Ditch the Peel & Stick! – Powder Room Re-Do

The homeowner wanted a tropical , jungle , palm , sorta wild look for her powder room .   She unfortunately had not read my link (to the right) about the perils and misleading claims re peel & stick “wallpaper.”  So she bought some and attempted to cover the walls in her powder room.
First mistake was purchasing this stuff in the first place.  Second was trying to hang over textured walls .  Third was not having a properly smoothed , sealed and cured surface.  Beyond that, just the concept of peel and stick material is a project doomed to fail.  IMO
Note wrinkles and warps in the material. Paper not adhering .

More wrinkles and warps.  Gap at seam over door .

Paper looked good when she put it up, but seam split / opened within a short time .  This is characteristic of P&S wallpaper , especially if the walls have not been prepped as spec’ed.

So now the P&S has been removed , I’ll step in and skim-float the textured wall to smooth it , prime, and then we’ll be ready for wallpaper .  REAL wallpaper !

Done.  No wrinkles , no warps , good adherence .  She found a pattern that was very similar to her original choice , but more visually pleasing , I think, because it’s less “spiky.”  A good idea of hers was to paint the sink / mirror wall , as this pattern on all four walls could have been overwhelming .
This is a traditional wallpaper , install ed by pasting the paper .   It’s good quality , seams were flat and invisible , and it was nice to work with. 

Close up.

Closer-up.

Just tossing in this photo of how I use a baby’s T-shirt to protect the toilet seat cover .
I guess I forgot to take a photo of the label, but this is made by Designer Wallpaper .  Pattern number is TA20004 .  Oddly, when I Google this, I get pattern names of Jamaica and Tortuga .  And also get the brand name Seabrook .  Wallquest took over Seabrook, but leaving the old brand name on older patterns .
My best suggestion here is, if you want this wallpaper pattern, contact Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village of Houston (713) 529-6515 .  She is the master at tracking down patterns and all things wallpaper.
The home is in the Timbergrove / Heights neighborhood of Houston .
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Wallpaper in Better Homes & Gardens Magazine , May 2023 Issue

I always love to see wallpaper featured in a national publication . BH&G often does. This particular issue is also full of color and pattern – a nice shift away from the all-white or all-grey , minimalist look popular these days. Not all the articles included brand / pattern number , but similar designs can be found easily enough, especially if you visit my favorite source Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village .

Delightfully bold and dark works wonderfully in a small powder room .

A little calmer .

More Bohemian / Indian / Middle East vibe.

Just please don’t get peel & stick . Ever. Read my info page link to the right.

Reminds me of postage stamps .

Beautiful Art Nouveau inspired design . Spoonflower makes lovely paper – as long as you get their pre-pasted smooth and not any other of their options. They have really innovative , fun patterns, too.
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Tailored Menswear Textured Wallpaper for Entry Foyer

Before. Way too much white!

A handsome new look. The homeowners are going to paint the bottom area below the chair rail a softer white. They were waiting for the wallpaper to be in place before making a decision on a coordinating paint color .

Looking toward dining room and family room .

Coat closet and hall leading to bath s and bedroom s.

I like to say that a texture like this is reminiscent of a man’s tweed suit . The material itself is an embossed vinyl , so has actual texture to it. It’s color is pretty consistant . This is a great alternative to real grasscloth – a product that presents many disappointing variations in color .

Close up of texture and color . Note the bits of gold that reflect light . The homeowners hung a large mirror with a dark gold frame , which really set off against the wallpaper. (dumb me didn’t think to take a picture!)

