Laser Line Not Straight

A line from a level – in this case a laser level – can help ensure that your wallpaper strips hang perfectly plumb . In this room, I’m to hang wallpaper on the horizontal accent wall , as well as the angled / vaulted area above it. I was disappointed to learn that the light beam doesn’t shoot straight up both sections of the wall . The light beam refracts as it hits the angled portion of the upper wall. Turns out that the laser level (the blue object you see on the corner of my work table ) has to be EXACTLY in front of the wall, at a properly perfect 90* angle perpendicular to the wall .
Well, that sounds simple enough. Thing is, the level has to sit on a surface that is itself perfectly level, and situated directly in front of the wall. In this nursery, there is no suitable furniture , nor is my table long enough to span that whole 12′ wide wall .
So I just winged it on the upper portion, using measurements rather than a plumb line, and the wall turned out fine.

Horses on Baby Boy’s Nursery Crib / Accent Wall

Before. The adjoining walls have been painted a complimentary blue. The mom-to-be and I talked about whether or not to paper the sloped area. To me, since the sloped area goes up as high as the blue painted walls on either side, it looks more cohesive to run the paper up to the same height as the painted walls.
Note that the sloped areas is a flat surface. The appearance of an upward bend on the right side is an optical illusion. The wall to the right is folding in, and is creating a false image.

Horses done!
The ceiling in this room was really off-level , and so you see some of the horses’ heads getting cut off as the eye moves to the right. The horses do run straight along under the sloped area, and along the top of the baseboard (not pictured).

Close-up shows a linen – like appearance .

Note that the seams on Spoonflower are intended to be overlapped, by about 1/2″. The ridges will be visible – more or less, depending on the angle the light is coming from. In the photo above, the sheen on the seam on the right is over-exaggerated due to light hitting it from the side. In real life, once the paste dries and the wallpaper shrinks tight to the wall, you won’t notice the overlaped areas.
And one very good thing about overlapped seams – they are stronger, won’t shrink and gap and show white ate the seams , and put less stress on walls with unstable sub-surfaces .

This material comes in panels 24″ wide x 12′ long / high. Don’t think that you can use every square inch of that strip. Here you can see that the mfgr cut off the horses’ heads at the top of the strip. So, if I want to place a particular horse at the top of the wall, I will have to roll out the paper and then cut off and discard parts of the pattern that I can’t use. This can be up to a full pattern repeat – which, in this case, was close to 1.5′. That’s 1.5′ wide x 2′ wide, which comes out to about 3 square feet of wallpaper that goes into the trash.
Not a big deal. I factor all this in, and have my clients purchase enough paper to accommodate this. Just wanted to emphasize how you can’t plan to use every square inch of wallpaper, and to have the installer measure and calculate how much is needed before you purchase .

The manufacturer is Spoonflower , who seems to be having a burst of exposure and popularity right now. They make a few types of wallpaper. I like this one very much, but do not like their other options. So, if you are considering Spoonflower , please buy their ” Prepasted Removable Smooth ” option. Do NOT get their ” Traditional Pebble ” or the ” Peel & Stick .” Both are extremely problematic , and may be short-lived on your walls.

Handy Motif Placement by Mfgr

It’s nice when a manufacturer does this.  Notice that all of the pattern motifs are contained within the width / borders of this strip of wallpaper.  Nothing passes across the seam.  There is nothing to match from strip to strip. 

Even if the walls are out of plumb , or the ceiling is not level , this allows me to keep the same design element at the same spot below the ceiling, all the way across the wall or around the room .  See photo.  All seven strips across this nursery accent wall have the design motifs at the same distance below the crown molding.  Not having to connect a pattern motif to another across each seam means that I can pull each strip up to where I want it under the crown molding.  No going off-track or sloping / tracking down or up. 

This cute pattern of pastel hot air balloons is by Caitlin Wilson and is in the Sure Strip line of pre-pasted , easy to install and easy to remove wallpaper s made by York .  I like this material a lot. 

