Cole & Son “Woods” in Pearland Laundry Room

North corner walls, originally textured.

North corner walls, smoothed.

North corner walls, papered.

South corner walls, smoothed.

South corner walls, papered.

Close up of paper.

This very popular wallpaper pattern is by Cole & Son, and is called “Woods.” I have hung it in the black-on-white many times (do a Search here – upper right), but this is the first time to do it in this softer colorway. The décor in this home is all soft and muted greys and taupes, with a lot of natural materials (wood, stone) tossed in, so this pattern and color are a perfect compliment.

The wallpaper material is called non-woven, which has a high fiberglass content. This means it doesn’t expand when wet with paste, so there is no booking time – meaning you can hang each strip as soon as it is pasted. In fact, you can paste the wall and dry-hang the strips, if you choose. Another advantage of non-wovens is that they are dimensionally-stable, and do not expand when wet with paste, like paper wallpapers do. Very handy when measuring and laying out the room.

A disadvantage of non-wovens is that they are prone to staining and blushing. This is where the paper looks like it is wet, but it never dries and disappears. Certain pastes (880, 234) are known to cause staining on these materials, as well as too much pressure while installing, or wetting the paper with water.

This laundry room is in a newish home in Pearland, a suburb in south Houston.

Something’s Pretty Fishy

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

What a fun wallpaper pattern! I hung this in a large powder room in a new home in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. It is the same house that got the other ocean-themed paper in my previous post.

“Nautilus” is made by a British company, Cole & Son. It is printed on a non-woven substrate, and is hung by pasting the wall, rather than the paper – what we call a dry hang process.

I had some very short strips over the tops of three doors, and this enabled me to creatively fudge the pattern match a little, so I could maneuver the paper so that the fish were nicely centered between door moldings on each of three large wall areas. This looks nice to the eye, and it also meant that no fishes got their heads cut off!