The wallpaper is by A Street Prints , under the Brewster umbrella. It’s a non-woven / paste the wall product , and was easy to install . Because NW contains 20% polyester , it is strong and durable . The vinyl surface is resistant to stains . It’s designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece and with no damage to the walls when it’s time to redecorate .
A very good alternative to real grasscloth or other natural materials .
This purchased through Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village. Wed – Sat , call first, please. (713) 529-6515 The homeowners made an appointment and then brought Dorota photos of their room, the floor , the mirror , along with their vision for the space. Dorota immediately went to the shelf and pulled out the selection book and opened it to this option. The couple loved it immediately! They did look at and consider other patterns and also ordered samples , but ultimately went with their first choice – this one.
The home is in the Tanglewood / Galleria area of Houston . installer

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Kill Point Over Door

aaHere’s what this flowing viny wallpaper pattern looks like in this dining room in the Garden Oaks / Oak Forest neighborhood of Houston . The bottom 1/3 of the wall is block paneling / wainscoting , so the wallpaper on just the area above is not overwhelming .
A kill point is the place in a room where your last strip of wallpaper meets up with the first strip you hung . this virtually always results in a pattern mis-match . So we try to hide that in an inconspicuous place, such as in a corner behind a door .
In this room, all of the corners are very visible . A mismatched corner of 7′ high would be very noticeable .

So in this room, I was able to cleverly disguise the mis-match in a much shorter area, over a door . This is only 6″ high . Here my first strip is on the left, and my last strip is on the right, with two short strips needed to bridge that gap .

Here the strip on the right has been put into place.

Here’s the piece that will butt up against the strip on the left. Eeek! It’s 1/2″ too narrow to cover the gap. Also, as you can see, there is an obvious pattern mis-match at that seam on the right.

look at this tree branch . I’m going to use that to my advantage.

Here I’ve taken another piece and have matched the pattern on the right side. Note that it’s not matching on th left.

Here I am, back to that strip we saw a few photos ago, that will match with the strip on the left. Remember tha tree branch I pointed out? Here I’ve trimmed the wallpaper vertically along that tree branch .

Here I’m putting it into place, butting it up against the strip on the left, and overlapping the strip on the right. But that’s going to leave a vertical ridge under this strip, where the strip underneath it ends on the left.

But you won’t notice that overlap if it runs under a design motif . Here I’m using a pencil to trace the outline of that tree branch, bringing it in so that the tree branch will overlap just 1/8″ – 1/4″ over the strip on the right.
Note that since the surface of this paper is vinyl , and wallpaper paste doesn’t always adhere well to slick plastic , I’ve used a special border paste or vinyl over vinyl or seam repair adhesive just on this small 1/8″ overlapped area .

Strip on the right trimmed to conform to the curves of the tree branch.

Tree branch piece being put into place.

Tree branch strip trimmed and finished.

SDone and viewed from below. OK, so the pattern doesn’t match 100% perfectly the way the designer intended. Some of the motifs are closer together than they “should” be. From here, who the heck is going to notice?! This looks pretty darned good – and it looks way better than having a 7′ long mis-match in a very visible corner .

The pattern is called Twining and is by Graham & Brown . It has a very light texture , and also a slight
metallic sheen on the branches . It’s a non-woven / paste the wall material , and will strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate . I like their papers a lot .
You can purchase G&B from Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village . Call first, as hours vary. (713) 529-6515 .
Here’s another cool thing … Go back to that first photo. Since I started hanging paper by centering the pattern between the two windows on the wall to the right (not visible in the photo), by the time I worked my way around to the wall between the windows you see in front of you, the pattern was not going to be centered in between the windows. I thought it would look better if it was balanced symmetrically. So I positioned the dominant part of the tree branches in between the windows. And then I used the same overlap-and-disguise trick over the window on the right.

