Pretty , Airy Humming Birds on Breakfast Nook Walls

Before. Note that those vertical lines on the wall are cast by the macrame light fixture. You also see bench seating with storage underneath . There will be a wall-mounted table in the center . The wainscoting / chair rail is high enough to keep any food splashes or sticky fingers from staining the wallpaper .

Finished .

Retro Look in Kitchen

Breakfast area before

Breakfast area after … with my work table set-up still in the middle of the room.

Kitchen sink / window area before.

Finished

This fruit-and-floral motif is a very retro look, which was popular in the 1950’s – early 1970’s . The background looks like linoleum tiles – very period-appropriate.

Close-up.

Exclusive Wallcoverings saw the current interest in retro / vintage looks, and designed this very appropriate pattern.
This was a thin and very flexible non-woven material , and was a delight to work with.
As are all non-wovens, this is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate.
To install , you can paste the paper or paste the wall .
This home is in the Lexington Woods area of Spring , ( north Houston ).

My Work Set-Up

Here’s my pasting / trimming table , set up in my client’s living room, which is just a few steps away from the hall bathroom where I’m hanging wallpaper. In that room, of course, I have my ladder, as well as my smaller hand tools used for actually getting the paper onto the wall.

Today’s Helper – the Little Scamp!

O.K., here he’s cute. Annoying, but cute.

But HERE he’s about to get his behootus beat(us).
NOBODY / NOTHING touches my table!
The pasting table has to stay clean and unmarred, in order to not transfer any stains to a homeowner’s wallpaper. And to ensure a straight, stable surface to cut on.

black cat houston installer

My Work Table Set Up

It’s the end of the day and I’m packing up. Items are sitting on the table that I normally would not allow. I’ve already pulled up the dropcloths I had along the walls. But you get the idea of my work area set-up , and the tools I use.
The table is for measuring, trimming, and pasting. My other, smaller, hand tools (not shown) are used for the actual wallpaper installation process. My toolbox is in the rear right.

What’s Wrong With This Picture? My Table is Sacred!!

“Someone” (a.k.a. the homeowner) went and set something on my work table.

Folks, I can set things on my table. NO ONE ELSE can!!

Not even an innocent glass of water!

For one thing, it’s my work area, and I have all my needed tools and measurements and thought processes there. Outside items disrupt my thought process and the flow of installation.

But most important … the table has to stay CLEAN. As in PRISTINE. Any speck of grease, or ink, or oil or dirt can leave a stain that will transfer to the wallpaper. Sharp objects can cut it, and other objects can dent or scratch it.

My clients spend a lot of money for their wallpaper. Their investment shouldn’t be permanently marred because some electrician decided to dispose of his scratchy, sweat-stained wire clippings, or the wrapper from his hamburger, on the nearest surface – my work table.

The absolute worst was a homeowner himself, who walked by and casually set down a bowl from the backyard, full of GREASY CANNED DOG FOOD.

My Work Table On Client’s Dining Table

My folding work table and trestle legs take up a space about 5′ x 8.’ Usually there is space for me to set it up somewhere near where I am working.

But sometimes it works better for me to use the homeowner’s dining room table.

With their permission, I place a padded moving blanket over the table, spread dropcloths around and under, and put my table (a set of three boards) on top.

All ready now to hang wallpaper!

Surprise Guest

Digital Image

I turn around to hang a strip of wallpaper, and look who pops up on my work table!

Here Is How Wallpaper Gets Pasted

Digital Image

Digital Image

I lay the wallpaper out on my table, and apply paste to the back with a paint roller. It’s fast, even, and easy to control. The bucket of paste is on the table just for the photo – usually, it’s on the floor to my left. And believe me, when that bucket is full, it’s nearly 50lbs and no way would my table or trestles support that!

Many of my friends keep their rollers in their bucket of paste. Some of them leave it in the bucket overnight. My mind can’t wrap around that, and I sure don’t want paste getting all over the metal part of the roller cage or the wooden handle. And I can’t imagine not washing your tools at the end of the work day.

Instead, I keep a damp cloth on the edge of my table, to keep paste from getting onto the table, and I hang my roller neatly on the table. (Second photo) It’s handy and clean.

Yes, Virginia, the Electrician IS in My Way

I guess people think that, if they’ve got one workman in the house, they may as well have them all come, and get everything done at the same time. The thing is, it’s really hard to work with all these trades on top of one another. I didn’t know the electrician was going to be hanging a chandelier in the same room where I was working, or I would have set up my table in another location.

You see, he is in my way. We’re both trying to walk around the room, and running into each other. He is working almost directly over my table, sawing a hole in the ceiling, and getting debris on my table, and, if I happen to be pasting a strip of wallpaper, that puts little bumps stuck in the paste that show under the new wallpaper. People also tend to set things on my table. That get in the way and put stains on the wallpaper.

“If your table is in his way, we’ll just move it a little,” said the homeowner. Oh no you WON’T touch my table! First and foremost, you just simply do not ever touch another workman’s tools or equipment. Second, that wallpaper table has to stay pristinely clean, and I know for a fact that his hands are not. Third, the table is made of three boards that come apart, which you are not anticipating, and there is also an expensive straight edge suspended underneath that you are not aware of that will fall to the floor and get banged up and ruined.

Oh, yeah – and he turned off the lights in the room, too. Now, how am I going to hang wallpaper in the dark? ?? ???

The electrician didn’t bother to put a drop cloth under his ladder. And in the second photo you see how he left the homeowner’s floor.

Now, would you let a guy like that put grubby his hands on your clean, expensive, intricately-set up equipment??