Crafty Kill Point

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The “kill point” is the place in a room where the last strip of wallpaper meets up with the first strip. The pattern in this last corner virtually never matches. Usually, as in this photo, it’s place over a door where it will be inconspicuous.

I didn’t want there to be an abrupt stoppage of the design, even if it was only 6″ high, up and above the furtherest corner over the door. So I took trimmers and scissors and cut along elements of the design motif, engineering so they would meet up and, from the floor, look as if they were uninterrupted lines. Unless you look really closely, you would never know that the pattern does not match in this corner.

This wallpaper pattern is called “Downing Gate” and is by Thibaut Designs.

Fabulous Jolt of Color in a Little Girl’s Bedroom

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Digital Image

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The homeowner was originally looking at doing one accent wall behind the bed, and was loving a contemporary design with sort of concentric wavy-edged circles in a rhythmic pattern, by a high-end manufacturer that is known for printing defects, and that was crazy expensive and had a 65″ pattern repeat (lots of waste).

Over time, she looked at the room differently, and did an about-face, ending up having block paneling installed on the lower 1/3 of the walls, and then papering all four walls with a classic trellis pattern in a bold and contemporary color.

Unlike the original choice with the wavy circles, this trellis design has been around for hundreds of years and will not go out of style. The strong turquoise color stands out brilliantly against the white paneled wainscoting, so the room looks crisp and fresh for its young inhabitant, a six year old girl. The décor will be pumped up even more with the addition of a few jolts of bright coral – a vase, a throw pillow, and – most daringly – the chandelier.

Although this room presented challenges (unplumb walls coupled with an unforgiving geometric design, plus two windows with crooked edges and dimensions out of sync with those of the wallpaper), it was a fun install. A lot of plotting and brainwork was required to get that geometric pattern to look straight against those unplumb walls.

The 4th photo shows the kill point – the point where the last strip of wallpaper comes back around to meet the first strip. This almost always ends up in a mis-match. This corner did mis-match, but I had a lot of fun fiddling around to make it look like it matched.

Most men don’t care too much about decorating, but this father was really excited about the transformation of his daughter’s room.

This wallpaper pattern is called Downing Gate, and is by Thibaut Designs, and was bought below retail price from Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. Dorota was also able to get the paper shipped here super fast, so the homeowner could keep her original installation date. (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.