Pastel Hot Air Balloons for Toddler Girl ‘s Nursery Accent Wall

Accent wall before, textured wall has been smoothed , primed , and is ready for wallpaper .

Hot air balloons , pastel colors , works for boy or girl , and will grow with the child as he/she ages . 

Here is the bold white child’s headboard that will be placed against the wall . 

Coordinates beautifully with the other three walls , which are painted a dusky pink . 

The wallpaper is by Caitlin Wilson , and is made by York .  It’s in the Sure Strip line, which is a thin , pre-pasted material that is water-activated and easy to hang / install .  It’s also designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate .  I like this stuff a lot.
The home is in the West U area of Houston .

Bright and Cheery Accent Wall for Toddler Girl

Just about every wall and surface in this home is white . This super fun , super colorful pattern really energizes the little girl’s room / nursery .

Before, with my tinted- blue wallpaper primer Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime applied.

I love contrasting the colorful wallpaper to the plain “before” look.

Red flowers centered under the window , so it will look nice falling around the crib .

Close-up .

The manufacturer is the popular Rifle Paper , made by York . I love this brand – but beware of printing defects , which have been popping up more and more these last few years. Also, Rifle Paper is usually a DIY-friendly non-woven or paste the wall material . So I was surprised today to find this is a traditional paste the paper product . Actually, I’ve had a good handful of RPs lately that were paste the paper .
These two materials call for completely different installation methods. The PTP takes more time and equipment , too.
The home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston .

Fanciful Mural for Baby’s Crib / Accent Wall

Typical textured wall in new homes in suburban Houston has been skim-floated , sanded smooth , and primed with Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime wallpaper primer .

All ready for baby Noah! The parents-to-be will spend the weekend bringing in the crib and other furnishings .

This is a 4-panel mural . Here I’ve laid out the panels , to ensure correct placement , and get accurate measurements .
We had some ” issues ” and I wasn’t completely happy with this product / vendor . For starters, they custom-printed custom-sized the material to the exact dimensions I had asked. Problem is, these panels are intended to be overlapped and double-cut ( spliced ). That means losing an inch on every seam . The company should have accommodated for that by providing us with four extra inches. They did not, so I had a real math and juggling match trying to plot how to get enough paper to cover the width of the wall.

The grey colors go nicely with the current trend toward greys and beiges ; the rest of the home follows this color scheme .

i thought this was going to be a pre-trimmed non-woven / paste the wall material. I was caught off guard when I discovered it was a textured vinyl on a paper backing , untrimmed and had to be double cut . See other post and/or do some Searching here for more info on this DC process . I think a better material would have resulted in better seams . But – wallpaper is meant to be viewed from about 5′ away, and from there, the wall is perfect.

Remember the picture of the panels laid out on the floor . The panel on the far right had a cool train near the top. It was a prominent feature in the scene . But, as you see in this photo, that train was cut off by the door. So all you see over the door is blank sky . I really liked that train, and so did the mom . I wanted to put it where she could see it .

So I took the bottom portion of that last panel and found the train. I used a straightedge to cut the bottom edge, and then used a scissors to trim around the top of the train and its trail of smoke .
Vinyl is slick , and wallpaper paste won’t adhere to it. So I applied special paste designed to grab ahold of vinyl. Then I placed it over the door , butting it up against the right where it meets the adjoining wall.
But – dangnabit! I forgot to take a picture of it finished! It looked great. Over the door was no longer all that dead-air blank space. Now there is a streamlined train with wisps of smoke , heading toward the distant castle !
I’m not going to mention where this was purchased from, because it’s one of the sites that I hope people will steer away from – a place that sells batteries , jewelry , fishing tackle , and – oh, yeah – wallpaper, too,,, you’re just better off with one of the established companies that specializes in wallpaper .
nursery installer houston sienna

Soft and Sweet Pattern for Accent Wall in Baby Girl’s Nursery

The crib will go on this wall. Originally it was textured grey paint , as you see on either side .

