Cactus Patch Powder Room

I didn’t get a picture of the original dull, putty-brown paint, which did nothing for this space. Here is the room primed with my favorite Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime, formulated specifically for use under wallpaper.

Sink / vanity area before.

Wow! This billowy cactus pattern makes a statement!

Tall! The ceilings in this home are over 10′ high. This very fluid, vertical design makes them seem even higher! Your eye just swoops up toward the ceiling! This back wall is what you see when you first enter the room, so I centered the cactus pattern on this wall.

I was also able to center the pattern on this sink / vanity wall. It will look nicely balanced when the mirror goes up. A new light fixture is coming, and will be installed where you see the round hole / electrical box in the wall.

Close up.

Milton & King is the manufacturer, and San Pedro is the pattern name. M&K makes nice wallpaper, and I enjoyed working with this. It’s a non-woven substrate, so you can paste the wall if you like – but I usually prefer to paste the paper. The surface felt like a thin, flexible vinyl – durable and fairly resistant to splashes in a bathroom. Their patterns often come as a 2-roll set, with an ” A ” roll and a ” B ” roll. It can be a little tricky to measure for these until you get accustomed to how they work. Further complicating the issue is that this design has a 51″ pattern repeat. In a nutshell, this means that, in order to match the pattern from strip to strip, you may have to cut off and throw away as much as 50″ (more than 4′ ! ). Thus, with these high ceilings and the long pattern repeat, instead of getting three strips from each 33′ long roll, I got only two. So a lot of paper went into the trash pile. It’s important to be cognizant of that and include the waste factor when calculating how much paper to purchase. Better yet – have the paperhanger figure it up for you!
These homeowners had already ordered their paper before I arrived for the initial consultation. After measuring and calculating, I told them to purchase one more 2-roll set.
Another odd thing is that at the end of the day, we ended up with two full unopened “B” rolls plus one full-length “B” strip,,,, that’s a total of five full-length strips. But we had only one 10′ strip left of the “A” rolls. This points out that, depending on the layout of the room, you can use more “B’s” than “A’s” or vice versa. I’m sure glad I made them buy that additional 2-roll set!
This new townhouse in the Heights neighborhood of Houston is home to a young couple. They will be married in a month or two. I had originally set their install date for a week or so before the wedding. I got a last-minute schedule change, they were able to get the room ready for me on short notice, and so I got their wallpaper up today,,, and they can spend the next months focusing on their upcoming special day!

“It Makes My Heart Happy To Walk In Here”

“It makes my heart happy to walk in here. I’ve had neutral pallets for so long, I was ready for something cheerful and colorful and happy.” That’s what the mom of this 11-day-old baby girl said when she saw the transformation of her infant’s nursery. Originally all the walls had been painted a soft pink. Three walls are still pink, but the fourth accent wall is abuzz with color and critters.

This cute pattern by Anthropologie (sorry, I musta forgotten to take a photo of the label) has colorful flowers in shades of salmon pink, and foliage in shades of green – but is also dotted with butterflies, grasshoppers, and other whimsical cuties. The mom noted how the design makes the room look larger.

This wallpaper is sold by Anthropologie, and is made by York Wall, in their Sure Strip line. It is pre-pasted (water-activated), is thin and pliable and hugs the wall nicely, and is on a non-woven substrate which is designed to strip off the wall easily and with little-to-no damage to the wall when it’s time to redecorate. Sure Strip is one of my favorite products to hang. Most of what York makes is mighty nice, too.

Originally this family was prepared to wait a few months for my next opening (I stay pretty booked with work), but I had a last-minute schedule change and was able to get their job worked in with – literally – only about 10 hours’ notice. Happy baby girl!