Is It Time To Try Wallpaper?

Oh, the possibilities of wallpaper! With so many gorgeous styles on the market, from Target to Schumacher, wallpaper presents unlimited opportunities to bring color, pattern, texture and style to a room.

With that said, can you believe I have never used it? Too cheap I guess. Up to this point I figured I would rather spend endless hours just painting something on my walls. Like these...



However, I did recently include a gorgeous grasscloth of greens, browns and golds on a design board for a client's bonus room. If I wasn't going to give the experience to myself perhaps I could persuade a client to do so. It worked. All that was left to do was invite myself to their house the morning the wallpaper was to be hung. I thought I just might learn something.


Chuck Ricks, of WALLPAPERPRO, was on hand to get the job done. I arrived just as he finished priming the walls and he had a few moments to talk. If you are interested in learning more about hanging wallpaper Chuck's website is full of tips and advice, including an excellent tutorial detailing each step installing a similar grasscloth in another room.

(Getting ready to tackle the job!)

My questions for him focused on hanging wallpaper on textured walls, as I and most people I know have such walls.

Can you hang wallpaper directly on textured walls? Grasscloth, yes. Other wallpaper, in most cases no.

What can be done to textured walls, enabling wallpaper to be hung? There are a few options on how to prepare the surface for wallpaper to be hung. The walls can be sanded, a liner paper can be hung horizontally and sized prior to hanging wallpaper, or the walls can be skim coated, a process that takes two days, requiring a layer of hot mud, followed by regular mud.


For detailed information on wall preparation and virtually any other wallpaper question, visit his site for more pro tips.


The client's bonus room is painted with Devine Olive, an warm earthy green paint from Devine Color. The thought behind introducing wallpaper into the design was to find a grasscloth with tones very similar to the paint color, which would bring a touch of understated style to the room without overwhelming the space. It works, creating a feature wall of texture and depth while maintaining a sense of flow throughout.

And wouldn't you know it, several of the items sourced for this room are on back order until sometime in May! But once the room is complete I'll post before and after pictures. The space is coming together beautifully, better than the clients had envisioned. It is a very nice day when you hear that...