French Toile Wallpaper Marries Beautifully With French Antique Furniture

I hung this classic French toile pattern a few years ago in a 4th-floor bedroom in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. I will be doing a few more rooms for the homeowner, and was able to get a shot of the finished room.

The homeowner is a former antiques dealer, hence the gorgeous 19th-Century French bedroom suite.

The room itself was quite complicated, with its ultra-high ceilings (requiring an extension ladder), sloped walls, multiple dormers, odd angles, and huge size.

The wallpaper is by Cole & Son, and was bought from Dorota at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet at Kirby. By appointment (713) 520-6262

Roiling Clouds Wallpaper in a Montrose Bathroom

Historic British manufacturer’s Fornasetti Line “Nuvolette” wallpaper pattern… I have long wanted to hang this paper, and finally got my chance today!

The walls in this first-floor bathroom of a newish contemporary styled home in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston were textured and covered with a semi-gloss paint. (top picture) It took me a day and a half to skim-coat the walls with smoothing compound, let dry, sand smooth, vacuum up the dust, wipe dust off the walls, prime, and let the primer dry. (second photo shows the smoothed and primed walls)

You would see this pattern better in a larger, less broken-up room, but here you can tell that it is a powerful depiction of roiling thunder clouds storming powerfully toward the west.

The product is unusual, in that it comes in a 2-pack set of “A” and “B” rolls. Each bolt is the same width and length as many Cole & Son papers. But the pattern is placed on those bolts very atypically, and the pattern match is equally unexpected.

Usually, wallpaper patterns match straight across from strip to strip. (straight across match) This means you see the same design element at the top of the wall on every strip. Or they drop down bit on every other strip, then pop back up to the top of the wall on the third strip. (drop match)

A much less common and much more complicated patter match is when the pattern motif repeats itself at the top of the wall only on every fourth (or more) strip. It can take a lot of mind-bending to figure out how to get the pattern placed correctly, and without wasting more paper than necessary.

Look at the upper left of the label, and it says that when placing the A strip to the right of the B strip, it’s a straight match. But when you position the B strip to the right of the A strip, it’s a drop match. This makes everything even wackier and more complicated!

What helped me here is that this home had plenty of room to roll out the bolts of paper, and plot out how the pattern would fall. (see photo) No one was home, so I had peace and quiet to concentrate and get my head around the intricacies of the pattern.

It turned out that the “straight match” indicated on the label was an error – no strips featured a straight match. Good thing I had all that floor space to roll the bolts out, so I could determine that.

Because the pattern match was so unpredictable, it was not possible to cut all of the “odd” and “even” strips ahead of time. And the very unlevel / unplumb qualities of the room also stepped in to make this impossible.

One thing that helped was that this was a non-woven material, which meant that the wallpaper did not need to be booked (left to sit and absorb paste and expand) before hanging. So as soon as I was able to figure out the pattern match for the upcoming strip, I was able to paste and hang the strip-in-hand.

If I had had to figure, measure, plot, paste, book, and then finally hang each strip individually, it would have taken a lot more than the eight hours it did take me to hang this 8-roll bathroom.

A big help on this pattern is that I belong to the Wallcovering Installers Association, and I check our Facebook page every day. (Sorry – it’s private … you can’t peek!) It was there that I learned about others’ experiences with this Nuvolette design, and how they tackled the pattern repeat and the install.

Textured Walls Show Under Wallpaper

The powder room walls in this ’90’s home in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston had a light texture. Wishing to conserve time, money, and mess, the homeowner chose to skip having the walls smoothed, and asked to have the wallpaper hung over the walls as they were.

The original wallpaper selection was thick and spongy and would have disguised the wall texture a bit. But the original choice was not available, and the alternate turned out to be thinner and smoother and glossier – all recipes for telegraphing the wall texture through to the surface of the wallpaper.

I admit, this does not look bad, and it is something that I probably notice more than the homeowners do.

But still, I don’t like the way it looks. Next time – even if it takes more time, costs more money, and results in a little dust – I will insist on smoothing the walls.

Fans on a TV Room Wall

This pattern reminds me of the marques and fanfare around movie theaters in the Art Deco period of the 1930’s. So it’s fitting to use in a large living room / TV room in this townhouse in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston.

Since the area where the pattern hits the edges of the paper is dark, and the paper is printed on a white substrate, I used dark chalk pastels to color the edges, to prevent white from showing at the seams.

The paper is by A Street Prints, and is a non-woven material, and I hung it using the paste-the-wall method.

The homeowners have a lot of artwork in the form of colorful glass plates and other pieces, and this pattern will be a fabulous backdrop.

A Fun Backdrop Wallpaper for Artwork

This young family in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston ownes a lot of contemporary artwork. They wanted to brighten and enliven their ochre-colored dining room, while providing a suitable background that would not obscure their paintings.

This paintbrush-stroke gold rose petal design on a white background does that perfectly.

