Before. Walls painted with a deep, murky teal blue. I’ve measured the width of the border and then applied my wallpaper primer 1/4″ narrower than the border. That’s the white you see around the top of the room. I love the way the teal / blue walls coordinate with the green in the border (a tall , vintage border like this is called a frieze ). Painting the walls the same color as the border would have been too much, IMO. Plus, you can never get the color exactly perfectly the same – so it looks like what I call a “near-miss.” Better to opt for complimentary colors , as this homeowner did. The color in some of the leaf detail also coordinates with the avocado green in the adjoining living room – you can see a snatch of this color at the far left of this photo. The camera is making this color brighter and greener than it actually is, but you get an idea of the design . Once the Victorian era faded away, the Arts & Crafts movement came to be in the very early 1900’s , with less fru-fru and more nature , clean lines , whimsy , and stylized designs . The home also has furniture and decor that hark back to this time period . The pattern is called Apple Tree Frieze , and comes in several colorways . The manufacturer is Bradbury & Bradbury , in California. They are the go-to company for 19th & 20th century historic patterns . Delicious stuff on their website! Bradbury can be tricky to install, so not for novices . Different colorways can call for different adhesives / pastes , so be sure to read the instructions before starting . The bungalow home in the Houston Heights dates to 1920 (possibly earlier) which is just smack in the middle of the Arts & Crafts decorating style . I hung another period-correct border in this room for this family 10 years ago. Now they’ve done some updating with new colors and, of course – a new wallpaper border frieze . It was a pleasure to be back and help bring new life to the place!
This is a 2-room powder room in the Memorial Villages area of west Houston. The home is new and openly spacious, but has many classic elements like very elegant moldings and trim work. I absolutely LOVE this 1890’s Victorian era marble sink with metal legs – a lucky eBay score. The homeowner has young kids and an active family and wanted to do something ” wild ” in the powder room. I’d say this Wonderland pattern fills the bill!The look is especially effective due to the homeowner’s bold choice to paint the woodwork this rich mustard ochre color. Looking from the sink room through the arched doorway into the potty room. Cute, cute pattern! And lovely material to work with. The glass flower light sconces are vintage, too, dating to the ’50’s or ’70’s. A similar-themed glass, floral, and brass chandelier will hang in the adjacent potty room. This is the mirror that will go up, almost touching each light sconce on either side. The grey tones in the mirror look super good with the grey marble vanity / commode sink. Manufacturer is Borastapeter distributed by Brewster , both fine companies. It’s a non-woven material and can be hung by the paste the wall method or by pasting the paper. The original wallpaper came from Finest Wallpaper in Canada, a good company. But the homeowner ordered half of what was needed, and was not able to get more in time for our install date. I suggested she call Dorota at the Sherwin-Williams on University in the Rice Village (713) 529-6515) and, sure enough, she found a source that had the paper in stock and could get it here lickety-split. This is the second time I’ve hung this paper in one week, and I’ve hung it several times previously and have it coming up again – always in this dramatic and colorful black version. People sure love the whimsy of frolicking frocked pigs!
The homeowner wanted her powder room to be dark. The original paint was darker than the first photo shows (My two 100 watt light bulbs are washing the dark color out.). But stark, dark walls and ceiling can be claustrophobic, so she knew a little pattern would help create the effect she was going for.
This house in far-west Houston was redone after flooding from Hurricane Harvey. The contractor’s worker attempted to hang the wallpaper, but wasn’t making things look great.
The homeowner ordered new paper. This time around, her original color choice was discontinued, so she opted for the one you see in the photos. I say it was fortuitous. 🙂
I was called in to hang the new paper. After smoothing the very lightly textured walls and then priming, the paper went up nicely.
It was nice that York Wallcoverings printed this dark design on a dark substrate, instead of the typical white (see photo). That helps prevent white showing at the seams, if the paper should shrink a tad as it dries.
I really like the pattern. It’s fresh and has a bit of whimsy – sort of like a dance in the forest.
And the pattern gives the room a whole lot more character, and it’s definitely not boxy or claustrophobic anymore.
Like animals? Like the forest? Like a little whimsy? Then this wallpaper pattern is for you!
I hung this in a children’s bathroom in a very nicely remodeled 1939 brick cottage in Montrose (inner Houston). The bottom 1/3 of the walls was shiny white subway tile, and the straight-lined vanity cabinets below were painted a strong, glossy yellow. The navy blue wallpaper pattern looked smart against the white tile, and the color perfectly complimented the yellow cabinetry.
This wallpaper pattern is called “Otomi,” and is in the Emily Isabella line by Hygge & West. This wallpaper can be bought on-line.
This is a new build in the Woodland Heights neighborhood of Houston. I papered an accent wall in a guest bathroom in the home. Kind of unusual to do just one wall in a bathroom, because bathrooms tend to be chopped up, and it looks better to have a homogeneous treatment to all the walls. But this guest bath was large, and had a long, uninterrupted wall behind the sink / mirror. And this turned out to be perfect as a feature wall with wallpaper.
This is a dramatic wall full of color and whimsy. The manufacturer is Walnut. The paper had to be hand-trimmed, to remove the selvedge edge, which is an exacting and tedious process. See photo.
Aside from the crazy pattern match (see other post), this wallpaper was a joy to work with, and it will hold up nicely in the bathroom environment.
The homeowner saw this paper and fell in love with it. She wanted it on an accent wall in the living room; a big-screen TV will be mounted on the wall.
The home has a mid-century modern vibe to it, and is in the far west section of Oak Forest (Houston). The wallpaper manufacturer is Bespoke, a British company.
This pattern is darned cute – I have hung it before, in fact. I knew it would look good on the wall, but it wasn’t until I had finished and stepped back that I got the whole picture, and grasped just how perfect this paper is for this room.
The big birds add a clever bit of whimsy to the room, and, because the design is printed with only one color, there is not a lot of busyness to distract the eye.
Personally, I think I would rather look at the wallpaper, than watch the TV. 😉
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