Dining room focal wall before. Same wall done, with dominant tree figure positioned down center of the wall. How was this achieved? Laying the paper out on my work table, to see the pattern. Determine this tree is more vertical and visible than the more spreading trees on either side.
It helps to access the pattern on-line, to see a full-scale , room-set photo. And also to roll the paper out on the floor.
Finding the center point of this tree.
The center of the pattern is 20 1/8″ from the left edge of the paper . Since the wallpaper is 27″ wide, this places the center at 6 7/8″ from the right edge of the strip. Hold on to that / those figures!
It helps to access the pattern on-line, to see a full-scale room-set photo. And also to roll the paper out on the floor.
Now we’re looking at the wall, and the calculations I’ve drawn on it.
At the left, I’ve marked the mid-point of the wall. The mid-point is 27″ from either side. Since the center of the tree is 6 7/8″ from the right side of the wallpaper, to the right I have marked 6 7/8″ over, which is where the right edge of the wallpaper should be placed. This will land the center of the tree motif at the center point of the wall. This also works out to 20 1/8″ from the left edge of the subsequent wallpaper strip.
6 7/8″ from the right edge of the strip on the left works out to 20 1/8″ from the left edge of the strip to be placed on the right.
Confused yet? We paperhanger s aren’t just slapping paper on the wall . There is a lot of math and plotting and engineering that goes into all this.
At least the way I do it. You can call me the Queen of Overthinking . 🙂
Trimming right-hand strip to 20 1/8″ wide.
Instead of placing the left-hand strip along a plumb line at the 20 1/8″ point on the wall, and then placing the next strip to the right of it, and having to trim against that window molding, I found it simpler to pre-trim the right-hand strip to 20 1/8 ” wide, and then I could simply butt this strip up against the window molding, eliminating the need to wipe paste off the molding, and also keeping the pattern straight along the molding. But there is also that 2″ high bit of space over the window. That’s why I’ve left that little tab of wallpaper you see at the upper right of this photo.
Here is that first strip in place. Maybe now if finally all makes sense. When I put that second strip next to it, the mid-point of that tree is going to be 6 7/8″ from the edge, and will fall right at the mid-point of the wall. Remember, that was at 27″ from both the right and the left window moldings. And here we are! Measured from the right.Measured from the left. Spot on!All that math and calculating for one 54″ wide x 5′ high wall!
But look at how nice it looks with that tree down the center of the wall. Especially with the brand new chandelier hung in the middle of the room. This will be the focal point of the room, as people walk into the home’s entry .
The pattern is called Luminous Branches , and is by York.
Note that this calculating and plotting could be achieved because this product is a non-woven / paste the wall material. This stuff does not expand when wet with paste . That means that you can take measurements and trim your wallpaper , without fear of it stretching beyond where you plotted for it to land on the wall.
The homeowner’s contractor’s guy hung this accent wall in an under the stairs powder room . He did a good enough job. But there were some bubbles / wrinkles . Depending on where you’re standing in the room, and where light is coming from, the bubbles were somewhat noticeable , even with this busy patterned wallpaper . It bugged the homeowner , and she wanted it to look better. Dry-stripping the wallpaper resulted in this. The paper came off in an intact sheet, as the mfgr promises. But it took some of the primer along with it. Let’s examine this. It’s a good thing, at least, that the previous installer used a primer, and hopefully one made for use under wallpaper. But, to be honest, a wallpaper primer is designed to let go of the wallpaper when you start to strip it off the wall. So maybe this is just paint, or a paint primer . Second, I have a suspicion that, after skim-floating and then sanding the wall to smooth it, dust was left on the wall , and then trapped between the wall and the primer. That’s a likely reason why the primer / paint pulled away from the wall so easily. Nothing sticks to dust! So it’s imperative that, after vacuuming , you take a damp sponge – rinsed frequently – and wipe down the entire wall, and then let dry , before priming. The primer also has to dry completely, before wallpaper goes up. I switched to wet-stripping the remaining wallpaper, and had less damage . But was still left with a wall with lots of irregular and un-smooth areas . So to prepare it for wallpaper , I first sealed loose or dusty areas with GARDZ , which is a penetrating and hard-drying sealer for torn drywall or other unstable surfaces . It’s pretty cool stuff. After that dried, I applied a very thin skim coat of joint compound (which we call mud ). Once that was dry, I sanded smooth , vacuumed , wiped off residual dust with a damp sponge, let dry, and then primed with Roman Ultra Prime Pro 977 and let dry. Here’s what it looked like when I was done with the prep .And here it is with the new paper up. I switched to wet-stripping the remaining wallpaper, and had less damage . But was still left with a wall with lots of irregular and un-smooth areas . So to prepare it for wallpaper , I first sealed loose or dusty areas with GARDZ , which is a penetrating and hard-drying sealer for torn drywall or other unstable surfaces . It’s pretty cool stuff. After that dried, I applied a very thin skim coat of joint compound (which we call