The homeowners have added classic paneled wainscoting at the bottom of the walls, and a tad more decorative molding around the door and window , plus crown molding . I love all these elegant touches! Yet, the room still lacks … well, it’s just lacking.
But not lacking anymore. … Enter wallpaper! Specifically this cheery overall floral pattern in bright pinks and oranges and greens . That’s my work table set up in the center .
Bam! Now the room is full of energy ! Perfect for a family with young pre-school children .
The flowers just look to me like they’re smiling!
The walls were smooth enough, so only needed a wallpaper primer . I like Roman Pro 977 , Ultra Prime .
I don’t know why WordPress makes it so hard to rotate or flip an image, but I’ve given up. Y’all’ll just have to read it upside down. The brand is Rifle Paper , which is made by York . Many of Rifle’s papers are the user-friendly non-woven / paste the wall material . But this one is a traditional paper type wallpaper , which is install ed by pasting the back of the paper .
This very popular design is called Garden Party , Rifle Paper # RI5119 . I like this brand and material . installer houston meyerland
Done. Oh, man – what a beauty this is! A large mirror with a 1″ wide gold frame will hang on this wall. I centered the pattern so the branches would fold evenly around both the left and the right side of the mirror.
Toilet wall shot before
Toilet wall done. The color is a little more emerald-y than the photos show. It’s really a very pretty design , and colorway . Really pretty!
I often hear clients say that they want their small powder room to look like a jewel box . Well, here it is!
Before hanging (or cutting!) any paper, I want to see what the whole design looks like. Vendor websites will usually show you a close-up of the pattern. But it’s really hard to find a picture of the whole design . Additionally, this pattern has a really long repeat (51″), so I can’t really roll it out on my 84″ long table and see what it looks like. So here I’m taking advantage of the homeowner’s open floor space, and rolling some bolts out on the floor. The yardstick shows where I’ve decided to put my ceiling line. And now I can also see how the trees and branches work their way up the wallpaper. After a little measuring and math, now I know where to position the strips on the wall ,,, so those branches and birds will surround the mirror the way I want.
Very pretty with the dark gold metallic outlet cover and switch plate , and hand towel ring . It was a little tricky trimming around the swooped backsplash .
This is made to mimic the silk murals that are hand-painted in China . But at a much more affordable price, and a much easier material to install , more stain resistant , and easier to remove when you redecorate .
Flowers This is a non-woven material, also called paste the wall , and is fairly fool-proof to install . The pattern is called Sakura and the brand is Thibaut . The company makes a similar design that’s called Jardin Bloom that is a 3-panel mural , rather than rolled goods with a repeating pattern. I hung that a few months back. https://wallpaperlady.wordpress.com/2023/12/23/stunning-chinoserie-mural-on-library-accent-wall/ installer houston flowers
Before, after I’ve prepped, used KILZ to block crayon stains on the wall, and primed with Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime , formulated for use under wallpaper. The tile in the shower is new, and influenced the colorway choice of the wallpaper .
The homeowners LOVE the quizzical lemurs hanging in the trees . They also love that the colors in the wallpaper coordinate so perfectly with the new tile .
Shot in the mirrored medicine cabinet , reflecting the shower and wallpaper . Because the homeowners really love those lemurs, as well as the cool arch over the new shower, I futzed with the pattern and worked hard to get the primates placed prominently on that wall, including the grey guy smack in the middle at the top of the arch.
The faucet and hand towel ring have a rosy gold hue , which compliments the colors in the wallpaper .
Pretty snazzy bathroom for a pre-school kid !
Besides the lemurs, we’ve got lizards , birds , hibiscus flowers , palm fronds, and jungle foliage .
Detailed close-up looks like a water color painting .
Unlike most modern wallpapers, this was printed on what we call a British pulp substrate – basically, a very plain paper that’s sort of dry and brittle , porous , fragile , tears easily , creases easily , no protective coating so stains easily . Pulps require special handling to install . Even a brand new, sharp razor or snap off blade has trouble going through this stuff. So it’s very common to end up with jagged pieces of the backing showing, which you then have to take a scissors and trim off. Very tedious and time-consuming .
These rolls had not been protected well , and got bashed during shipping , resulting in banged edges every couple of inches. On a regular wallpaper , these often flatten out as the paste dries and are less noticeable. But since this material has a metallic finish, those dents are going to be pretty visible. Luckily, the homeowner purchased extra paper, so I could discard some of the worst pieces, and still have enough to finish the room.
Here I’m trimming off one of those banged up edges . This is also removing some of the pattern , so it will screw up the pattern match at the seam . I’ll get into that more deeply in another blog post .
Manufacturer decided to print instructions in tiny font using pale grey ink on a white background .
The brand is Statement Feature Wallpapers . The home is in the Near Northside neighborhood of Houston . In the last two years, I’ve been getting a number of calls for installation in this area.
