Tropical Foliage Re-Do – Peel & Stick Debacle UnDone

Re my previous post about an under-the-stairs powder room that the homeowners attempted to install an argumentative peel & stick material … here is the finished room after I stripped off the P&S, smoothed the walls, and hung the new wallpaper choice. I engineered to place the sole philodendron leaf down the center of the ceiling.

Where the under-the-stairs ceiling met the area over the door, the two surfaces came together in a very sharp angle. It was difficult to get in there and work, and to get the paper tight into the joint. Fingers can be too fat, so this is where tools can squeeze in there and save the day. This is also my kill point . Do a search here on that term for more info. A long story and maybe an hour or more of work, but you will note that there are no pattern mis-matches here. The homeowners were out of town, so I felt unpressured and could take as long as I needed to make these three areas look seamless.

I love the hand-painted, water colory look of this pattern.

This photo shows the joint where the walls meet the sloped under-the-stairs ceiling. A wallpaper pattern will never match perfectly in these situations. At first, I tried a few tricks to ” fool the eye .” But I decided it looked crisper and less distracting to just trim the two papers where they met. Here, we had the advantage that the tropical foliage pattern was busy enough that, I mean, really, when you step three feet back, who’s gonna notice a minor pattern mis-match, anyway? The pattern does match in the corners on either side behind the toilet, though (see photo). Even though this only 4.5″ high, it does lend subtle continuity to the room.

When I see Candice Olson, I fast forward to glitz and glam and glitter and shimmer. Here her tropical foliage design is a bit more main stream. York is the mother company, and I love their products.

This home is in the Heights neighborhood of central Houston.

Ivory Coast by Copper Corners

Slightly African in feel, “Ivory Coast” makes a bold statement in this under-the-stairs powder room in a home in the Heights (Houston). Yet, due to the subdued colorway, the look is not overwhelming.

The wallpaper is by Copper Corners, and is a pre-pasted product that comes in strips of various set sizes, rather than rolls. It was nice enough to work with, although I did have a few printing defect issues.

I suspect this wallpaper is (secretly) made by York (yorkwall.com) as it sure looks and acts like their SureStrip line. One of my favorite brands.

The interior designer is Katie Hilburn Interiors.

A Classic “Necessary Room” Paper

OK, so sometimes you need to spend a little time in the “necessary room.” And what better way to pass the time than by reading a newspaper?

Patterns like this hung in bathrooms have been a running joke for decades. But still fun!

What’s cool is that this beautifully renovated home in the historic Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston dates to 1910, and the “newspaper” design is pretty period-correct to the era of the home.

There are notes about Prohibition, Anheuser Busch, sewing machines, the lowest price grocery store, vehicle repairs, and all sorts of goods and services – as well as the unique language used in back in that day.

This went in an under-the-stairs powder room. The wallpaper is in the Sure Strip line, in the Magnolia Home collection (Joanna Gaines), and is made by York. It is a very flexible non-woven material, and is pre-pasted. I like working with this material a lot. It will hold up for years, and is designed to strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate.

The interior designer is Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design. She works mainly in the Heights area, and mostly on new builds or whole-house renovations.

Humming Birds on Aqua in Powder Room

This is one of my all-time favorite wallpaper patterns. It’s just pretty – PRETTY.

I’m told it dates back to the late 1800’s – about the same time the manufacturer founded its company. In fact, the paper is 18.5″ wide, instead of the more standard 20.5″ width, because it is printed on the same rollers and drums that were used back then.

I’ve hung it many times over two decades. But I think this is the first time I’ve done this aqua colorway.

The under-the-stairs powder room is too small for me to get good photographs. But you can see how the paper glows.

This wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, one of my favorite brands. If you look closely at the last photo, you can see the “raised ink” used in the printing process. I love that look and feel.

The material is pre-pasted, so all you have to do is wet it to activate the paste. I do also run a light coat of augmentive paste on the wall.

The home is in the Tanglewood area of Houston.

It was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.

Historic “Lafayette” Bird Pattern in Galleria Area Powder Room

With a black granite floor, a black toilet, a dark wood vanity, and a dark granite countertop, adding black wallpaper to this under-the-stairs powder room seemed like a bold venture. But the gutsiness paid off – the finished room looks fantastic. And there is nothing dark or brooding about it.

In fact, the light color of the birds, along with the uplifiting feel of the vertical foliage in the design work together to give the room light and movement. Ditto the new paint color on the ceiling.

Sorry there is no photo, but this room, which is tucked under the stairway, has a deeply sloped ceiling. Originally, the homeowners considered papering the slope and the flat ceiling areas, too. But I told them that would make the room far too dark and closed-in. I suggested they pull a color from the wallpaper and dilute it to what I call a “whisper color” – almost white, but with just a whisper of color.

They could have gone with a light shade of tan (birds’ wings), green (plants), purple (birds), or salmon (birds, flowers). After consulting with the gal who sells the wallpaper (read below), they decided on a pale orangey-pink shade. I love the choice!

The ceiling does not look “pink.” Yet the hint of peachy pink adds warmth, while all the while pulls your eye up and adds a feeling of openness and even joy.

