After wallpaper gets pasted , it needs to be booked (see following post) and then rolled loosely and left to sit a few minutes before it goes to the wall . During this booking time, sometimes the edges can start to dry out. To prevent drying out , I dip the edges in a bucket of clean water . Note that’s a shadow in the photo … only dip about 1/8″ of paper into the water , as seen on the left. Then it goes into a plastic trash bag to wait and relax , before install ing. Note this works for paper ONLY – do NOT try this with non-woven / paste-the-wall material. Also, it’s not suited for every type of wallpaper , so don’t use on grasscloth or other natural fibers, nor vinyl . So use caution if you try this. Also be aware that the water will wick into the edges of the wallpaper , and the seams can look dark on the wall until that water evaporates and the strips dry . I have found that this trick also works nicely with some brands that like to pouch up at the seams a bit, like Farrow & Ball , or lower-end pre-pasted vinyls. Dip the edges, book, run a light roller of paste under where the seams will fall, install , and the edges will want to stay down much better. The pattern is called Garden Party Trellis , by Rifle Paper . installer houston
Most wallpapers have to be booked after pasting and before hanging . Booking means that the paper is folded pasted-side-to-pasted-side , about 1/3 from the top and 2/3 from the bottom. Then loosely folded or rolled up like a newspaper. Then set aside for a few minutes, to give the paper time to absorb moisture from the paste, expand, relax, and become supple. Thing is, during this booking time, the paper can start to dry out, and can even stick to itself, and might tear when you try to unbook it. And easy solution is to place the rolled up material into a black plastic trash bag. Some folks sprinkle a little water in there, or place a damp rag. Now the paper can rest without fear of drying out. This also works if, for some reason, you don’t hang a piece right away, or maybe remove a strip from the wall, but want to save it for later. The plastic bag will keep it nice and workable for a long time. But do take care that the material doesn’t overbook – stretch too much, and then it might shrink as it dries and leave little gaps at the seams. This pattern is called Garden Party Trellis and is by Rifle Paper , a very popular brand right now. installer houston
Please see yesterday’s post for the “before” photo. Here’s the master bedroom suite all finished. There’s a dramatic feature / accent wall behind the headboard with Rifle Paper ‘s beloved Peacock pattern . On the remaining three walls is Rifle Paper ‘s Garden Party Trellis . RiRight side of the room. The homeowner is a single gal , and she wanted her master bedroom to be a relaxing retreat , but with a distinct feminine edge . Well – here you’ve got it!! Left side of the room. Look here, and at the photo above, and you’ll see how nice this uniformity looks. It was tricky! See subsequent blog post for info on how I did this. Window wall – which took me five hours, BTW! She’s going to add window treatments that will be feminine – but the exact choice remains to be unveiled.I pulled some tricks to get the flowers centered down the middle of the window columns. See a following post to see how I did this. Pattern nicely centered on closet wall.
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Another nicely centered section of wall. Close-up. This pattern is just fun. I like to say that it looks like the flowers are smiling . Closer-up. The homeowner loved the ” column ” look of the vertical pattern . The pattern is called Garden Party Trellis , and is a companion to the very popular original Garden Party made by this company Rifle Paper . Which is made by York. Many Rifle Papers are printed on the non-woven / paste the wall material, which has many advantages – stain-resistant, dimensionally-stable , strong, strips off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate later. But this turned out to be a traditional paper type wallpaper – still good stuff, but a different material that calls for different installation techniques and time frame. I will note that the website stated that this was a nonwoven substrate . I encountered this conflicting information several times lately, so, despite what the on-line specs say, be prepared for any type of install scenario. This is a new home in the Rice Military area of Houston.
