Warmth With An Ethnic Feel For Heights Hallway

Boring

Warm and engaging, without overpowering

“Appleton” by Sister Parish

One doesn’t spend much time in this tiny hallway separating the living / dining rooms from the family room / kitchen. But the homeowner – an interior designer – felt the small space merited more attention.

This medium-scale, tight, two-color design called “Appleton” by Sister Parish fills and warms the space nicely, without overwhelming.

Further, it’s a wonderful backdrop to two hand-carved sculptures that will hang on the wall – both are sort of figureheads (like on the front of a pirate ship). They exhibit both a feminine and Asian look.

The wallpaper sets these works of art off way better than the previous plain painted wall.

The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design.

Wallpaper Warming Up Rooms in August 2019 Southern Living Magazine

The first is called “Indian Flower” by Jasper, and I hung this very pattern a few months ago in a dining room.

The blue & white floral is called “Dianthus Chintz” by Soane Britain.

Third photo – the wallpaper’s on the ceiling! It’s “Santa Barbara Ikat” by Schumacher.

Blue powder room features Meg Braff Designs’ “Little Egypt.” Serena & Lily has one very similar to this. I love their paper, and it’s at a much lower price-point.

The horizontal (railroaded) stripe is a take on the current trend for exposed shiplap wood.

Last photo shows Clay McLaurin Studio’s “Santiago” in a very feminine bathroom.

Note that most of the wallpaper patterns you see in photo shoots like this are going to be higher-end products. Like I like to say, for every expensive company making an enviable design, there is someone else making a knock-off at a more affordable price.

See my page to the right for where to buy wallpaper in Houston.

Water Color-y Pink Floral for Little Girl’s Room

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Here is a sweet pattern that really charmed up a little girl’s room in the Briar Meadows neighborhood of Houston. I hung it on one accent wall behind the bed’s headboard. In the first three photos (before, during, & after), the vertical shadows on the wall are from the dangling crystals on the chandelier. There is also a little splotchiness because the paper is still wet – the spots will disappear when it dries.

This pre-pasted wallpaper is by Jolie, and was bought on-line. It is a mural, meaning that the paper comes in panels, instead of rolls, and the pattern does not repeat itself nearly as frequently as a regular wallpaper pattern does. It is popular with moms who have little girls, and I have hung it several times. (Do a Search here.)

Just like the other times, I was disappointed in the quality of this paper. (Do a Search here.) Actually, the quality of the paper itself is fine. It is the manufacturer’s inattention to detail that is the stumbling block.

Photo #4 shows a mis-match in the pattern. These were relatively few and relatively minor, though, and really weren’t a big deal.

Other issues, however, were more noticeable and less satisfactory. Photos #5 & #6 show where the trimming blades at the factory got off-kilter, and created curved cuts. This is the exact same shape of bad cuts I have had with my other installs of this product. (Do a Search here.)

When the edges of wallpaper are not cut straight, it’s impossible to butt them together perfectly. So with this material, you are left with “gaps and overlaps,” which you can see see in Photo #7…I know the photo is crummy, but if you enlarge it and look closely, you see three distinct and rather wide gaps, all within about a 6″ length of seam.

Besides gaps, badly cut seams will result in overlaps. Photo #8 shows an overlap of about 1/8″. I hate overlaps more than gaps. I’ll take a gap over an overlap any day. But I’d rather not have either, because both look bad, in my opinion – and a conscientious manufacturer will ensure that his product is not cut like this.

Most people would not have even noticed the gaps or overlaps. But they were bugging me, and I thought I could give these homeowners a little better.

So, on some of the worst overlaps, I took a straightedge and a brand new, very sharp razor blade, and trimmed off the excess, which amounted to 1/8″ of an inch in some areas, and down to about 1/32″ in others. When dealing with these minuscule widths, this procedure is tedious and exacting, and it doesn’t always result in perfect results. Before cutting, you have to pad the wall to protect it, and then work carefully so your razor blade cuts only the two layers of paper, but not into the wall. (Scoring the wall can cause delaminating (the wall coming apart and the wallpaper seams curling) down the road.) There are a lot more factors that complicate the trimming process. But the end result, although imperfect, looked much better and was worth the time and effort.

And, from a distance, and with the furniture back in place and the shade down and my 100 watt light bulb out of the room, the wall looks fantastically feminine is perfectly suited to this young daughter.

Getting Very Femininidity In Here

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The homeowner calls this her “Lady’s Library.” It’s easy to see why – the room about the most frilly and feminine that I’ve ever done!

The bookshelves are backed with a light colored, finely-textured grasscloth in a lovely lavender shade. The walls are covered in a “swoopy” pattern, also in lavender, reminiscent of velvet curtains in theaters during the Victorian era.

The grasscloth is by Schumacher (#5004724), and the wallpaper is in the Ronald Redding line by Wallquest (#CB1209). The interior designer is Pamela O’Brien of Pamela Hope Designs, based right here in Houston.