Unwrapped Bolt – What’s Wrong With This Picture?

This is how the homeowner’s wallpaper arrived – no label, no wrapper, and with two fingerprints marring the first two feet of paper (upper edge, in both rectangles).

This is one of the problems with buying wallpaper off the Internet. This came from a site that sells clothing, jewelry, shoes, and – oh yeah … home accessories, too.

The price may be very cheap.

But you have no idea what you are getting. For instance, this company’s website give virtually no information, other than the dimensions of the bolt, the color, and that it’s printed with water-based ink on “quality wallpaper.” I guess that to an unschooled homeowner, that sounds good. But to a paperhanger, that provided virtually no useable information.

But what’s worse is that many of these outlet type websites are buying up and reselling discontinued, damaged, or returned goods from other sources. That’s why this paper has no wrapper or label. There is no way to know the run number of the bolts she has – so they may well be slightly different shades, which will be unacceptable on her wall.

These companies don’t have a salesperson who is knowledgeable about wallpaper. They have an order-taker, and a guy in the warehouse who runs and grabs some rolls off the shelf, paying no attention to run numbers or condition of the rolls.

I’ve hung this paper before, and know that it’s made by an established manufacturer (as opposed to a “boutique” company with some paper and a digital printer and dubious quality). Even though it would cost a bit more, it would be much preferable to buy wallpaper from the manufacturer itself, or, better, from a local retail store (not a box store) specializing in and knowledgeable about wallpaper.

You’ll have someone who can help you with accurate measurements, the various types of substrates, run numbers, double and single rolls, availability (discontinued patterns), shipping times, and who can easily straighten out any problems if they should occur.

For my recommendations on where to buy wallpaper, see the page at right “Where to Buy Wallpaper In Houston.”

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Skulls, Brains, or Leopards?

From a distance, do you see skulls? The homeowner’s daughter says this pattern looks like brains. But move closer, and you will see the real design motif – leopards! They are cleverly intertwined into a trellis pattern. I love the fool-the-eye effect!

I hung this in a powder room in a home in Bellaire (Houston) that was damaged by flooding from Hurricane Harvey. (I hung the original paper when the family bought the home in 1992.) The family has moved back into their home, and using something quirky and fun in the powder room has added a lot of personality to the newly finished space.

This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, and was bought at below retail price from 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.

Color Difference Due To Fading Over The Years

I hung this original paper more than 15 years ago. Some areas had become stained, so I was called to fix it. Luckily, the homeowner had saved the left over paper, so there was enough to replace the damaged strips.

You can see a slight difference in color between the strip on the left, which was hung 15 years ago and has been exposed to light all that time, and the strip on the right, which has been stored in a dark closet until I put it up today.

Soring Birds Day Dream in a Baby’s Nursery

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What a well-loved pattern for babies’ rooms! This soon-to-be-with-us baby in a Spring Branch (Houston) home has a lovely new nursery. I have hung this many times, but this is the first time in this colorway.

The pattern is called “Day Dream” and is by Hygge & West, an on-line company. It comes in many colors, and fits into many rooms or themes.

The second photo shows me about to hang the first strip, having plotted the layout so the bird will fall down the center of the wall, and using my laser level (the red line on the wall) to keep the paper plumb.

Hygge & West papers can be challenging to hang. The seams curl and the paper waffles. The second-to-last photo shows the slight curling at the seams where ink falls on the seams, which is common to their paper. However, this time, I had much less difficulty with the paper in general….It laid flat without waffling or wrinkling, and there was very little curling at the seams. I hope that this means that the H & W team has listened to us out here in the field, and has started to use a better substrate and ink formula.

Still, they could use some help in packaging their merchandise for shipping – the final photo shows damaged ends of rolls of paper, due to being banged about during shipping. Unfortunately, all of the rolls were banged up, and the damage went deep into each bolt – meaning that I couldn’t cut around and discard the damaged areas. Since this pattern has a lot of open space, there isn’t much pattern to disguise these bashed areas, so they are going to show on the wall.

Beautifully Packaged Wallpaper

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One of my big rants is about wallpaper that has banged up edges, due to being bashed about during shipping. “All the manufacturer has to do is add a little bubble wrap,” I say. Some companies use thin cardboard “collars” around the ends of the bolts – but these end up being too tight and crimping the wallpaper, which creates dents and scars.

Well, this manufacturer went a mile beyond, and came up with a way to keep the bolts of paper free from any shipping damage.

Each roll of wallpaper is encased in a plastic sleeve. At either end of each roll is a “puck” made of corrugated cardboard (not visible in the photo), custom-cut to fit the diameter of the bolt, and with a tab in the center that pokes into the center of the bolt of rolled up wallpaper, ensuring that it stays in place. All inside that plastic sleeve.

Then each of those bundles is placed inside a custom-tailored-to-fit box made of cushioned corrugated cardboard; one double roll of wallpaper to a box.

Then all of those boxes were placed inside a large shipping box, also made of cushy corrugated cardboard.

This is by far the best thought-out and most-effective protective wrapping I have ever seen. Every single bolt of wallpaper arrived in perfect condition.

The product line is A-Street Prints, and the manufacturer is Brewster.