No, this large room with sink and counters isn’t a kitchen. The family loves to entertain both family and friends, so included this “bonus” room in their new home’s plans. It’s used for both entertaining and crafting. The wall facing you was originally painted a semi-gloss navy blue. In the photo, I’ve applied my wallpaper primer. It will adhere to the glossy paint, and provide a matt finish for the wallpaper paste to grab ahold of. Taking measurements and plotting the layout. This paper has a selvedge edge , which has to be trimmed off by hand with a straightedge and razor blade. The manufacturer has not provided trim guide marks , so I am using a ruler and my eye. The new look is so dramatically different I couldn’t resist taking a photo mid-hang. As you can see, I’ve used dark paint to stripe under where the seams will fall, to prevent any of my primer from showing through at the seams. You can see the ceiling line starting to track upward on the right portion. More on that below. Finished. Perfectly centered.This is the mounting hardware for the big screen TV . I asked them to remove the TV, but we left the mounts in place. In order to support the heavy TV, they are placed quite securely into the wall , and I feel it’s best not to jimmy around with that. Rather than have the first strip straddle the TV mount, I plotted to have my first seam fall down the middle of the wall, placing a seam in the mid point of the mount. This meant I had to hang four strips instead of three, but it made it a whole lot easier to work around the TV mount, as well as to keep the left and right edges of the grasscloth straight and plumb. Close up showing the texture of this grasscloth material. It’s atypical to have grass cloth printed with a pattern , and I rather like the way the ink looks somewhat scratchy against the rough background. Because it’s Schumacher, you can expect printing defects . The slight pattern match doesn’t bother me, as there were many more places along each strip that matched up perfectly. Nor do I mind the different intensity of ink on the two strips. That’s all part of the look of grasscloth. But I wasn’t pleased with the white ink out in the middle of nowhere, as seen about 1//3 down the center of the picture. This isn’t considered a defect , and from a distance it’s not really noticeable. But it bugged me. So I used some water-based paint and a very small brush from the craft store and lightly touched up the spots. I also softened the mis-matched edges a bit. There’s a fine line between covering the white spots and staining the material, so use a light hand. And never permanent ink or oil-based markers or pastels.Likewise, the ceiling line was not level, so as I moved from the mid-point out to the right, the ceiling rose above the geometric motif’s top edge, and a white line began to be visible, but only to the right of the centerpoint. So I used the black paint to cover up that extra bit of white. This increases the width of that horizontal navy blue line from 1/4″ to about 1/2″. But from down on the floor you can’t tell, and it looks a whole lot better than having white on the right side and none on the left. The brand is Schumacher and the home is in the Garden Oaks / Oak Forest area of Houston. The interior designer who came up with this bold and lively look is Clayton Brooks .
Red dot on back of wallpaper substrate.Red dot shows through to front of wallpaper.There were a few blue dots, too. Being tucked among the foliage helps hide the dots.
This is the second time in recent weeks that I’ve had strange red and blue dots show up on the back of my strips of wallpaper. These are not flecks of wood fiber or string that can be picked out of the material.
They are either inherent to the material the substrate is made of. Or they could have come from substances splashing onto the wallpaper during manufacturing.
What’s upsetting is that they are capable of – and have – bled through to show up on the surface of the wallpaper.
Another fear is that ink bleeds and stains … do a Search here on my blog for more posts. In today’s case, I worry that these tiny dots will bleed and leech over time, and grow to larger stains on the surface of the paper.
This wallpaper is by Katie Kime. Their website says that they use “eco-friendly” inks. I hope this is true. Because water-based inks have less chance of bleeding through than do oil- or solvent-based substances.
II hung two test strips today. We’ll see tomorrow if any of these small dots have enlarged.
You might have to enlarge the photo to see the tiny spots on the wallpaper – they are much more visible in real life.
