This accent wall in a home office in Cypress ( Houston ) has a long story of mishaps, frustration, and $$. Originally, the interior designer had suggested Feather Bloom grasscloth / sisal by Schumacher . I prepped the wall and prepared to hang the paper. But we discovered printing defects (very, very common with Schumacher), and other issues. Search here to see my previous posts. We had to abort the install that day. This turned out to be a good thing, because, truth be told, the homeowners really didn’t like the Feather Bloom, but felt a little pressured to go with it. So back to the vendor the ugly duckling went. Then the homeowners took their time without the designer’s input, to look at wallpaper selections and purchase $1 samples they could see, feel, and tack up to the wall. Their new choice (below) fits their style, color scheme, and pocket book much better (this option cost thousands less than the Schumacher). The actual purchase was made through Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams store in the Rice Village (713) 529-6515. Everything was done over the phone, and, to save the homeowners driving all the way into the city, I picked up the paper for them and delivered it to their home on install day. Starting in the middle of the wall so I can place the very symmetrical pattern dead in the center of the wall. The colors in the paper work beautifully with the green cabinets you see to the left. And I love the way the airy feel and foliage and flowers compliment the open-air view outside the window. This pattern is reminiscent of designs by William Morris, a designer of the Arts & Crafts period around the turn of the 20th Century. I’m seeing a lot of interest in these patterns of late. Apelviken , Midbec , 33006 , A Street Prints , Spring, non-woven material made in Sweden , was very nice to work with and will hold up well for many, many years. I installed using the paste-the-wall method , although you could also paste the paper.
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).
Before, with new Sheetrock on the wall to the right, and some of the paper removed by the contractor around areas where he was working. He added crown molding at the top of the wall, so removed a few inches of wallpaper below the molding. This is preferable to him putting the molding right on top of the wallpaper.
What a pretty room this was, when I finished it just two years or so ago. But a few months ago, the homeowner noticed a pink spot low on the wallpaper. I told her it looked like the dreaded shade of pink linked with mold.
Turned out it was. Somehow or other, moisture had gotten inside the wall and allowed mold to grow, and it was working its way through the drywall and wallpaper. A contractor ripped out the wall, repaired the problem, and then it was my turn to replace the wallpaper.
Since one whole wall and parts of two others were affected, and because crown molding had been added which changed how the pattern hit the top of the wall, replacing all the paper in the room made the most sense.
I stripped off the remaining wallpaper, primed the areas of new drywall, and rehung the room.
The pattern is called Gisele, and is by Thibaut, one of my favorite companies.
The home is in Cypress, a far northwest suburb of Houston.
I hung this paper maybe a year before the Pandemic. It was a pretty new home, in the Towne Lake are of Cypress (NW Houston). Now, two or three years later, this pink patch has developed on the lower part of the powder room wall that backs up to the garage.
To me, my experience says this is mold.
There’s gotta be moisture inside the wall coming from somewhere.
The homeowner has already contacted the builder (thank goodness for warrantees!) and it’s certain that much of this wall will be torn out. Once the leak is fixed, the mold has been remediated, and the drywall patched, I will come in and replace the wallpaper.
This will entail either the one wall. Or possibly redoing the entire room.
The wallpaper is by Thibaut, and is called “Giselle.” The homeowner will replace it with exactly the same pattern and colorway.
Before. Smoothed, primed, and ready for wallpaper.After. It’s more of a “dusty salmon” than a true “pink.” The parents are leaning toward a light sage green for the remaining three walls.Close up.Mock-up. While this is a typical repeating pattern, the manufacturer chose to package it as a mural, rather than standard rolled goods. This format works well with digital printing, and allows murals to be custom-sized to fit any wall. (Note: This mural is only offered in a standard size, 12′ wide x 9′ high.)Rolling panels out on the floor to check measurements, plot placementManufacturer is Koko Art, a family-owned business in Florida.
With its black outlines and over-scaled flowers, this pattern is a bit bolder than you see in most nurseries. But the muted tans and salmons keep the look soft and sweet.
The remaining walls will be painted, but Mom wanted to see the mural up on the wall and in the room’s lighting before she chooses a paint color.
This product was packaged as a 6-panel mural. While many murals these days are custom-sized to the customer’s wall, this one came in a set size – 12′ W x 9′ H. It’s important that the mural be 4″ wider and also 4″ higher than your wall, to accommodate trimming at floor, ceiling, and corners, and to accommodate wonky walls and unlevel ceilings.
Koko Art Shop offers three substrate options. Two were peel & stick, so I nixed that sorrowful stuff. Instead, the family chose this lovely pre-pasted option. It went up very nicely.
The home is in an established community in Cypress, far northwest Houston.
