Yesterday’s post focused on centering two desired motifs in between two windows. Today’s post is about centering a dominant design element on the most visible / important wall in a room. In this case, it’s the only wall that doesn’t have any windows or doors on it, and also the homeowners will have a credenza or other similar piece of furniture placed against this wall. This is also the first wall you see when walking into the living room from the front door. Note that the trim carpenter has set the bar , by placing his molding panels smack in the center of the wall. And they’re perfectly equally sized, too. Now I’m challenged, and have got to get my birds down the center of that wall. 🙂 In the photo, I’ve started applying my wallpaper primer to the wall on the right. That’s my paint roller tray hooked on top of my ladder .
For reference, here’s the finished wall. The other three walls will be papered, as well. When I’m getting ready to hang wallpaper, I want to see what the overall pattern looks like. This, plus a little math, helps me know how to place the various motifs. In this case, to be sure (if possible) that no bird gets his head cut off at the ceiling, nor his feet cut off at the chair rail or floor. All that depends, of course, on the length of the wallpaper pattern repeat , as it factors into the height of the wall. Getting back to viewing the overall pattern on my phone – that’s often quite a bit more difficult that it should be, because most vendors just show a small portion of the design . And if the homeowner has purchased a sample, it also shows just an 8″ x 10″ or so section of the pattern. I want to see the whole design as it plays out across a wall, in what I call a room set view. If you check enough vendor websites, you may find such an image. But … quite often they’ve styled the photo with furniture (OK, that’s good, because it helps you see the perspective and scale of the pattern). But they’ll also hang artwork on the wall, add vases full of sprawling flowers , all kinds of stuff that occludes the view. But, most of the time, I’m able to find an image that shows what the whole pattern looks like on a real wall. Then I can determine what I think is the most dominant part of the design , or maybe some other feature that I want to put the viewer’s focus on. In this case (see photo above), I definitely felt that the black bird with his white tail feathers , as well as his black buddy just above him, were the most eye-catching . So those are the guys that I wanted to put in the horizontal center of the wall .
This pattern comes as a 3-panel set , and has a very long pattern repeat of nearly 40″. Here I am laying it out on the home’s entry floor (helpful that no one’s home and won’t need to go up and down the stairs or through this hall any time soon!). I’m using yardsticks (no, I don’t use no stinkin’ tape measurers – will be a blog post on that at some point) to plot how the pattern motifs fit in with the height of the wall, and hopefully not cut off anybody’s head or feet. The horizontal yardsticks are marking where I want the pattern to hit the top of the wall, as well as the bottom / chair rail.
Back to the two black birds . Here I’m discerning the vertical center of the birds. It’s a bit tricky, because the all black bird doesn’t sit perfectly centered above the other bird; he’s a bit off to the left. So you have to figure out what you think is the most pleasing center point of these two birds. I have the yardstick standing on edge to help find that point. (Try doing that with a tape measure!)
The yardstick is 9 5/8″ from the right edge of the wallpaper. Factor in that the yardstick is 1/4″ wide, and half goes to the left side and half to the right, I’m going to add 1/8″ (half of 1/4″) to my measurement. So my measurement from the right edge of the paper to the center point is now 9 3/4″.
Here I’ve measured the width of the wall and determined the center point. Note arrow marked “Mid.” But my center motif isn’t in the center of the strip of wallpaper, nor at either edge. It’s 9 3/4″ over to the left of the right edge. (Note, the wallpaper is a standard 20.5″ wide, which makes the middle of the panel at 10.25″. But that’s not where the center of the design is. So always focus on the center of the dominant motif , not the center of the wallpaper.) Back to placing my first strip … To keep the birds at the center point of the wall, I need to pull the right edge of the wallpaper over 9 3/4″ to the right. Marked with a pencil line and my word “ici” (French for “here.”) Side note – always make your marks on the wall and wallpaper with pencil or chalk . Never use ink or marker or wax crayon , as these substances are known to bleed through wallpaper and stain the surface. Do a search here to read more.
