Subtle Colors , Gentle Movement in Dining Room

Kinda bland, huh?

Well, let me fix that for you!
With just two colors and a simple, yet flowing design, this wallpaper pattern breathes life into this room – but doesn’t overwhelm.
Pattern is nicely centered between the windows.

This is another wall that also has two windows . I was able to center the pattern between these windows, too. Centering on two different walls in the same room is actually something of a feat – but that’s a story for another time.

From a distance .

This home has bull-nosed / rounded outside corners and edges, as well as the arch . Very tricky to get wallpaper trimmed to these areas neatly and evenly . See other posts for more info on this.

Close up. The design has a weathered fabric texture sort of background . The copper colored foliage is lightly metallic , so has a slight shine – but only when viewed from certain angles , so it’s a subdued luster that’s added to the room .
Note how the coppery color coordinates with the light fixtures / chandeliers .

The wallpaper is by Graham & Brown , a good manufacturer with quality papers. The pattern is called Twining . This company makes nice non-woven papers , which have a polyester content which makes them stain-resistant and durable . They are also designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece and with no damage to your walls when it’s time to redecorate . G&B ‘s materials are usually flexible and nice to work with – although this particular one did tend to drag and tear when being trimmed – even with a new blade. I usually paste the paper , but non-woven materials can also be installed by paste the wall .
The home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks / Heights neighborhood of Houston .
This project took me three days, to smooth the textured walls , and then hang the paper around four walls , and trim around those pesky rounded edges and the arch .

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 . 

Symmetrical Leopards on Home Office Accent Wall

Moody and dark. A great, snug place to hunker down and spend the day on the computer , working from home . But maybe a little too much dark ?

An accent wall brightens the space and adds interest .  Makes a day at work more inviting.
BTW, those windows with their bull-nosed edges / rounded corners are a bear to hang wallpaper around, requiring special techniques.  I won’t go into details, but, after applying my wallpaper primer, just this one wall took me about six hours. 

Surprise! Look closely and notice the jungle theme , with palm trees and leopards .
I centered the pattern between the windows , for a balanced look. 

Close up.

See the fibers on the torn edge of the wallpaper strip ? This is a non-woven material , also called paste the wall , and has a 20% polyester content . Thus the fibers. This stuff is simpler to hang than traditional wallpapers . Also more washable and stain-resistant , and will strip off the wall easily and with no damage to the wall when you redecorate later.

These days, most people don’t use land lines or phone jacks .  So I removed the wall plate , and stuffed the connector into the wall .  Then I hung the wallpaper over the hole / box .  It’s right above the head of the cat on the left.  If the homeowners ever want to access the phone line , they can easily cut the wallpaper to open up the box , then reconnect it and then screw the wallplate back into place. 

The wallpaper is by York , under the designer Ronald Redding .   The label says it’s a paste the paper installation method , but in actuality, the instruction leaflet enclosed inside the roll is correct – it can be hung via the paste the wall method . Usually I prefer to paste the paper . 
This is a newish townhome in the Sawyer Yards area of Houston .

Different Runs – Different Materials

Due to a mix-up in terminology, the homeowner originally received just four single rolls (two double roll bolts ) of wallpaper .  They needed eight total single rolls (four doubles ), so two more double roll bolts were ordered.  Being unable to get the same run number , we anticipated a slight difference in shade .  But didn’t expect that the two new bolts would be thinner than the two original bolts . 

What the heck is up?! 

The selection book says this is a non-woven product, and a paste the wall installation method .  Yet the label on both the original and the new rolls says to paste the paper.  Even more puzzling, the instruction sheet included inside the rolls says that it’s  non-woven material , and to paste the wall. 
It’s important for the installer to know what material he’s working with, so I needed to know if this was PTW or PTP .  Usually, non-woven paste the wall are thick and hard to tear , due to their 20% polyester content .  The fat roll felt and acted like a non-woven .  But the thinner roll was thin and crispy and easy to tear.  I sure thought it was a paper material , which would require a different installation technique .  In recent months, I’ve had this same manufacturer send several rolls of the a particular pattern , but some were non-woven, and some were paper.  So I thought we might be experiencing this again.  It’s important to know what you’re working with, because different materials require different installation techniques.  If a DIY ‘er follows the instructions to paste the wall , but it’s actually a paste the paper material, he’s going to encounter a whole lotta mess – and ruined paper . 