The cheery patterns by Rifle Paper wallpaper have become very popular. So these screamed at me from the rack at Value Village thrift store in Houston .
As noted in the previous post, the homeowner and I discussed, and we loved the idea of adding the wallpaper pattern in between these four windows on this dining room accent wall .  See the three skinny strips on my work table . 
I cut strips from the sections from the centers of that panels that were not used, because of cutting around the windows .  Allowing for placement of seams and other factors, I tried to keep the pattern contiguous and matching from top of the strip to the bottom.  Turns out that didn’t really matter much, because the flowers changed so quickly that there really was no continuation , especially once that white strip of molding / window trim was in between.  
Because this non-woven / paste the wall wallpaper material doesn’t expand when it gets wet with paste, I was able to take accurate measurements and then use my straightedge (not pictured) and a razor blade to trim my strips to fit the narrow spaces perfectly . Interestingly, over 35″ height , the width of the strips varied from top to bottom by as much as 1/2″. 
Here it is finished. The wall has so much more punch and definition now. See previous posts. Note: After I stood back and looked from where this photo was taken, I realized that the two outer strips had ended up with almost exactly the same floral pattern. See that yellow sunflower? This wouldn’t do! I took some scraps and cut a new strip that had a fresh design , for that third space on the right (no photo).  As mentioned above, since the flowers were so wild and loose, it really didn’t matter that the design wasn’t exactly true to how it was printed on the mural panels . 
The pattern is called Floribunda , and is by House of Hackney . I do like their designs and their quality a lot. See previous posts for more information. 
Re yesterday’s post, here is the finished dining room accent wall with the floral mural .  It looks really nice.  But I thought it would have more punch, and carry through the floral theme better, if the pattern also appeared in between the windows . 
The homeowner agreed immediately, and so here is how it turned out.  Now, instead of seeing a bank of white windows , you see a field of colorful flowers , and they’re framing a view of nature outside (which can be seen when there’s daylight ).  The narrow strips of wallpaper also define the windows and accentuate the pretty molding / trim . 
The pattern is called Floribunda . It comes in a 4-panel set . 
The brand is House of Hackney . I like their papers, which are non-woven / paste the wall material . Do a Search here to learn more about the advantages of these NW products. 
The room has lots of pink accents , so the pink and orange in the wallpaper coordinate nicely . 
The pattern is called Garden Party and is by the very popular Rifle Paper (made by York , one of my favorite brands).
The flowers just look like they’re smiling! Other brands have tried to knock-off this design, but nobody gets the flowers right like Rifle Paper! 
Many Rifle Paper wallpaper s are on a non-woven / paste the wall substrate . But once in a while you get one like this, on a traditional paper material. Different installation techniques, but both are good papers.  This was purchased below retail price from Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village . She’s super at helping you track down your perfect pattern . Call first as her hours vary. (713) 529-6515 The home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks area of Houston . 
This open area at the top of the stairs is used by the family as a gathering spot, as well as homework center for the two teenaged children. Normally a sofa and tables sit in front of this wall. A productive area … but needs some energy.
Instead of a repeating wallpaper pattern , the homeowner chose a mural
Here it is done . Definitely a lot more lively than the painted wall ! This is an obvious riff on the very popular Ellie Cashman design – but at a much more affordable price .
This product comes as a 2-panel set, and the design continues from one set to another. This wall required five panels, so three 2-panel sets were needed. The panels come 27″ wide x a bit more than 10′ high. Here I am rolling the panels out, checking sequence , double-checking dimensions , etc. Since the wall is a little less than 9′ high, more than a foot of the height of each panel had to be cut off. The homeowner and I plotted ahead of time whether to take this from the top or the bottom of the panel. She wanted to see as much of the flowers as possible above where the sofa would sit, so I removed the extra foot of material from the top, which pulled the flowers closer to the ceiling , and left more black area at the bottom of the wall. With murals, you don’t get extra strips, so it’s important to get all your calculations done before cutting anything.
Close-up. The homeowner held off shopping for a new sofa until the wallpaper went up, so she could get a good idea of the colors and style.
Here’s what you see as you walk up the stairs .
York is the manufacturer . The material is a non-woven / paste the wall . Good and strong – although much more porous and stainable than most non-woven papers. Smudges cannot be wiped off, which is disappointing , and the goods required special handling during installation. This was purchased below retain price from Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village . Call before heading over (713) 529-6515. The home is in the Heights area of Houston .
Spa tub area before Done. Note flowers centered on flat wall behind the bathtub . All white just isn’t doing anything for this room. Soft colors and a little shimmer are warm and soothing . Some of the green foliage shows up better depending on the angle you’re viewing from. Scroll to bottom of wall . Getting around these outside corners , and inside corners , was really tricky . I was really pleased with the way the paper performed.
