GP & J Baker Peony & Blossom in West Houston Powder Room

I prepped this powder room in the Energy Corridor area of Houston a couple of months ago, but couldn’t hang the wallpaper due to discovering printing defects. Printing defects are pretty common with that brand – Schumacher . So the homeowner ordered a different pattern from a different manufacturer.

So I was dismayed today when the very first foot I rolled off the bolt of the new paper showed a very noticeable printing flaw. Luckily, this was just in this one spot, and was easily sliced off and discarded.

I centered the pattern so it will look nicely balanced flanking the mirror once it is rehung over the sink.

This pattern is obviously a knock-off of the famous ” Bird & Thistle ” pattern by Brunschwig and Fils, a French company. But the B&F is very expensive, and also delicate and also somewhat difficult to hang. Do a Search (upper right) to see other times I’ve hung it. I like this version much better, because it’s on a sturdy and dependable non-woven substrate. And much less expensive. Also, the design is on a smaller scale, which is much better suited to this powder room. The B&F would work best in a large dining room, for instance.

The material has a pearlized, metallic look. It was pretty delicate, and would crease if you barely looked at it. I used a lot of tricks to prevent this creasing, and was really pleased with how the room turned out.

Flaw of the Day – Printing Defect in Embossed Vinyl

Whoops! Somehow this vertical line got printed into a bolt of wallpaper. This ruined a full strip. Luckily, I always measure to include a little extra, so we had enough paper to finish the job.

Flaw of the Day – Smudged Smeared Ink

Luckily, these streaks of smeared ink ran through only about 5′ of one bolt of wallpaper.

Still, this cost us a full strip.

Another reason to always buy a little extra paper.

Flaw of the Day – Smudges on Serena & Lily “Feather”

I usually love Serena & Lily papers, but was disappointed today to find an entire double-roll bolt with this printing defect. (enlarge the photo if you need to)

At first, I thought it would look OK on the wall. But different areas of the bolt had more visible smudges, so I had to discard the whole thing.

Luckily, because of the pattern match and the height of the wall, I was able to get an extra strip out of the remaining good bolts, so I had enough to finish the project (barely).

Flaws of the Day – Smudges and Streaks

The smudges you see are ink from the manufacturer’s printing process. They appeared on both the right and left side of this strip of wallpaper.

It was just by chance that I saw this before I got it to the wall (because normally you’re looking at the back of the strip while you are pasting it).

There was another, faint, thumb-sized smudge on the outer 3″ of another strip. Even though it was faint, it would have stood out against this very plain background.

Again, lucky that I spotted it before pasting, and was able to save the strip by plotting to use it where the defect would be cut off by the door frame.

The manufacturer is Thibaut, one of my favorite wallpaper brands. Issues like this are rare with Thibaut.

Flaw of the Day – Creases and Krinkles

I don’t encounter nearly as many defects in wallpaper as I did even a few years ago. But today, and with one of my favorite brands, I ran into a few problems that cost us some paper.

These creases have actually damaged the surface of the paper, and will not flatten out as the paper dries. While they are relatively minor, they are noticeable enough that they would mar the look on the wall. When people have a nice home, and they’ve spent a lot of money on their decorating project, I think they should have everything as perfect as possible.

So I rejected all the areas that had these creases. That meant that we lost a couple of full-height strips. Good thing that I usually have my clients order a bit of extra paper. So there was enough to finish the power room.

Interestingly enough, this same defect popped up when I hung this same pattern a few months earlier. I am friends with the customer service rep for this manufacturer, and I reported these incidents to him; his company is very customer-oriented. I hope they are able to rectify this problem.

Flaw of the Day – Wrinkles

Wasn’t happy to find this huge wrinkle, at about the last 7′ of paper on a double roll bolt.

Here’s a good reason to always buy a little extra wallpaper.

Flaw of the Day – Blotch. Always But a Little Extra

This blotch showed up in the middle of a bolt of faux grasscloth. Luckily we had enough paper that I could cut around it and get a fresh piece.

Flaw of the Day – Wrinkles

Digital Image

Wrinkles like this popped up in three separate places in a bolt of wallpaper I worked with today, rendering most of the bolt unusable.

Luckily, I was able to cut around the defects and still get a full strip out of the bolt. And I usually have people order a little extra, so we did have enough paper to finish the room.

The manufacturer is Serena & Lily.

Flaws of the Day – Smudges, Ink Pinpricks, and One Big Blob

Digital Image

Digital Image

Two of the three double roll bolts I worked with today had smudges like you see in the first photo, running horizontally across the back of the wallpaper. You never know if something like this is going to show through to the front or not, especially once the paper is wet with paste. So it’s best to discard iffy paper. There were also a number of tiny black specks imbedded in the paper here and there (not shown). Some could be picked out with a razor blade, but some just had to stay in place.

In the second photo, there is a big hard blob of dried ink, or something, that definitely is not acceptable. What’s sad is, I could have done this job with just two bolts of paper. However, I’m glad I had them buy three, because I was able to discard the defective strips and hang only clean, problem-free paper.

This pattern is called “Feathers,” and is by Serena & Lily, and on-line company. Aside from the defects, their paper is nice to work with and performs nicely over time.