Geometric on Tricky Outside Corner

OK, never mind the ’80’s-era toilet paper holder that’s recessed into the wall here and is not removable – which presents a challenge all its own. My issue is adding the next strip of wallpaper to the left, turning the corner, and keeping the pattern matched as well as possible in both the inside corner and around the outside corner.
Usually, when turning inside corners, you wrap the paper around the corner 1/8 of an inch, and then cut a new strip of paper, match the pattern, and then overlap it that 1/8″ . That helps eliminate issues like mis-matches or wrinkles due to crooked corners or uneven / bowed / out-of-plumb walls . (no walls are ever perfect )
But in this case, we also have an outside corner to wrap. Even though it’s only about 2″ wide, that edge can cause the pattern to go off-plumb , or to create wrinkles in the wallpaper .
Going against most rules of wallpapering , I’ve decided to wrap the next strip around this 2″ wide wall and then onto the wider wall to the left .

Here I am, starting to position that next strip. I’m not going to try to wrap a full 27″ wide strip around this turn. Instead, I’ve trimmed it vertically along a horizontal stripe , which makes this strip narrower and more easy to handle , and also will help in placement of the next strip.

Now I’m pushing it into place into that corner. Note how the paper is wrinkling, both on the wide wall, and as it comes around the 2″ wall.

Another shot of the placement and wrinkles .

Using my plastic squeegee smoother to press the paper tightly into the inside corner. Note that, since the corner isn’t perfectly straight or plumb, there were a few areas where I couldn’t press the paper tightly into the wall, but had to leave a bit of a gap or air bubble, in order for the left edge to wrap around the turn.
The plastic smoother can also be used to gently push out wrinkles on the larger body of the strip of paper to the right. Don’t press too hard , nor overwork , because you don’t want to stretch the paper – that will cause more wrinkles.

The plastic smoother took care of the inside corner. Here I’m using my damp microfiber cloth to tightly press the paper around this outside corner .

OK. Paper’s wrapped tightly around this corner – but, because the corner isn’t straight , we’ve got wrinkles and warps .

Sometimes, you need to take a scissors to make relief cuts to help ease the paper around the corner . Try to make your cuts along an element of the design , to make the slit less noticeable.

here is that little narrow bit, finally wrapped around the outside corner. Now we need to add the next strip to the left of this. Note that this narrow strip isn’t straight nor plumb nor equidistant from the corner that we just turned. Nor is it equidistant from the next corner we have to deal with, which is to the left (not pictured).
Since we want the wallpaper strips to match in the corners, it’s important that the wallpaper pattern fall in the corner to the left at the same point from ceiling to floor. Complicated to explain.

So I’m taking a fresh strip of wallpaper , made sure the pattern matches correctly , and have trimmed it vertically along the tan stripe . Now placing it along this wrapped edge.
Because I’m overlapping instead of butting , I’m able to pull the new strip to the right or left, to keep it equidistant from the right outside corner . Or, from the inside corner to the left.
Actually, I don’t care much about the right side. The eye won’t notice if the new strip isn’t perfectly plumb . Nor will it notice if the pattern match isn’t 100% perfect . But it will notice if the pattern doesn’t match perfectly in the inside corner to the left.
So I’m pulling and manipulating and overlapping the strip a bit, so that the left edge of it is exactly 10-3/4″ from the left edge. This ensures that the pattern motifs fall all at the same point into that corner on the left.
Do I can cut my next strip, trim it vertically so the design matches with that in the corner, and get a perfect pattern match in the corner. Kinda difficult to explain, but I hope you can follow what I’m describing.

Note that this overlap is causing a bit of a ridge under the paper . Hard to see here, but when the paper dries and shrinks tight against the wall, it will be a little more obvious. But I’d rather have a ridge on the right, than a pattern mis-match in the corner to the left.
Oh, and never mind that little pattern mis-match to the right … that’s the paper wrapped around the corner, so you’re looking at different dimensions, not a pattern mis-match.

Here is that strip finished. The vertical strips isn’t perfectly plumb, but no one can tell that.
ut the pattern is perfectly straight in the inside corner to the left . So when I take my subsequent strip and trim it vertically to remove the right edge by approximately 10-3/4″ , the pattern should match perfectly in this inside corner. (It did!)

