Disguising the Kill Point

I hung this beautiful tan peacock pattern on a pearlized background in a powder room in the Clear Lake / Seabrook area of Houston. The “kill point” is the last corner in a room, and you will virtually always have a pattern mis-match at that point, so I plan the layout so that falls in an inconspicuous place. Usually, that’s a door that is set close to a corner.

But in this powder room, all four corners were very visible. I didn’t want to end in one of those corners, because that would result in a half a peacock butting up against a cut-off tree branch, for the entire 8′ height of the wall.

So I put the kill point over the door, where the strip was only 10″ high. A 10″ mis-match is better than an 8′ mis-match, but I still didn’t want to end up with a chopped up peacock. So I fiddled around a little, played with the pattern, overlapped two pieces (with wax paper protecting them from paste), and spliced the two pieces together, using a curved cut instead of a straight cut, so I could cut around the tree branches and leaves, instead of cutting them off abruptly.

You can see that the pattern motif repeats itself, but that is not too noticeable, in the grand scheme of things, and looks way better than the alternative.

Interestingly, I did a similar trick earlier in the week with another kind of paper, and the technique was entirely different. The other paper was thin and could be overlapped and have appliqués applied to it. This paper, a thick non-woven with a textured surface, could not be overlapped, so a splice was the best route.

This wallpaper is by Ronald Redding for York Wallcoverings, and was sold by Ethan Allen’s Friendswood (Baybrook) location. Betcha didn’t know they had (free!) design services, did you?

Gesso-Like Texture on Wallpaper

This wallpaper has a wonderful texture, something like an artist’s gesso on a canvas painting. When light hits it from the side, as in the 2nd photo, you can really see the thickness and texture.

Textures are popular these days, and are usually embossed in heavy vinyl goods, or printed on a heavy non-woven backing, which is the case here.

Because the backing is so thick and stiff, it works best on a flat wall with little decorative elements – no turns or corners, not intricate moldings to cut around. Also, as you see in the last shot, the seams can be visible, although in this case they are not too bad.

This beautiful peacock pattern is by Ronald Redding for York Wallcoverings, and was sold by Ethan Allen’s Friendswood (Baybrook) store. I hung it in a powder room in Clear Lake / Seabrook, that previously had a dark red / black faux finish paper. This pearlized tone-on-tone design was a welcome and brightening update.