Luminous Branches Breathe Life Into Dining Room

Before

The homeowners had this elegant wainscoting added to the bottom of their dining room when the house was built . But for seven years, the room was bland and boring . The new crystal chandelier adds glamor , but the room is still lacking .

Wallpaper to the rescue!

Now there’s soft color and soft pattern . And a little gold shimmer !

I’m encouraging the homeowners to paint that band of wall under the tray ceiling a very soft aqua color, to meld with the misty feel of the wallpaper .

It’s a soft aqua color , but enough to stand out against the woodwork . Now you see the beautiful moldings and trim work .

South wall before

South wall done

I positioned the tree pattern to fall down the mid-point of this space between the two windows .

This shot with the chandelier dimmer turned down allows you to see the pattern more fully.

This wallpaper pattern is called Luminous Branches and is by York , one of my favorite brands , in their Designer Series line.
The material has a slight raised / embossed / textured effect. It’s a non-woven product, so is strong , durable , stain-resistant , and designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece and with no damage to the wall when you redecorate later.
Non-wovens can be hung by the paste the wall method , but I generally prefer to paste the paper . NW requires no booking / soaking time , so they install a little faster , with no worries about shrinking or gaps at the seams . In fact, the seams are near-invisible .
The home is in the Braes Heights area of Houston

Trick for Centering Pattern With Non-Woven Wallpaper

Dining room focal wall before.

Same wall done, with dominant tree figure positioned down center of the wall. How was this achieved?

Laying the paper out on my work table, to see the pattern. Determine this tree is more vertical and visible than the more spreading trees on either side.

It helps to access the pattern on-line, to see a full-scale , room-set photo. And also to roll the paper out on the floor.

Finding the center point of this tree.

The center of the pattern is 20 1/8″ from the left edge of the paper . Since the wallpaper is 27″ wide, this places the center at 6 7/8″ from the right edge of the strip. Hold on to that / those figures!

It helps to access the pattern on-line, to see a full-scale room-set photo. And also to roll the paper out on the floor.

Now we’re looking at the wall, and the calculations I’ve drawn on it.

At the left, I’ve marked the mid-point of the wall. The mid-point is 27″ from either side.
Since the center of the tree is 6 7/8″ from the right side of the wallpaper, to the right I have marked 6 7/8″ over, which is where the right edge of the wallpaper should be placed. This will land the center of the tree motif at the center point of the wall.
This also works out to 20 1/8″ from the left edge of the subsequent wallpaper strip.

6 7/8″ from the right edge of the strip on the left works out to 20 1/8″ from the left edge of the strip to be placed on the right.

Confused yet? We paperhanger s aren’t just slapping paper on the wall . There is a lot of math and plotting and engineering that goes into all this.

At least the way I do it. You can call me the Queen of Overthinking . 🙂

Trimming right-hand strip to 20 1/8″ wide.

Instead of placing the left-hand strip along a plumb line at the 20 1/8″ point on the wall, and then placing the next strip to the right of it, and having to trim against that window molding, I found it simpler to pre-trim the right-hand strip to 20 1/8 ” wide, and then I could simply butt this strip up against the window molding, eliminating the need to wipe paste off the molding, and also keeping the pattern straight along the molding.
But there is also that 2″ high bit of space over the window. That’s why I’ve left that little tab of wallpaper you see at the upper right of this photo.

Here is that first strip in place. Maybe now if finally all makes sense.

When I put that second strip next to it, the mid-point of that tree is going to be 6 7/8″ from the edge, and will fall right at the mid-point of the wall. Remember, that was at 27″ from both the right and the left window moldings.

And here we are! Measured from the right.

Measured from the left. Spot on!

All that math and calculating for one 54″ wide x 5′ high wall!

But look at how nice it looks with that tree down the center of the wall. Especially with the brand new chandelier hung in the middle of the room. This will be the focal point of the room, as people walk into the home’s entry .

The pattern is called Luminous Branches , and is by York.

