I took a “before” shot, but forgot to take an “after.” 😦
But here is a close-up pic of the fresh and clean geometric design. What takes this out of the ordinary is that the pattern is formed of teeeny round glass beads adhered to the surface.
It gives a 3-dimensional effect, and also shimmers because it bounces light around.
This product sounds cool to look at, but it was actually quite difficult to work with. In fact, I am considering declining glass bead jobs in the future.
The material is very thick, and thus hard to press into corners or ceiling lines, which means that after trimming, there may be a slight gap at the ceiling or baseboard.
In the instances where you need to overlap (turning inside corners), because the material is so thick, there will be gaps. Plus the worry that the paper does not have a solid surface to stick to (fat glass beads, thin backing material).
Worst is that the beads are virtually impossible to cut through. You can have a brand new, ultra-sharp razor blade, or the most impressive industrial-grade scissors, but still get unsatisfactory cuts. So anywhere you need to trim, you can expect to spend a lot of time sawing, and then still end up with jagged cuts or sections where the beads have fallen off.
Further, the beads fall off like crazy! So many had accumulated on the floor that I nearly slipped more than once. They get behind the paper and cause bumps. They get in the paste and contaminate other strips, and even jobs for future clients. Environmentalists scowl on them because they get washed down the drain and work their way into the ocean.
Glass bead wallpaper is not as popular as it was a few years ago. I’m glad.
This particular product is by Osborne & Little, a long-established British company, was on a non-woven (paste the wall) substrate, and came packed with extreme care to prevent damage from shipping.
A gal with a big personality and a love of glam needs a wallpaper that follows suit. This one does the trick!
This large damask pattern has a traditional feel, but the sparkly accents bring it into the new millennium. I like the glittery look on this paper much better than the glass bead products that have had some popularity recently… The real glass beads – which are fairly pricy – simply don’t sparkle unless the light is hitting them just the right way. And they make the wall bulky, especially in corners, they fall off and create bumps behind the paper, and clog drains and get into the waterways.
This paper has much more sparkle, no matter where the light is coming from, and it’s much more economical, too. And it was a dream to work with. All good things.
The photos don’t show the sparkle very well, but trust me, the room looks glittery, glitzy, shimmery, glamorous, and fab!
This wallpaper pattern is by Exclusive Wallcoverings. It is a non-woven material, and can be hung by either the paste-the-product or paste-the-wall method. I hung it in a powder room in a brand new home in central Houston.
It was bought at below retail price from 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.
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These days, for lots of people, it’s all about glitz and bling. Well, how about a little bling for your walls?! Wallpaper decorated with glass beads, which catch and reflect the light, are all the rage right now.
Yes, real glass beads, a little larger than grains of sand, are embedded onto the wallpaper substrate in this example, in a medallion motif. Many companies make shiny, glittery wallpapers, using various techniques. But this product, by Ronald Redding, of York Wallcoverings, is the real deal.
I have to admit, this wallpaper is more difficult to work with than I had expected, and it is taking an extra day to finish this relatively small, but cut-up and complicated eating area in a new home in Oak Forest, Houston.
The material is thick and stiff and unmalleable, and it’s hard to get it to fit snugly into corners, such as at the ceiling and moldings, and particularly the rounded curves around the fireplace mantel.  And cutting through those pretty glass beads with a trimming blade is the Devil!
Those beads just love to come lose and fall all over the floor, mess with the surface of my work table, contaminate my paste, and, yes, stray onto the back of the wallpaper, creating a very visible bump under the shiny paper. Removing them is very tenuous, first because they are miniscule and difficult to track down, but also because peeling the paper away from the wall is prone to cause creases or mar the surface.
Also, because it’s a thick and stiff non-woven material, the seams are always going to show more than with a regular wallpaper (last photo).
The going may be low, but room is “waking up” more and more as each wall takes on a cloak of the shimmery wallpaper. With windows on three walls, there will always be light coming at just the right angle to illuminate those pretty glass beads!
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