I didn’t get a picture of the original dull, putty-brown paint, which did nothing for this space. Here is the room primed with my favorite Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime, formulated specifically for use under wallpaper. Sink / vanity area before.Wow! This billowy cactus pattern makes a statement! Tall! The ceilings in this home are over 10′ high. This very fluid, vertical design makes them seem even higher! Your eye just swoops up toward the ceiling! This back wall is what you see when you first enter the room, so I centered the cactus pattern on this wall. I was also able to center the pattern on this sink / vanity wall. It will look nicely balanced when the mirror goes up. A new light fixture is coming, and will be installed where you see the round hole / electrical box in the wall. Close up.Milton & King is the manufacturer, and San Pedro is the pattern name. M&K makes nice wallpaper, and I enjoyed working with this. It’s a non-woven substrate, so you can paste the wall if you like – but I usually prefer to paste the paper. The surface felt like a thin, flexible vinyl – durable and fairly resistant to splashes in a bathroom. Their patterns often come as a 2-roll set, with an ” A ” roll and a ” B ” roll. It can be a little tricky to measure for these until you get accustomed to how they work. Further complicating the issue is that this design has a 51″ pattern repeat. In a nutshell, this means that, in order to match the pattern from strip to strip, you may have to cut off and throw away as much as 50″ (more than 4′ ! ). Thus, with these high ceilings and the long pattern repeat, instead of getting three strips from each 33′ long roll, I got only two. So a lot of paper went into the trash pile. It’s important to be cognizant of that and include the waste factor when calculating how much paper to purchase. Better yet – have the paperhanger figure it up for you! These homeowners had already ordered their paper before I arrived for the initial consultation. After measuring and calculating, I told them to purchase one more 2-roll set. Another odd thing is that at the end of the day, we ended up with two full unopened “B” rolls plus one full-length “B” strip,,,, that’s a total of five full-length strips. But we had only one 10′ strip left of the “A” rolls. This points out that, depending on the layout of the room, you can use more “B’s” than “A’s” or vice versa. I’m sure glad I made them buy that additional 2-roll set! This new townhouse in the Heights neighborhood of Houston is home to a young couple. They will be married in a month or two. I had originally set their install date for a week or so before the wedding. I got a last-minute schedule change, they were able to get the room ready for me on short notice, and so I got their wallpaper up today,,, and they can spend the next months focusing on their upcoming special day!
“Before pic.” The grey paint does warm the room up a bit, and it definitely shows off the decorative moldings. Yet the room feels flat.Here we are “After,” with the room energized by color and with all sorts of clever images to look at. Under-the-stairs angles complicate hanging paper in and around the shower. Super close-up shows an almost hand-painted look.
This family in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston is all about their two young daughters. The wallpaper pattern they chose for their powder room could be called “fantasy personified” – perfect for kids! And adults using the room will be wowed by the visual impact of the bold black background and bright pops of color.
It may look like “just a bathroom” to you – but this took me more than nine hours to hang (I had done the prep yesterday). Intricate moldings to trim around, small spaces, tight angles, dimensions that didn’t mesh, high ceilings that made reaching areas such as over the sink difficult (i.e. risky), and more.
The wallpaper is by Borastapeter, a Scandinavian company. It’s a non-woven material, which has a lot of advantages over traditional paper or vinyl. Although one could use the paste-the-wall installation method, in this chopped up bathroom with intricate detailed areas, I chose to paste the paper. This helped ensure adhesion in even the tightest spaces, and also made the material more flexible and easier to manipulate.
The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design.
In a bathroom with high ceilings, I needed to set my trusty 5-gallon bucket on the countertop, so I could set a foot on it to maintain my balance while I worked on the wall above it. To prevent it from slipping, I placed a non-slip shelf liner underneath – something I’ve done a zillion times before.
But this time, a little while after all the apparatus was removed, this circular spot appeared.
I believe the countertop is made of soapstone.
We are still researching why this happened. I do know that the soapstone had not been sealed when it was installed, nor had it been maintained with regular applications of oil as is recommended.
It could be that oil or other substances from the shelf liner leached into the soapstone. Or that the liner somehow wicked some substance from within the soapstone up to the surface.
I am hoping that, in time, the stain will dissipate, much as a drop of oil will gradually absorb into a leather jacket.
Other ideas are that, because soapstone is an impervious material, the stain is simply sitting on top, and so talcum powder or cornstarch sprinkled on top may absorb it.
Another suggestion is to apply mineral oil, as the conditioner that should have been applied regularly all along, and it may soak in and minimize and / or disperse the ring.
This home in the Briarpark neighborhood of West Houston was damaged in the flood from Hurricane Harvey. During the rebuild, the young homeowners did a major update, and now you would never guess the house dates to the ’70’s.
The powder room wasn’t very groovy, though. It had high ceilings and bare drywall walls. The woodwork was painted a chocolate brown, and the vanity was a muddy charcoal grey. The room was just screaming for some personality.
The super-long 44″ pattern repeat eats up (and wastes) a lot of paper, but it ensures that you don’t keep seeing the same design element over and over.
The dark brown ink on a light tan background coordinates beautifully with the paint on the room’s trim.
Covered with beige paint, this powder room in a new home in the Rice Village / Medical Center area of Houston didn’t have much going for it. And despite it’s large foot print and 12′ high ceilings, it felt close and claustrophobic.
This lively pattern helped a lot, by visually opening the space. All those swirling tree branches add a lot of movement. Yet the paper does not feel busy, because of the monochromatic color scheme.
To reach the high ceiling, I had to bring in my 8′ stepladder. Working with it is always a challenge, especially in tight quarters like a powder room.
This paper is on a non-woven substrate, and could be hung using the paste-the-wall method, or the paste-the-paper method; I chose to paste the paper.
This 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.
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