Before. Good colors. But nothing inspiring. Done. Boy, this paper really visually pushed the walls away and made the room look larger ! Easy on the eye tone-on-tone pattern , lighter colors , and a teeny bit of gold sparkle .
Note the 5/8″ high strip of wallpaper under the medicine cabinet on the left.
Because those faucet handles sit up so high above the backsplash , it’s likely that when people reach for the handles, water will get splashed onto the wallpaper . To prevent splashed water from wicking up under the wallpaper – which could cause the paper to expand and curl away from the wall – I ran a bead of clear siliconized caulk along the top of the backsplash . The color is skewed in this shot, but you get an idea of the tropical foliage and pattern scale . Toile is a French word for a sort of pen and ink drawing in one color on a background that may be colored or may not be.Close-up , showing a truer color . Note the palm trees and the monkey . This material has a woven -look textured surface , and it mimics fabric . I almost felt like I was install ing linen , instead of wallpaper . The brand is Rasch , a company out of Germany . Their papers are consistently nice to work with. This one was unexpectedly thin and flexible . It’s textured vinyl on a non-woven substrate . The vinyl makes it durable and stain-resistant , and the NW makes it easy to remove later when you’re ready to redecorate . The seams are positively invisible. This powder room on the first floor just off the home office / study comes complete with a shower . Just for fun – one of the obstacles in this room was this rain shower head – sticking out right where I need to be on my ladder , and keeping me from reaching those walls . On top of that, the faucet handles also stuck out much further from the wall than most do. While priming the walls, as I was climbing down from the ladder , my clothing actually got entangled in the handles and – turned on the water ! Yes, I got a shower at work today ! The home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston .
Originally, the powder room was moody and posh , with black lacquered walls , ceiling , and woodwork, black toilet and sink, and that gorgeous etched mirror. But the homeowner waned it to make a statement – and this wallpaper sure does!Corner to left of door.Same corner primed. Wallpaper paste won’t adhere wall to the glossy paint. My preferred primer, Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime , sticks to just about anything, provides a good base for the wallpaper , dries quickly , and facilitates removal of the wallpaper when it’s time to redecorate .Same area with wallpaper. Close-up .Flocked means that the wallpaper has raised , fuzzy areas, something like velvet .Just look at my work table at the end of the day! I sure don’t want to transfer any of this to my next jobs, so I took extra care to remove all of this dust before packing up my equipment. The design is called Croquis and is by Jean Paul Gaultier , and the brand is Lelievre , a French company. The material is a user-friendly non-woven or paste the wall , and was nice to work with. It will strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate. The home is in the Spring Branch area of Houston .
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.
Master bedroom before. White. Boring. After. Warm, classic, and a touch of French. Much better suited to this 1920 home in the Houston Heights. Headboard wall.The pattern fits perfectly in the header space over the doors. The dark area in the upper corner will lighten as the wallpaper dries. Close-up.I was very pleased with the seams on this product. They went together nicely, with no gaps or overlaps. And I was doubly happy that the paper did not shrink much as it dried, so no white wall peeping out from gaping seams. I love the slight texture of this raised ink surface print wallpaper. I’m not usually a fan of the Schumacher brand, but this product’s install went very well.
Primed and readyPattern nicely centered on this focal wallClose up
“Les Touches” (touch/dots/blots) is a decades-loved pattern by Brunschwig & Fils, a French company.
It has movement, but, having only two soft colors, is subdued. Thus it works nicely on one accent wall. Or, as in this young girl’s bedroom, on all the walls.
I hung this wallpaper in the Tanglewood / Galleria neighborhood of Houston.
Note that the hour-glass striped pattern is hard to see if you are only looking at a strip of wallpaper on your table. Before hanging, it is important to look up the pattern on-line or in a selection book, to see what the overall design and secondary pattern will look like when played out across a wide wall.
The owner of this new home in the booming Towne Lake neighborhood of Cypress (NW Houston) wanted to add some “funky French country” flair to the home. For the powder room near the kitchen, she found this swirly take on a classic damask pattern. It has a pearlized finish that adds just a bit of shimmer.
This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, and was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
Say it in French and it sounds beautifully exotic. In reality, they’re moths.
This rhythmic pattern by Timorous Beasties went in a powder room in a new home in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. Note the brick and wooden accents in the room.
Whereas most wallpaper patterns repeat either every strip or every other strip (half-drop), Papillion de Nuit has a quarter-drop pattern match, which means that the pattern repeats itself every fourth strip. It’s extremely difficult to figure out and to keep properly placed on the wall, especially when every motif is identical.
In addition, the powder room had some challenging features of its own. The whole job took me about 14 hours! It looks great, though.
It’s made of fiberglass-based non-woven material. This can be installed via the paste-the-wall method, or by pasting the paper (which is what I generally do). Some features of this material is that it is designed to be stripped off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate, and that it is dimensionally-stable and won’t expand or stretch when wetted by the paste.
The interior designer for this job is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design.
Grasscloth is all the rage right now, but I cringe when clients talk about using it. There are so many problems with shading and paneling and color variations (Do a Search in the upper right on these terms.), as wall as staining, bleeding, and shredding by pets.
There are faux products that are pretty realistic, and some are better quality than others. (Again, do a Search here.) This homeowner wanted the look and texture of grasscloth in her bathroom, but knew that the real deal would not hold up to a busy family with little children.
She found this paper-backed vinyl product on an internet sales site, and got a really good deal on some expensive paper. The rolls she got were not all the same run, so had to be kept on separate walls, but there was plenty of paper, so I was able to get the room done.
I was very pleased that there were no color variations (except between runs, and I kept different runs segregated on separate walls), and she is happy that the vinyl paper will withstand water and little hands. The vinly surface is embossed with a realistic texture, too. I was able to do this powder room while the toilet and sink were out of the room, making the install much easier, and also ensuring that there would be no cut edges along the top of the sink (which could wick up splashed water and cause curling).
The brand is Elitis, a French company, and the product is a paper-backed solid vinyl. I hung this in the powder room of a darling 1930’s home in the Rice University area of Houston.
Please pardon the crummy pictures, due to poor lighting, a cheap camera, and why the heck did I move after I clicked the button?! Anyway, you get the idea.
This young family lives in a home in Bellaire (Houston) that is large and open and somewhat contemporary, yet has formal elements, like intricate moldings – plus a whole lot of WHITE. They wanted something to warm up the space, while being sleek and French-chic. This pattern is not by Candice Olson, but it could be – it has sass, glamor, glimmer, movement, and style, plus it coordinates nicely with the marble countertop in this under-the-stairs powder room. It added just the touch the homeowners were looking for.
This is a thick vinyl in a dark color on a white paper backing. I colored the edges of the paper with grey pastel chalk, but the third photo shows that you can still “kind of” see the seams. This is typical, and not a defect. Depending on where you’re standing and where the light is coming from, most of the seams are invisible. When the paper is good and dry, the seams will be even less noticeable. And, really, it’s the kind of thing that I see, but homeowners don’t even know what I’m talking about. 🙂 The dark lines in the top photo are shadows from the lighting.
A wallpaper facelift is addictive … When I left, the homeowners were saying, “We’ll have you back soon, to do something with the living room!”
This swirly wallpaper pattern is by York Wallcoverings, and was bought at a discounted price from Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. Tell her what you are yearning for, and she knows exactly where to find it. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.
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