Here I used my 24” wide straightedge to tear off a strip of wallpaper from the roll of thin material.  This answered my question.  See the little fibers ?  Those are indicative of non-woven papers, and their polyester content .  Once I saw this, I was certain that it was, indeed, a non-woven material / paste the wall . 

So this material was easier to hang than traditional papers, because no need to paste , book , and let sit for a few minutes.  There are other pluses, too, to NW papers, and most of us professionals like hanging them.  But I wasn’t 100% pleased with the thin version of this non-woven material.  For one thing, its stiff, crispness made it difficult to manipulate, and prone to crease . Also, notice the splotchiness of the paper.  This showed up on the dry paper, right off the roll.

But paper that has been pasted and hung on the wall showed even more splotches .  This is scary, because there is a issue called blushing or staining , where the paper looks like it’s wet , but never dries out.  Do a Search here to learn more.   This happens mostly with non-woven papers , and is tied to certain types of paste .  Which is why I don’t use those pastes!  So curious as to what is causing this slight discoloration.

I believe the spots were just due to moisture .  As I worked my way across the wall and time went on, the paper I had hung first had a chance to air out and dry.  The blotches disappeared . 
 
I’m curious as to why the difference in material.  Maybe the manufacturer was using different factories?  In different countries? Or supply chain issues / material shortages meant that their usual substrate and inks were not available .  Or just trying to cut costs?  Saving money isn’t a bad thing.  But it is, if it cuts down on the product’s quality. 

Take A Walk In Central Park. Dinner Party Guests Chime In

Before. Most of this home is in the white / beige / neutral decorating scheme. The homeowner wanted something with pizzazz to snazz up the powder room. Textured walls have been smoothed, primed, and are ready for wallpaper.

Definite WOW! factor!

Toilet corner before.

Toilet corner done.

Another view

Close up.

Closer up. The textured background you see is the non-woven material this is printed on. It has a 20% polyester content, and is thus somewhat similar to fiberglass. Very hard to tear, resistant to stains , and designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece , with no damage to the wall , when you redecorate .
It can be hung by pasting the wall , or by pasting the paper . I generally prefer to paste the paper .

Rolling it out on the floor , to see the overall pattern , and to decide what element I want to place at the center of the focal wall as well as at the top of the wall . This pattern is so wild and crazy and over-all, that it ultimately doesn’t matter about pattern placement . That’s pretty rare .
The pattern is called Central Park and is made by Thibaut . The home is in the Galleria / Tanglewood area of Houston .
What’s very cool is that the homeowner had ordered large samples of three colorways , but couldn’t decide which she wanted to go with. So she taped them to the wall, threw a dinner party , and asked her guests to vote for their favorite. This bright and colorful one won, hands down!
Now she’ll have to invite them all back again, to see the finished room!
I think the color and the design go super nicely with the weathered-white , deeply carved front of the vanity .
installer installation

Humidity Causes Curling Edges on Vinyl / Non-Woven Wallpaper

I hung this wallpaper about 10 years ago. It’s a main bathroom in a 1920’s home in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. The home has been remodeled including updated HVAC systems , but surely still suffering from issues of humidity and air circulation.
At some point, the very edges of the wallpaper started curling back at the seams. This is more pronounced at the upper portions of the wall than at the chair rail. Meaning, humidity from showering is rising into the air, collecting under the ceiling, and working its way into the seams.
Once humidity gets into the backing of the wallpaper, it can cause the backing to expand. When that happens, the paper has to go somewhere. So it pushes itself away from the wall. Hence the curling that you see here.
What’s odd to me is that this happened with a paper that’s on a non-woven backing. Non-wovens are 20% polyester, so pretty resistant to moisture and humidity. I’m guessing that this company used less than the industry standard of 20% polyester. The material was super thin and flexible, which is unlike most non-wovens I’ve worked with.

I was able to make this look pretty good again. I used a putty knife to gently lift the compromised edges away from the wall, and then I worked some of my regular wallpaper paste back behind there. (no super glue or heavy duty paste or contact cement )
Then I used my heat gun – set on Low – to gently warm up the vinyl surface of the wallpaper . The heat gun served several purposes … It helped speed the drying of the paste , so it got tacky and held more quickly and firmly. The heat gun also ” melted ” the vinyl surface a wee bit, so it would curl back in the opposite direction.
I used a 3″ stiff metal putty knife to push the two edges of wallpaper back down to the wall. The metal knife heated up, too, and helped to get the vinyl to conform.
Using the heat gun and the metal putty knife also helped the two edges from the two strips to meet up together … sort of like two mountain big horn sheep butting their heads together . Butted together this way is better than one lying on top of the other.
I was really pleased with how well this worked. Sorry – no pics!

