Muted Texture for Galleria Area Powder Room

Primed and ready for wallpaper . The original color was a somewhat dark murky blue . The room just felt listless and small (it’s not a small powder room )

Finished. Brighter and comfortable . This isn’t a statement-making wallpaper . But it’s all about lightening up the area, and making it feel welcoming at the same time.

The light metallic accents in the pattern accentuate the color of the light sconces .

The gold also works nicely with the oil-rubbed bronze faucet and handles .
And the aqua melds nicely with the grey marble countertop .

Close-up showing the printed texture . The paper also has a light raised ink texture to it.

The design is called Tresco and is by Thibaut , one of my favorite brands . It’s in their Anna French line.
This wallpaper is a non-woven material , and can be hung by the paste the wall method . I usually prefer to paste the paper .
Non-wovens are strong and more stain resistant than other wallpapers. They are designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate .
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Welcoming Room for Mother-in-Law

This young couple hosts the mother / mother-in-law a few times a year, and are lucky enough to have a private spare bedroom for her. To make it special, they wanted to jazz up the area a little. Enter this fun and whimsical wallpaper pattern .

The room before was a pretty shade of murky teal – but needed personality and warmth.

The wall started out with a light orange peel texture . I skim-floated the wall, and then sanded it smooth .

Along the baseboard at the floor , here’s the dust from sanding , along with the sanding sponge I use – this is a modern take on the idea of wrapping sandpaper around a block of wood .
I tack painter’s plastic across the wall from ceiling to floor to prevent dust from getting into the room or onto the furniture .

Here’s the wall smooth and primed , ready for wallpaper .

Since this is a dark wallpaper and I want to be sure that the white wall does not peek out from behind the seams, I stripe dark paint along the wall under where the seams will fall. Because non-woven papers don’t expand when wet with paste , it’s simple to measure the width of your strips and plot out where each seam will fall. Use the laser level as your guide . Do a Search here (upper right hand corner) to read more about this technique.

I use craft paint from Texas Art Supply (or any hobby store ), diluted with water from a Gatorade bottle cap , and applied with a scrap of sponge .
Further insurance is taking a chalk pastel (never oil pastel – oil bleeds and will stain wallpaper) and running it along the edge of the wallpaper strip – from the backside to avoid staining the surface – to cover the white substrate the wallpaper is printed on. This is to prevent white from peeking out at the seams , which can happen with dark papers.

Centering the first strip in the middle of the wall, and using my laser level to ensure the strip is nice and straight and plumb .
Note: The strip is not centered on the wall. The dominant pattern element is. Notice that the center of the dominant pattern motif – the white circular flower – is 3.5″ to the right of the left edge. This means that I had to position the left edge of the wallpaper 3.5″ to the left of the center of the wall, in order to get the round white flower to fall down the center of the wall.
When you look again at the finished photo, you’ll notice that the white flower falls down the middle of the walls, and that it also appears at equal distance from both the right and left walls.
Most people wouldn’t be able to put their finger on this symmetry , but it is something they subconsciously notice , and it lends a feeling of orderliness to the room.
As orderly as you can be, that is, with pigs dancing around the meadow dandelions !

Finished accent wall . The three other walls painted in blue were a bit of a surprise, because one would think the more dominant color of green would be used. But with so much green in the wallpaper, green on the walls, too, would have been too much, perhaps. I like the cool feeling that the blue creates .

There is plenty of the exact same blue in the wallpaper pattern to tie the walls and wallpaper together.

Close up shows the stamped printing technique .
You’ve gotta love a frolicking pig in a hand-knitted sweater!

This pattern is called Hoppet Folk and is in the Wonderland line by Borastapeter , a Scandinavian company .
It’s a nice, sturdy but flexible non-woven material that can be hung via the paste the wall installation method .
In addition, this product will strip off the wall easily and in one piece , with no damage to your walls, when it’s time to redecorate.
This is a very popular pattern, and I’ve hung it more times than I can count, just in the last two or three years. It does come in other colors – but most people gravitate toward this black version.
The townhome is in the Rice Military area of central Houston .

William Morris Pattern Makes for Welcoming Entry

Originally simply painted a rather dull and lackluster sorta orange, the homeowner chose this pattern to both brighten the entryway and make it feel welcoming.

Entry door wall primed and ready for wallpaper.

I love the columns on either side.
The black door and molding really stand out against the wallpaper.

The mom / grandmother described this as “elegantly soft.”
There will be artwork hanging on the walls, so it was important that the wallpaper pattern not overwhelm or take center stage. This Willow Boughs pattern will form a perfect backdrop for other focal points.

Close up.

Closer up, showing the light textured surface of this material.

The designer is William Morris , dating back to the late 1800’s and early 1900’s and the Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts period. Morris & Co. is the manufacturer.
Morris makes two types of wallpaper – non-woven and the traditional British pulp . It’s important that this homeowner took my advice and selected the non-woven option. NW is much easier to work with. But also, since it has a high polyester content, it’s designed to strip off the wall easily when it’s time to redecorate . It also is stronger and more stain-resistant than most other types of wallpaper . That’s good, because this family has three little kiddies running around!
The home is in the Braes Heights neighborhood of Houston .
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William Morris-Like Design in Woodlands Powder Room

Before. Hurricane Ida (October 2021) took their New Orleans home and everything in it, so the homeowner relocated to a north Houston suburb to be closer to family and college friends. The home is brand new, and has grey-tan walls. While the homeowner “grows” into the house, acquires furnishings, and figures out her decorating approach, she wanted at least one room prettied up.

She fell in love with this wallpaper pattern, and decided the powder room was the best place to showcase it.

Pattern centered on the sink / faucet and light fixture. It will look symmetrical and super nice when the mirror is hung.

William Morris innovated designs like this back in the 1860’s, and started the Art Nouveau and Arts & Craft movements, which carried on into the early 1900’s. I’ve hung a lot of patterns by him, and similar, in recent years, indicating an increased interest in this gorgeous, fluid, nature -centric style.

The paper has a velvety feel, and the seams were invisible. It’s non-woven material, which is very strong and designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate. It’s fairly water-resistant and somewhat more stain-resistant than more traditional wallpaper substrates.

Apelviken by Midbec is a Scandinavian manufacturer. Yeah…. the instructions on the flip side were a lot of fun to read through!

Interestingly, the labels listed the sequence in which the bolts were printed. Note that not all the bolts were in proper sequence. With a machine-printed product, sequence isn’t all that important because the color will print out very evenly.

The homeowner loved the new look, and said that having this one room decorated with some color and personality helped a lot to make the new house feel like a home. After the trauma she went through in recent months, it was an honor to help her new home become warm and welcoming.