Fun Over-the-Door Kill Point With Swirled Damask

Often when hanging wallpaper, you start in a corner. As you work your way around the room and make your way back to that corner, and your final strip meets up with the first strip, this virtually always results in a pattern mis-match (not shown). That’s why we try to hide it behind a door or in another inconspicuous place. But sometimes, as in this powder room, there is no out-of-the-line-of-sight corner to put the “kill point,” as we call it. I think the room looks better when the pattern matches in all four corners (as in the photo).

So, instead of ending with an 8′ long pattern mis-match in a corner of this room, I decided to put it in a 1′ high area over the door – where not many people are going to be looking, anyway. Here is the gap where my last strip (on the right) will meet up with the first strip (on the left) .

Positioning the last strip in place.

Here I have overlapped the final strip on top of the first strip. Amazingly, the pattern looks like it matches. (The pattern doesn’t really match, but the design is so similar that no one is going to detect the difference.)

Once the strip on the left is overlapped onto the strip on the right, I’m ready to make a double cut – a fancy term for a splice. I cut through both layers of wallpaper – in this case squiggling a little to follow the contours of the design, rather than make a sharp straight cut. In the photo, I’m removing the cut-off piece from the top layer.

Here I have removed both cut-off pieces, from the top and bottom layers, and am getting ready to fit the two remaining strips together.

Strips smoothed together, pasted wiped off the surface, and this looks pretty darned good!

Here I’ve done a few touch-ups with pencil, to soften the look of the two very small motifs that got chopped off straight. A little more artistry with colored pencils, chalk, or paint would disguise these even more.

It’s important to note that you don’t want to make your splice directly on the wall. You don’t want to risk that your razor blade could score the wall surface. Because if the wall becomes un-intact, when the wallpaper dries and shrinks and puts torque / tension on the seam (and this doesn’t always happen right away … it can happen over time, with changes in temperature and humidity), it can cause the disturbed / cut portion of wall to delaminate and pull apart. This means that this weak point in the wall can come apart, resulting in a seam that pops open, taking interior layers of the wall with it. This is a lot harder to fix than a strip of wallpaper that simply comes loose from the wall. The best way to prevent this is to not cut into the wall in the first place. The best way to ensure that is to use something to protect the wall when you make your cut. Some people pad the wall with scrap wallpaper, or strips of old vinyl. But I much prefer these ingenious strips of polycarbonate plastic (pictured). They are thin and flexible, but hard enough that there is no way you could push a razor blade through them. They’re about 2.5″ wide, and come in rolls of … I forget how many feet are on a roll. If you are interested in getting your hands on some of this stuff, send me a Message, or email me at wallpaperlady@att.net

Traditional Swirled “Deconstructed” Damask for West Houston Powder Room

Powder room prepped, primed, and ready to hang.

Done.

Rear corner.

Rear corner done. This pattern isn’t a true damask, but it has the classic elements, so I’m calling it a deconstructed damask. It has swirls thrown into the mix.

The scratch design makes it feel antiqued and “old world.” In addition, the vinyl material has a textured surface, so it comes across something like an oil painting.

Manufacturer of this solid vinyl material is Norwall.

From Tired Tuscan Mural to Subtly Elegant Textured Damask

This “Tuscan View” hand-painted mural was well done, but the new homeowners didn’t love it. They wanted the family room of their 1970’s era ranch-style home to coordinate with the living room (which I papered and blogged about a few months ago – Search on words like “cork” and “damask” to see pics).

The new wallpaper is a silver cork product with a large white damask pattern printed on top. It is a cross between contemporary (silver) and traditional (damask), and adds glamor (silver) and elegance (damask) all at the same time.

I hung this for a family with young children in the Pasadena neighborhood of Houston. 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.

Mottley Gold Damask in River Oaks Dining Room

The lady of the house likes glitter and bling, but didn’t want to over do it in the dining room. She also didn’t want anything too rigid or precise.

This rather scratchy, indistinct damask by York works perfectly. There’s a bit of glitter, but not overwhelming, plus a light texture that adds a pleasing effect.

This is a non-woven material, and so could be hung using the paste-the-wall method, which works nicely for an accent / feature wall like this.

In the last photo, you see me measuring off the strips, rolling them backwards (to prevent the surface from bopping into the pasted wall), and lining them up in the order they will be hung on the wall. Because I pasted the wall, there was no need for me to haul in my big work / pasting table. The PTW method is also very clean, because pastes goes on the wall only, so no messy wet scraps and no need to wipe paste off the woodwork.

