Similar Theme; Different Feel

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

Digital Image

The original wallpaper in this large powder room in Hunter’s Creek Village was red and had “broken twigs” as its design. The homeowner wanted a subtle change, so went with something fairly similar, but more modern. The paper is a grasscloth, and is dark blue, with gold “broken lines” covering the surface.

The paper had a selvedge edge that had to be trimmed off by hand, using a straightedge and a razor blade. This is a bit more difficult to do with grasscloth, which is thick and stiff, than with regular paper. In addition, the manufacturer’s trim guideline marks were off, which resulted in edges that were not straight. It took some time to figure out how to bypass that, and how to salvage the strip that got the crookedly cut edge.

There were a lot of other challenges to this room, including crooked walls, bowed walls, 12′ high ceiling, paper that twisted when it got wet with paste, a console vanity with exposed plumbing and a lower shelf, and less paper than I asked for – I needed 11 1/2 strips, and I had 12 strips….which meant that there was no extra paper to fix an error. Every strip had to be cut and hung perfectly.

I trimmed, pasted, and hung one strip at a time. This was tedious and slow, but it allowed me to gauge what was going on with each strip and how it interacted with the other strips (previous and succeeding), crooked corners, and the conformation of the room, as I worked my way around the walls, plus it gave me time to work around more difficult areas, such as the light fixtures, the “low boy” toilet, and the console sink.

The finished room looks great, and the homeowner loves it.

Because it’s grasscloth, the family will have to be careful to not splash water onto it, because it will eventually stain the material, or cause the dyes to run.

This paper is by Kravat, and I was very pleased with the quality of the material. (But, let me say here, I was NOT pleased with the mis-marked trim guidelines.) Back to the grasscloth – the color was very uniform, and there were virtually no shading or paneling or color variations, which are problems with most other grasscloth products I have hung. Do a Search here on those terms, to learn more.

You get what you pay for. This Kravat grasscloth cost about $350 per single roll (about 22 useable square feet).

Lower-Priced Option Fills the Bill Stylishly

These homeowners originally wanted a wallpaper with a similar pattern and color, by Jonathan Adler. But that designer’s name added a hefty price tag. Plus, his paper has to be hand-trimmed, which takes more time and expense to install.

So I hooked them up with my favorite wallpaper sales gal (below), and she quickly helped them find a very similar pattern that was much more affordably priced. Needless to say, everyone was very pleased, with the price, the service, and the finished room.

I hung this in a master bathroom in Hunters Creek Village, in Houston. This pattern is by Designer Wallpaper, #LA32805, 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.

Ceiling Line Doesn’t Even BEGIN to be Straight!

Look at the bubble in the window in the level – this ceiling line is nowhere near horizontal, and it’s not straight, either (see second photo). With a geometric pattern like this, it is going to be very obvious that the pattern will go crooked and parts will get chopped off. Please do not expect to see all the blocks lined up neatly along the top of the wall!

I focused more on keeping the design vertically plumb, along doorways and window frames. In the third shot, you see how it turned out along that one section of ceiling. All in all, this is not really bad, overall, and the clients just loved it.

I hung this in a master bathroom in Hunters Creek Village, in Houston. This pattern is by Designer Wallpaper, #LA32805, 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.