Here I’ve placed the vertical red beam of my laser level 9 3/4″ to the right of the wall’s mid point. This is where I’ll butt up my strip of wallpaper. The black and white bird should fall right at the center of the wall.
Just to be sure, before pasting or hanging the strip, I brought it to the wall to see how what I determined was the center of the motif, actually lines up with the center of the wall (“mid”). All seems good.
Here it is done. Laser level marking the mid point of the wall. As I mentioned, the two birds aren’t lined up perfectly symmetrically, with the smaller one sitting a bit to the left. Don’t stew over it … choose which part of which bird you want to base the center on, and go with it. All that said, standing across the room, the first three panel set I hung looked good – but just appeared a tad off-center to me (no pic). Like a half an inch. TBH, the mid point of the wall was at the center of the larger bird. But, because the bird has an uneven shape, and because of that smaller bird sitting above him and a smidgen off to the left, the whole scenario did appear just a teeny bit off-center. I kept thinking, what’s a half an inch? Especially when the homeowners are going to place furniture in front of it, plus a vase full of sprawling flowers. No one would notice anything off-kilter – except me. I debated a while, and finally decided to pull the three strips off and re-hang them 1/2″ to the right. This is tricky, because the wallpaper can be firmly stuck to the wall by now, and removing it could dislodge the primer and paint underneath it. Or pulling the paper off could stretch it, so that it might not fit the wall correctly, or the pattern match might get skewed. After testing to be sure the three strips were not irrevocably stuck to the wall, I removed them and re-hung them, one by one, this time butting up against the laser level red line moved 1/2″ to the right.
Here’s a close-up of how the laser level beam lines up with the center of the wall, the molding, and the wallpaper birds .
Finished wall again. See how balanced it looks to have those two dark birds lined up over the center of the wall and the panels below. The birds are also nicely balanced vertically, and no one got his head chopped off at the ceiling, or lost any feathers at the bottom of the wall. Note: We usually plot wallpaper motifs to hover just below the ceiling. But in a room with a wainscoting like this, it’s assumed that the wainscoting / chair rail are closer to eye-level, and thus it’s the main place you want to make sure the motifs don’t get compromised (if possible). In other words, you would position your motifs relative to the chair rail, rather than the ceiling .
Pulling off those three strips and rehanging was successful in large part due to a solid surface under the wallpaper. First, the builder ‘s paint was good quality and was applied over a sound surface – no dust , and no PVA primer . Also is that the wallpaper primer I use is designed to do many tasks. One of those is to facilitate removal of wallpaper. For most surfaces and wallpapers , I like Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime . The wallpaper itself was a factor, too, as the non-woven substrates are tear-resistant , and don’t (or shouldn’t) expand when tugged on. They’re designed to strip off the wall easily and with no damage to the wall when you redecorate later. Lots of other advantages for NW materials, too.
The pattern is called Royal Garden and the manufacturer is Mind The Gap , out of Transylvania, of all places. The home is in the West University area of central Houston . installer
Re my post from May 12 … Here’s the living room before the wallpaper went up. Note the windows and the short space above them. The wallpaper that’s being used comes as a sort of mural , in a 3-panel set . Each panel has a different design . The part that drops below the window gets cut off, and really can’t be used anywhere else. See my post of May 12 for more information. I never throw any scraps away until the job is over, so I saved the bottom parts from under the windows, which were about 8′ long.
Here is that wall area done.
