Whale of a Good Time in Little Boy’s Bedroom

Before shot of accent wall in little boy’s room in a nicely renovated 1920’s home in the Houston Heights .

Done. This is a good background wallpaper pattern , because the colors are muted and the design is overall and relatively calm.
Bunk beds will be coming soon.

The little tyke is in to all things nautical , so whales and a little whimsey are just the ticket.

Waves , whales , turtles , fish , turbulent seas … this looks like an artist’s ink or pencil drawing .

The design is ” Melville ” and it’s by Cole & Son , a British manufacturer known for good quality and affordable non-woven paste-the-wall wallpapers . Their designs run the gamut from traditional to fun to even a bit kooky .

Hiding White Seams on Dark Wallpaper

This “Melville” pattern by Cole & Son is a dark pattern printed on a white backing. The non-woven substrate is thick, and the white paper was likely to show at the seams.

So, before I pasted the back of the paper, I took a piece of chalk pastel (from a craft or art supply store) and ran it along the edges of the paper, working from the back, to avoid getting chalk onto the printed surface. I started with grey, but it wasn’t covering enough. I switched to black and had more pleasing results.

Some areas of the seams showed a bit of a hair’s breadth black line – but that looked better than a white line. From a distance, you couldn’t see nada.

BTW, don’t try this with oil pastels nor with any ink-based products like markers. Oil and ink (among other substances) will bleed through wallpaper and stain the surface.

(Originally written March 2018)

A Whale of a Fun Paper

This whimsical wallpaper went in the powder room of an updated townhouse in the Midtown / Montrose area of Houston. The paper is a non-woven material and is intended to be hung by the paste-the-wall method. I had great results by pasting the paper instead.

The paper has a pearlized, somewhat metallic sheen, and was a bit delicate – the surface could be damaged by abrading, overworking, or creasing.

The manufacturer is Cole & Son, a British company. The name of the pattern is “Melville.”