Cream on Black Chinoiserie Accent Wall

Accent wall below staircase in a sitting area of a living room in a Meyerland ( Houston ) home that was flooded during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. It took five years for the homeowners to raise and restore the home, and settle in. They are waiting for the wallpaper before choosing furnishings for this room.

But the colors of the wallpaper meld beautifully with decor in other areas, such as the family room on the other side of this wall , which has colors of cream , tan , and dark grey in furniture , flooring , and accessories .

The pattern is called Bird and Blossom Chinoiserie (a term that refers to Chinese / Asian style decorating ). Its in the Ronald Redding line by York. It’s a non-woven material that can be installed by either paste the wall or paste the paper methods. It will strip off the wall easily when you want to redecorate later.

Client Using Salvaged Wood for Flooring in Renovated Heights Bungalow

This home in the Heights area of Houston is being enlarged, renovated, and saved from the wrecking ball! The homeowners are using the original features where they can (reworking original windows, for instance), and in other areas are using vintage items salvaged from other area homes.

I love that they have found flooring that will work in this entryway. I don’t know what the plans are … they may have the boards sanded down to bare wood, stained, and sealed. Which would give a mighty nice and formal look to the home.

But I wouldn’t mind one iota if they kept the planks as-is, sealed them, and left this cool, funky, colorful, shabby-chic mosaic on their entry floor.

Soaring Seagulls – Montrose “Burst Pipes” Home

I hung this same paper in this same kitchen not even a year ago. A few months later, the homeowners suffered “burst pipes” from the big freeze storm that hit Houston in February 2021. Consequently, their whole kitchen had to be torn out and replaced – drywall, flooring, cabinets, electrical, plumbing, and, yes – wallpaper.

They chose to go back with the exact same pattern they had used last year.

The manufacturer is Anderson Prints, it’s a traditional paste-the-paper product, and it was purchased from Stacey at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet.

More pictures tomorrow!

Intertwined Lines in Art Deco Pattern, Master Bedroom

Before

Headboard wall

Keeping the pattern match in corners is tricky

Metallic gold lines

Yhe home is a classic ’50’s / ’60’s ranch in the Spring Branch area of Houston, that has been nicely updated. It now has an open-concept living area, with contemporary finishes and fixtures (flooring, faucets, etc.). The kitchen and bathrooms have been given a sleek new look, as well.

Instead of papering just one accent wall in the master bedroom, the homeowners opted to put the wallpaper all the way around the room. The simple pattern and soft two-tone color palate make it a good choice. The contemporary design and gold metallic accents fit it in with the updates in the rest of the home.

The wallpaper is by York. It is a non-woven material, which means it can be hung via the paste-the-wall method. See next post for info on the install itself.

Damage From The Freeze – Repair Requests Starting To Come In.

The record-setting freeze that hit Texas in mid-February 2021 caused a lot of damage over multiple fronts.

In homes, a lot of this was due to water pipes that froze and burst, flooding floors or raining water down from walls and ceilings.

For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been getting calls for repairs to wallpaper.

Some homes “just” have water stains. But many homes have had to have drywall cut out, flooring pulled up, studs and outer wall brick exposed. Today I looked at a home where the entire first floor had been affected – all the kitchen cabinets, appliances, and backsplashes had been yanked out and trashed, all flooring gone, drywall cut out up to 18″ – nothing but studs and a raw concrete floor.

Even though the damage was on the lower 1/3 – 2/3 of the walls, to make the room look right, ALL the wallpaper has to be stripped off and replaced.

The kicker is, I had just hung their wallpaper back in October.

Repairs are hard to do, and hard to make look “as good as new.”

Even harder is that insurance companies always have a vastly different idea of what it costs for materials and labor, compared to actual real life prices, to get these people’s homes back to being livable again.

Working in a 19th Century Historic Home

I don’t normally show pictures of my clients’ personal spaces, but this is a documented historic home, and already well-known to the public. The homeowners were eager to share with me the history of the home as well as its inhabitants.

I am proud to be working in this well-preserved structure. It was built in 1883 and is still mostly authentic, retaining original woodwork, flooring, hardware (door knobs, hinges, transom mechanisms, doorbell), and many other elements.

The home is located in the Old Sixth Ward of central Houston. The whole neighborhood is designated a Historic District. This means that there are protections ensuring the preservation of buildings there, as well as preventing out-of-sync new construction.

I highly approve!

Classic Look in Historic Home in the Woodland Heights

This large 2-story home was built way back in 1985 – a whole 12 years before the Woodland Heights (Houston) neighborhood in which it sits was platted and developed. It just underwent a major renovation, but retains most of its original details, such as floor plan, windows, moldings, flooring, pocket doors, and much more. There are several large, regal live oak trees on the property.

The homeowner chose this classic damask pattern with a weathered look for all four walls of the dining room. It perfectly suits the room.

It took me about two hours of measuring, plotting, engineering, hanging, removing, re-hanging, yada, to get the design to perfectly flank either side of the window. All that work was worth it, to have the design fall symmetrically. But the real show-stopper is the view of those oak trees through the window!

This wallpaper is by Designer Wallpapers, and is lovely to work with. The interior designer for the job is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design. She is the go-to designer in the Heights for whole-house remodels and new builds.

I threw in a photo of my work table, just for fun.

Tune in tomorrow, to see the finished room!

Cute Paris Theme for Little Girls’ Shared Bathroom

Most everything in this new home in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston is sleek and white. The homeowner wanted to add just a little pizazz to the hall bathroom shared by her two young daughters.

This Paris-themed design, with its pencil-thin lines and three-color palette is just perfect! I love the way the line drawing effect reiterates the lines in the shower’s subway tile. Charcoal grey, white, and just a touch of red are enough to brighten the room, without overwhelming the serene white color scheme. And it’s a fun design to look at. I mean, who wouldn’t love Paris – especially a Paris with a Ferris wheel?

The wallpaper is by York Wall, in their Sure Strip line, and is a pre-pasted product on a thin non-woven backing. It is designed to strip off the wall easily with no damage when it’s time to redecorate. In the meantime, it is thin and hugs the wall tightly, and the seams are practicably invisible. This brand is very reasonably-priced.

The interior designer for this project is Stacie Cokinos, of Cokinos Design. Stacie specializes in helping choose floor plans, finishes (flooring, countertops, paint colors), fixtures (faucets, lights, knobs), appliances, in new home construction and in remodel projects. Her look is fresh and clean, but very livable for modern families. She is a delight to work with.

Cozy Accent Wall in a Master Bedroom in the Houston Heights

This small, two-color Moroccan lantern style wallpaper pattern is snugging up an accent wall in a master bedroom of an expanded and renovated home in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. Because the design is small and tight, it works as a background, rather than making a statement of its own. Once the new headboard arrives, the bed and bedding will take center stage.

The four windows, along with an unlevel ceiling line and unplumb windows and west wall, combined to create an installation challenge. It’s too complicated for me to explain, but I like to say, “It’s easy for you to look at this wall, but it was darned tricky for me to hang it!”

It was a somewhat thick non-woven material, and was intended to be hung using the paste-the-wall method – but I find the product much easier to work with when the paper itself is pasted. The pattern match was spot-on, and the seams were invisible.

The interior designer for this project was Stacie Cokinos. She does a lot of work with clients who are remodeling older homes, or who are building from the ground up. It’s great to have a designer on board from the beginning, to help choose fixtures, moldings, colors, flooring, appliances, etc. Stacie is one of my favorite designers to work for, too, because she is sharp, knowledgeable, organized, and on time. And her interiors are gorgeous, yet well suited for busy modern families.