Look at how nicely the birds with the light colored tails fall around either side of these two windows. It gives a nice, balanced look. (I centered another motif on the opposite wall (see post from May 12), so, as the pattern worked its way around the room, the birds just happened to fall pretty evenly on either side of the windows. It was a fortunate happenstance.) But, with the 3-panel set working its way around the room, those same birds with the light colored tails were going to fall between the windows. This means that we’d have those birds appearing three times on a very visible section of the same wall. Even yuckier, if you look at the bird above the left window, as these two birds fell down between the windows, they would be pulled to the left of center, and also were 15″ wide, whereas the space between the windows was 12.5″ wide. This means that the one on the left would get his plumage cut off, and the one on the right would have his head cut off. And the tree branches they’re sitting on would be far off to the right. Not awful – that’s the way the pattern falls, right? But I knew I could make it look better. So I cut off and discarded the portion of wallpaper that would fall below and in between the windows. There was an empty wall space in between the windows. Not shown in the photo.
North wall before. The walls had a tad of texture, left by the thick nap roller used by the painters . I usually like the walls to be perfectly smooth , so I do a lot of skim-floating (do a Search here to read more) and sanding to smooth the walls. But in a large room like this, that can add one to two days, so it ups the install price . The existing wall texture is pretty light, and this brand of wallpaper is fairly heavy . Plus it’s a busy pattern . So it’s not likely that anyone would notice a little texture under the wallpaper . After discussing with the homeowner, we decided to skip the smoothing time, expense, and dusty mess, and simply go with a primer.
Here’s the primer I like under wallpaper . By Roman , called Pro 977 Ultra Prime . It will stick to the light gloss on the existing paint . And it provides a good surface for the wallpaper to adhere to. Wallpaper primers are designed to withstand the tension put on seams as the paper dries and shrinks , and to hold the edges of the paper nice and tight to the wall . A good primer also allows for sliding the strip around on the wall , or pulling off and repositioning , if needed. And makes it easier to remove / strip paper when it’s time to redecorate .
Finished north wall. Note I centered the dominant motifs ( black and lg round white birds ) on the wall, which looks nice with the carpenter ‘s expertly centered molding panels below. More on this in a future post.
Laser level helping get bird motifs centered on wall .
South wall before
South wall done.
Note birds centered between the windows . More on how I did this in a future post.
This pattern comes as a sort of mural, in a 3-panel set. One roll = 3 individual panels. Each panel is 20.5″ wide x about 10′ high. Because of the wainscoting , the wallspace to be covered with wallpaper was only about a bit less than 7′ high. This means that at least 3′ of the strip would be cut off and not used. In addition, the design has a pattern repeat of more than 3′. This is way longer than most, and it means that we can’t count on using the portions cut off at the top or bottom anywhere else. So, like I said, into the trash pile they go. Important to note, when calculating how much to purchase, with this long pattern repeat and 3-panel set, even for shorter areas over doors and windows (19″), you can only plan on getting one strip out of each panel. So, again, a whole lot of this material will go to waste. And, again, another reason to let the installer calculate how much to buy. Again – it’s not about square feet! Moving on … After looking up the pattern on the company’s website, to get an idea of the full scope of the design , in the photo above, here I am, laying out the goods on a wide stretch of floor space in my client’s house. I’m comparing the height of the wallspace with the length of the pattern repeat, and the placement of each bird – so that once the wallpaper is up on the wall, no bird gets his head or feet or bum cut off. Sometimes, the math and the placement just don’t work out, and someone gets chopped in half. But here everything works out, and the birds will fall nicely and fully intact, down the height of the wall. Additional thoughts … Don’t forget to add two inches (2″) to both top and bottom (total of 4″) of your strip, to allow trimming at ceiling and baseboard / wainscoting , and to accommodate un-level ceilings and floors, and wonky walls. Also, in most cases, we installer s like to place a key motif or design element at the top of the wall. But when there’s wainscoting, like this in this room, the eye is drawn more to the bottom of the wall, which is the wainscoting. So here’s where I focused on placing the most dominant and visible birds. Also, if the dimensions worked out so you did have to end up with someone getting his head cut off, you’d put that at the top of the wall. And keep the whole / intact motifs / bird(s) at the level of the wainscoting / or, closest to eye level .
