Sleekly, Cooly, Scandinavian

This family has lived all over the world, including several years in Denmark. The mom has definitely picked up a love for the cool colors and sleek look of Scandinavian decorating. Here is a corner of the entry, before, and a peek into adjoining rooms.

Cream and silvery grey on white tree foliage add just a touch of texture and warmth, while keeping with the all-white color scheme in this home.

The room consisted of four corners of wall space, and four chunks of shorter areas over doorways.
Note how the cool light fixture repeats the look of peeking through branches. They are going to trade out that yellowish bulb for a whiter one.

The wallpaper has a slight raised ink texture.

This is Sandberg ‘s popular Rafael pattern. I’ve hung it a number of times, but this is the first time in the white-on-white colorway.
This is a non-woven material , and will strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate. It was flexible and quite nice to work with.
The home is pretty new, very contemporary, and is in the Montrose / Museum District / Rice Village area of Houston.

Faux Marbleized Pattern for Montrose Dining Room Accent Wall

Just in time for baby daughter’s first birthday party! I had an unexpected opening, and the homeowner was able to get her paper quick-shipped, and so the accent wall got done with just a few days to spare!

The pearlized gold color pattern looks like marble (sorry, all my photos turned out blurry), and really warms up the dining room in this all-white, contemporary styled home, while still maintaining a sleek modern look.

With 12′ high ceilings, I had to bring my 8′ stepladder, so I could get all the way up to the top of the wall.

The homeowner originally wanted a different colorway, but it was backordered. With the party in just a few days, and with me having this last-minute, one-day opening, the homeowner switched to a different colorway – which was available – and paid a bit more for express shipping. That got it here in time for the install today!

The wallpaper is by Mayfair, and was nice to work with. It was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – 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.

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

“Smoke” On A Floating Wall

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This wall in the dining room of a very contemporary new home in the Spring Branch area of Houston “floats” in the middle of the room. This breath of smoke floating across the wall adds a distinctly ethereal feel.

The interior designer on this job is Neal LeBouef, of L Design Group, who was expertly assisted by Anthony Stransky. I love working for these guys. And homeowners love their creations, which are crisp, sleek, modern, a bit edgy, yet still warm and comfortable.

The smoke mural was custom made to fit the wall, and came from Murals Your Way https://www.muralsyourway.com/ , a member of the Wallcovering Installers Association (WIA). Their murals can be printed on various materials, and I chose the vinyl on an Osnaburg backing.

Each of the three panels was about 42″ wide, and they were meant to be overlapped and then double-cut (spliced) at the seams. Great care was taken to not get paste on either the surface of the mural or on the ceiling, and to not score the wall while splicing.

I have a specially made 2 1/2″ wide plastic tape that keeps paste off surfaces, and another special 2″ wide polystyrene plastic strip that protects the wall from cuts from the razor blade, and a specially made non-slip straightedge used as a guide while trimming. All of these were invented and made by fellow members of the WIA (Steve Boggess and Eunice Bokstrom). Probably boring for the average blog-reader, but exciting stuff for us paperhangers. These things really helped make this job turn out perfect.

More Durable Alternative to Grasscloth

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This couple wanted a textured paper, rather than a busy pattern, for their powder room in a newish home in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston. After spending several months looking at options, and also seeking my input, they decided on this. The design is meant to look like grasscloth, but to me, it has much more of a sleek, modern look, all of which is enhanced by the slivery grey color.

What is extra nice about this selection is that it is a scrim (fabric) backed vinyl material, and will hold up to water splashes and dings quite nicely; real grasscloth, and even paper wallpaper products, cannot say the same. Because it is meant to mimic grasscloth, there is no pattern to be matched, and so the seams are more visible than with other patterns. But this product did not have the paneling and shading problems that plague real grasscloth, so the seams really are barely noticeable.

This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, from the Texture Resource line, pattern # 5834, and was bought at a 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.

Bahamas Hotel Look in Houston

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The homeowner had vacationed in the Bahamas, and saw a wall treatment that looked something like this. She was thrilled when she found this wallpaper that mimicked the look. Trust me, the wall looks MUCH better in person than it does through the lens of my cheap, un-smart camera.

It’s modern, without being in-your-face, and is helping to transform this traditional Bellaire home into something a little more sleek and crisp and updated.

This wallpaper is by Casamance, and is a vinyl product on a non-woven backing, and is a paste-the-wall installation. It was thin and pliable, and a welcomed change of pace after hanging so many thick, stiff, uncooperative non-woven papers.

Circles of Orbs

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Here is a fun “balls dropping” pattern in subdued greys and tans, with tiny glittery glass beads imbedded in the circles. This went on one wall in powder room – behind the sink and toilet – in a brand new, very contemporary home near Buffalo Speedway and Braeswood (Houston).

