Previous installer broke just about all the rules, but the paper has held up wonderfully for nearly 25 years.
I’m going to hang new wallpaper in this hall bathroom, and first must remove the existing paper. But – surprise! When I removed the outlet cover, I discovered that the previous guy hung this floral paper on top of the original paper. Ouch!
Here’s a better view. You can clearly see that other paper underneath there.
An interesting side note … the original paper looks a whole lot like the pattern I had in my powder room for many years. I loved it.
Anyway, both these papers are solid vinyl material, which is, essentially, plastic , and has a slick surface. Wallpaper paste won’t adhere well to this shiny surface. Even without taking the time to strip off the original paper, a primer should have been applied over that vinyl. Yet, as you see, this paper has hung on well for two decades.
He used regular paste, too – not something formulated to stick to a slick surface (which we call VOV or vinyl over vinyl ). Again – amazing that it stuck. And very glad that he didn’t use VOV – be cause that stuff is near impossible to get off!
Another problem with hanging wallpaper over old paper is that the seams of the bottom paper will show through the new paper.
1990’s paperhanger didn’t prime the wall , either.
To remove this wallpaper, I stripped off the top vinyl layer of both layers of wallpaper. That left the paper backing of the original wallpaper still adhered to the wall. Here I’ve soaked that backing with water , using a sponge and bucket of warm water, applied over and over again, until it soaked in and reactivated the paste. 30 year old paste!
Here I am gently scraping it off the drywall . As you can see, no primer was applied to the drywall. Gee, folks! A primer formulated for use under wallpaper should always be applied, to any surface, before hanging new paper. I like Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime . Besides providing an appropriate surface for the wallpaper paste to bite into , easing installation by allowing slip , and withstanding the tension caused when wallpaper paste dries and the paper shrinks and tugs at the wall (which could cause seams to come loose ), a primer will seal the drywall and ease removal of the wallpaper when you redecorate down the road.
Without a primer, it’s common for wallpapers to “bond” to uncoated drywall , which makes removal nearly impossible. Like I said, I got really lucky with this one, because the original paper did come off relatively easily and with no damage to the wall surface .
The homeowner wanted the look of grasscloth, but didn’t want the stains that can happen when splashed with water or toiletries. Another displeasing feature of real grasscloth is the very visible seams , and the likelihood of color differences between panels (called paneling or shading ). So she opted for this textured vinyl version. She loves the look. It is a handsome room!Original 1990’s paper has been stripped off, Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime wallpaper primer has been applied, and we’re now ready for paper!This material has a pattern that matches from strip to strip, so you don’t get the eye-jarring look of broken fibers at the seams , like with real grasscloth or other natural materials. Here’s a close-up, detailing the texture. About ¼ from the right is a seam – it’s barely noticeable . Opposite wall. For balance, I plotted that the seams fall at the same point on each wall – 18” from the mirror frameI’m getting ready to hang a strip that will knock against that mirror frame. To keep paste from slopping onto the molding , I’ve applied this thin, flexible blue plastic tape along the edge. This will keep paste off the molding while I trim that strip to fit against the molding. Once that trimming is done, I’ll remove the blue tape and then smooth the wallpaper back into place.Since this is a dark wallpaper, I worry about the light colored primer peeking out at the seams. This can happen because sometimes the factory hasn’t trimmed the edges perfectly straight , or the wall may have uneven areas or bows , or some papers shrink a tad when they dry . So here I’ve plotted where the seams will fall and have striped the area with diluted paint .I use bottles of craft paint from the hobby store (good old Texas Art Supply !), and apply with a scrap of sponge . And my trusty Gatorade bottle cap with water, to dip the sponge into to dilute the paint … you don’t want full strength paint under there. Wallpaper wants to adhere to a primer made for wallpaper – not paint designed to color Christmas ornaments. Another and probably more important trick is to color the edges of the wallpaper. This navy blue wallpaper was printed on a white stock / substrate , and it’s highly likely that the edges of that substrate will show at the seams . So, again back to Texas Art Supply (or a good hobby store) for chalk or pastel , which I run lightly along the edge from the back so as not to get any color onto the surface of the wallpaper . That little dark nub you see is my chalk… the stuff breaks easily. It’s important that you not get oil pastels or use any kind of ink marker, as these will leech into the wallpaper and stain it, leaving you with a nasty dark line down the seam . I really liked this product. It was flexible enough to wrap around a rounded / bull-nosed corner , but stiff enough to not warp . It’s on a non-woven substrate , which contains polyester , which makes it less likely to shrink . This stuff is also designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece with no damage to your wall when you redecorate . Another advantage of non-wovens is that they can be pasted and hung immediately, with no booking or wait time. Although I generally prefer to paste the paper , you also have the option to paste the wall with this material. The