Gotta hang wallpaper above the shower tiles in this cramped space in an under the stairs powder room . Between priming , measuring , hanging , yada, I had to make many trips in and out of that space. The sloped ceiling and confined area of the shower stall are difficult enough to work around. But factor in the rain style shower head , and it got more tenuous.
But I was able to squeeze myself, my ladder , my tools , and the wallpaper strips , around, over, and under that monstrous thing.
Besides all that physical contorting, another issue was … as I was climbing down off my ladder , my clothing got entangled in the wall-mounted faucet – and turned the water on!
Yes, I got a dousing! And the shower floor got wet , so my socks and feet got soaked , too!
Not that bad, though. And, to be honest, it was kinda funny.
This is a newish home in the Houston Heights . Coincidentally enough, I’ve hung a good number of powder rooms with this same lay out layout . Turns out the builder is well-known in the Heights, and uses this same floor plan models in many new build s.
I just hope that next time, the homeowner chooses a wall-mounted showerhead!
We considered putting the wallpaper on all four walls, but the pattern would have been overwhelming in a small under-the-stairs powder room , especially with sloped ceilings crunching down into the space. So the homeowner opted to paper just this one accent wall over the vanity / sink . This family loves West Texas , and visits Marfa when they can. I positioned so the cattle ’s feet march right above the backsplash , and the horse lines up against the right corner , and even right into the angle at the topHere it is, with the light sconces back (shades will be added later), and the rustic mirror frame in place (mirror glass will be added later). Tucked some paper into the little cubbyhole on the left under the vanity . Cows , cowboys , horses , teepees , mesas , cactus , booze , buffalo , pups , and Prada – that’s Marfa! Marfa Toile is in the very popular City Toile line by Katie Kime . This is a fairly heavy vinyl surface on a non-woven backing . Not my favorite, but it was OK to work with. I did the paste the wall installation method .
This is an under-the-stairs cloffice ( closet turned home office ). Wallpaper needs to go along the wall on the right. Over the top of the shelf alcove on the right, over the top of the shelf on the left, down the center, into the niche above the desk area on the left, and then down and under into the knee / kick area under the desk on the left. Easily accomplished with paint. But tricky with wallpaper – which can twist, crease, tear, buckle, etc. Not to mention paste getting slopped onto all that nice newly-painted woodwork. The part above the desk is not so horribly tricky, but this portion under the desk is, mostly due to the narrow transition point.Another issue is that the strip of wallpaper is set to extend to the right about 5″ over the shelf alcove. This means that paste will be getting onto the woodwork, as well as adding weight and stress to the whole strip. Since the wallpaper comes in a rectangular strip, a whole lot of the top section is going to overlap onto that sloped ceiling area, getting paste on that, too.To make all that easier and cleaner, here I have roughed in some cuts, measuring and templating ahead of time, to reduce the amount of paper that will overlap onto the shelf woodwork and the ceiling. Once this strip is pasted, I’ll use my blue plastic tape on the pasted side of the paper, to keep paste from getting on to the navy blue paint. No photo of that, but you can Search on ” blue tape ” to see previous posts about that cool stuff.As mentioned above, it was going to be really difficult to manipulate the wallpaper down the wall and then down and under the desk area without damaging the paper. So I decided to eliminate stress on the paper by cutting the strip into two sections – one for above the desk and one for under it. I used my straightedge and a razor blade and cut along a horizontal element of the design. Here I have the top section in place. No need to wrestle a 24″ wide strip down that narrow area and then down and underneath the desk. Here I’m about to position the bottom piece.Here it is in place.All finished! No stress on the paper, no creases or tears. And no swearing during the installation! This wallpaper pattern is called Florida Toile and is by Katie Kime in their very popular Cities Toile collection .
This is a closet tucked under the stairs off the main living area of a nicely renovated and enlarged 1920’s home in the Heights neighborhood of Houston. Nice and bright, but a little claustrophobic. (That brown vertical thing is my yardstick.) This two-toned wallpaper with pencil-like sketches immediately visually opens up the room and creates an inviting work space .
