This recessed electrical outlet is a super cool innovation, because your plugs won’t stick out into the room behind furniture and etc. But this outlet is high up on the wall in a powder room , so is probably to service a lighted picture or mirror or similar. The recessed outlet will allow the fixture to sit flush with the wall .Here it is pulled out of the box, so I can place wallpaper behind it. This pic shows some of the electrical connections. I did some searching, but couldn’t come up with definitive information about if a special deep electrical box is required. But my guess is that it is. Either way, these types of outlets are a super good idea for both items that need to sit flush with a wall (lighted mirrors, TV s) or with every day appliances like lamps and home electronics.
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.
A line from a level – in this case a laser level – can help ensure that your wallpaper strips hang perfectly plumb . In this room, I’m to hang wallpaper on the horizontal accent wall , as well as the angled / vaulted area above it. I was disappointed to learn that the light beam doesn’t shoot straight up both sections of the wall . The light beam refracts as it hits the angled portion of the upper wall. Turns out that the laser level (the blue object you see on the corner of my work table ) has to be EXACTLY in front of the wall, at a properly perfect 90* angle perpendicular to the wall . Well, that sounds simple enough. Thing is, the level has to sit on a surface that is itself perfectly level, and situated directly in front of the wall. In this nursery, there is no suitable furniture , nor is my table long enough to span that whole 12′ wide wall . So I just winged it on the upper portion, using measurements rather than a plumb line, and the wall turned out fine.
It’s been a few years since I’ve visited this place, but today I was working right around the corner, and finished early enough to stop in. And I wanted to check up on my friend Ron Dillon , who’s been selling wallpaper for about 30 years – and I’ve known him just about that long, too!Calico (formerly Calico Corners ) sells mostly fabrics , drapes , and upholstery . But they do have wallpaper , too. OK, only a couple of books right now, but all good brands . York and A Street Prints (which is under the Brewster umbrella.) And the corporate office has plans to issue more books. Please note that if you find something you like, even if Calico doesn’t have the selection book in-house, if it’s a brand they sell (like York ), they can most surely order it for you. Calico has many vignettes displaying furniture with their upholstery . And racks and racks of fabrics .There is a current trend toward grey and/or white rooms. So I was thrilled to see that Calico offers plenty of options with color , too.As well as grey , of course. (Decorated up for Valentine’s Day in this photo.)Area where you can sit and work with a designer for your fabric decorating. Oh – and don’t forget about wallpaper!Faux suede fabric samples .Photoboard display.I love this Check List. Especially “Make an Appointment.” This ensures you’ll have the designer’s full attention. And especially “Wallpaper Guest Bedroom.” 🙂 In fact, I think you should paper every room! 🙂Lorena Sosa is the store manager , and a skilled designer. Ron has a degree in Interior Design , as well as decades of experience selling (and installing !) wallpaper. He also has a knack for “seeing” the client’s room in his ” mind’s eye ” and knowing intuitively and immediately what fabrics and papers and paint colors will work to pull everything together. Also a kind and upbeat person. My clients who work with him always rave about their experience.
How thoughtful, the homeowner send me photos of the room all decorated and finished! There will be a mirror or painting over the buffet in this photo. …. They’re probably reticent to put a nail hole in the new wallpaper 😀 The wallpaper is in the Candice Olson line by York . The home is in the Candlelight Terrace / Oak Forest area of Houston .The husband is a talented woodworker, and he MADE all the furniture in this photo. wallpaper installer geometric
My client wasn’t home when I got there, so she made sure I put wallpaper on the right wall. Furniture was moved 3′ away from the wall, box of rolled goods was leaning against the wall, and the yellow sticky note – no question of where the decorating is to happen!
Before. Walls painted with a deep, murky teal blue. I’ve measured the width of the border and then applied my wallpaper primer 1/4″ narrower than the border. That’s the white you see around the top of the room. I love the way the teal / blue walls coordinate with the green in the border (a tall , vintage border like this is called a frieze ). Painting the walls the same color as the border would have been too much, IMO. Plus, you can never get the color exactly perfectly the same – so it looks like what I call a “near-miss.” Better to opt for complimentary colors , as this homeowner did. The color in some of the leaf detail also coordinates with the avocado green in the adjoining living room – you can see a snatch of this color at the far left of this photo. The camera is making this color brighter and greener than it actually is, but you get an idea of the design . Once the Victorian era faded away, the Arts & Crafts movement came to be in the very early 1900’s , with less fru-fru and more nature , clean lines , whimsy , and stylized designs . The home also has furniture and decor that hark back to this time period . The pattern is called Apple Tree Frieze , and comes in several colorways . The manufacturer is Bradbury & Bradbury , in California. They are the go-to company for 19th & 20th century historic patterns . Delicious stuff on their website! Bradbury can be tricky to install, so not for novices . Different colorways can call for different adhesives / pastes , so be sure to read the instructions before starting . The bungalow home in the Houston Heights dates to 1920 (possibly earlier) which is just smack in the middle of the Arts & Crafts decorating style . I hung another period-correct border in this room for this family 10 years ago. Now they’ve done some updating with new colors and, of course – a new wallpaper border frieze . It was a pleasure to be back and help bring new life to the place!