Oh, and – the baby girl was born early this morning. It was an honor to help get the room decorated and ready for her arrival home!
Walls were originally mud-brown. Here my wallpaper primer has been applied. So lively and fresh!Close-up.Detail. It looks like a water color artist has taken his brush to the walls.Wallquest – one of my preferred brands.
A once-drab, cookie-cutter powder room in a new build in Cypress (far northwest Houston) is now airy and fresh, thanks to this water color-y pattern of trees, leaves, and birds.
The manufacturer is Wallquest, and the wallpaper was purchased at Ballard Designs. This well-loved mail order company has a brand new actual store on W. Gray in River Oaks / Montrose (Houston). They sell a number of wallpaper brands (good quality and medium price range), and have designers with extensive wallpaper experience available to help you (call before heading over).
Perfectly centered wallpaper pattern on one accent wall over the sinks in a master bathroom. Th manufacturer is Designer Wallpapers
A fresh, clean look for a master bath in a new home in the Cypress neighborhood of far northwest Houston.
You don’t see a lot of accent walls in bathrooms; usually I recommend that baths look better with all the walls papered. But I have to admit, once the homeowner adds the mirrors and light fixtures, this will be a crisp, fun look.
this paper was purchased through the showroom at the brand new Ballard Designs brick-and-mortar store on W. Gray in the River Oaks / Montrose neighborhood of Houston.
What a bright, cheery look this light-hearted floral pattern brought to this powder room in a new home in the Cypress (Bridgland) area of Houston!
Look at how great it looks with the blue glass vessel sink!
The wallpaper is by Brewster, and is a very flexible non-woven material with what feels like a vinyl surface. It was pre-pasted, which I had not seen before in a non-woven (other than SureStrip, which is a completely different product).
I thought the material was too “fluid” to run through a water tray, plus I wanted to avoid over-saturating the backing. So I pasted the back instead. This turned out to be a good path, because it went up beautifully, and the seams were virtually invisible.
This 20-something gal’s bedroom is filled with glitter, sparkle, and mirrored furniture. She wanted to pull in the color purple, and, with help of my suggested source below, she found the perfect pattern, and it incorporated her favorite color, plus a bit of silver sheen thrown in!
This wallpaper went on one accent wall, behind the large, tufted headboard.
The photos are throwing off the perspective a bit. In person, you notice the circular and diamond design motifs much more than the vertical swipes. It’s a super look to finish this room.
This wallpaper pattern is by Wallquest, a good company, and was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
The home is in the Towne Lake neighborhood of northwest Houston.
The walls and ceiling in this large powder room in a newish home in the Bridgeland Creek neighborhood of Cypress (northwest Houston) were originally a dark gold. I like dark rooms, but this one felt oppressive. It needed to be a little lighter, and to have a bit more interest on the walls.
The walls had a heavy texture, typical of new homes in the suburbs of Houston. I skim-floated the walls, then let dry overnight. The next day, I sanded the walls smooth, wiped off the dust, primed – and then was ready to hang wallpaper.
The pictures don’t adequately show the color of the new grasscloth, but we have natural brown grass color overlaid onto a really deep blue paper backing. The designer had the ceiling painted a dark, sort of murky blue, which coordinates really nicely with the blue in the grasscloth.
Lighting is funny … While I was working in the room, I had two 100 watt light bulbs; one suspended from the ceiling and one attached to where the light fixture belongs. The grasscloth just looked “normal.”
But once the room’s decorative light fixture went back up, it cast light on the textured surface in such a way that the “nubs” and knots really showed up! (see photo) The homeowner loved it!
As a note … With grasscloth, there is no pattern match, and you can also plan on seeing color differences between strips. So it’s important to plot where your seams will fall.
The electrical box, the light fixture, and the faucet were all in different vertical positions on the wall. Because the mirror would take up most of the wall behind the faucet and block the seam, I chose to center the seam on the light fixture, because it would be visible above the mirror. Well – sort of visible … as you can see, light rays from the fixture are so strong that no one can see where the seam is, anyway. 😦
The room had a “floating” sink. One of the photos shows the area under the sink. This area is open to view, and, because there are so many obstacles, it is difficult and time-consuming to wrap the paper underneath and trim around all those pipes and brackets.
The grasscloth wallpaper is by York. I was pretty pleased with the consistency of the material. Although some of the strips did present “paneling” and “shading” – color variances between strips – even strips that came off the same bolt and that were reverse-hung. One strip even had a rather abrupt color change mid-way from top to bottom. (no photo)
But that’s par for the course with grasscloth, and it’s considered to be “the natural beauty of this natural material.”
The interior designer for this project is Neal LeBouef, of L Design Group.
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