Close up of the design. This pattern is called Royal Garden , and it comes in several colorways . It’s by Mind The Gap , who is a company pretty well known for innovative / adventurous ways to dress up your walls . Most MTG wallpapers are packaged differently from standard papers . So, again – don’t order until the installer has measured and calculated . Their wallpapers are on a non-woven substrate , which can be hung by pasting the paper or by pasting the wall. I found that pasting the paper was the best option. More on installation techniques in a future post . Most non-wovens are stain-resistant and tear-resistant . And they are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece, with no / minimal damage to the wall when you redecorate some years later. One more thing about MTG wallpapers … Once you unroll them, and especially if you roll them backwards to get rid of the ” memory ” – the desire to stay tightly rolled up. If you unroll them, they unfurl and get stiff , and they spread out all over your room , and are difficult to corral for measuring , trimming , pasting , etc. All that considered, I do like this company. Mostly because of their innovative designs . They’re based in Transylvania , hence the bat on their label . If that doesn’t mean anything to you young ‘un’s , look up the book / movie / story / legend Dracula . And also because of (relative) ease of working with their material. See future posts for some techniques that were necessary with this brand . The home is in the West University Place / West U neighborhood of Houston
Beautiful tile backsplash and really fun sink . But boring walls .
Wallpaper to the rescue! The interior designer did a wonderful job of pulling together the gold geometric in the wallpaper design , with the gold faucet , and with the fluted lines of the sink . See previous post for more.
Bathroom before .
Done! The paper is a bit hard to see – but that’s much of the point … an understated , yet crisp and bright and modern feel to this newly renovated hall bathroom .
Another before shot . Transformed!
Look how nicely this wallpaper pattern and gold color coordinate with the backsplash tile and the gold faucet . See previous post for more .
The wallpaper looks translucent and delicate , like parchment paper – but it’s not. It’s a durable non-woven material , also called paste the wall . It is DIY friendly to install , and will strip off the wall easily and with minimal damage to the wall when you redecorate later. Look in the upper right corner of this photo, and you’ll see the glint of gold , as well as the raised ink in the lines design . This adds just a bit of depth and visual interest , even though the overall look and feel of the room is very spa – like and serene .
The brand is A Street Prints . This wallpaper was purchased below retail through Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village ( Houston ). She has 25+ years selling wallpaper and 300+ selection books – and she knows what’s in every one of them! So she can easily and quickly help you find your perfect pattern. Hours fluctuate, so call to make an appointment, and let her know what you’re searching for. (713) 529-6515
Close up of the really cool sink and backsplash , which reiterate the geometric theme – while adding some fluidity with the oval features of the sink .
And the new shower tile is a show-stopper! That diamond pattern across the entire shower would have been way overwhelming . The designer was so smart, to contain the angles to one wall and the toiletries niche . Look at the skill of the tile guy , to get the pattern so straight and centered ! Cool deep, soaking tub, too. See previous post for more.
Before. The new(ish) home has a Victorian look, with carved and stained molding , and the decorative corner pieces at the baseboard . And, yes, those corners are time consuming to trim around. Will post more on that another time.
Done. Since the Prada store is the most dominant motif , and also symmetrical , I centered them on the sink wall. This will look nice when the mirror goes back up, as they should be spaced equally on either side of the mirror.
The City Toiles line is very popular and features scores of cities in the U.S. and abroad. Fancy wrapping, too. These plastic bags are really heavy. I saved some to wrap my primer and paste roller covers in.
Katie Kime is the brand. Their paper is a little narrower than most brands, so doesn’t give quite the same coverage . It’s a pretty heavy vinyl , which should be fairly stain-resistant , on a non-woven backing , which makes for easier installation and then removal later. If I had my druthers, though, I’d prefer a thinner vinyl. KK does usually come with some relatively minor “issues,” which will be addressed in future posts.
