin Wilson, but most of the others came from Anthropologie.

No matter who makes it and what brand is put on the label, this pattern is a wonderful choice for this young gal. The charcoal greys “grow it up” a little. It is not “babyish” and will grow with her, and can last well into her teen, and even college age, years.

The paper is wonderful to work with. It’s pre-pasted, which means it has paste on the back that is activated by running it through a water tray – as opposed to having to apply paste with a brush or roller to the back of the paper. It’s printed on a “non-woven” substrate, and is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate. Yet, unlike many non-woven materials, this one is thin and pliable and the seams lie very flat.

I hung this on one accent or feature wall in a newish home in the West University neighborhood of Houston.