Gorgeous, Traditional Dining Room Revisited

I hung this cream-on-blue classic damask pattern wallpaper in the dining room of a home in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston a few months ago. I was back today to wallpaper another room, and couldn’t resist taking a picture of this beautiful room, all decked out for a dinner party.

The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos, of Cokinos Design.

Sparkling Glitzy Damask Accent Wall for Teen Girl’s Bedroom

Combine glamour, tradition, and sparkle, and you get this large-scale damask pattern for an accent wall for this “girly girl’s” bedroom near West University Place in Houston.

If you are standing at the right spots, you can see the built-in sparkle and glimmer on the wallpaper.

This material was a non-woven, so I could use the paste-the-wall method (instead of hauling in my large and cumbersome work table). N-W’s have a high fiberglass content and are hard to tear. They are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece, when it’s time to redecorate.

Like many of the N-W’s, this one has a vinyl type surface, so will hold up to some dirt and washings, and resist some bops and dings, as well.

This particular N-W product did tend to crease very easily (see second-to-last photo), so it was important to handle it delicately.

The wallpaper is by Fine Decor Wallcoverings, 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.

Sparkly Pink for a Little Girl’s Bathroom

Everything in Mom’s room has a bit of shimmer, mirror, crystal, rhinestone, or sheen. The little girl’s room is no different – except add in a large dose of pink.

So this pink damask wallpaper pattern with its highlights of silver glitter are the perfect compliment for two accent walls in her bathroom.

One was the mirror wall over the sink (not pictured) and the other was the recessed alcove wall behind the toilet.

This is an embossed (textured) vinyl product on a paper substrate, by Royal House. The home is right along Braes Bayou, in the Braes Heights / Stella Link area of Houston.

Classic Look in Historic Home in the Woodland Heights

This large 2-story home was built way back in 1985 – a whole 12 years before the Woodland Heights (Houston) neighborhood in which it sits was platted and developed. It just underwent a major renovation, but retains most of its original details, such as floor plan, windows, moldings, flooring, pocket doors, and much more. There are several large, regal live oak trees on the property.

The homeowner chose this classic damask pattern with a weathered look for all four walls of the dining room. It perfectly suits the room.

It took me about two hours of measuring, plotting, engineering, hanging, removing, re-hanging, yada, to get the design to perfectly flank either side of the window. All that work was worth it, to have the design fall symmetrically. But the real show-stopper is the view of those oak trees through the window!

This wallpaper is by Designer Wallpapers, and is lovely to work with. The interior designer for the job is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design. She is the go-to designer in the Heights for whole-house remodels and new builds.

I threw in a photo of my work table, just for fun.

Tune in tomorrow, to see the finished room!

You Never Know What You’ll Find Underneath Old Wallpaper

The tan damask wallpaper in this West U powder room is a true classic, but it doesn’t fit the homeowners’ more modern taste. This week I will replace it with a lighter colored textured material.

Today I removed the old wallpaper. What a surprise to find this underneath! At first, I couldn’t figure out what it was, and thought maybe it was some king of particleboard.

But once I got more wallpaper stripped off the wall, it was clear that this was a professionally-done faux finish job in silver and charcoal. It coordinated nicely with the black granite countertop and display cabinet.

Textured Vinyl Faux Grasscloth in West U Powder Room

The homeowner waited 13 years to do away with the classic damask wallpaper in the powder room of their home in the West University neighborhood of Houston. That’s what happens to your plans when you buy a home and get sidetracked by kids, career, community, yada.

There was nothing wrong with the original gold damask pattern, but it was dark and it didn’t suit the homeowners’ taste. They were originally looking at grasscloth – but, luckily, listened to my many reasons to avoid that material (see page link at right).

They took my suggestion and went with this textured vinyl faux woven grasscloth by Thibaut called Bankun Raffia.

This material has the texture and depth of color that people are loving these days, but is (mostly) free of the color variations and fragility of real grasscloth.

Bankun Raffia is a commercial-grade material, so it is resistant to dings, splashed water, stains, fingerprints, and little boys with bad aim. 🙂

It’s harder to work with than regular wallcoverings, because it is thick and stiff and hard to cut and hard to make turn corners or work into tight spaces.

The finished look is tailored and serene, and a lot brighter. In the photo with my finger, you can see the textured surface and fauxed color application.

This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, 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.