Very Pretty Bird Pattern in Garnet and Gray

Pretty birds , nicely spaced branches , and lovely colors for this master bedroom in the Heights neighborhood of Houston .

This accent / headboard wall is even prettier from a distance .

Here’s the wall before. The other three walls are painted a complementary grey .

From a distance. I’ve got one more strip to hang , on the far right.

Close up . The background is silver with a little gloss to it, but not so much as to be glitzy or garish . I mean, a guy sleeps here, too. So it’s gotta be a bit subdued .

This wallpaper is made by Graham & Brown.  G&B is a good quality , mid-price range company. Like most of their papers, this is a non-woven / paste the wall material .  Much of G&B’s paper is thin and flexible .  But this particular pattern came on a thick and stiff substrate .  N-W’s contain a minimum 20% polyester content, and I suspect this has a higher percentage .  The stuff is somewhat akin to fiberglass .  Look closely at the bottom of the photo, and you can see the fibers .  This makes it good, and easy for DIY ‘ers , on simple installations like accent walls / feature walls .  But it can be trickier when you have to trim around obstacles like windows , decorative moldings , vanities , toilets , and the like.  
Non-woven wallpapers are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate , with minimal or no damage to your wall (assuming proper prep was done before installation ).  A much better choice than peel & stick . 

Mum Flowers in Heights Entry

Painted walls in this new-build in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston have been primed with Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime wallpaper primer .

Done

Just the area above the wainscoting / chair rail was papered .

Obstacles to trim around included six doors – with a total of TWELVE corners of decorative molding to trim around. In addition, there were EIGHT terminations of wood ceiling beams , also with uneven edges , to trim around.

Absolutely NO information came with the wallpaper . No run number , no installation instructions , no nuttin’. Confoundingly, the company’s website was malfunctioning, and pop-ups prevented me from getting information , or even from seeing what the pattern looked like on a large wall .
So here I am rolling the paper out on the floor , to get a scope of the pattern and layout .
Note the unprinted selvedge edge , which I’ll have to trim off using a straightedge and a razor blade. See previous posts (do a Search) to learn more about this.

The pattern is called Kanoko and the manufacturer is Relativity Textiles . This material was VERY difficult to work with. More about that in a future post.

Leopards Prowl Inspired Powder Room

Vanity wall was originally textured and painted with a semi-gloss . Here it’s been skim-floated , sanded , and primed – ready for wallpaper.

Finished. There’s a cool light-up mirror that will hang on the brackets under the light fixture .

Opposite corner before.

Finished. This room wouldn’t have half the impact without the black moldings and ceiling. The homeowner said she envisioned a jewel box – all tufted and lined with velvet . Well, I’d say she nailed the look!

As the dark and mysterious wallpaper moved from left to right, the room began to take on a mood . I love the juxtaposition between a clad wall and a bare wall.

Close-up.

Detail.

The husband is handy, and I really appreciate that he removed the vanity and sink . This made it a lot faster and easier for me, and ensured better adhesion of the wallpaper around the plumbing pipes . And also eliminated stress and creases on the paper that can happen when bending and folding to work it around obstacles.

Here is the modern looking vanity that will go into the powder room .

To keep white primer from showing at the seams , I striped black paint on the wall under where each seam would fall. Do a Search here to read previous posts about this technique.

I use matt finish craft paint from the hobby store , a scrap of sponge , and a bottle cap full of water . Do a Search here to read previous posts about the process and materials .

I also run chalk along the edges of the wallpaper, to cover up the white substrate , to ensure there will be no white peeking out at the seams . Again, do a Search on key words to learn more about this technique .
Dang it! I forgot to take a picture of the label! But this wallpaper is by York and is called On The Prowl .
It’s vinyl on a non-woven backing . The instructions said you could paste the wall for installation . But I pasted the paper, and I think with this product it’s better, because it did seem to want to expand a bit. If you paste the wall and then the paper stretches, you’ll end up with buckles at the seams or bubbles within the strips .
The material was fairly flexible , which was nice because it allowed me to “mush” the paper to conform to some pretty un-plumb walls.
Although York is one of my favorite brands , I wasn’t real crazy about this particular wallpaper. Still, it seamed up nicely, didn’t shrink, has a vinyl surface that will resist splashes and fingerprints , and is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate .
This is a townhome in the Rice Military area of central Houston .