The pattern is called Florida Toile . The manufacturer / vendor is Katie Kime , also known for stationary , home décor , phone cases – and very cute , comfy pajamas !Their ” City Toile ” wallpaper collection is quite popular , with more than a dozen locales to choose from . It’s a heavy , smooth vinyl on a non-woven / paste-the-wall backing. A little too heavy , a little too stretchy , and too easily wrinkled or creased for my taste , but all in all, a nice enough material . With so many people working from home these days, or just needing space to handle family business or homework , these cloffices have become popular.
Walls have been skim-floated and sanded smooth, primed, and are ready for wallpaper.Done. The dark woodwork really accentuates the wallpaper; the room would not be nearly as dramatic and fun without the dark woodwork. Eeek! Another console sink to squeeze under and behind. Just this area took more than an hour. Some tricks I’ve learned is that you don’t have to wrestle full-length and -width strips. Here I cut the two strips behind the sink horizontally at the point where the vanity hits the wall. I hung the upper strips. Then, moving to the right, I hung the strips to the right. After I ended in the corner to the right (not pictured), I came back and hung the two short strips under the sink. So I was only wielding strips 2′ high, instead of 9′. I also sliced one strip vertically at the point where it intersected the drain pipe under the sink. This was much easier than trying to wrangle an 18″ wide strip around the drain, two faucets, and the metal support pipes. What are these cwitters up to??!Close-up. The homeowner said that the family has a sense of humor , and wanted something wild and fun . Detail.Many House of Hackney wallpapers come as a mural , or 4-roll set. This diagram shows the layout of the four panels. You can take a second set of four panels and place it to the right (or to the left – just keep track of the sequence order of the panels) and the pattern will continue. Each panel is about 18″ wide, so a 4-panel set gives you about 6′ of width. Panels are about 9.5′ high. This is called Hackney Empire and is in the Midnight colorway. This is a non-woven material , also called paste the wall . I did paste the material rather than the wall, though, as it makes the paper more supple, and enables me to get paste into difficult-to-access areas – such as under and behind that console sink! Non-wovens are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece without damage to the wall when it’s time to redecorate. This HofH material was lovely to work with.
Here’s an unusual but clever use of under-the-stairs space. It’s a series of three rooms, pretty much intended for storage / closet area. The height of the walls gets shorter / lower as you move further under the stairs. The homeowners decided to use the outer / taller room as a lounge for their dogs. As you can see, plain old tile floors and wall paint don’t quite cut it … These pooches get their own room, complete with wallpaper !Looking from taller, outer room into middle and then into the inner, smallest room. Only the outer, taller room gets wallpaper. Lots of angles, under the stairs.2 1/2″ wide space between door moldings.I had fun choosing which part of the design to slip into this narrow area, to ensure we’d see the most dogs and with the least parts cut off.Design is called Doggies and is by Milton and King . They make really nice wallpaper , although some patterns can be tricky to measure for, so consult your installer before ordering. This is a non-woven product, and can be hung via the paste-the-wall method of by pasting the paper.
Notice anything? No – you don’t. That’s because it’s virtually impossible to see ANYTHING in this all-black powder room. The homeowners acknowledged that this “haute design” idea was a mistake.Two walls and part of the sloped ceiling. Adorable interpretation of forest animals
Not only did this clever design and light background brighten up the space, the homeowner exclaimed how it also made the room look larger.
This is an under-the-stairs powder room in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. Originally, everything was black – walls, woodwork, floor, ceiling. The sink / mirror wall was the exception, being covered with white tile.
What a perfect fit is this scene of whimsical animals in a forest setting, in black on white.
The wallpaper is by Marimekko, a Finnish company.It is a non-woven material made of synthetic fibers. It can be hung using the paste-the-wall method, but I prefer to paste-the-material because it makes the paper more pliable.
“Priano” by Serena & Lily is one of my favorite patterns, and one of my favorite brands.
I hung this a few years ago in a very small under-the-stairs powder room in Montrose (Houston). I was back this week to do another room, so took the opportunity to snap a few shots of the finished room.
I like the way the light fixture mirrors the curved “weeping” lines of the foliage in the wallpaper pattern.
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