Here is the wall after I’ve skim-floated / skim-coated it, sanded smooth , and primed with a wallpaper primer called Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime . I have them put a little blue tint in it, so I can see where I’ve rolled it on.
This wallpaper comes in one continuous roll ordered by the yard , as you see on my table , as opposed to double roll bolts as most brands are packaged.

This cute pattern is called Thatcher . It looks like a simple repetitive pattern , but it was actually fairly complicated . Not all those starburst motifs , and especially not the fan shaped lines around them, are the same.

Looks hand painted with a paintbrush .
The paper has a clay coated surface , which give it a beautiful matt finish.
It’s lovely stuff to work with – seams melt away like butter , and trim lines are spot-on. (Many companies’ are not.)

This brand’s papers come with an unprinted selvedge edge that has to be trimmed off by hand.

You use a straightedge and single edge razor blade , and follow the manufacturer’s trim guide lines , to remove the selvedge. Today trimming this one bolt to do one wall took a full hour.

The brand is Pepper Home .
The home is in the Woodland Heights area of Houston .
installer

White Flowers on Black Background in Dining Room

Before. Waaay too much white. Bland, boring white! Primed with Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime and ready for wallpaper .

Done! A small, tight design in just a few colors, as well as placing the pattern above the wainscoting (instead of papering floor-to-ceiling) keeps this from being too busy.
If these homeowners really wanted to pump it up, I could see painting those ” beams ” a semi-gloss black. Or maybe the recessed ceiling areas inside the beams . What do you think?

I love the way the white flowers play off the white molding and wainscoting.

This shot shows the true colors

This is by Rifle Paper . This brand has exploded in popularity since they expanded into selling wallpaper . And no wonder – their patterns are overwhelmingly cheerful and fun.
The material is a non-woven , and can be hung by the paste the wall method , or by pasting the paper . I usually prefer to paste the paper as it makes the material more flexible, as well as ensures that paste gets to every surface.
The home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks area of Houston . I papered this couple’s nursery a few months ago, and almost immediately they were eager to enhance another room with wallpaper.

Jagged Abstract Flowers for Baby Girl’s Nursery Accent / Feature Wall

s

Original wall was white, as was the rest of the room, and also the furniture.
Here I’ve smoothed and primed the wall, and waiting for everything to dry before installing the paper.

Finished. The first-time mom-to-be loves the subtleness of this soft pink color. Note that the pattern, that might seem busy up close, really fades to a background, sort of a texture, when viewed from a distance.
The mom-to-be commented that this pattern and color will grow with her daughter and be suitable for many years.

Close up and at an angle.

The paper has an embossed vinyl surface , providing a light textured look and feel .

This wallpaper is by A Street Prints and comes on a user-friendly non-woven / paste-the-wall substrate.
This stuff is MUCH better than the peel & stick options that are popping up.
When you’re ready to redecorate, this will strip off the wall easily and in one piece, with no damage to the wall.
When a pattern is popular , manufacturers will figure out a way to create something similar , without infringing on copyrights.
I believe this design to be in response to Thibaut’s Aster , and also to the very popular Feather Bloom by Schumacher.
This option is affordable and user-friendly .

Multiple Drop Pattern Match

The label said this was a drop match . But the pattern match turned out to be a multiple drop .
On a straight match , you’ll find the same tulip, for example, at the top of the wall on every strip. On a drop match , that tulip will be at the top of the first strip, then on the second strip it will drop down half the length of the pattern repeat . On the third strip, it will be back at the top of the wall . On the fourth strip, it will drop down again. And so on.
But on a multiple drop pattern match , also called a quarter drop , that tulip drops down bit by bit over a span of four strips , before it appears again at the top of the wall. Actually, some multiple drops, the motif can traverse more strips before it’s back at the top.
These patterns are extremely tricky to figure out , and to calculate rollage for. I’m really glad that I rolled the paper out on the floor of this empty nursery , before cutting anything. If you assume that what you have in your hands is a typical pattern match and go and cut all your strips ahead of time, you will have a whole bunch of strips that won’t match up, and will have ruined all that paper.

by Serena & Lily . This is a non-woven material, also called paste the wall .