The tiny spots were caused by the homeowner using hairspray. And the water stain in the corner is surely the result of the housekeeper letting cleaning solution pool up on top of the tile.
No airborne anything when you have wallpaper!
If you are going to use hair spray, stand in the tiled shower. Spray the Windex onto your rag, not onto the mirror. No aerosol air freshener.
Even if the product does not hit the wall directly, tiny droplets will hang in the air and can then work their way to the walls, eventually causing staining.
Here is a really popular pattern by Thibaut that I have hung a good number of times. This is the first time that it came in vinyl, though. (It’s usually paper.) Do a Search here to see other rooms I’ve put it in.
The vaulted area is the rear portion of the ceiling. The homeowner and I discussed painting the “beam” dark brown – I think she should.
The 10’+ high, steeply vaulted ceiling with its weird angles and narrow crevices was difficult to get wallpaper on. Once done, it looks great.
The homeowner wanted something cute and ageless, because the grandkids will use this bathroom. It’s on the third floor of a townhouse in the Galleria / Tanglewood neighborhood of Houston.
This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, called “Tanzania,” and 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.
This grasscloth by Caitlin McGauley was pretty uniform in color, without the shading and paneling that is inherent in most grass products.
But I did have a few issues. In the first photo, you can see spots on the back of the paper. If you look closely at the second photo, you can see the spots on the surface of the paper. I think the manufacturer applied some sort of sealer to the grasscloth, and that may be what’s causing the spots on the paper. I thought the dots would be visible, and especially after the paper got wet with paste. So I discarded about 3′ of paper – factor in the 50″ pattern repeat, and you lose a lot more paper. A shame, because this is pricy stuff.
The third photo shows a distinct color break running horizontally just above the upright fish’s nose. In this case, the powder room’s mirror will disguise this, plus the dim lighting from the two wall sconces will obscure it a little.
But in another room, color breaks like this could be very displeasing.
In another area (not pictured), it looked like a sealant had been applied to the surface, but had not reached the edges of the grasscloth uniformly, leaving a vertical line of shading.
A 3′ x 1.5′ soffit visible when the door of this closet is opened really bugged the homeowners. The closet is in a playroom where I had just papered an accent wall. (See previous post.)
The homeowners thought that putting wallpaper on this soffit would make it less offensive. They were thinking of using the same paper that was on the adjoining wall (see previous post).
But they had a little paper left over from when I did their powder room in a previous house back in 2011 (yes, the wife saved the left over paper and transported it to the new house!). Once I saw the fun spotted pattern, which just so happened to be in a grey/brown color that coordinated beautifully with the accent wall, I insisted they use the dots instead of the “Fantasia” pattern.
Now when the closet door is open, your eye is drawn to this playful spotty block of funness.
The dotty pattern is called “Tanzania” and is by Thibaut.
This little baby is on the way! Mom wanted something “jungle” looking, but not cutesy, so it would serve the child beyond the baby years. Dad is from South Africa. What could be better than this leopard spot print, called “Tanzania” ?!
I’ve done this pattern a number of times (do a Search in the upper right corner), but this is the first time in this brown-on-tan color. (I know, the photos make it look black on white.) Interestingly, this time, the brown and tan colorway weighed a lot, and seemed to have a vinyl surface, whereas the previous colorways were lighter and felt like plain printed paper.
Whatever it’s made of, it was wonderful to work with, and it will hold up on the wall until the child is old enough to want something different.
In the photo with the toothbrush – see all those little minute shards of paper on the floor? The edges of one side of the bolts of paper had loose shavings attached, caused by some trimming misfunction at the factory. I used the toothbrush to scrub them off.
This is a large, very contemporary home just north of West University, in Houston. I hung the paper on one accent / feature wall in the nursery. I like this pattern a lot, because it doesn’t have a strong secondary pattern that might distract the eye. It will be a good background for the crib and for any artwork the parents decide to hang.
This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, one of my favorite brands, and 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.
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