You’ve got to look at this close-up, to notice the antelope and flames / foliage . You gotta make a decision … The light sconces (they are currently removed, but you can see the electrical boxes where they will be placed) were centered on the vanity top, but the faucet was off-center by about an inch. So I chose to center / balance the pattern on the sconces and countertop. The mirror will be hung between the two light fixtures, so we’ll end up with a pleasing, balanced look. The faucet isn’t exactly in the middle of the design motif, but no biggie – there’s going to be a mirror there, anyway.
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Corner going around shower. Note the window looking into the shower. Although the website specs said this is a pre-trimmed non-woven material , that was incorrect. Turns out it had an unprinted selvedge edge that had to be trimmed off by hand . Here I’m using my straightedge and razor blade to remove this selvedge. This takes precision and a LOT of time . The manufacturer usually provides trim guides to help you know where to cut. But it’s usually better to trim to the pattern – determine an element in the design motif that will meet up with the corresponding motif on the opposite side of the strip when the strips are hung on the wall, and use that as your guide . Be sure to trim off the trim guide marks, or they will show on the wall. The pattern is called Arabian Nights and is by Relativity Textiles . I’ve never worked with this brand before. I was not pleased . In addition to the incorrect information about the pre-trimmed paper , the mfgr’s specs said this was printed on a non-woven substrate . It was not. It wasn’t even printed on standard wallpaper stock . Instead, it was a pulp material – This is a sort of old-fashioned wallpaper , and is very brittle and prone to tearing and dragging (your trimming knife or razor blade will get snagged and you’ll end up with a ” chewed ” jagged cut, instead of a crisp cut . It also tears easily. It also has no coating, so it’s not stain-resistant … Not good in a busy household with a 3-year old toddler , or anyone splashing water or soap or air freshener . It was also difficult to hang . Applying wet paste to the backing causes the substrate to absorb moisture and expand at a different rate from the ink on the surface. So you end up with wrinkles , waffling , and quilting . Sponging a light bit of water on the front before pasting helps even out the moisture differential and ease installation . I’ve never before encountered a pulp that had this type of ink on the surface. One clue for this bad stuff is when you open the package and it smells like moth balls . Once I figured out how to work with it, , it went OK – although tedious . The seams did look very nice. BUT … all this effort would have been unnecessary and the finished room would be more durable if the mfgr had printed on a non-woven substrate (as their on-line specs stated) and had used standard inks instead of this weird , smelly , high-end stuff. In fact, the material would have cost the homeowners a whole lot less $ if it had been normal ink on a non-woven backing . The home is in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston . installer
Look closely, and you’ll see scazillions of miniscule splatters of paint on the granite vanity top, backsplash, and even on the faucet and handles. Obviously, whoever worked in this room previously did not bother to cover the area with a dropcloth.
Such a shame. A few dollars’ worth of materials, and a little bit of time would have protected the homeowner’s fixtures.
You have to use caution when putting grasscloth in a bathroom. Those nice natural fibers tend to stain when splashed with water … around sinks, near towel racks…these are the places that tend to get botchy over time.
Yesterday I discovered a whole new potential source of water stains…. I installed grasscloth in a powder room, and there was a nice vanity toped with travertine (stone). Well, the vanity top sloped just ever so slightly to the side. There was no lip or ridge around the flat top of the travertine, so water that splased onto the top ran along the backsplash right to the side of the vanity top – and onto the wall. That means onto the grasscloth.
YIKES! This definately will cause a water stain if it happens enough. And the manufacturers of grasscloth these days…when they put dyes on the surface of the produce, rather than inside the fibers or in the paper backing, the color can come off. This was the case with at least some of the rolls of paper I put up yesterday.
Of course, I was using the sink quite a lot, all day long, to rinse rags. I sure hope that regular use of the bathroom involves much less water, and that it won’t pool up or run onto the wall or wet the grasscloth. More than that, I sure hope it dries invisibly, and leaves no stain!
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