Note that this calculating and plotting could be achieved because this product is a non-woven / paste the wall material. This stuff does not expand when wet with paste . That means that you can take measurements and trim your wallpaper , without fear of it stretching beyond where you plotted for it to land on the wall.

Branches Sparkle Softly in Powder Room

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 .

Waiting To Trim The Skinny Strip

Here I am, hanging wallpaper from left to right . I’ve just placed the narrow strip on the left – but have not trimmed it against the door molding all the way down. This is because skinny strips like this are often unstable and can twist to the right or left, or fall with an edge that’s not straight . This makes it difficult for the subsequent strip to butt up against it perfectly .
The strip on the right is still folded and booked , and I’ll release it and position it in a minute .

So I’m going to hang that next, full-width strip now. Because it’s wider, it’s more dimensionally-stable , and will fall ceiling-to-floor without warping or twisting . Especially true since this is a non-woven material, which are quite strong and stable .
Note I’ve striped a little thinned pink paint under where the seams will fall, to prevent the white wallpaper primer from showing, in case there are tiny gaps at the seams (which can be common).

Here you see that there is, indeed, a gap between the full-width strip on the right and the narrow one on the left. Because I have not yet trimmed that narrow strip on its left edge against the door molding, I’m able to move that narrow strip a teeny bit to the right, to eliminate that gap.

Here it is with the gap closed.
Note, that little bump on top the baseboard on the left is caused by caulk or debris or something – it’s a near-100 year old house with decades of build up of paint and whatnot. Not a biggie. The homeowners love their historic home !

Here’re both strips trimmed and smoothed into place.
Oh, and also my standard go-to tools .

The pattern is called Indienne , in the Amaranth colorway .

Manufacturer is House of Hackney . Good quality paper , and innovative patterns and colors .
wallpaper installer houston wallpaper lady

Paint Around Intricate Moldings

I’ll be hanging grasscloth / sisal wallcovering today. This material is thick and stiff and difficult to see and feel through, and equally hard to cut through.
In addition, the backing on this particular product (by Phillip Jeffries ) pretty much turns to mush once it gets wet with wallpaper paste , so, under the blade, it drags and tears and pulls away from the grass fibers , leaving gaps .
All of which means that it’s tricky to get tight, clean trims when you’re going around intricate moldings such as in the photo.
So here I’m using paint of a complimentary color and shade to fill in around the molding edges. That way, in case the wallpaper won’t trim perfectly tightly against the molding, my white wallpaper primer won’t show through.

I use plain old matt finish acrylic craft paint from Texas Art Supply (which is close to me) or any craft store , and a small, angled artist’s brush .

Outsmarting Bull Nosed / Rounded Edges / Arch

Looks nice, huh?

But these rounded edges , especially arches , have been a thorn in the side of wallpaper installer s since they became popular more than 10 years ago. Hanging paper on them and trimming neatly at the right point is difficult. Because the paper is hanging over the edge blocking your view of where you need to trim . A level or laser level don’t always work because the home’s framing isn’t always perfectly plumb . Metal straightedges / trim guides are useful, but can slip and mess up your cut. The arches present their own challenges because a straight edge won’t line up with them .

A colleague in the Wallcovering Installers Association ( WIA ) invented this gadget , which is a huge help. This is a 1.5″ section cut off from the 10′ length of bull nose corner bead used in the drywall construction of these edges. Then you cut notches in it at the point on the corner where you want to trim your wallpaper .

Some installers place a trimmer blade in the notch and slide the gadget along the edge, trimming as they go. I find that the thing wobbles too much for an accurate trim, plus it’s difficult to hold the blade while you’re sliding the thing down the wall. So I put a pencil point into the notch and draw a line along where I want to trim. Then I can use a straightedge and trimming blade , or a scissors, to cut along the line. Makes a nice, even, straight cut! Note that I like to wrap it about 1/3 of the way around the rounded edge.