non-woven backing won’t be sucking up humidity like the paper backings used years ago (or in modern lower-end products), so greatly reduced chance of seams coming loose if your teenager spends an hour steaming up the bathroom . The vinyl surface means that it will be resistant to stains from water , toothpaste , and little (and big!) hands . In addition, I liked that the material has a realistic grasscloth look, and a realistic texture , as well as a pattern that could be matched, which helps disguise the seams. I didn’t match the pattern in the corners, though, to avoid having the horizontal bands running around every wall of the room at the same height. Looks better to break it up a bit. Also gave me more flexibility in placement of seams. The brand is A Street Prints and is in their Scott Living line (as in the Scott Brothers of HGTV fame). The home is in the Champions Forest area of Houston . installer paperhanger
Beautiful symmetry … But look closer – those intertwining lines aren’t fronds of vegetation – they’re snakes ! The wall before. It’s a mid-century home, but the drywall here is new. Per my request, the contractor left it taped and floated , but not painted or covered with any coating . I had planned to simply prime this wall. But after examining it more closely, the surface was a little grittier than I like. So I ended up applying a very light skim-coat and sanding it smooth . Here the smoothed wall has been primed with Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime . I’m plotted out the center of the wall and am using my laser level to ensure that the design in my first strip falls right along the center, and also is nice and plumb . My work table with two strips of wallpaper . Spoonflower packages its wallpaper differently from other companies. It comes in widths of 24″ and lengths of your choice of 3,’ 6,’ 9,’ or 12.’ Get their Pre-Pasted Removable Smooth option, which is water-activated , and is wonderful stuff. Do NOT get the Peel & Stick , nor the Traditional Pebble . The P&S and the Traditional are both very difficult to work with, and can lead to bubbles and creases on your walls , plus cause damage when the wallpaper is stripped off later. Back to the photo – the blue cube thing in front is my laser level , shooting its red line at the wall. Close-up I’m using this blue plastic tape on the edge of this strip of wallpaper. This will prevent paste from getting onto the wall or ceiling. The accent wall stops in this left hand corner, so I need to trim off the excess. But I don’t want to get paste onto the un-papered wall. Paste can cause the wall paint to crackle and flake off. So here you see how the blue tape is keeping paste off the wall. Once I finish trimming, I’ll check the back to make sure all of the blue tape has been removed. Any areas where the blue tape might be still on the back of the wallpaper , the paper won’t adhere to the wall . This tape is available to paperhangers / installers . If you’re interested, shoot me an email wallpaperlady@att.net Another thing about Spoonflower , the seams are meant to be overlapped, by 3/4″ . Note that this does create a ridge that runs vertically the length of each seam. In the grand scheme of things, this isn’t very noticeable. Actually, there are advantages to overlapping seams in this manner. No worries about white substrates showing at the seams, nor the paper shrinking and leaving gaps at the seams. Also, in case of unstable walls that might come apart ( delaminate ) under the tension of the drying / shrinking wallpaper, overlapping disperses the tension and helps prevent wall failure. This pattern is called Serpents and Apples and is by Spoonflower . Spoonflower has a lot of cute designs , and also a good number of fun avant garde patterns like this one. The homeowners have some other non-typical décor that will meld perfectly with this wallpaper. Think life-sized skeletons . … Notice how that light fixture hanging in the center of the wall kinda looks like a skull ? … The home is in the Oak Forest area of northwest Houston .
What a beautiful, fresh, floaty view as you come up the stairs of this townhome. Here’s what was there before. Early ’90’s , solid vinyl that was both outdated and beginning to succumb to humidity ( curl at the seams ). The previous installers (most likely a DIY homeowner couple) had hung the vinyl over existing wallpaper. I stripped off the vinyl, but, for various reasons, I was unable to remove the bottom, original wallpaper. Here is the room after I patched areas, skim-floated over seams, and primed with 123 by Zinsser. Same view, cloaked in beautiful shimmery , pearlized floral wallpaper . Over the shower view. The homeowner was worried about using a modern wallpaper with her ’70’s tile . Replacing the tile was out of the budget . But the interior designer assured her that since the paper had a bit of yellow in it, that it would work nicely with the tile. Boy, was he right! The colors go together perfectly. Toilet alcove view. The whole re-do was started by a water leak that caused the plumbers to cut a hole in the wall to the right of the toilet.I don’t usually recommend covering switchplates and outlet covers , because they get soiled quickly. But the homeowner really liked the look of them covered, and she lives alone so promised to keep fingers off the plates . 🙂 This wallpaper is in the Canidice Olson line by York , one of my favorite companies, and was a delight to work with. It is thin and breathable, and will hold up much better in a humid bathroom than the previous vinyl option. The paper was purchased from Calico on West Alabama in central Houston . The client was assisted by Ron Dillon , who is an interior designer as well as has sold wallpaper for more than 20 years. He was an immense help to my client, who was dealing with many stressors and uncertainties during this bathroom re-do.
