Cool Fun Blue Flower Paper in Powder Room

Before. The homeowner wanted something much more fun than drab grey walls . Plus she need something that would coordinate with the brown tones in the vanity countertop.

Here’s the solution! The paper is actually muddier and murkier than these photos show it to be, so it melds nicely with the brown stone .

Here’s a better idea of what the true colors actually look like.

Close-up.

aManufacturer is York. This was purchased from Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village of Houston , for a price below retail . Call before heading over to see her selection . (713) 59-6515

The Sure Strip line by York is a thin and pliable , water-activated , pre-pasted wallpaper that is DIY -friendly. It goes up nicely, and is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece – and with no damage to the wall – when it’s time to redecorate . I like this product a lot. Although York has been prone to lots of printing defects (including today) in recent years.
The home is in the Heights neighborhood of Houston .

From Drab to Spa-Like

Before: Semi-gloss paint on bad texture job.

Virtually the same color, but texture and pattern add a warm and calm feel.

Before: Khaki paint

After: Serene, even Zen-like.

Close-up shows pattern that can be matched so seams are disguised, as well as string fibers that add texture and dimension.

Nearly a full 100 years old, this cottage in the Norhill neighborhood of the Houston Heights has seen many updates and treatments. The master bath suffered from various dubious renovation attempts, as well as the aftermath of acts of nature, such as shifting foundation, leaky windows, humidity. The whole room just had a sort of “last chance” look about it.

Most of the room’s ails could be solved by ripping everything out down to the studs and then starting anew. But on most budgets – that ain’t agonna happen!

So I skim-floated the walls and sanded smooth. Just having smooth walls free of the drab khaki paint color helped left the pervasive glum feeling.

The homeowner chose this faux grasscloth, which is a stringcloth product made by Walquest, in their EcoChic line. I like this because, being a man-made material, the pattern can be matched from strip to strip, so you do not notice the seams like you do with a natural fiber material like real grasscloth. Also, the vertical strings on the wallpaper give texture and dimension, which is a look that many homeowners are craving these days.

The label insert tells you straight off that this material is not washable (they say you can gently vacuum it occasionally). Yet it is still more resistant to stains than true grasscloth.

This wallpaper was purchased from Ted at the Shade & Drape Shop on Kirby at Richmond. (They have another location on Voss near San Felipe.)

Trees Brighten and Lighten a West U Powder Room

Plain paint in a khaki color is just drab.

A white background and “movement” from the tree forms brightens and energizes the space.

Almost looks hand-painted.

Most wallpapers by Exclusive Wallcoverings are traditional un-pasted paper, so I was surprised to find that this one was a paper-backed vinyl, and pre-pasted, too.

I am usually not a fan of the lower-priced pre-pasted, paper-backed solid vinyl (read my page to the right). But this brand has figured out how to make a quality product, and I was pleased with it.

Best of all is how the white background lightens up the space, and the intertwined branches bring a lively feel to the room.

The home is in the West University Place neighborhood of Houston.

Brightening – REALLY Brightening – A Home Office Space

Originally, the accent wall was painted a darker color than the other three walls in this home office – but the overall effect was still drab. The goal was to charge the space with energy and cheer – and this wildly colorful, bold geometric pattern really pumped it up!

This wallpaper is a non-woven material, and I used the paste-the-wall installation method. One pic shows my strips, back-rolled, held by elastic hairbands, and ready to take to the wall.

The manufacturer is A-Street Prints, by Brewster.

The interior designer is Kandi Palella, of Kandi Contemporary Design. She has perfectly coordinated the other elements in the room – artwork, upholstery, accessories.

The home is in Porter, which is way north east Houston.

Navy Denim Striped Wallpaper in a Boys’ Shared Bathroom

Digital Image

 

Digital Image

The original wallpaper in this bathroom, which is shared by two teen aged boys, was a drab, mid-tone grey with little maroon “swoops” on it.  Not much to get excited about there.

The homeowner switched to this denim-look stripe pattern for the boys’ bathroom.  Everyone loves the new, more sophisticated, lighter and brighter look.

Look closely at the second photo.  You will notice that there is one white stripe that is narrower than the others.  The factory had a slight discrepancy during either printing or trimming, and thus the factory edges butted up against one another did not match the pattern correctly.

I didn’t catch this until I had papered most of the room.  By that time, it was too far into the game to make changes to the walls that had already been hung.

But for the remaining walls, which were all 24″ to 72″ in height, I took some extra time and hand-trimmed off the ill-sized stripes, and then trimmed new strips so that the stripes would match up with the aforementioned stripes.  If you are not following this – no worries.  I know what I’m talking about, and I was able to make the stripes on all the subsequent strips match up perfectly.  🙂

This wallpaper is by Designer Wallpapers, and was wonderful to work with.  The interior designer for the job (a whole house!)  is Pamela O’Brien of Pamela Hope Designs, assisted by Joni Karnowski and Danna Smith.

http://www.pamelahopedesigns.com/