Close-up. OK, I see the parsley. But who threw in the “cow” part?? Weird name, pretty design . I’ve had a couple of clients interested in this pattern .
The brand is Sanderson , a British company. Usually this brand comes in what we call a non-woven or paste the wall material , which is strong , durable , stain-resistant , dimensionally-stable , and strips off the wall easily when you redecorate. Today’s install , however, was none of these. The material is what we call a traditional British pulp . Which has a beautiful matt finish , and hugs the wall tightly. BUT … pulp papers are darned tricky to hang , and require special care while using the room. They are stiff , brittle , get soggy when wet with paste and tear easily , they drag and rag and tear when you try to trim with even a sharp , new blade , are not flexible . They also have no protective coating , so are easily stained by hands , water , toiletries , etc. And not a simple process to remove them, when you redecorate . Still, they’re lovely , classic materials and add an elegance to the room that modern papers cannot . Suffice it to say, with all the angles and turns , and the delicate material , this master / primary bathroom took me two days to prime and hang . More on installation techniques in a future post. The home is in the Memorial Park / Rice Military / Crestwood / Bayou Bend area of central Houston . cowparsley
The homeowner loves a calm , serene look. Indeed, most of the house is decorated in the white – cream – gray theme. But she wanted something a little bolder in this bathroom , which is situated off the kitchen and also has a door leading to the backyard pool .
Here you go. I find the colors quite muted and neutral , and they coordinate nicely with the vanity countertop . The homeowner was worrying that the murky blue lotus leaves would overpower. But once the paper got up on the walls, it was clear that this is an adventurous wallpaper – but certainly not overly bold or dramatic . She loves it. I centered the dominant motifs on the sink and faucet . Yeah, it took a lot of engineering and math and time , and, yes, the mirror is going to hide it. But I think it looks better, and I enjoyed plotting it all out.
Duck is situated right above the backsplash .
Much of the room was these short areas over the doors , windows , and as you see here, the shower . I positioned the pattern so the ducks would be fully visible in these spaces (meaning, without getting their heads or feet chopped off). This worked out nicely for the blue lotus leaves , in the same way. Note: This area over the shower is a little shorter than other header areas in the room. Over the doors and windows (no pics), you can see the full lotus leaf motif .
Close up
Look closely, and you’ll see an angled area just below the ceiling ; probably under the stairs or maybe under the roof . The crown molding on the walls to both the right and left descends to about half-way down this slope. The trim carpenter said it was not possible to get the angles and widths to sync to the different wall surfaces , so crown molding could not go on this one area. The homeowner and I debated whether or not to continue the wallpaper up and onto this short sloped area . Whether the paper was up there, or was not up there, you would end up with a sloped wall that didn’t match up with the horizontal line of where the crown molding ran around the room. Kinda hard to explain. At any rate, the lady of the house decided to not cover this sloped section with wallpaper . See second and fourth photos above. It’s plain that she made the right decision.
The pattern is called Luzon and is by Lee Joffa . It’s a nice non-woven material, and relatively easy to work with – although it is subject to creasing very easily with normal handling. Non-wovens are designed to strip off the wall easily and with no damage when you redecorate . Note that I said the wallpaper was easy-ish to work with. The room itself was not. Lots of odd angles , tricky wall areas , unfortunate dimension logistics … all in all, priming and then installing the room took a full 10 hours.
Also, the design had a 42″ repeat , which can mean a whole lot of waste when matching the pattern . (If your wall is 44″ long, then you’ve got to use 84″ of wallpaper to cover it … and 40″ of it (nearly four feet long!) goes into the trash. At $400 a double roll bolt , well, keep an eye on your budget . This theme of water gardens and lotus flowers , water fowl , and shore birds is popular right now and, luckily, a good number of manufacturers are offering similar patterns , most with less waste and also at a lower cost . I’ve hung two knock-offs recently – but Search feature is not helping me locate the blog posts.
Besides many other intricacies going on in this room that made the install tedious, there were issues that made some of the wall areas inconsistent . It seems like maybe someone did some weird (and sloppy ) plaster work or skim-floating or smoothing texture … not sure what . But there were many areas in the room that were more or less like this. This photo is of some uneven wall surface just above the baseboard in one area. What it has to do with me is that you have to worry that the wallpaper will have enough intact surface to adhere to. And hope you don’t see these imperfections telegraphing through the wallpaper. Fixing things like this can take an inordinate amount of time. And, in many cases, it is just impossible to fix them adequately . Adding more smoothing compound on top of exisiting smoothing compound just builds up the surface more and more, until, for instance, it might stick out beyond the depth of the baseboard molding , and then have nothing to adhere to. I took pictures of other areas in the room, and will post more info at a later date. houston
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