OK, so you’ve seen how I trimmed along the edge to the right. Now here’s another trick that I’m going to use on the edge to the left, as seen in the photo. The wallpaper strip is 20.5″ wide. But I trimmed it vertically so that the piece over the arch is 10″ wide. That correlates to the point where I want to trim the strip that will land on the rounded edge going down the wall.
Note that I have not completely trimmed the part under the arch on the left side, because I want to be sure the cut edge lines up with that on the next strip I’m going to hang.
The blue plastic tape is there to keep paste off the wall paint . It will be removed after the piece is trimmed to fit.

Now here I’ve placed the remaining 10.5″ wide left section of the strip of wallpaper. You can see how it’s falling perfectly along the bull-nosed edge – saving me from having to use a blade or straightedge or gadget.
Note that this works only if the edge is perfectly plumb , and that the piece above the arch is also perfectly plumb, and my new strip is hanging perfectly plumb. This paper is a non-woven material, and is somewhat stiff and unbending , so not really amenable to twisting or tweaking into place. Plus, you want to keep that left edge straight, because your next / subsequent strip will need to butt up against it. Trust me, I did a lot of measuring and shooting the laser level before I pasted or hung any paper!
Now that it’s in place, I can go back and trim that remaining bit under the arch, making sure that it meets up in the corner with the edge of this piece .

Here’s another shot of it finished.

Closer up.

This tree branch foliage pattern is called Twining and is by Graham & Brown . I like most everything they make. The non-woven substrate is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece , with no damage to the wall , when it’s time to redecorate .
This home is in the Oak Forest / Garden Oaks / Heights neigborhood of Houston .

Using One Strip to Cover Two Areas Saves Wallpaper

This wallpaper is 20″ wide . My next strip to the left needs to be 20″ wide above the window – but only 1.5″ wide down the side of the window. I hate to use a whole 6′ long strip for this area. Because, as you can see, most of the strip will be where the window is, and will be cut off and thrown away.

But here’s a plan. The same thing is happening on the right side of the wall, on the window to the right. About 10″ of the wallpaper has extended over the window, leaving about 10″ of the lower portion to be cut off and thrown into the trash.
NNo! Since I need a 1.5″ width of a right edge to finish my area on the left side of the wall (see previous photo), I can use this discarded lower 10″ of wallpaper to cover that 1.5″ to the left.

Planning ahead and measuring carefully, I removed the lower section of wallpaper that would have been hanging over the window / shutters . I left plenty of overlap to allow for trimming along the top and along side the window molding. Added bonus – because I’m now not wrestling a 20″ wide strip of paper next to this window and shutters, it keeps a lot of paste from slopping onto the window molding and shutters .
zin this photo, you see the 10″ wide strip I’ve removed. And also the 1.5″ wide strip from the left right edge, that will be put against the strip to the left.

Here’s my 1.5″ wide strip.

And here’s where I’m going to put it. Note that I cut a short strip to fit over the window . It’s 20″ wide – the width of the roll of wallpaper . I cut it long enough to come down the side of the window to where there’s a design element – in this case, a horizontal branch – to disguise the juncture of these two pieces of wallpaper .

About to go into place .

Positioned. Note the overlap of the branch, trimmed along the lines of the motif. This makes the overlap way less noticeable than a straight horizontal patch, or even a splice.
Note: I don’t like to splice / double cut in situations like these – cuts into the wall surface below and can cause the paper to come away from the wall. I don’t mind overlaps in these situations. They’re up high where no one can see, and also much stronger and more stable than a butted edge .

Teimming off excess along the window molding / trim .

Doone!

The tree and leaf pattern is called Twining and is by Graham and Brown . Like most of their materials, it’s a non-woven material and can be installed by pasting the wall – although I usually paste the paper . It is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate . The seams are invisible .