Fourth photo – the tan paint from the original faux finish wall treatment wrapped around onto the top of the backsplash. Once the dark paper went up, I didn’t want to have a gold stripe running around the top of the backsplash. So I used artist’s craft paint and a small brush to paint it black, to blend in with the granite backsplash. Once the wallpaper was up, to protect both the paint and the bottom edge of the wallpaer, I ran a bead of clear caulk along the top of the backsplash. This will prevent splashes of water that land on top of the backsplash from being wicked up under the paper – which could cause curling.

This historic “Lafayette” wallpaper pattern is by Thibaut Designs, and dates back to the 1800’s. In fact, it is 2″ narrower than most wallpapers, and I’m told that that is because it is printed with the same engraved rollers as were used back then. It’s a raised-ink printing process, and the material is pre-pasted. I experimented with a couple of pasting techniques, and found that the old-fashioned method of pulling the strips through a water tray resulted in even saturation and activation of the paste, and the flattest seams.

This paper was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby (inner loop Houston). (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.

Diamonds Brighten a Bellaire Bathroom

Originally, this home in the Bellaire neighborhood of Houston was rife with the “Tuscan” look, and this under-the-stairs powder room shows just that … The gold overlaid with a red glaze was a good look, but the new homeowners wanted a brighter, more modern look.

Just look at how the diamond pattern on a white background changed the room! The heavy darkness is gone, and the feeling is totally modern. The black and white scheme goes beautifully with the new black countertop and white sink.

One not-so-great thing is that somehow we got two different run numbers. Different run numbers were printed at different times, and can be slightly different in shade, so cannot be used on the same wall. Luckily, we had enough paper that I was able to plot out which bolts to use on which walls, and the room turned out looking great.

This paper is by A-Street Prints, which is made by Brewster, a good company. It is a non-woven product with a high fiberglass content that is designed to strip off the walls easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate. The material is dimensionally-stable and will not shrink as it dries.

It can be hung by the paste-the-wall method, but I preferred to paste the paper. In a bathroom with choppy areas, this ensures that paste will get to every surface, and it also makes the paper more pliable and malleable, which is essential in a room like this with crooked corners and a curved wall (not shown).

This wallpaper was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.

Two Pretty Blues Today

Another “all white” house gets a little personality and definition from a light dose of color and pattern. What a pleasant change!

The first three photos are Scalamandre’s “Balinese Peacock.” It came with a selvedge edge that had to be hand-trimmed off with a razor blade and a 6′ straight edge.

The last two photos are a fun elongated triangle floral stripe by Schumacher. My “after” sink photo didn’t come through, unfortunately, but the other pictures will give you an idea of the pattern.

Even though these papers are by two different manufacturers, the blue color is identical. It’s a lot brighter and prettier than my crummy camera depicts. The blue picks up hints of blue that the homeowner has in her living room (throw pillows) and in the dining room (navy blue paint above the wainscoting).

The peacock went in a small bar area off the living room, and the foliage stripe went in the under-the-stairs powder room that is right off the bar. The home is in the West University neighborhood of Houston.

Powder Room ReDo SameDo

I hung this same paper in this same under-the-stairs powder room in a Galleria-area townhome (Houston) in April 2014. A few months ago, the toilet seal sprang a leak, and water ruined the floors, drywall, and wallpaper.

We were able to save the wallpaper on two walls, but the drywall in the remaining three walls had to be cut out and replaced. So the wallpaper on those walls had to be replaced, too.

Here are a few pics of how the new paper looks. I would call this design fluid, swoopy, and looking like flames, in a silver metallic finish.

The manufacturer is York, and it was bought from my favorite source for good quality, product knowledge, expert service, and competitive price – Dorota Hartwig at Southwestern Paint on Bissonnet near Kirby. (713) 520-6262 or dorotasouthwestern@hotmail.com. She is great at helping you find just the perfect paper! Discuss your project and make an appointment before heading over to see her.

Bright and Fun Powder Room in West U.

Originally, this under-the-stairs powder room in a home in West University Place was papered in a very dark, very traditional pattern. The homeowner lived with it for 18 years, and finally made the change yesterday to this bright pattern with lots of movement and cheer. The countertop is also new, and adds to the lightness and modern feel of the room.

The wallpaper is by Baker Lifestyle, and is a non-woven material, which is designed to strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate. It is also a little more resistant to water splashes and stains than a paper. Non-wovens can be hung using the paste-the-wall method, but I prefer to paste the paper, which gives more pliability and also ensures that there will be paste holding the paper to the wall in that narrow space behind the toilet!

The interior designer for this job is Gisette Leathers, of http://www.theleathers.com/

Smoothing Sandy Textured Wall

Walls in the under-the-stairs powder room of this 1945 home in River Oaks (Houston) were covered with a sand-textured paint. The bumps would look awful under the new wallpaper, and would also interfere with good adhesion. So I needed to smooth the walls.

I troweled on drywall joint compound. Because the sand texture was so thick, the smoothing compound needed fans blowing on it overnight to become completely dry.

Once dry, I sanded it smooth. See second photo. Wiped clean of dust and primed, the walls are now ready for wallpaper.