Here you’re looking at a laundry room, under the counter, and behind the sink. I’ve got to put wallpaper back there. Even though nobody’s going to look under here or scrutinize, I want it to look perfect. Good thing that I’m small, because I can fit under here and maneuver fairly well. Still, working around these pipes is really taxing. You have to make a lot of relief cuts , and other measures, to get the wallpaper to fit around the pipes and then lie against the wall. Additionally, usually the drywall guys were not able to get the wall perfectly smooth in these areas. Escutcheons (decorative plates) will hide a lot of wall bumps, imperfect cuts, gaps, overlaps, and other normal occurrences in situations like this. Only thing is, the plumber “forgot” to put escutcheons around the water lead lines and the drain pipe under this sink. I think that I was able to trim neatly enough that no escutcheons are needed. 😊 This wallpaper pattern is called Frutto Proibito and is by Cole & Son . It’s a non-woven / paste the wall material , easy to strip off the wall when you redecorate , and easy to hang (except for cramped areas under sinks ! )
Here is the water line as it comes out of the wall and leads to the toilet in this powder room in Houston. Usually this line or pipe is accompanied by a faucet handle, which you can turn to either turn on or shut off water to the toilet. But this is the first time I’ve ever seen this different method of controlling the water flow. Instead of turning a handle, you pull the small plug and it closes the pipe and shuts off the water. Or, push the knob in and it will open up the lines and let water flow. The round silver plate against the wall is decorative for hiding the hole in the wall. This plate is called an escutcheon .
You are looking a the plastic escutcheon / decorative cover to hide plumbing pipes under this pedestal sink. Someone painted it the same color as the wall, and with the same wall paint. Only problem is, most paints won’t stick to plastic. Plastic is too slick. That’s why now the paint is peeling off with just the slightest tug or tension. It’s peeling away like a snake shedding his skin. There are some solutions for this. For starters, the plastic could have been sanded, to give the paint some “tooth” and something to grab ahold of. There are also primers that will adhere to plastic and prepare it to take the paint. Even simpler, there are paints formulated to stick to plastic. Krylon makes some, and I’ve used it on my outdoor lawn chairs; it’s held up nicely for about 20 years.
You’re looking at a water supply line underneath a pedestal sink in a powder room. This hole is a little wide, and offers the wallpaper nothing to adhere to. In addition, there is no escutcheon (decorative plate) to hide the hole. I took some special paper and cut a ” collar ” to fit around the pipe and also cover the hole. I dipped the “collar” into Gardz . This is cool stuff. It soaks in to porous surfaces, adheres to surfaces, and dries hard. Here is the patch in place. Once it’s dry, I’ll skim-float with joint compound (” mud “) and then sand smooth. The finished product will be a smooth, intact surface for the wallpaper to adhere to, with only a tiny gap around the plumbing.
Wrestling a full strip of wallpaper around the whole wall, around the mirror, and then around those faucets would have been extremely cumbersome, would have slopped paste all over the mirror, and would have risked tearing or creasing the paper. So I decided to trim the paper down so I could place it just under and above the mirror. I placed the strips on the wall, making sure that the orange stripes were equidistant from the left and the right walls, and making sure that they were perfectly plumb. To get around that faucet, I sliced the paper vertically at the mid point. I used a scissors to cut half-circles around the faucet, and to cut holes for the handles. I had to leave enough room for the plumber to work, but not make the holes too large. As it was, the faucet escutcheon (gold ring back plate) just barely covered the hole I cut in the wallpaper. The striped pattern made this easier, but you could do the same thing with another type of design; you’d have to choose where to make your slices. Done. Waiting for the plumber to reattach the handles and back plates.Finished. (In the mirror you’re seeing a reflection of the linen cabinet on the opposite wall.) I used a similar technique to get around the drain pipe under the sink. I also had to make sure the stripes were centered on the wall, and lined up with the stripes above the vanity. This area was a bit easier because I didn’t have to work around a mirror. Still, this one wall took me about two and a half hours. !!
Top photo: The plumber removed a wall-mounted faucet and handle, to make it easier for me to hang the wallpaper around this area. This would also eliminate a lot of “relief cuts” that I would need to make in order to fit the paper around these obstacles.
The only problem is … He removed a faucet that protrudes 10″ from the wall. And he capped it off with a pipe and nipple that stick out 7″ ! AND … He was unable to remove the handle escutcheon at all.
So … I still had to make multiple relief cuts in order to fit the wallpaper around these objects and flat to the wall. And now the wallpaper sits around the escutcheon, rather than behind it, so there is the worry that splashed water may find its way in behind the wallpaper, and potentially cause it to curl away from the wall.
The second photo shows another job where the plumber removed the faucet and handles all the way down to the stems. So I was able to fit the paper tightly to the pipes. The new fixtures will cover the holes and the wallpaper, eliminating any worries about water causing the paper to come loose.
Here you are looking at the plumbing connections for a powder room sink. The homeowners have removed the sink so I can work around the plumbing more easily. This makes me happy. 🙂 Even with this stiff and brittle silver cork wallpaper, I was able to manipulate the material neatly behind the escutcheon (round silver plates) and the drain pipe. This is important because this area will be visible, because the homeowners will install a modern-looking sink supported by tubular chrome legs (not the typical wooden vanity).
This area probably took me about 12 minutes. If the sink had been in place, I could have been sitting under it with my scissors and razor blades for the better part of an hour.
Note: The painter was probably not as lucky as I, because, judging from the amount of paint slopped on the metal escutcheons, he most likely was floundering around with his brush under a cramped sink in the dark.
This silver cork wallpaper is by Thibaut Designs, and was bought at a discounted price from Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
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