The brand is Super Fresco Easy .

Apothecary’s Garden in Powder Room – Fairy Tale Floral

Deep green wainscoting at the bottom, and on the right is a 100 year old ” dry sink ” with coordinating colored tile backsplash turned into a vanity, with period-appropriate faucet .

Fresh and lively . But can you believe the design dates back about 100 years ? – same as the house!

Close up. Looks like watercolor paint . Birds , butterflies , plants , flowers , and grasshoppers !

C.F.A. Voysey is a male designer who worked around the turn of the last century, late 1800’s through about the 1920’s , and was part of the Arts & Crafts decorating movement . Most of his patterns are somewhat symmetrical , as well as whimsical and fanciful , with heavy emphasis on nature .
This is a non-woven material , can be hung via the paste the wall method , although I prefer the paste the paper installation . It has a 20% polyester content and is thus more resistant to stains and humidity than traditional papers . And it’s designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece with no damage to your walls when you redecorate .
The brand name is Lord Twig and it comes from Finest Wallpaper , which is in Canada.
This went in the rear powder room of a beautifully renovated 1926 4-plex apartment that has been artfully converted into a single family home , in the Woodland Heights area of Houston .

Fiberglass Wallpaper ?

This is the back of a strip of non-woven wallpaper , that has been torn. This type of material is minimum 20% polyester content. Some of my colleagues have called it fiberglass. I’m not sure that’s true, but there sure are fibers visible when the material is torn. In fact, on a lot of these, you can look at the backside and see masses of fibers pressed together to make the substrate.

Resplendent Transformation for Pre-Teen Girl’s Bathroom Vanity Area

The vanity and marble countertop have been removed. This makes it easier for me to work, and also allows the paper to go down behind the countertop, rather than being cut along the top of the backsplash. So no worries about splashed water wicking up under the wallpaper and causing curling.

What a beautiful room for a 10 year old girl!

Peacocks and posies .

This is a non-woven or paste-the-wall material. It was pretty thick and stiff. N-Ws contain minimum 20% polyester. There are many advantages to using them as wallpaper, including easy removal when it’s time to redecorate, because the strong material is supposed to stay in one piece and strip easily off the wall.
One of my colleagues says it’s made of fiberglass. In this close-up shot, you can see the fibers and plastic-like sheen. I have a hunch my friend is correct!

Manufacturer is Graham & Brown , pattern name is Resplendence , color is Blush ( dusty pink ).

Another Installer’s Problems With British Pulp Paper

Scroll down a few posts to see where I hung this exact same pattern, and coincidentally just a few blocks away. I had absolutely no problems. Yet this poor installer struggled and ended up with many dissatisfactory issues.
In this photo, you see where the wallpaper has shrunk at the seams and left a gap, some tears, and a patch to cover a mishap.

More tears and gaps.

Paper coming lose from the wall. Not taking primer or paint with it. But you can see the adhesive clinging to the back of the paper. I’m suspecting this is clay adhesive. Nothing wrong with clay, but I prefer one of the vinyl-based adhesives.
Not sure what the guy used as a primer (if any).

This is the popular Strawberry Thief by William Morris , usually sold by Morris & Co. I’m believing the problem here is the material on which this pattern was printed.

The site from which this was purchased called it a ” heritage ” paper. It is, indeed, made of what we call a British pulp material. Old-fashioned, it is. These days, most wallpaper coming from the U.K. is printed on non-woven stock. The paper I hung a few days ago was non-woven.

Pulp wallpapers have a nice look. But they have no protective coating, so become soiled easily. They soften when wet with paste and tear easily, and can also shred under the razor blade while trimming. They expand when wet with paste, and then shrink as they dry, which often results in gaps at the seams.

Even skilled installers can have difficulties when working with this stuff. In fact, on the private Facebook page of the Wallcovering Installers Association ( WIA ), we have just been discussing this very same topic.

I believe this previous installer had a few shortcomings, such as lack of skill and maybe used the wrong or no wallpaper primer. But I think the real and unsurmountable culprit was the substrate.

Moral: If given the option, choose a non-woven material. They are made with minimum 20% polyester content, and thus are resistant to shrinking, tearing, and tension at the seams. Many other advantages, too. Non-wovens are also referred to as paste the wall .