The blue cabinets added a cottage feel, but the homeowner wanted more character and warmth. As a side note, I hung wallpaper in this kitchen back in the ’90’s. A few years ago, when they updated, the cabinets were painted blue , the paper was removed, and the backsplash area was painted white.  The homeowner liked the new look – but she always yearned for the warmth of wallpaper. Last year, I wallpapered two walls in the adjoining great room / family room . Now the homeowner wants to bring that pattern and color around and into the kitchen backsplash area. Didn’t get a photo of the family room .
So here it is finished. It’s just so much perkier!Close up. Even though the backsplash was originally painted white , the wallpaper makes the room so much brighter .Sink and window wall . 
The refrigerator is heavy , plus there isn’t much space for it to roll out of its niche without hitting the island. So the homeowners didn’t want it moved. We agreed to put the paper just around the appliance, rather than all the way on the wall behind it. Without moving the refrigerator. Yes, I was able to squeeze around, along, up, over, and down, and got wallpaper into the 2″ wide (narrow!) space next to the ‘fridge , all the way down to the baseboard. And also on the wall above it, which was tricky, because this is a really deep refrigerator and hard to lean over it and reach the back wall.
To match the opposite wall , which I had papered last year, the homeowner and I decided it would look good to have this final wall in the family room papered, too. (Originally it was painted a pretty spring green .) There isn’t a lot of wall space, but you can see the pattern creeping along the top of the windows , in that space just 2 3/8″ high . There’s also a narrow strip coming down between the window and the bookshelves , on the left side of the photo.  Just these little bits of pattern stand out against the white woodwork , and also make the whole room cohesive, because now that pattern is on three walls. The backs of the bookcases will remain painted green. 
Pattern nicely centered , behind the antique clock . 
The pattern is called Bramble , and is by Rifle Paper , a company that’s becoming very popular . Most of their patterns are cheerful and playful .  The material is what we call a non-woven / paste the wall . It’s nice to work with , durable, somewhat stain-resistant , and is designed to strip off the wall easily and with no damage to the wall when it’s time to redecorate.  The home is in the Bellaire area of Houston   installer
There is no pattern to be centered on this accent wall, so, instead of starting in the mid point of the wall, I’m going to hang my first strip in the corner.  The wall to the right is not straight, nor is it plumb. So I can’t butt my first strip of wallpaper up against it, because there would be gaps along the un-straight corner.  So I’m shooting a beam from my laser level, and I will position my first strip against that. I’ve placed the beam 1/2″ closer to the corner than the width of the wallpaper strip, which will force the right edge of the wallpaper to wrap 1/2″ around the corner. Then I can trim off that excess 1/2″, and the trimmed edge will conform to the slight variations in the un-straight wall / corner.  I’ve used flexible blue plastic tape to keep paste off that wall to the right. Do a search here to see posts about this technique. 
Here we go. My strip is hanging nice and plumb.  The wrinkles will be worked out as the wallpaper is smoothed and pressed against the wall.
I’m using Bosch brand self-leveling laser level that was purchased from Lowe’s .  Switch it to “locked” after use to protect the self-leveling mechanism. And remove the batteries to prevent drain while not in use. 
This particular brand of wallpaper is to be overlapped 1/2″ at the seams . Since there is no pattern to be matched , it’s hard to tell where to place the next strip. So I’ve measured where I want that next strip to fall, and I’m using the laser level as a guide .  The excess paper on the left edge will be trimmed off into the corner. Here you can see a bit of the blue plastic tape I use to keep paste off the paint of the adjoining wall. More about this in prior and future posts. 
Finished wall. Note the pattern is nicely centered in the middle of the space, and also aligns with the chandelier – although this photo angle is off-center .  The family has a console / credenza that will sit smack in the middle of this wall, so that’s why I measured and plotted to fit the pattern in the center.  The credenza is clear Lucite , and not much sits on top of it, so it will pretty much float away and disappear , leaving the wallpaper to take center stage. 
