Cheery Verdant Choice Saves Home Office

This accent wall in a home office in Cypress ( Houston ) has a long story of mishaps, frustration, and $$.
Originally, the interior designer had suggested Feather Bloom grasscloth / sisal by Schumacher . I prepped the wall and prepared to hang the paper. But we discovered printing defects (very, very common with Schumacher), and other issues. Search here to see my previous posts.
We had to abort the install that day. This turned out to be a good thing, because, truth be told, the homeowners really didn’t like the Feather Bloom, but felt a little pressured to go with it.
So back to the vendor the ugly duckling went.
Then the homeowners took their time without the designer’s input, to look at wallpaper selections and purchase $1 samples they could see, feel, and tack up to the wall.
Their new choice (below) fits their style, color scheme, and pocket book much better (this option cost thousands less than the Schumacher).
The actual purchase was made through Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams store in the Rice Village (713) 529-6515.
Everything was done over the phone, and, to save the homeowners driving all the way into the city, I picked up the paper for them and delivered it to their home on install day.

Starting in the middle of the wall so I can place the very symmetrical pattern dead in the center of the wall.

The colors in the paper work beautifully with the green cabinets you see to the left.
And I love the way the airy feel and foliage and flowers compliment the open-air view outside the window.

This pattern is reminiscent of designs by William Morris, a designer of the Arts & Crafts period around the turn of the 20th Century. I’m seeing a lot of interest in these patterns of late.

Apelviken , Midbec , 33006 , A Street Prints , Spring, non-woven material made in Sweden , was very nice to work with and will hold up well for many, many years.
I installed using the paste-the-wall method , although you could also paste the paper.

William Morris-Like Design in Woodlands Powder Room

Before. Hurricane Ida (October 2021) took their New Orleans home and everything in it, so the homeowner relocated to a north Houston suburb to be closer to family and college friends. The home is brand new, and has grey-tan walls. While the homeowner “grows” into the house, acquires furnishings, and figures out her decorating approach, she wanted at least one room prettied up.

She fell in love with this wallpaper pattern, and decided the powder room was the best place to showcase it.

Pattern centered on the sink / faucet and light fixture. It will look symmetrical and super nice when the mirror is hung.

William Morris innovated designs like this back in the 1860’s, and started the Art Nouveau and Arts & Craft movements, which carried on into the early 1900’s. I’ve hung a lot of patterns by him, and similar, in recent years, indicating an increased interest in this gorgeous, fluid, nature -centric style.

The paper has a velvety feel, and the seams were invisible. It’s non-woven material, which is very strong and designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate. It’s fairly water-resistant and somewhat more stain-resistant than more traditional wallpaper substrates.

Apelviken by Midbec is a Scandinavian manufacturer. Yeah…. the instructions on the flip side were a lot of fun to read through!

Interestingly, the labels listed the sequence in which the bolts were printed. Note that not all the bolts were in proper sequence. With a machine-printed product, sequence isn’t all that important because the color will print out very evenly.

The homeowner loved the new look, and said that having this one room decorated with some color and personality helped a lot to make the new house feel like a home. After the trauma she went through in recent months, it was an honor to help her new home become warm and welcoming.