This “sort of” Greek key trellis geometric design is by Thibaut , one of my favorite brands. It was on a triditional paper substrate , and was hung via the paste the paper method .
It was purchased from my favortite source for wallpaper in Houston , Dorota Hartwig at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village , who has more selection books than anywhere else in the city – and knows what’s in every one of them! Call before heading over (713) 529-6515 .
The home is in the Champions Forest area of northwest Houston.

Toned Down Geometric in Powder Room

Large powder room in 1980’s era home is prepped , primed , and ready for wallpaper .

This soft geometric really brings the room up to date . Note the new green paint on the vanity .

The homeowner thought I would “just start in a convenient corner.” Yes, that would have saved time. But it looks much better, don’t you think, with a geometric pattern like this, to balance the design and center it on the counter top and faucet . I also lined the bottom of the motifs along the top of the backsplash .

The manufacturer is Thibaut , one of my favorite brands . It’s a traditional paper, installed by pasting the paper . This was purchased through my favorite source , Dorota Hartwig at the Sherwin Williams in the Rice Village in central Houston. She’s expert at helping you quickly zero in on your perfect pattern. Call before heading over (713) 529-6515 .
The home is in the Champions area of northwest Houston .

Dark Cornflower Pattern in Small Powder Room

Powder room before.  The original paper dates to the ‘90’s , and was a popular theme at that time.  Fast-forward 30 years and add a young family with active kiddies = time for an update .  For various reasons, the existing wallpaper could not be removed .  So I’m prepping and will hang the new paper over it.  Here I’ve skim-floated over the seams, so there will be no ridges showing under the new paper .  Next I’ll seal with a stain blocker (see previous post) and follow that with Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime wallpaper primer .

Primed and ready to for wallpaper .

Such a pretty pattern , full of movement and cheer .  The homeowner wanted something dramatic , hence the dark color .  Dark works quite nicely in a small room like a powder room . 

The homeowner also wanted the ceiling papered .

Close up .

From a distance .  A large , sculpted mirror with a heavy white frame will be hung over the sink.  This will contrast against the dark paper , and really stand out .  I like to think that the wallpaper is the star attraction , but I really think the mirror will take center stage

The pattern is Cornflower and is by Rifle Paper , made by York , one of my favorite brands .  This is a non-woven / paste the wall material .  It’s relatively easy to work with , and is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece without damage to your walls when it’s time to redecorate .   This was purchased from Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams on University in the Rice Village .  Excellent help in tracking down your perfect paper , and discounted prices , too.  Wed – Sat .  Call before heading over (713) 529-6515 . 
The home of this install is in the West University / West U area of Houston .

Wallpaper in American Farmhouse Style Magazine

I’m always thrilled to see wallpaper featured in magazines – especially magazines that historically promote sparse , all-white interiors and décor . This February / March 2023 issue showcases a LOT of wallpaper – including right her on the front cover !
The magazine didn’t list much, if any, info about the patterns or brands. So please just enjoy the patterns and decorating elements. If you want to pursue one of these, I can hook you up with a merchant who can probably find it for you, or something similar.

Whimsical but muted ” village ” pattern as backdrop for headboard accent wall .

Note the use of nubby textured textiles to warm up this wintery room.

Sweet roses . I hung this very pattern just a few months ago. https://wallpaperlady.wordpress.com/2022/06/26/romantic-vintage-look-rose-bedroom-accent-wall/

Shore birds in flight have been a popular theme .

This is an obvious (and much more affordable ) riff on the $$$ ” Acanthus ” design by Schumacher . This one is a lot more playful , too, IMO.

We’re entering a guest house / B&B / airBnB with several rental units having the same footprint , but different decorating.

Look all the way to the left – a tiny snippet of wallpaper on the accent wall , nicely coordinated with the color of the cabinets , as well as complimentary to the pink-ish wall paint .

Wheat wreaths on wheat wallpaper .