Here I’ve measured and found the center of the wall, and am positioning the first strip of wallpaper . Look closely and you’ll see the red line from my laser level running vertically in between the birds . 
Here’s a close-up
My Bosch laser level , purchased from Lowe’s Finished wall
The brand is Spoonflower , and this is their Pre-Pasted Smooth option. I don’t like their Traditional Pebble vinyl material, nor their Peel & Stick. But their pre-pasted, this I like a lot.  One down side is that, it does like to bubble. No matter how nice and smooth it was when you applied it to the wall, turn around 10 minutes later and it often will have developed bubbles .   This is due to what we call off-gassing , which is air created as the paste dries, and then trying to escape, but being trapped between the paper and the wall surface . Not sure why it happens with this brand, and not many others. (Note: It happens more with vinyl materials, which are not breathable, but pretty rare with paper like I’m install ing here.)  Can’t see clearly in this photo, but here’s a bit of a bubble. Small bubbles or blisters will flatten out and disappear as the wallpaper paste dries and the paper shrinks tight to the wall. But larger bubbles (size of a quarter or larger) are worrisome, and you can’t count on them drying flat.  So I always go over the walls and double check for bubbles / blisters . This needs to be done several times, because they continue to develop over time. 
One solution is to take a razor or other blade and poke a hole in the paper. I do this in a design element, which is less noticeable than in the middle of a blank area.  It’s important to poke just a small hole. And to cut through just the top layer of paper, and not into the primer or wall surface below.  Cutting into the wall surface can cause the various surfaces to pull apart, and end up with a delaminated surface. Do a search here to learn more. 
Once there’s a hole in the top layer of wallpaper, you’ve got an escape hatch for the air to slip out of. Here I’m using a plastic smoother to mush the air toward the hole and out. Because the hole is small, and because the wall might not be perfectly smooth and flat, you might need to do this several times.  Be careful not to burnish the wallpaper, nor to overwork it. Overworking – pressing too hard, chasing out tiny bubbles – can stretch the wallpaper, and can actually lead to more bubbling .  For most small bubbles, it’s hard, but – trust me – just give it dry time (in cases of solid vinyl goods, a couple of days) and most of the time these bubbles / blisters will disappear . 
These homeowners love to entertain , and they’re into Cocktail Culture ,,, as well as Fine Wine . This recessed bar niche is just adjacent to the dining room and living room . The cabinetry was recently repainted from white to black . The homeowner had a vision for a much more dramatic space.
Definitely got her wish!
Sometimes wallpaper will shrink when it dries , or maybe the factory didn’t get perfectly trimmed edges , and then you can get very narrow gaps at the seams . So prevent the white wallpaper primer from peeking out at the seams , I like to stripe the wall behind where the seams will fall with dark paint . The wallpaper primer is underneath that paint trying to do its job, so you don’t want a heavy coat of paint on top of it. So I dilute the paint with water. It’s not as dark as the wallpaper , no, but it’s much better than the stark white of the primed wall. You have to plot ahead of time where your seams will fall, and then use a level or laser level or ruler line to guide you, then swipe on the diluted paint .
