You Gotta Be Tidy When You Have Wallpaper

This home in the Bellaire neighborhood of Houston has young children. I’m going to direct the blame for the streaks and drips and stains on the wall toward those children.

You may need to enlarge the photos to see what I’m talking about, but there are stains on the walls probably caused by splashing water (water turned on too hard, people shaking their hands after washing or reaching for a hand towel), or cleaning agents (housekeeper sloshing liquids).

Once the new wallpaper goes up, everyone’s going to have to be more careful and tidy. Water and Windex will stain wallpaper just as easily as they will stain a painted wall.

Toiletries, Cleaning Products Damage Wallpaper

You might have to enlarge the photo to see the tiny spots on the wallpaper – they are much more visible in real life.

The tiny spots were caused by the homeowner using hairspray. And the water stain in the corner is surely the result of the housekeeper letting cleaning solution pool up on top of the tile.

No airborne anything when you have wallpaper!

If you are going to use hair spray, stand in the tiled shower. Spray the Windex onto your rag, not onto the mirror. No aerosol air freshener.

Even if the product does not hit the wall directly, tiny droplets will hang in the air and can then work their way to the walls, eventually causing staining.

Do Not Use Aerosol Products in Your Wallpapered Room

When I finish a wallpaper job, I like to give my clients (and especially their children) a “lecture” about care and feeding. You can read the full version of this on a page found at the right.

For now, I want to explain why not to use spray products in your room.

Avoid the use of any aerosol or air-borne substances such as hair spray, glass cleaner, air freshener, etc. Residue can hang in the air and will eventually find its way onto the wallpaper. Please see the above attached photos, where you can see tiny dots of shiny residue on the middle panel of the door, and in the second photo, on the wallpaper. Instead, use a solid air freshener, or the new “Poo-Pouri” type products that are not air-borne. When applying hair spray, step into the shower so any overspray will land on the tile walls, not on the wallpaper.

For cleaning the mirror, have the housekeeper spray the Windex on her RAG, not onto the MIRROR –this will prevent overspray from getting onto the wallpaper.