This pattern is from Anthropologie and is by York, in their SureStrip line, which is designed to strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate. It’s a thin pre-pasted product, and goes up nicely, hugs the wall tightly, and the seams are nearly invisible.

What’s extra cool is that this design is very similar to the popular “Petal Pusher” by Hygge & West … but that company’s papers have the unfortunate problem of curling at the seams. (Do a Search here with key words to read my experiences.) I am tickled to know that there is an alternative that is much more cooperative and satisfactory.

A Geometric Pattern Adds Subtle Warmth

This week I’m working in a very contemporary newish home in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. Everything is straight lines and white walls. The bathrooms are getting a little warmth and personality with wallpaper.

The color scheme, pattern, and scale of this wallpaper all help it feel muted, so it doesn’t overpower the “minimalist” feel of the home. The geometric design, on the other hand, goes very nicely with the clean lines of the home, and with modern artwork collected by the homeowners.

This product is paper (not vinyl or non-woven) and is by Anderson Prints. It is not particularly easy to work with, since it tends to dry out after only a few minutes of booking time, and I had to repaste most of the edges so the seams would stay down. It also tears up my razor blades faster than most papers.

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.

Birds on Black Wallpaper by Witch and Watchman

This very cool wallpaper pattern looks almost photographic. The design has depth, and look at those eyes! – you feel like you are being drawn into the jungle.

The paper was pricy, so, to cut down on the number of rolls needed, the homeowner ran chair rail around the middle of the room, and had the paper applied to the top 5′ only. She painted the bottom an almost-black purple (it’s way darker than the photo shows), and the ceiling got the same paint, too.

The room will be finished with a sort of mosaic, three-dimensional, leaded-glass mirror – that lights up!

Tucked into a large powder room, this is a bold, gutsy look that not every home is ready for. But it’s perfectly suites to this Montrose (Houston) couple!

My second black paper in two days, I again used artist’s chalk pastels to color the edges, so the white substrate would not show at the seams. I tried different install methods, but this non-woven material worked better and had less shrinking when I pasted the wall (rather than the paper).

This is a perfect example of “If you love it, nothing else will do, so find a way to make it happen.” The homeowner saw this pattern and went nuts over it – then went nuts when she learned the price. I suggested that she search for similar patterns by other companies … but nothing grabbed her like this one. After a few months, she came back to her original choice. Eliminating the bottom portion of the room helped bring the price down.

The paper is by Witch & Watchman, and is called “Folia.” It comes in other colorways, but nothing is nearly as dramatic as this “Dark” option. Their patterns are pretty cool. I’ve hung a similar jungle-themed design, but it had cute furry animals on it in addition to the birds – with the same piercing, luring eyes. https://wallpaperlady.wordpress.com/2016/08/21/how-many-birds-in-the-forest/

Faux Marbleized Pattern for Montrose Dining Room Accent Wall

Just in time for baby daughter’s first birthday party! I had an unexpected opening, and the homeowner was able to get her paper quick-shipped, and so the accent wall got done with just a few days to spare!

The pearlized gold color pattern looks like marble (sorry, all my photos turned out blurry), and really warms up the dining room in this all-white, contemporary styled home, while still maintaining a sleek modern look.

With 12′ high ceilings, I had to bring my 8′ stepladder, so I could get all the way up to the top of the wall.

The homeowner originally wanted a different colorway, but it was backordered. With the party in just a few days, and with me having this last-minute, one-day opening, the homeowner switched to a different colorway – which was available – and paid a bit more for express shipping. That got it here in time for the install today!

The wallpaper is by Mayfair, and was nice to work with. 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.

Poor Photos of a Beautiful Room Trasformation

This is a handsome wallcovering, but unfortunately it’s best to see it in person, because it simply doesn’t photograph well. It’s real cork, stained a dark chocolate brown, with glittering flecks of silver in the background. The true beauty of it is revealed when light from the chandelier hits it, which is what I tried to show in the third photo.

The chandelier is stunning in itself, because it came from South America, having belonged to the homeowner’s grandfather. Sorry – that didn’t photograph well, either. 😦 I think it’s cool how the elegant, traditional light fixture works well with the modern style of the wallpaper and the rest of the house.

This natural cork wallpaper went in the powder room of a new contemporary style townhome in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. The interior designer for this job is Elizabeth Maciel.

The wallpaper is by Monarch, and 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.

Adding Another Space – Yaay! … Another Homeowner Bitten by the Wallpar Bug

These homeowners were so thrilled with the two accent walls I did for them in their Montrose (Houston) townhome last week, that they had me come back today and use left overs to paper this art alcove.

Even though the project involved only two 5′ strips, it took me several hours … note the perfect symmetry and balance of the pattern, both side-to-side and top-to-bottom.

It all serves as a beautiful background for the art painting and silver service. And, since it’s the same pattern and color as used in two other areas of the house, it ties the various rooms in the home together.

This classic trellis pattern is by Thibaut Designs is well over a hundred years old.