The homeowner had the contractor remove the sink and toilet, so it was much easier for me to get the paper neatly behind those fixtures, and no cut edges along the top of the sink to worry about curling. The shot of the sink plumbing isn’t glamorous, but it shows how I plotted the layout so that the darker circle would be centered over the sink.

The colors and theme go very nicely with the sleek, modern style of the home, and are a perfect match for the marble tile in the adjoining room. With lighting coming from the right angle, the glass beads will really sparkle!

This wallpaper is by Anthology (by Harlequin), and is called “Eclipse.” It was on a non-woven substrate. Those glass beads love to fall off (the floor was covered with them), and it’s important to keep them out of the paste and off the back of the paper, or they will show as tiny pimples under the paper. I find that it’s easiest to keep the beads away from the paste and backing if you apply paste to the wall, rather than to the back of the paper. The walls were 12′ high, so I had to bring my 8′ step ladder to do this job.

Chic, Yet Subtle Geometric in a Dining Area

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Voilà the transformation of a bland dining room into something sleek and hip. The homeowner said he was originally drawn to big prints and bold colors, but eventually settled on this quieter pattern. I think he made a wise choice.

The “Geometric Tile” pattern compliments the contemporary feel of this newish home in the Montrose area of Houston, but doesn’t overwhelm the space. If the couple wants drama, they can add bold and colorful artwork, which will stand out against the neutral wall, but be easy to change if they get tired of it.

The wallpaper is by Cole & Son, a British company, is printed on a non-woven substrate, and is a paste-the-wall product.  It is thick and spongy and stiff, and worked well enough on this accent wall, but would be more difficult in a room with more turns and intricate cuts.

Major Transformation – From Dark & Dated to Sleek, Serene & Modern

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This under-the-stairs powder room in a townhome in Montrose (Houston) was originally papered in a dark murky blue striped wallpaper – very trendy back in the early ’90’s when this home was built (just like the shiny gold faucet and towel ring 🙂 ).

Neal LeBouef of L Design Group is helping the new homeowners bring their home into the New Millennium, with a sleeker, cleaner, and more contemporary look.

I don’t like grasscloth in bathrooms because it stains and runs when it gets splashed with water, and I really dislike the shading and paneling (color variations between strips) inherent to grasscloth. But I really do like Neal’s choice of this faux grass product! Thibaut Designs’s Bankun Raffia is a faux grasscloth in a woven pattern that has real texture and a subtle shadowing effect. It looks a whole lot like the real thing, but is free of the color defects of real grass, and is much more durable in wet areas.

I have hung this pattern many times, and it always looks crisp and clean and serene and, depending on the color, tailored and handsome. It’s thick, which makes it a little difficult to work around corners, but after many hangs, I’ve got the corners mastered.

In this room, I was unable to get the original wallpaper off the walls. It was coming off in 1″ pieces, and the 1′ square section I did get off took more than an hour, and left the wall a mess. So I opted to smooth over any uneven areas, and then sealed the paper with Gardz, by Zinsser, which soaks into porous materials like this (won’t work on vinyl or anything with a gloss), and then seals it, drying hard. It dries fast, and is suitable for hanging new wallpaper on top of it.

In the second photo, you see one wall in the original dark paper, and the wall to the right covered with the new fake grasscloth. With all the walls covered, the new look is fantastic. The shiny gold faucets will be changed, and a new light fixture and mirror will be added.

Sleek, Upscale, French, Elegance, Shimmer – All This In One Tiny Room!

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Please pardon the crummy pictures, due to poor lighting, a cheap camera, and why the heck did I move after I clicked the button?! Anyway, you get the idea.

This young family lives in a home in Bellaire (Houston) that is large and open and somewhat contemporary, yet has formal elements, like intricate moldings – plus a whole lot of WHITE. They wanted something to warm up the space, while being sleek and French-chic. This pattern is not by Candice Olson, but it could be – it has sass, glamor, glimmer, movement, and style, plus it coordinates nicely with the marble countertop in this under-the-stairs powder room. It added just the touch the homeowners were looking for.

This is a thick vinyl in a dark color on a white paper backing. I colored the edges of the paper with grey pastel chalk, but the third photo shows that you can still “kind of” see the seams. This is typical, and not a defect. Depending on where you’re standing and where the light is coming from, most of the seams are invisible. When the paper is good and dry, the seams will be even less noticeable.  And, really, it’s the kind of thing that I see, but homeowners don’t even know what I’m talking about.  🙂  The dark lines in the top photo are shadows from the lighting.

A wallpaper facelift is addictive … When I left, the homeowners were saying, “We’ll have you back soon, to do something with the living room!”

This swirly wallpaper pattern is by York Wallcoverings, and was bought at a discounted price from Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. Tell her what you are yearning for, and she knows exactly where to find it. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.