mud ). Once that was dry, I sanded smooth , vacuumed , wiped off residual dust with a damp sponge, let dry, and then primed with Roman Ultra Prime Pro 977 and let dry. This single wall was a bit of a challenge, for many reasons. For one thing, we really didn’t have enough paper. Luckily, the previous guy had kept the left over scraps, and I did need to use some of those. It also was OK to mis-match the pattern when necessary, as the design is very forgiving. The rounded bull-nosed edges around and over the window are a PITA. This pattern was forgiving in that respect, too, as well as the layout of the area over the window. There were also some printing defects , which will be addressed in a future blog post . Oh – and I, also, got bubbles ! In fact, I hung this same brand a few weeks ago and got bubbles then, too. Some I got rid of by making a tiny cut with a razor blade and then pushing the air out with my plastic smoother . But, usually, with these pre-pasted materials, once they get good and dry, small bubbles dry flat and disappear. Not sure why the other guy had problems with this. But I will say that the bubbles were larger than typically show up with these papers.Close up.The pattern is called Brownstoner , and is by Flavor Paper . I am not a fan of their vinyl products, and definitely not their peel & stick . But I do like their EZ Papes , which is a pre-pasted material . Not crazy about the bubbles, though. The home is in the Eastwood neighborhood of Houston . installer
This is the kind of a room that you don’t just look at the walls – you have to stand in the room and feel it. Dusk settling into night , swooping birds , stormy clouds . This looks a little like hand-stitched embroidery . This textured natural material is a fine sisal , which is similar to grasscloth . The color between panels was pretty uniform , as you see at the seam toward the right of the photo . These panels came 33″ wide . But for this last strip on the right, I only needed 23″ width. That means I would have 10″ of width , the length of the strip, to cut off and discard . If I had used the left side of the strip, which is logical installation sequence , we would have had birds’ butts sticking out from the side of the window molding . So I decided to trim off that left side and instead use the right side which, as you see, has a more pleasing bird’s face and wing . The brand is Phillip Jeffries , a high-end company . The material comes as a 6-panel set . You have to purchase six panels, but after that, you can buy individual panels in sequence, so you’ll have enough to do your room , without having to purchase a full 6-panel set. Like I said – this stuff is pricey! This dining room is in a renovated 1925 home in the Heights neighborhood of Houston . installer
I hung this wallpaper a year or two ago and was back to paper the dining room this week, so had a chance to peek into the powder room and get a “finished” photo. Here it is with lights off. With lights on. South wall. I love the window molding and vanity painted to complement the wallpaper . This is in a beautifully remodeled and enlarged bungalow in the Heights neighborhood of Houston . This lively and fun pattern is called Frutto Proibito and is in the adventurous Fornasetti collection by Cole & Son . It’s a popular pattern, and I installed it a number of times, including a few months ago in a Montrose laundry room. https://wallpaperlady.wordpress.com/2023/02/24/cole-son-monkeys-liven-up-laundry-day/ This material is a DIY -friendly non-woven / paste the wall type of wallpaper . It’s strong , durable , stain-resistant , and will strip off the wall easily and with no damage to the wall when it’s time to redecorate .
Please see yesterday’s post for the “before” photo. Here’s the master bedroom suite all finished. There’s a dramatic feature / accent wall behind the headboard with Rifle Paper ‘s beloved Peacock pattern . On the remaining three walls is Rifle Paper ‘s Garden Party Trellis . RiRight side of the room. The homeowner is a single gal , and she wanted her master bedroom to be a relaxing retreat , but with a distinct feminine edge . Well – here you’ve got it!! Left side of the room. Look here, and at the photo above, and you’ll see how nice this uniformity looks. It was tricky! See subsequent blog post for info on how I did this. Window wall – which took me five hours, BTW! She’s going to add window treatments that will be feminine – but the exact choice remains to be unveiled.I pulled some tricks to get the flowers centered down the middle of the window columns. See a following post to see how I did this. Pattern nicely centered on closet wall.
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Another nicely centered section of wall. Close-up. This pattern is just fun. I like to say that it looks like the flowers are smiling . Closer-up. The homeowner loved the ” column ” look of the vertical pattern . The pattern is called Garden Party Trellis , and is a companion to the very popular original Garden Party made by this company Rifle Paper . Which is made by York. Many Rifle Papers are printed on the non-woven / paste the wall material, which has many advantages – stain-resistant, dimensionally-stable , strong, strips off the wall easily and in one piece when you redecorate later. But this turned out to be a traditional paper type wallpaper – still good stuff, but a different material that calls for different installation techniques and time frame. I will note that the website stated that this was a nonwoven substrate . I encountered this conflicting information several times lately, so, despite what the on-line specs say, be prepared for any type of install scenario. This is a new home in the Rice Military area of Houston.