This couple in the West University neighborhood of Houston loves color and avant garde – unexpected and fun! I hung this Honshu wallpaper by Thibaut in their small hallway at the beginning of the pandemic – April 2020. Since then, they decided to change the faucets and showerhead in the bathroom on the other side of this wall. To access the pipes, the plumber had to cut a hole in the drywall. The ‘guy’ that this couple uses did a fantastic job of cutting the drywall, preserving the wallpaper, and then patching the hole. You can even see that his cuts are perfectly level and plumb! Slapping wallpaper patches over the two holes would have probably sufficed. But I wanted to make it better, so I stripped off and replaced the old wallpaper. This meant patching the guy’s drywall repairs. I didn’t get a photo, but I used drywall tape and joint compound to even out the areas. A heavy duty floor fan plus a heat gun helped get the smoothing compound to dry in a few hours. I sanded smooth and applied wallpaper primer, and ended up with what you see in the photo.To conserve paper, instead of replacing the entire two strips from ceiling to floor, which could have caused some problems with matching the pattern on the left side, I patched in about one foot down from the ceiling line. To disguise the appliqued area, I used a scissors and trimmed around the wallpaper design, as you see here. This is less visible than a straight horizontal cut. In this photo, the two strips have been put into place. You could never tell there was a hole (or two) !
Before, with new Sheetrock on the wall to the right, and some of the paper removed by the contractor around areas where he was working. He added crown molding at the top of the wall, so removed a few inches of wallpaper below the molding. This is preferable to him putting the molding right on top of the wallpaper.
What a pretty room this was, when I finished it just two years or so ago. But a few months ago, the homeowner noticed a pink spot low on the wallpaper. I told her it looked like the dreaded shade of pink linked with mold.
Turned out it was. Somehow or other, moisture had gotten inside the wall and allowed mold to grow, and it was working its way through the drywall and wallpaper. A contractor ripped out the wall, repaired the problem, and then it was my turn to replace the wallpaper.
Since one whole wall and parts of two others were affected, and because crown molding had been added which changed how the pattern hit the top of the wall, replacing all the paper in the room made the most sense.
I stripped off the remaining wallpaper, primed the areas of new drywall, and rehung the room.
The pattern is called Gisele, and is by Thibaut, one of my favorite companies.
The home is in Cypress, a far northwest suburb of Houston.
Original vinyl wallpaper in this bathroom was peeling badly, due to humidity and poor ventilation. The design was dated, too. And, gee – borders are pretty much a thing of the past. Time for an update. Old paper has been stripped off, wall has been primed. Ready for the new stuff!What a pretty and cheery pattern! The window looks out to a lush and green backyard, and this foliage-themed wallpaper helps pull the feeling inside. I was losing natural daylight, so the pretty blue and lime tones are not showing up well. The colors are a little more true here. This almost looks like a water color painting!A Street Prints is the manufacturer. This is non-woven material, also called paste-the-wall. It went up very nicely. And, because there is no vinyl and because the substrate has a higher polyester content and less paper, this should hold up much better in the humid bathroom. Nonetheless, I did lecture the homeowner to run the exhaust fan and to keep the bathroom door open for air circulation.
The home is in the League City subdivision south of Houston.
The new homeowners bought an adorable 1920’s home in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston, and inherited a dining room with a beautiful wallpaper pattern – that unfortunately had not been hung properly. The wallpaper was curling at the seams, peeling away, and literally falling off the wall. It is taking chunks of a white substance along with it.
It’s hard to determine exactly what is causing the failure, but the first issue is that the underlying wallpaper was not removed. Since wallpaper has an acrylic coating, it does not provide a secure foundation for the new paper to adhere to. In some cases, it’s not possible to remove the old paper, and then the seams should be floated over, and the old paper should be primed so it will have a surface that the new paper can grab ahold of.
Here, it looks like the walls were either not primed at all, or were primed with a flat wall paint. Some of that paint is letting go of the old wallpaper and pulling away from the wall, which allows the new paper to fall off.
Ideally, that striped ’90’s paper should be stripped off, along with any other layers of paper underneath. But it looks like some of the underlying paper was floated over, and that makes it particularly difficult to remove.
I suspect there are other issues going on, so it will take some time and exploration to decide what will be the proper approach for removing the beige paper and then prepping the walls, before the new homeowners’ new paper can go up.
The old paper has been stripped off, the walls are prepped and primed, and I’m ready to hang paper tomorrow.
Destined for a large master bath and commode room in the Fondren Southwest neighborhood of Houson are what you see here… 24 single rolls of wallpaper (12 double roll bolts)… A couple of bolts are in the upright cardboard box to the right…bought quickly and shipped via 2nd Day Air, after the family dog chewed up some of the paper.
When I remember, I like to sign my name and the date under the wallpaper I am hanging. What a surprise, years down the road, when the paper is stripped off for redecorating!
Today, I got the idea to include some information that could be helpful for the guy who will be installing the next wallpaper. So I wrote how the wall was prepped and which product was used to prime.
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