Powder room before. Note the blue ceiling . I applied a white pigmented wallpaper primer ( Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime ) to the walls . Done! So cheery and fun and lively! These flowers just make you smile when you walk in here!Toilet corner before. I’m grateful to the husband for removing the toilet tank, as well as the sink / vanity. This sure saved me a lot of time and squeezing into tight spots. The red square in the back is wall area that was blocked by the toilet tank, so previous painters were not able to reach that area. It had a heavy sand texture on it, which I took a little extra time to skim-float and then sand smooth. Nobody’s going to see it, but it will help the wallpaper adhere better . Toilet corner after. The corner you’re looking at was off-plumb by about 1/2″ from top to bottom, so there is a bit of a pattern mis-match as you get closer to the floor. Not a biggie with this wild pattern, plus it’s mostly hidden behind the toilet.Hard to see, but the focus of the photo is an angled wall under the stairs . The blue ceiling coordinates perfectly with the colors in the wallpaper . This is by Rifle Paper , and is called Garden Party . Every Rifle Paper I’ve hung previously has been on a non-woven substrate , and could be installed by the paste-the-wall method. The label said this was a PTW (see diagram of brush putting paste on the wall) … but it surprised me, because it was NOT! It was on a regular paper stock, and I’m betting it’s the same material that York prints its SureStrip line as well as the Spoonflower brand. I assumed the directions and diagram were correct, so first I pasted the paper and then took it immediately to the wall, with no booking time. Lo and behold, I got bubbles on the wall. This happens because the paper is absorbing moisture from the paste and expanding. With no way to escape being trapped between the paper and the wall, the moisture ” off gas es” and pushes away from the wall ,,, resulting in those bubbles. My solution was to treat the material as a traditional pasted wallpaper. So I pasted the back, folded pasted-side-to-pasted-side (called booking ), and then placed it into a black plastic trash bag for a few minutes. This allows the paper to absorb moisture from the paste, expand, and relax , all before it goes onto the wall. This is a pretty sure way to prevent the appearance of bubbles or blisters or wrinkles. The townhome is in the Highland Village / Galleria area of Houston .
I have to cover 15″ width of wall with a strip of wallpaper that is 27″ wide. Working with that 27″ wide strip and pushing it into the corner, and getting paste all over the woodwork, and trying to not get creases in the paper … all very difficult.My solution is to trim the wallpaper to fit the corner. Here the strip has already been cut, pasted, and booked (folded pasted-side-to-pasted-side). I’ve determined that I want the new strip to be 15″ wide. This will allow enough to cover the wall space, plus the 1/2″ inside the little space between the wall and the door trim. Because wallpaper expands when it gets wet with paste, to get an accurate measurement, I’m trimming after the strip has been cut, pasted, and booked for a few minutes, and has expanded to its maximum. This is called wet trimming. Alternately, dry trimming is when you measure and trim an unpasted and unfolded strip. My straightedge is set at 15″ from the left edge of the wallpaper. I’ve used a single edge razor blade to make the cut. Here is the strip in position on the wall. I’m using a plastic trapezoid squeegee wallpaper smoother to push the right edge into the small space between the wall and the door molding. You can see how nicely the wallpaper wraps around the corner and tucks into that narrow space. The pattern is called Garden Party and is by Rifle Paper, which is made by York, one of my favorite companies.
The original color was a dull brown/tan. I skim-floated the textured walls to smooth them, and rolled on my wallpaper primer, above.What a happy welcome as guests walk in the door! And much more suited to a young and active family. The homeowner did a beautiful job of coordinating the blues and greens through other rooms in the house. Rifle paper is made by York. The pattern is called Garden Party. Most Rifle Papers are on non-woven / paste the wall stock, but this was a traditional material where you paste the paper. Just about everything York makes gets an A+ in my book. The home is in the Briar Forest area of west Houston.
New drywall. I draped strips of protective dropcloth paper over the top of the wainscoting, to protect from splatters from my primer.Notice the “raised ink” and the hand-painted look.
Recent updates reflect respect for the original feel of this 1920 bungalow in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. There will be a claw-foot tub, as well as a very cool authentic vintage pedestal sink that the homeowner found on the side of the road, discarded from another older bungalow just a few blocks away. !!
Vintage-look beaded board paneling was added, along with hexagonal floor tile, both in a warm, muddy green that compliments the greens in the wallpaper.
The homeowner has a stunningly beautiful garden, and sought a wallpaper pattern that would bring the feel of nature indoors.
The top photo shows the walls as the contractor left them, in what we call a “Level 4” condition. This is optimal for wallpaper installation. No texture for me to get rid of, and no paint or PVA-based primers under the wallpaper. All I had to do was roll on my wallpaper-specific primer, Romans Pro 977, Ultra Prime.
The wallpaper is called Garden Party and is by York, in the Waverly collection (yes, reviving classic designs from the 1990’s!), and in their SureStrip line – one of my favorite products. It is pre-pasted, goes up nicely, hugs tight and thin to the wall, and performs wonderfully over the years, even under (mildly) humid conditions – such as a bathroom in an old house with poor ventilation.
The interior designer for this job is Stacie Cokinos, of Cokinos Design. She works mostly on new builds and whole-house remodels, and mostly in the Heights / Garden Oaks neighborhoods.
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