Oh, my! – I hung lots of these chintz florals, ” satin ” look (the design of the dark green at the bottom of the wall), and dark colors back in the ’90’s . Sure enough – this home was built and wallpapered in 1994. IIt’s still a good look, IMO, and the homeowner still likes it. But she’s just gotten tired of it. So – time for an update ! She also decided to eliminate the chair rail , so the new wallpaper will go ceiling to floor . Here you see some damage to the drywall where the chair rail molding was removed . What a change! Now the room’s look is quiet and fresh . The buffet , topped with a decorative mirror , will go on this wall . That’s why I centered the pattern in between the windows , so it will fall evenly on either side of the furnishings . I also plotted so that a full “Moroccan lantern” (that’s what this style of trellis pattern is called), would balance out between the crown molding and the window molding. There were several of these 12.5″ high areas all around the room, so this placement of whole “lantern” motifs gave the room a pleasing look. It also worked out that the lanterns were evenly placed and kept whole between the crown molding and the baseboard. See the second following photo to see what I’m talking about As a note – just this one window wall took me about five hours to measure , calculate , and hang . Getting the pattern to go over, around, and under the two windows , and still line up and match correctly , took some time and futzing. The material was thick and stiff , and a bit tricky to fit into corners and trim around the decorative window molding . In the foreground you see my work table area . The homeowner has let me put protective padding on her dining room table and then set my work table on that. This saves space and allows plenty of room for my ladder and other tools as I work around all four walls. So that I could center the pattern on this wall , I had to start hanging my first strip in the middle of the wall. I was lucky this time, that the pattern was centered exactly on the edge of the wallpaper roll . Sometimes (as in the one I did yesterday – see previous post ) the center of the design motif is a to the right or left of the edge of the wallpaper . This, naturally, means you’ve got to do more measuring and plotting and double-checking , to be sure the center of the design falls down the center of the wall . Back to the photo above … that dark block on the right side of my work table is my laser level. It’s shooting a perfectly plumb red line onto the wall. Here I’m lining up my first strip of paper butted against this red line . Switch topics … Back in 1994, the original installer did a very nice job of hanging the wallpaper. But … he didn’t prime the new drywall first. That lack of primer / protective layer means that the wallpaper will actually bond to the drywall. I tried, but was unable to get the existing wallpaper off . Eventually, you need to factor in time , damage to the wall , paste residue left on the wall, and take a different tac if called for. So I skim-floated over the seams , so they wouldn’t show under the new paper , and also floated over the damaged drywall where the chair rail had been removed . Sanded smooth , and then primed the patched areas as well as the original wallpaper, with Roman Ultra Prime Pro 977 . This stuff will adhere to the light acrylic (slick) surface of the original wallpaper, as well as protect it from moisture from my paste on the new wallpaper. ( Moisture could cause the underlying original wallpaper to expand , creating bubbles that will look bad, or loose areas that will pull away from the wall, creating a bubble or pocket.) My primer is also lightly pigmented, so it helps block out the dark color and busy pattern of the original wallpaper . This particular new wallpaper is quite opaque , but not all of them are, so a pigmented primer is important , IMO . Left corner of the buffet wall. Here you can see how the lantern motifs are placed between ceiling and floor. The background has a lightly mottled effect, that mimics grasscloth a bit, and also adds more depth and warmth than just a plain solid color . Been havin’ more than a fair share of defects lately, especially this week. This paper had on both front and back sides, incidences of these black flecks . They seemed to be maybe charcoal , so I wasn’t too worried about their black bleeding through to the surface , like ink or any oil-based substance will do. Most of them were embedded in the material itself, so could not be wiped off , nor dug out with a razor blade . Some I had to cut around and discard the affected paper. Others were so small as to not be noticeable once the paper was up on the wall and all the furniture and artwork was back in the room. There was also one 3′ section of wallpaper that had an odd streak or arc running across it. It wasn’t ink . It was more like some kind of compromise to the substrate . I noticed it was I was pasting the back of the paper . I turned it over and, sure enough, you could see it a little on the surface. (see photo in previous post) It’s the kind of thing that was subtle, but would catch your eye when looking at the wall from a distance . It was minor , but I discarded that strip . Good thing I have the homeowners purchase a little extra wallpaper . The manufacturer is Designer Wallcoverings , which is a good quality brand (aside from the printing defects I described earlier ). It was a non-woven / paste the wall material , which is pretty user-friendly . It will strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate . Stain-resistant , and ” breathable ” in humid conditions . The home is in the West University neighborhood of Houston . Dining room installer
Original wall was white, as was the rest of the room, and also the furniture. Here I’ve smoothed and primed the wall, and waiting for everything to dry before installing the paper. Finished. The first-time mom-to-be loves the subtleness of this soft pink color. Note that the pattern, that might seem busy up close, really fades to a background, sort of a texture, when viewed from a distance. The mom-to-be commented that this pattern and color will grow with her daughter and be suitable for many years. Close up and at an angle. The paper has an embossed vinyl surface , providing a light textured look and feel . This wallpaper is by A Street Prints and comes on a user-friendly non-woven / paste-the-wall substrate. This stuff is MUCH better than the peel & stick options that are popping up. When you’re ready to redecorate, this will strip off the wall easily and in one piece, with no damage to the wall. When a pattern is popular , manufacturers will figure out a way to create something similar , without infringing on copyrights. I believe this design to be in response to Thibaut’s Aster , and also to the very popular Feather Bloom by Schumacher. This option is affordable and user-friendly .
Before, primed and ready for wallpaper . Just about everything in this house is white – walls , furniture , accessories . Serene, but kinda blah.The homeowner wanted to add a pop of color and chose the powder room to be the fun room . I love the way the pattern seems to push the walls away and makes the room look larger . In addition, the strong vertical element of the tree trunks adds a lot of energy to the space. I love the burnished gold fixtures with the green paper . This very popular wallpaper pattern is called Raphael and is by Sandberg . It comes in a lot of colors – I’ve done a bunch of them! This is made in Sweden and is a non-woven material , also called paste the wall . It is more durable and breathable than traditional papers, and will hold up nicely in a bathroom . The home is in the Oak Forest area of Houston . installer installation
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