This wallpaper is 20″ wide . My next strip to the left needs to be 20″ wide above the window – but only 1.5″ wide down the side of the window. I hate to use a whole 6′ long strip for this area. Because, as you can see, most of the strip will be where the window is, and will be cut off and thrown away. But here’s a plan. The same thing is happening on the right side of the wall, on the window to the right. About 10″ of the wallpaper has extended over the window, leaving about 10″ of the lower portion to be cut off and thrown into the trash. NNo! Since I need a 1.5″ width of a right edge to finish my area on the left side of the wall (see previous photo), I can use this discarded lower 10″ of wallpaper to cover that 1.5″ to the left.Planning ahead and measuring carefully, I removed the lower section of wallpaper that would have been hanging over the window / shutters . I left plenty of overlap to allow for trimming along the top and along side the window molding. Added bonus – because I’m now not wrestling a 20″ wide strip of paper next to this window and shutters, it keeps a lot of paste from slopping onto the window molding and shutters . zin this photo, you see the 10″ wide strip I’ve removed. And also the 1.5″ wide strip from the left right edge, that will be put against the strip to the left. Here’s my 1.5″ wide strip.And here’s where I’m going to put it. Note that I cut a short strip to fit over the window . It’s 20″ wide – the width of the roll of wallpaper . I cut it long enough to come down the side of the window to where there’s a design element – in this case, a horizontal branch – to disguise the juncture of these two pieces of wallpaper . About to go into place . Positioned. Note the overlap of the branch, trimmed along the lines of the motif. This makes the overlap way less noticeable than a straight horizontal patch, or even a splice. Note: I don’t like to splice / double cut in situations like these – cuts into the wall surface below and can cause the paper to come away from the wall. I don’t mind overlaps in these situations. They’re up high where no one can see, and also much stronger and more stable than a butted edge . Teimming off excess along the window molding / trim .Doone! The tree and leaf pattern is called Twining and is by Graham and Brown . Like most of their materials, it’s a non-woven material and can be installed by pasting the wall – although I usually paste the paper . It is designed to strip off the wall easily and in one piece when it’s time to redecorate . The seams are invisible .
Look close – there are monkeys stealing fruit !Window wall before. Here I’ve applied my wallpaper primer to the upper portion of the wall, and am working my way down. Closer view of sink area. The dryer and washer will be placed against this wall, and into this corner . If there’s any words to describe this family , it’s lively and fun-loving . No wonder the mom chose this pattern ! The interior designer loved it, too. Stacie Cokinos of Cokinos Design . The wallpaper pattern is by Cole & Son , a long-established British company , in their Fornasetti (” edgy ” ) line. Like most British papers these days, this is a non-woven material and a paste the wall installation method . Although I usually prefer to paste the paper . The pattern is called Frutto Proibito – Forbidden Fruit . This is in a townhome in the Montrose area of central Houston .
This window had leak issues ( rain , sprinklers ) some years back, which have been solved by replacing the window, and doing other repairs. In the photo, I’ve applied my light blue wallpaper primer to the top half of the wall but not yet the bottom portion, so that’s why the color differenceEven though the leak has been stopped, vestiges of it are still appearing. Water that entered the wall left vertical streaks on the drywall . All these years later, after the paint and texture have been removed , the stains remain.Water stains , along with some others, such as blood , rust , ink , marker , grease , oil, cosmetics , and the like, will bleed through joint compound , primer , paint , and wallpaper , creating new stains on the surface . It may take a couple of months , but they will make an appearance . In this photo, I’ve already applied my blue primer. It only took a half an hour for these stains to work their way through. This is the top right corner of the window , where the bracket for the mini-blinds is attached to the wall. Note the stains on the underside of the window . To prevent these stains from working their way through the new coating / paint / wallpaper , it’s imperative to thoroughly cover them with a stain blocker . And – trust me – water-based products won’t work, despite what the label claims. You need an oil-based product like this KILZ Original , or a shellac-based like BIN by Zinsser . Both are prone to splatter , so be sure to cover your floor and baseboards with dropcloths . KILZ has strong fumes and can make you high , so ventilate or wear a respirator mask . It’s a hassle cleaning the liquid out of the brush , so I use a cheap-ish disposable “ chip brush ” from Home Depot or Sherwin-Williams . The products usually dry pretty quickly. Note that wallpaper paste won’t stick to most oil-based primers , and shellac is too glossy for good adhesion , so I’m going to go over the stain blocker with my usual Roman Pro 977 Ultra Prime wallpaper primer , which sticks to just about everything , and creates a good, matt finish surface for the wallpaper to cling to.
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
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