Affordable Alternative to Ellie Cashman Dark Floral

Back door entry accent wall before.

Done and dramatic!

This overs-scaled floral on a black background has become infinitely popular. But you don’t need to pay designer prices for the big name brands. As I like to say, for every high-end manufacturer making a cool design that’s expensive and probably difficult to work with, there is someone else making a knock-off that is affordable and better quality.

This is a very good alternative to the big name. It even has these beautiful humming birds.

Graham & Brown makes scores of designs, printed on a really nice non-woven , paste the wall substrate. One of my preferred brands.
Their version of this floral is called Allure .
The home is in the Hobby Airport area of Houston .

Humming Birds on Aqua in Powder Room

This is one of my all-time favorite wallpaper patterns. It’s just pretty – PRETTY.

I’m told it dates back to the late 1800’s – about the same time the manufacturer founded its company. In fact, the paper is 18.5″ wide, instead of the more standard 20.5″ width, because it is printed on the same rollers and drums that were used back then.

I’ve hung it many times over two decades. But I think this is the first time I’ve done this aqua colorway.

The under-the-stairs powder room is too small for me to get good photographs. But you can see how the paper glows.

This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, one of my favorite brands. If you look closely at the last photo, you can see the “raised ink” used in the printing process. I love that look and feel.

The material is pre-pasted, so all you have to do is wet it to activate the paste. I do also run a light coat of augmentive paste on the wall.

The home is in the Tanglewood area of Houston.

It 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.

Similar Color, But More Uplifting Pattern

The original wallpaper in this rear powder room / pool bathroom of a home in the Memorial Villages neighborhood of Houston was very dark blue with tiny black dots on it – from a distance, it looked like a solid color. It was an interesting pattern, but didn’t have personality of its own, so needed artwork to set it off.

This new pattern is very similar in background color, but the upward-moving foliage, accented by the beautifully painted hummingbirds, add a whole lot of movement and character to the room.

The leaves are a shimmery metallic champagne sort of color, and the hummingbirds have a mesmerizing iridescence; they almost look like photographs.

The stained glass window, which had been a bit of an odd duck – mostly because of the baseball in the center – became an asset when the wallpaper went up, because the colors of the birds miraculously matched the colors in the window.

Because the dark paper was printed on a white substrate, I used chalk to color the edges, so that white would not peek out at the seams.

This paper is by Harlequin, a British company. It is on a non-woven backing, and could be hung by the paste-the-wall method, or, as I did, by pasting the paper. It was nice to work with, but it could be creased easily, which would have made it difficult in a room that required more turns and intricate cuts and objects to trim around.

The wallpaper 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.

Cheery Humming Birds Brighten a Bathroom

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

This water closet went from boring and claustrophobic to cheery and fun, all through the addition of a pretty and uplifting wallpaper pattern.

This is one of my all time favorite patterns – and it’s been loved by thousands of people across the decades, too. And many companies have (legally) made knock-offs, by varying a few minor elements of the design. I’ve even seen it in a 1960’s house, in the classic colors of the time: Harvest Gold, Avocado Green, and Bright Orange. (Yes, it was still pretty!)

This particular pattern is by Thibaut, and, while most wallpaper is 20.5″ wide, this one is 18.5″ wide. I’m told that that’s because it is printed on the actual printing presses that were used in the 1800’s. I told you it was an old and beloved pattern!

This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, and was bought at a discounted price from Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.