You’ve got to look at this close-up, to notice the antelope and flames / foliage . You gotta make a decision … The light sconces (they are currently removed, but you can see the electrical boxes where they will be placed) were centered on the vanity top, but the faucet was off-center by about an inch. So I chose to center / balance the pattern on the sconces and countertop. The mirror will be hung between the two light fixtures, so we’ll end up with a pleasing, balanced look. The faucet isn’t exactly in the middle of the design motif, but no biggie – there’s going to be a mirror there, anyway.
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Corner going around shower. Note the window looking into the shower. Although the website specs said this is a pre-trimmed non-woven material , that was incorrect. Turns out it had an unprinted selvedge edge that had to be trimmed off by hand . Here I’m using my straightedge and razor blade to remove this selvedge. This takes precision and a LOT of time . The manufacturer usually provides trim guides to help you know where to cut. But it’s usually better to trim to the pattern – determine an element in the design motif that will meet up with the corresponding motif on the opposite side of the strip when the strips are hung on the wall, and use that as your guide . Be sure to trim off the trim guide marks, or they will show on the wall. The pattern is called Arabian Nights and is by Relativity Textiles . I’ve never worked with this brand before. I was not pleased . In addition to the incorrect information about the pre-trimmed paper , the mfgr’s specs said this was printed on a non-woven substrate . It was not. It wasn’t even printed on standard wallpaper stock . Instead, it was a pulp material – This is a sort of old-fashioned wallpaper , and is very brittle and prone to tearing and dragging (your trimming knife or razor blade will get snagged and you’ll end up with a ” chewed ” jagged cut, instead of a crisp cut . It also tears easily. It also has no coating, so it’s not stain-resistant … Not good in a busy household with a 3-year old toddler , or anyone splashing water or soap or air freshener . It was also difficult to hang . Applying wet paste to the backing causes the substrate to absorb moisture and expand at a different rate from the ink on the surface. So you end up with wrinkles , waffling , and quilting . Sponging a light bit of water on the front before pasting helps even out the moisture differential and ease installation . I’ve never before encountered a pulp that had this type of ink on the surface. One clue for this bad stuff is when you open the package and it smells like moth balls . Once I figured out how to work with it, , it went OK – although tedious . The seams did look very nice. BUT … all this effort would have been unnecessary and the finished room would be more durable if the mfgr had printed on a non-woven substrate (as their on-line specs stated) and had used standard inks instead of this weird , smelly , high-end stuff. In fact, the material would have cost the homeowners a whole lot less $ if it had been normal ink on a non-woven backing . The home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston . installer
Look closely and you’ll see streaks running down the wall, obviously from liquids that have been splashed out of the sink or while someone reached for the faucet handles. This is a semi-gloss paint, so you’d think it would be more resistant to staining. Two things concern me. First that whatever substance this is, may come back back to haunt us by bleeding through the new wallpaper. Oil, which can be found in soap, cleaning supplies, and fragrances, for instance, is one culprit. Second is that, if the walls got this much splatter before the paper goes up, sure hope that the household will take more care once the wallpaper has been installed.
This wall had a slight texture that needed to be skim-floated and then sanded smooth. After I applied the smoothing compound (drywall joint compound), a half hour or so later, these tiny blister bubbles appeared. This is off-gassing. But from what is a mystery.
The only clue is that this area is around where the hand towel was positioned next to the sink. So this area would have received a lot of splashing of water and also soap and other toiletries.
My guess is that some of these substances stuck to the wall. And for whatever reason, when they were covered by the joint compound, they released air / gas, which caused these bubbles.
I’ve seen this before. But this time, some of the bubbles were large enough that they did not sand down smooth and even with the wall surface. So I had to do a light touch-up skim-coat on top.
Once I got the wall smoothed, I wasn’t too concerned. I don’t believe that anything causing these tiny blisters would be something that would bleed through and stain the wallpaper.
Some substances do stain wallpaper, though. For more on that, do a Search here.
Very hard to see here, but look closely and you will see vertical stains running down the wall.
This wall is right behind the sink. And this spot is right below the hand towel. Obviously, people reaching for the towel with wet hands has led to water – sometimes tainted with soap, toiletries, or cleaning agents – to drip down the wall.
The resulting stains are minor on the painted wall. But, once the wallpaper goes up, it is possible that these substances will bleed through the primer and the wallpaper and cause staining on the new wallpaper. So, proper remediation is needed to prevent stains from bleeding through.
Also, once the new paper is up, people will need to be more cognisant of not splashing the wall.
It’s a misconception that wallpaper is “washable” or “stain resistant” or “will hide flaws.”
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