Home Office Goes From Studious to Beachy

I admit, I really like the dark chocolate paint again the beautiful moldings in this home office.

But the homeowner is embarking on a new chapter in life, and wanted to freshen things up. She likes the beach and ocean, so this soft aqua look was just the ticket. I love the way it looks with the deep brown doors.

Railroaded (run sideways) over the cabinets. The wall to the right has not been papered yet.

Textured embossed commercial grade vinyl that mimics woven cloth. This stuff will wear like iron.

Manufacturer is Thibaut, in their Texture Resources collection.

This textured vinyl wallpaper is a beautiful and beachy update to this home office. But – man – it sure beat my butt! This should have been a one-long-day job, but it took me two days.

The material is very thick and hard to manipulate into place. And it is extremely difficult to cut through – even with a brand new razor blade. Add to that the many (10 – count ’em -10!) points of decorative door and window molding to cut around. And several other tricky spaces.

The end result, though, is beautiful and calming, and the homeowner loves it.

The home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design, who does mainly new-builds and whole-house remodels in the greater Heights area.

Railroading a Trellis, Heights Powder Room

Railroading means the wallpaper strips were run horizontally, instead of veritcally. See top photo.

That treatment gave the room a little more visual height. AND it coordinates with the paneled glass windows in the front of the house – which dates back to 1895.

This pattern is by Candice Olsen, for York wallcoverings. The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos, of Cokinos Designs.

The home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston.

A Kaleidoscope of Mid-Century Modern, Frank Lloyd Wright – Wild

What a fun pattern from Bradbury & Bradbury, in their newish line of “Atomic Age,” Mid Century Modern, in the theme of architect and designer Frank Lloyd Wright!

The young couple that bought this mint-condition, Mid-Century home in the Medical Center / Reliant Stadium neighborhood of Houston is way crazy about the modern look, and wanted an accent wall in the kitchen breakfast nook to both play up that theme, as well as bring color into the room.

There are four bright orange molded plastic “mod” chairs that will ring around that round table.

The pattern is called Kaleidoscope. The wallpaper is custom made, but is not outrageously expensive. It comes with a selvedge edge that has to be trimmed off by hand. (Do a search here for pics and more info on this process.) The paper is normally hung vertically, but the homeowners liked the design better run horizontally (called railroading in wallpaper terms).

It took a lot of trimming, plotting, planning, and engineering, plus plenty of time with the laser level (see second photo), to get the pattern matched correctly and then laid out on the wall so everything lined up perfectly. I also took steps to keep as much paste off the woodwork and shutters as possible. Yeah, it wipes off relatively easily. But always best to keep it off in the first place.

Silver Cork Wallpaper in a Galleria-Area Water Closet

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This water closet in the master bathroom of a newish home in the Galleria area of Houston was originally papered with an olive green grasscloth, which was then painted over with flat, boring, tan paint, as you see in the top photo. It was bad enough as it was, but when the homeowners renovated the bathroom and changed to a sleek, modern look, that painted grasscloth just hurt to look at it.

The wife loves this silver cork wallpaper by Thibaut Designs. In fact, last year I hung the same thing in their downstairs powder room.

The cork, with it’s bright metallic surface, brought a whole lot of light and life to the enclosed, window-less room. It looked better than I anticipated, and we all were amazed at how large and vibrant the room became.

Because the room had some curved walls, I railroaded the paper (hung it horizontally instead of vertically), and that proved to be a good choice. It also used a little less paper.

The wife loves this paper so much, she is thinking of putting it in a third space in their home – an accent wall in the master bedroom.

This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, and was bought at below retail price from 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

Lavender Grasscloth Wallpaper on Bookshelves

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A simple but dramatic change … This softly-colored grasscloth has a fine texture, but it’s just enough to set off the books and decorative items that will be displayed on the bookshelves.

The shelves could not be removed, so I had to work in tight spaces, with each strip being less than 12″ high. The bottom shelf was at floor level!

In order to eliminate a visible seam down the center, I “railroaded” the grasscloth – ran it horizontally. I used a sewing / crafting self-healing cutting mat to pre-trim the right side of each strip, making sure it was perpendicular to the edge that would be the top of the strip.

This made for less trimming at the wall, less paste smeared on the woodwork, and reduced the chance of paste getting on the surface of the paper, which could stain it.

The manufacturer of the grasscloth is Schumacher, and the pattern number is #5004724.

The interior designer for this job is Pamela O’Brien of Pamela Hope Designs in Houston.