I use craft paint from the hobby store / Texas Art Supply , diluted with water that I keep in that orange cap from a bottle of Gatorade , swiped on with a scrap of sponge , which is the black blob you see on the right . To get it to dry fast, I use a heat gun , which I had a nice picture of, but this HATED new WordPress editor has deleted my photo TWICE , and then deleted ALL MY TEXT and I’ve just spent 20 MINUTES trying to recover everything, so now I’m worn out and have no clue how to get that photo back, so you’ll just have to use your imagination. Actually, you can see a distant shot of the heat gun in the photo above this one . Oh, have I mentioned that I HATE THIS NEW WORDPRESS EDITOR . I’ve been battling it for years now. It’s added so much difficulty and time and stress to my nightly blogging. I’ve been working on this one post for more than an hour, downloading photos, typing, discovering that what I typed has been lost, trying to figure out how to recover the lost info, it’s after 4:00 a.m., I need to go to work in the morning, and I just really HATE WORDPRESS’s NEW FORMAT. Enough with that. Thanks for listening to my rant. Just helpless because WP forced this on us, as well as charging me $$ for my account, and it all REALLY REALLY SUCKS. I hope some WP executive (NOT an AI robot) reads this blog. Moving on, read below …
Another way to prevent white from showing at the seams is to use chalk to run along the edges of the paper to cover the white substrate , taking care to chalk just the edge and not the face . Note that many substances will stain wallpaper, so never use markers / Sharpies or oil pastels . Chalk or regular pastels are fine. Bits of the chalk will fall off, so do this over your dropcloths, and not where crumbs can fall onto and contaminate your work table.
I did a lot of math and engineering to get the pattern centered on this wall, while keeping the pattern intact as it moved across the other two walls. Because it’s centered here, the two flanking walls mirror each other. Not shown, but I also worked it out so that a particular part of the reptilian hide would be on both of the far outside corners of the niche’s walls.
Close up Closer-up, with electrical outlet for size reference. This is an embossed vinyl material , which gives it the textured 3D tactile effect. This is a good example of the actual color , too. This does come in other colors, as well. Also, if you’re going to be hanging this, know that this design does have a pattern match. But, because all these little alligator scales look alike, it’s extremely hard to find. Even more difficult because it’s a drop match . I’ve hung this a number of times, and I’ve learned that the pattern match isn’t important, on this pattern. Match it or don’t match it – it all looks the same. So go ahead and treat it like a random match . You can even reverse-hang it, which helps a bit to reduce color variations at the seams.
The brand is Super Fresco Easy . It’s very good quality , thin , flexible non-woven material (not stiff like what I hung and blogged about yesterday). Tear-resistant , dimensionally-stable (won’t expand when wet with paste , nor shrink as the paste dries ), stain-resistant , and will strip off the wall easily and in one piece , with no damage to the wall * when you redecorate. *Provided that the wall was prepped and primed correctly and the proper paste and installation techniques were used.
Here’s another finished photo. I don’t know why it’s tinted pink, but – what the heck – it’s a cool space … Enjoy!
Spa tub area before Done. Note flowers centered on flat wall behind the bathtub . All white just isn’t doing anything for this room. Soft colors and a little shimmer are warm and soothing . Some of the green foliage shows up better depending on the angle you’re viewing from. Scroll to bottom of wall . Getting around these outside corners , and inside corners , was really tricky . I was really pleased with the way the paper performed.
Close-up. OK, I see the parsley. But who threw in the “cow” part?? Weird name, pretty design . I’ve had a couple of clients interested in this pattern .
The brand is Sanderson , a British company. Usually this brand comes in what we call a non-woven or paste the wall material , which is strong , durable , stain-resistant , dimensionally-stable , and strips off the wall easily when you redecorate. Today’s install , however, was none of these. The material is what we call a traditional British pulp . Which has a beautiful matt finish , and hugs the wall tightly. BUT … pulp papers are darned tricky to hang , and require special care while using the room. They are stiff , brittle , get soggy when wet with paste and tear easily , they drag and rag and tear when you try to trim with even a sharp , new blade , are not flexible . They also have no protective coating , so are easily stained by hands , water , toiletries , etc. And not a simple process to remove them, when you redecorate . Still, they’re lovely , classic materials and add an elegance to the room that modern papers cannot . Suffice it to say, with all the angles and turns , and the delicate material , this master / primary bathroom took me two days to prime and hang . More on installation techniques in a future post. The home is in the Memorial Park / Rice Military / Crestwood / Bayou Bend area of central Houston . cowparsley
The Wallpaper Lady's Blog 