Tucking Wallpaper Behind Pedestal Sink

Pedestal sinks (and toilets ) are tricky to hang wallpaper around and behind .  Over-working or manipulating the paper to fit and then trim around curves like this can cause tears , creases , or burnishing , among other issues .  Also, if there’s a cut edge along the top of the sink / vanity , if water splashes , it can be wicked up by that cut edge , sucked up into the wallpaper, which can cause curling at the seams and / or delaminating of the paper .  So , instead of being trimmed / cut along the top, best if the wallpaper can go behind the sink / backsplash.

Here’s the 1/4″ or so gap that I’m going to work the wallpaper into.

 Rather than trying to wrestle a 9′ strip of 27″ wide wallpaper down the wall and around this sink , it made sense to cut the strip horizontally at a point just below the top of the sink . I’ll piece the bottom section in shortly.

Sometimes, pedestal sinks are adhered to the wall with caulk , and cannot be moved.  But today I got lucky.  I was able to go under the sink and loosen the bolts , one on either side, ( see photo ) holding it to the wall .  This is not easy – you’ve got to have small hands , good eyes , good light ,  a plumber’s wrench , a box wrench , or a pliers – whatever works!  And not undo too much, because you don’t want to dislodge the  system ( toggle bolt ) that’s holding the bolt in place.
After all that, loosening this bolt gave me about a whole ¼”  area of play .   Still, I was able to carefully and slowly work the wallpaper behind and around the sink , without significant creasing or damage .  See second photo .

The pattern is called Cornflower and is by Rifle Paper , a brand by York , one of my favorite manufacturers. Rifle Paper is usually a user-friendly non-woven material , also called paste-the-wall …. although can sometimes surprise you with traditional paper wallpaper instead of N-W .

Very Pretty Bird Pattern in Garnet and Gray

Pretty birds , nicely spaced branches , and lovely colors for this master bedroom in the Heights neighborhood of Houston .

This accent / headboard wall is even prettier from a distance .

Here’s the wall before. The other three walls are painted a complementary grey .

From a distance. I’ve got one more strip to hang , on the far right.

Close up . The background is silver with a little gloss to it, but not so much as to be glitzy or garish . I mean, a guy sleeps here, too. So it’s gotta be a bit subdued .

This wallpaper is made by Graham & Brown.  G&B is a good quality , mid-price range company. Like most of their papers, this is a non-woven / paste the wall material .  Much of G&B’s paper is thin and flexible .  But this particular pattern came on a thick and stiff substrate .  N-W’s contain a minimum 20% polyester content, and I suspect this has a higher percentage .  The stuff is somewhat akin to fiberglass .  Look closely at the bottom of the photo, and you can see the fibers .  This makes it good, and easy for DIY ‘ers , on simple installations like accent walls / feature walls .  But it can be trickier when you have to trim around obstacles like windows , decorative moldings , vanities , toilets , and the like.  
Non-woven wallpapers are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate , with minimal or no damage to your wall (assuming proper prep was done before installation ).  A much better choice than peel & stick . 

Trimming Around Pipe Under Sink – Ouch!

 
Here you’re looking at a laundry room, under the counter, and behind the sink.  I’ve got to put wallpaper back there.  Even though nobody’s going to look under here or scrutinize, I want it to look perfect.  Good thing that I’m small, because I can fit under here and maneuver fairly well.  Still, working around these pipes is really taxing.  You have to make a lot of relief cuts , and other measures, to get the wallpaper to fit around the pipes and then lie against the wall.   Additionally, usually the drywall guys were not able to get the wall perfectly smooth in these areas. 
Escutcheons  (decorative plates) will hide a lot of wall bumps, imperfect cuts, gaps, overlaps, and other normal occurrences in situations like this. 
Only thing is, the plumber “forgot” to put escutcheons around the water lead lines and the drain pipe under this sink. 
I think that I was able to trim neatly enough that no escutcheons are needed.  😊 

This wallpaper pattern is called Frutto Proibito and is by Cole & Son .  It’s a non-woven / paste the wall material , easy to strip off the wall when you redecorate , and easy to hang (except for cramped areas under sinks ! )