Subtle stripes in a sleeping area . Note how nicely the installer centered / balanced the stripes on the headboard / focal wall .

An earthy, natural pattern I hung not too long ago, and also have it coming up again. Looks like dandelion seedheads, maybe. Fun upward movement.

Many ” Farmhouse ” styled homes these days are using tile that looks like this. But this backdrop is actually wallpaper . Showing how you can get the visual impact of patterned tile without the expense or permanent impact on your wall .

Cute idea for the backs of narrow shelves . This is a clever look on stairs , too – I’d say mostly in ” artsy ” themed homes .

This wall is actually made of ship-lap . But there are many wallpaper patterns out there that mimic the look of this popular decorating material . Particularly the Magnolia Home line by Joanna Gaines , made by York .

More wallpaper masquerading as tile on this bar backsplash .

Bright colorful butterflies .

Same color scheme , different wallpaper pattern .

Cheery lemon pattern . Here’s a similar one I did recently. https://wallpaperlady.wordpress.com/2022/11/11/picasso-slept-here-crazy-pattern-in-a-complicated-powder-room/

Fun with green and leaves

Moving from pattern to texture . Here you see natural fiber grasscloth flanking the entryway , as well as on the back wall .

A fun Industrial Modern / Rustic look for this accent wall . Not sure if this is a plastic 3-D faux brick material , or wallpaper . But there are plenty of brick-look wallpapers available , many with light texture on the surface . For help tracking down something you love, contact Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams on University in the Rice Village. Call first and discuss your project. Wed – Sat (713) 529-6515 .

Slightly ethnic look to this dark blue headboard accent wall in a guest bedroom .

Same Faux Grasscloth Pattern ; Different Colorway

A nice faux grasscloth made of textured vinyl in an en-suite bathroom in a new home in West U ( Houston ). This is the same wallpaper , but a different color , that I hung yesterday in the bedroom across the hall.
A large mirror will be hung between the two light sconces.

It’s a tan with silver metallic color , that goes nicely with both the vanity countertop and the bright chrome faucet and towel ring , as well as the mirror .

With the light switch for perspective, here you can see the realistic embossed texture . I understand that the manufacturers use photographs of real grasscloth , and transfer to their vinyl or paper products . This gives you a realistic look, but with better color consistency , as well as a pattern that will match across the seams, reducing the jarring look of paneling and shading that often comes with real grasscloth. Do a search here to read previous posts about this.

Made by York , and purchased from Dorota , at the Sherwin-Williams on University in the Rice Village . Call before heading over to get her expert help in finding your perfect paper! (713) 529-6515
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Light Bright Trellis Geometric Updates Red Dining Room

For more than a decade, the dining room was bold red from head to toe. In this photo, I’m applying drywall joint compound to smooth the textured wall .

Here’s the wall sanded smooth , primed , and ready for wallpaper .

Done. The next question is – what color to paint the bottom 1/3 of the wall ? What do you think?

Using the red beam from my laser level to center the design on the wall, and directly under the decorative corbel which the wood-worker homeowner husband installed as a feature to the crown molding .

Close-up. I also balanced the pattern between the ceiling and chair rail / wainscoting .

The wallpaper design is by Candice Olson , of HGTV fame, and is made by York , a company that I like a lot. It was purchased at a discount through Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams on University in the Rice Village . Call before heading over (713) 529-6515 . The homeowner had originally chosen something else, but it was unavailable. Dorota dug through her large library of selection books and found this, which is very similar, but more open and airy . We all three agree that this is the better option.
It is a non-woven material , and can be hung via the paste-the-wall method , or the paste-the-material method – which is what I usually prefer to do. This NW stuff is durable , stain-resistant , humidity -resistant , and easy to strip off the wall when you decorate down the road.

Cute in his bandana . But not very helpful at all! 🙂
The home is in the Candlelight Plaza / Shephard Park Plaza / Oak Forest / Garden Oaks neighborhood of Houston .