Adventurous, Fanciful Punch of Color and Theme

The homeowners are into comics and fantasy art. While I hung a calm crocodile hide textured wallpaper in the home office, the couple chose this wild and boldly hued zebra pattern for the adjoining bathroom.
I just love the way the bright orange pops out against the white vanity, countertop, toilet, floor, shower tile, and moldings.

This pattern is called Lost World and is by Clarke & Clarke . It’s a nice non-woven material, was easy to work with, and will hold up well, even under humid conditions if the shower in this bathroom is used.

Alligator Accent Wall

Here’s an accent wall in a home office.
Textured wall has been smoothed, primed, and is ready for wallpaper.

Finished. Sorry – the bright light coming in the windows makes for a dark, crappy photo. But the wall looks really good!

This gives you an idea of the realistic pattern and texture.
A bright piece of artwork will hang on this wall between the windows.

Close up of texture.

Manufacturer is Super Fresco Easy from Australia. Pattern is Crocodile
This non-woven material is thin, strong, flexible, and a joy to work with. In addition, it’s designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate.

Dachshund Madness!

Two opposing walls in a home office

covered in quirky doggie pattern.

This cute design of dachshunds is called Tillsammans, and is by Studio Lisa Bengtsson and comes from Sweden.
It’s a non-woven wallpaper material, and I used the paste-the-wall method to install.
This is a townhome in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston.

Colorful, Cheery Big Boy’s Room

Accent wall before. With a second baby on the way, this home office is morphing into a room for Big Brother.

Fun color and upward movement. The little guy will be able to live with this for many years, as it’s not strictly a nursery or baby pattern.

A thin, flexible non-woven paste-the-wall product by Exclusive Wallcoverings. I loved this wallpaper, and enjoyed working with it. I used the paste the wall installation method. It’s thin and hugs the wall tightly, and will be slightly more washable than traditional papers. In addition, it’s designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate.
The townhome is in the Museum District area of central Houston.

Fun Hourglass Geometric on Home Office Accent Wall

Home office wall before – textured wall was skim-floated and sanded smooth, wiped free of dust, primed, and ready for wallpaper.

Done! The homeowner wanted the “hourglass” pattern centered on where her desk would sit, rather than on the wall itself.

Close up. The silver lines are metallic raised ink, and there is a “grainy” design that gives the impression of a textured surface.

Graham & Brown is a British company that is among my favorites.

Working from home during COVID (and now for good), this homeowner wanted to enliven her workspace and get rid of endless grey walls. This fun pattern certainly did the trick!

This non-woven wallpaper was a lot more stiff and a lot less workable than most G&B papers. I used the paste-the-wall installation method for this simple accent wall, but pasting the paper would have made it more agreeable to work with.

The home is contemporary in style, and is in the Garden Oaks neighborhood of Houston.

Home Office Goes From Studious to Beachy

I admit, I really like the dark chocolate paint again the beautiful moldings in this home office.

But the homeowner is embarking on a new chapter in life, and wanted to freshen things up. She likes the beach and ocean, so this soft aqua look was just the ticket. I love the way it looks with the deep brown doors.

Railroaded (run sideways) over the cabinets. The wall to the right has not been papered yet.

Textured embossed commercial grade vinyl that mimics woven cloth. This stuff will wear like iron.

Manufacturer is Thibaut, in their Texture Resources collection.

This textured vinyl wallpaper is a beautiful and beachy update to this home office. But – man – it sure beat my butt! This should have been a one-long-day job, but it took me two days.

The material is very thick and hard to manipulate into place. And it is extremely difficult to cut through – even with a brand new razor blade. Add to that the many (10 – count ’em -10!) points of decorative door and window molding to cut around. And several other tricky spaces.

The end result, though, is beautiful and calming, and the homeowner loves it.

The home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design, who does mainly new-builds and whole-house remodels in the greater Heights area.

The Pandemic, Wild Patterns, and Zoom

The owners love the large home office in their new house, and it’s been a real boon while they are working from home during the COVID pandemic.

But they learned real quickly that wild wallpaper in the background doesn’t make for a professional meeting experience on Zoom!

So I stripped the paper off, and they will paint instead. This was a non-woven material, and stripped off the wall fairly easily by simply pulling – carefully. That’s exactly what non-wovens were designed to do.

Rather than try to strip the whole panel off the wall, which does put quite a bit of stress on the wall surface below, another option is to separate the top, inked layer from the backing, as you see in the second photo. The white is the backing left on the wall. This is pretty easy to do, in most cases.

Then all you need to do is to use a sponge and bucket of water to soak that backing until the paste becomes soft and reactivated. Then it’s easy to peel the backing away from the wall. This puts virtually no stress on the wall and usually leaves you with a perfectly intact surface underneath.

There are more detailed instructions on my “How to Strip Wallpaper” page link to the right.

Revisiting A Mural I Hung Six Years Ago

Accent wall in home office in a newish home in Garden Oaks, Houston.

I hung this about six years ago, and was back to measure another room … which will be equally colorful and unique!

The mural was not quite wide enough to fit the wall, hence the slight gap at the left and right edges. Hint: Always consult with the paperhanger before ordering any material.

Candice Olson “Linden Flower” in Home Office

Before. Original chalkboard paint sealed off with KILZ Original to block any oil residue from chalk that might bleed through the wallpaper. Then primed with Roman 977 Ultra Prime wallpaper primer.

Finished. Airy, floral, fun place to work!

First strip goes up, lined up against the red light of my laser level. I measured and plotted the placement so that the center of that dominant black flower would drop along the vertical center line of the wall (about 8″ to the right of the laser line).

Detail. I like the shadows in the background.

Close-up shows pen & ink, and water color look of this design.

Manufacturer is York, one of my preferred brands. http://www.yorkwall.com

Working from home these days, the homeowner wanted an office that was bright and encouraged creativity. The black chalkboard paint scrawled with slogans and proverbs had to go!

Almost exactly a month ago, I prepped the walls and started to hang the paper – only to discover printing and trimming defects. See my post from May 26, 2021. The on-line vendor, Burke Decor, was quick to ship out replacement paper from a different run. The new paper was fine.

The new light sconce plays off the black and gold colors in the wallpaper.

This refreshing yet peaceful abstract floral pattern sets the perfect tone, when your office is in your home.

The home is in the Heights neighborhood of Houston.

“Her Room” Goes Bright & Colorful

Walls smoothed and primed, ready for wallpaper

Flowers, birds and – COLOR!

Reminds me of this Pierre Frey which I hung in a nursery a few weeks ago.

Home office, craft room, veg-out room – whatever the “official” description, this room in the front of the house belongs to the lady of the house. She loves birds and flowers and bright colors, and was thrilled to find this wonderful wallpaper pattern on Anthropologie.

Most of Anthropologie’s papers are by York, in their SureStrip line, which is one of my favorites. The material is pre-pasted. I like to sprinkle water on the back and then spread it around uniformly with a paint roller, and then book for a few minutes in a plastic trash bag.

The paper goes up beautifully and the seams are invisible. SureStrip is designed to pull off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate.