Like most of them, this toilet is set too close to the wall for my smoothing brush or hand to be able to reach behind and press the wallpaper against the wall . Don’t want the homeowner to have to hire a plumber to remove the tank , and then come back to reset it. $$ So here’s an improvised trick … I’m using a length of yardstick that will easily slip behind there. It’s long enough that I can grab either side and slide it behind the toilet tank , pressing it against the wall. BUT … the flat yardstick isn’t always able to push the wallpaper against the wall, because walls are never absolutely flat . So it helps to add some cushioning that will help fill that void. Here I’ve wrapped my microfiber rag around the wooden stick . This adds just enough thickness , while also being cushy enough to press into recessed areas. I unwrapped a bit, because the original attempt was a bit too thick to fit between the toilet tank and the wall. The wallpaper pattern is called Jamaica and is by Designer Wallpaper . I install ed this in a powder room in the Timbergrove neighborhood of the greater Heights area of Houston .
The homeowner wanted a tropical , jungle , palm , sorta wild look for her powder room . She unfortunately had not read my link (to the right) about the perils and misleading claims re peel & stick “wallpaper.” So she bought some and attempted to cover the walls in her powder room. First mistake was purchasing this stuff in the first place. Second was trying to hang over textured walls . Third was not having a properly smoothed , sealed and cured surface. Beyond that, just the concept of peel and stick material is a project doomed to fail. IMO Note wrinkles and warps in the material. Paper not adhering .More wrinkles and warps. Gap at seam over door .Paper looked good when she put it up, but seam split / opened within a short time . This is characteristic of P&S wallpaper , especially if the walls have not been prepped as spec’ed.So now the P&S has been removed , I’ll step in and skim-float the textured wall to smooth it , prime, and then we’ll be ready for wallpaper . REAL wallpaper !Done. No wrinkles , no warps , good adherence . She found a pattern that was very similar to her original choice , but more visually pleasing , I think, because it’s less “spiky.” A good idea of hers was to paint the sink / mirror wall , as this pattern on all four walls could have been overwhelming . This is a traditional wallpaper , install ed by pasting the paper . It’s good quality , seams were flat and invisible , and it was nice to work with. Close up. Closer-up.Just tossing in this photo of how I use a baby’s T-shirt to protect the toilet seat cover . I guess I forgot to take a photo of the label, but this is made by Designer Wallpaper . Pattern number is TA20004 . Oddly, when I Google this, I get pattern names of Jamaica and Tortuga . And also get the brand name Seabrook . Wallquest took over Seabrook, but leaving the old brand name on older patterns . My best suggestion here is, if you want this wallpaper pattern, contact Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams in the Rice Village of Houston (713) 529-6515 . She is the master at tracking down patterns and all things wallpaper. The home is in the Timbergrove / Heights neighborhood of Houston . installer
Oh, boy – more boring white walls . Now brightened with soft blue color and lightly shining / metallic gold trees . The gold branches and trunks have a raised texture . The manufacturer is York , one of my favorite brands. The pattern is called Luminous Branches , and is similar to their Shimmering Foliage pattern , which is bolder and is in the Candice Olson line . This wallpaper is a non-woven material , and can be installed by the paste the wall method – but I usually prefer to paste the paper , especially in a powder room with pedestal sink and toilet and other objects to trim around and slip paper behind . N-W papers are minimum 20% polyester , and thus are strong and durable and more resistant to stains than traditional paper wallpapers . When the surface is prepped properly and the paper is hung properly, N-Ws are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece and with minimal damage to the wall when it’s time to redecorate . They’re also easier to install and more DIY-friendly . The home is in the Memorial Villages area of west Houston .
About all this powder room has going for it is its size – it’s LARGE . But it’s also BORING . Wallpaper adds personality and visual interest , and keeps the room from feeling too massive . In addition, the Brooklyn icons hold sentimental value to the homeowner . Here is the opposite corner of the vanity . AND the short space between the ” floating vanity ” and the baseboard. I was able to do this space fairly easily because, first of all, I’m small and can pretty much fit under there. But what really made this possible is that, once I knew what the pattern match could be to the adjoining wallpaper strip , I was able to pre-trim these six short strips horizontally at the point where they would sit above the baseboard . Then I trimmed their height to 4 1/2″ – the exact height of the wall space way under that cabinet . From there, after pasting , it was a (sorta) easy task to squirm under there and put the strips into place. Yeah – nobody’s going to see it. But the husband wanted the wallpaper to be under there. And you know what? Even if the homeowners had not requested the paper go down there, I would have done it, anyway. Because leaving that bit of wall uncovered would have bugged the heck out of me.
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Corner opposite toilet .IIconic scenes from life in Brooklyn , New York . The pattern is called Brooklyn Toile , and is by Flavor Paper – they are known for some unique and wacky designs . Some Flavor Papers can be very difficult to install . I pretty much won’t work with their vinyl , and definitely not their (or anybody’s ) peel & stick . But I do very much like their EZ Papes option . This is a thin , pre-pasted material that goes up beautifully , seams are invisible , not affected by humidity , it adheres nice and tight for decades , and will strip off the wall easily when you redecorate – as long as you use water and follow the directions . This brand doesn’t have a strong protective coating , and the mom has concerns about the three young kids touching or splashing the paper as they reach for towels or soap or toilet paper . So she’s exploring various alternative options for towel racks and TP holders . Like laying a hand towel on the counter top , and a stand for the TP, or placing the rolls in a decorative basket . Their wallpaper is packaged differently from other companies . Panels are 24″ wide x 10′ 4″ high, with two strips in a pack , or ” roll .” So the total width of a “roll” is 48″ (4′), and then 10′ 4″ high. So if you have 8′ high ceilings , you’re going to be throwing away 2′ or so with each strip. And for the areas over doors , same thing … a full 10′ 4″ strip will be needed, even if the space above the door is only 12″ high. There are a couple other companies that package similar to this, with Spoonflower , House of Hackney , and Mind the Gap being good examples. Fkavor Paper is also a pricey brand . But very worth it, if you want something fun and unique . I mean, these guys even offer scratch-and-sniff wallpaper!
This is the current wallpaper, and I’m to put a new paper in this powder room. For various reasons, this paper cannot be stripped off the wall , so I’m prepping the walls to be able to hang the new paper on top of it . Normally, my favorite Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime will seal this effectively enough. But – hard to see in this photo – but this existing paper looks dirty to me. Some of that is due to the mottled look of the pattern / colorway . But I’m seeing tan discoloration , and I think it’s coming from under the wallpaper . This home was built in the early ‘90’s , and in a neighborhood where , through stripping off many old wallpapers in order to prep for new installation , I’ve noticed that someone working in that area and era used what we call clay-based paste . This paste is made using actual clay – i.e. dirt – and has a reddish color . I believe that this red clay paste is able to work its way through wallpaper, and creep onto the surface, causing a subtle “dirty” cast to appear on the wallpaper. Once you strip the old wallpaper off the wall, the wall can then be washed , and hopefully you’ll get all the clay paste off . But usually, no matter how much you scrub, residue will remain. I fear that that residue will work its way through the new wallpaper, as well. Additionally, the most severe stains are in the vicinity of the toilet – housekeeper splashing cleaning agents? or little boys with bad aim ?? Yes, most homeowners will never notice this, especially since it can take years to show up. And the paper I’ll be hanging is black , so it’s highly unlikely that any discernable stains will become visible . But I get a little anal about wanting jobs to look perfect. So I like to use a stain blocker , which will ensure that no discoloring elements will work their way through . My two favorites are KILZ Original , oil-based primer . KILZ is wonderful, unparalleled stuff. But it does have strong fumes , so you have to ventilate the room thoroughly and also wear a chemical respirator while applying it, to avoid becoming “high.” i.e. “sick” My other option is BIN , which is shellac – based . This is also an excellent stain blocker , and has a strong smell , but nothing that will kill your brain cells . Since my current clients have little kids, I opted for the BIN . Unless you want to go through a LOT of paint thinner and mess , you can’t easily wash oil-based or shellac-based liquids out of your roller cover or brush es . So I plan to use disposable rollers and brushes. This doesn’t mean cheap rollers and brushes – it just means that I factor in that these will be used once and then thrown away. Speaking of factoring in costs – the gallon of BIN was $70 (and that was a reduced price due to dented can). The KILZ was $40 , but I would have had to purchase a new respirator and cartridges , which would have added an additional $40 – some of the respirators went up to $70. March 2023 prices . All this needs to be considered when figuring up the price for doing a wallpaper job. I’ll also note that these products can be difficult to source – my local hardware store, which typically has stock even when larger outfits are out , had only one can of KILZ and one scratch-and-dent can of BIN . Whichever I would have chosen, I sure got lucky. Note that these stain blockers are formulated to block lots of nasty stuff – water stains , blood , rust , wood sap / knot holes , ink , tar , grease , crayon , lipstick , cooking stains , marker , Sharpies , etc. Back to BIN…. It’s very watery and runny and drippy . So you really have to cover the floors and baseboards , as well as countertops , toilets, etc. Microfiber roller covers help a lot to minimize splatters . Roll slowly and in an upward motion . Oh – additional plus … both BIN and KILZ dry quickly, so you can apply it and then move to your next step in less than an hour. Besides the shadow-y paste residue , this room has other issues . Here, someone used ink pen to mark placement of the hooks for the powder room mirror . Eeek! Ink will bleed through paint and wallpaper even faster than clay paste residue will. Here you can see one coat of the BIN applied – but the ink seems to have been “resurrected” and is actually enlarging and spreading, and bleeding through the stain blocker . Here I’ve spot-primed with a heavier coat of BIN , and that appears to be holding the nasty ink at bay . Note that wallpaper paste will not adhere to oil-based products like KILZ , and probably not to shellac , either, because it dries kind of glossy. So whichever of these primers you choose to use, you will need to top-coat with a primer formulated for use under wallpaper – and that will adhere to the stain blocker. Tomorrow, I’m going to follow up with Roman Pro 977 , as mentioned above .
Before. Walls primed and ready for wallpaper .Vanity area done. This blue , brown , and metallic gold material has the warm look and texture of real grasscloth, but is much more water- and stain-resistant and consistent in color . It also has a pattern that can be matched , so the seams are much less visible than with real grass . Note that some of the lines you’re seeing in the photo are cast by the light fixture .Going around these arched windows took a while!Toilet wall without lights off.With lights on, you see the true colors more accurately. Note the light fixture casting vertical stripes on the wall .Like many thick, textured vinyl products, the edges curl back just a teeny bit, due to how the material is trimmed at the factory. Believe it or not, run your finger over this seam and you’ll feel that it’s perfectly flat. In fact, this look is typical with real grasscloth, because the edges tend to fray up a bit. From two feet away, you don’t notice any of this.This material mimics the look and texture of real grasscloth .Another wall, along the shower . One nice thing about grasscloth is that, since you don’t need to match pattern motifs, you don’t have to paper walls in sequence or order. We were a little tight on material on this job, so I hung my full length walls first, then went back and hung the shorter walls. This helped me plan usage – how many strips needed and how many strips I could get out of each roll / bolt of paper . Made by York , one of my favorite manufacturers.
Dang … I forgot to take a before pic. This large powder room was originally papered in Serena & Lily ‘s Feather , in green . I stripped it off and applied wallpaper primer , which took a day, and hung the paper the second day. Larger than usual toilet alcove .If you’re from Austin , Texas , you recognize these things. Barton Springs , BBQ trucks , the State Capitol , cowboy boots . Hippy Hollow isn’t on there, and I’m not sure it even still exists, but the nudist colony there was definitely part of Austin’s culture! The pattern is in the City Toile collection by Katie Kime , which is wildly popular . I wasn’t crazy about the quality of the paper , but it install ed OK and will hold up for many years. It sure changes the room! iThe home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks area of Houston
Two weeks before a job is to start, I send my clients a “check list” so they know how to prepare for Install Day. It includes things like check to be sure it’s the right wallpaper pattern, how I can get into the house if the homeowner is away, how much space I need for my set-up, etc.
It also says quite clearly that all construction work has to be completed, and there needs to be electricity, light, nearby running water, and no workmen coming in while I’m working, and no workmen coming in later who might mess up the paper.
This ensures that I will have optimum working conditions (I need lights so I can see what I’m doing. I need water so I can keep your paper clean.) And you don’t want Bubba coming to hook up a light fixture and put his sweaty hands all over the new wallpaper in the process. Or a painter coming to touch up, who decides to “protect” the new wallpaper by putting blue tape on it. Of course, when he removes the tape, the surface ink or the wallpaper itself will come along with it.
Yet you would not believe how many people – innocently or desperately – tell me they are “ready” when they really are not. Here is an example of a house that is not ready for wallpaper. It is very likely that the paper will be damaged by tradesmen who come to “finish up.”
Baseboard is not in place. When positioning the baseboard, it’s likely the carpenter will bang into the wallpaper. When painting, you can bet the painter will get paint onto the new wallpaper. Or, as mentioned above, he will use tape that, when he goes to remove it, will pull the inked surface and / or the paper itself off the wall.
Door molding is not in place. Same issues as above.
No electrical outlet in the room. What if I need to use a fan or heat gun? And wallpaper will sit tighter to the wall if I can put the plate cover in place immediately.
The electrician is not finished. This switch sticking out of the wall is just plain dangerous. In addition, when he time comes to finish whatever it is he’s working on, he will probably put his greasy hands on the wallpaper, or lean his scratchy tool belt against the paper.
My checklist says I need clean, running water in the immediate area. It specifically says NOT a hose in the yard. Yet look where I had to get my water. (I was working on the THIRD floor.) This house had no faucets, no drains, and not even a working toilet.
The home in the West U . area of Houston was built in 1994. And – yes – the wallpaper screams ’90’s ! Oh, and … it’s PINK ! The homeowners are doing lots of other facelifts, and this powder room ‘s time has come.The new wallpaper is also nature / floral themed, but it’s a crisper, more fun look. It was really nice not having the toilet or sink in the room – made the installation much easier. And less damage to the paper due to not having to manipulate the somewhat delicate (crease-prone) material around a pedestal sink. Pattern nicely centered on the sink wall. Light sconces will go where you see the holes on either side. The pattern is called Wildwood and is by Rifle Paper (made by York ).This is a non-woven material , also called paste the wall . It’s durable , stain-resistant , holds up under humidity , and will strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate later. Perhaps another 30 years? : ) 🙂
Before. Most of this home is in the white / beige / neutral decorating scheme. The homeowner wanted something with pizzazz to snazz up the powder room. Textured walls have been smoothed, primed, and are ready for wallpaper.Definite WOW! factor!Toilet corner before.Toilet corner done.Another viewClose up.Closer up. The textured background you see is the non-woven material this is printed on. It has a 20% polyester content, and is thus somewhat similar to fiberglass. Very hard to tear, resistant to stains , and designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece , with no damage to the wall , when you redecorate . It can be hung by pasting the wall , or by pasting the paper . I generally prefer to paste the paper . Rolling it out on the floor , to see the overall pattern , and to decide what element I want to place at the center of the focal wall as well as at the top of the wall . This pattern is so wild and crazy and over-all, that it ultimately doesn’t matter about pattern placement . That’s pretty rare . The pattern is called Central Park and is made by Thibaut . The home is in the Galleria / Tanglewood area of Houston . What’s very cool is that the homeowner had ordered large samples of three colorways , but couldn’t decide which she wanted to go with. So she taped them to the wall, threw a dinner party , and asked her guests to vote for their favorite. This bright and colorful one won, hands down! Now she’ll have to invite them all back again, to see the finished room! I think the color and the design go super nicely with the weathered-white , deeply carved front of the vanity . installer installation
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