What happened to wallpaper?

[Baitball Blogger]

It seems to be as unpopular as popcorn ceilings.

Home buyers are turning down honey-stained oak floorings, parquet and other functional features.

Is it because this is a buyer's market that everyone is in a frenzy to throw out the old and put in new materials which may not even pass the test of time?

Or, can the whole home craze be a combination of sound investment and healthy hobby?

[blogslut]

1. Probably more to do with a current modernist trend

Solid walls. Patternless furniture and walls. Unfinished wood mixed with industrial-type materials.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. In my time I think it was called contemporary.

It definitely has seen changes. The modernist trend is definitely more industrial looking and has more 90 degree angles.

And I agree that some wall paper designs were hideous. But just the right wallpaper can make a small area, like a bathroom, look more luxurious.

[blogslut]

4. You have to choose what makes you happy.

You live there.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. There is nothing like finding the right combination.

[Neoma]

2. Well, when your buying a home, the bonus is that you get to repaint the ugly colors.

Wallpaper is harder to get down...Some people like to change things more than once too.

[femmocrat]

5. I have practically a whole houseful to strip.

It is such hard work. We bought this house in 1985 and the style then was "country"..... and just about every damn room has some cutesy little print in it. I regret ever hanging it. We stripped the crappy foils and flocked stuff that the original owners had hung and replaced it with our own patterns. So this is the second time around for us. Ugh.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. I remember the goose era.

Country geese. I kept one piece to remind me why I will never go for a pastel blue look again.

[femmocrat]

24. :rofl:

I had mallard ducks at one point. Remember that fad? LOL

[MuseRider]

26. Mallard ducks and labradors. :-)

[Arugula Latte]

44. Geese with (usually blue) ribbons around their necks.

And sometimes wearing straw hats.

This kind of crap:

[Baitball Blogger]

46. heh

[femmocrat]

48. OMG, I still have those canisters.

Somewhere! They have embroidery yarn in them!

[we can do it]

6. Only 2 more rooms to go to get rid of the crap - yikes what a mess.

[Baitball Blogger]

11. We have a bathroom that we really like, but the wall paper is now curling so we

have to no choice but replace it.

However, there is an outside bathroom that still has the old owner's silver foil and palm tree design edging that will probably get triaged first.

[Taverner]

7. Ikea. I blame Ikea.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Chocolate brown!

[Nevernose]

12. According to HGTV

It's making a comeback. I wouldn't be surprised if you saw it everywhere in a few years. Frankly I though the stuff was a giant pain in the ass and am glad it's gone.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. It is a big pain in the ass, but when you do these things yourself, you

appreciate it more.

I just hate it when something doesn't come out right. That has happened to us twice before. One was a paisley pattern that I hated even before he finished putting it up, and the other was a shade of green that just died on the wall when it dried.

[Agschmid]

35. I like how HGTV likes to do paint on three walls...

and then one wall of graphic high impact wallpaper!

[Baitball Blogger]

47. That's what they do now.

Painting four walls makes the place look smaller.

So I've been told.

[OriginalGeek]

14. Funny you should mention this

as I was JUST this weekend looking around and thinking "Damn I hate this knock-down texture...I wish I had some cool wallpaper..." And the family geek has been making some grumblings about wanting to get rid of most of the carper and put in wood floors...and I think I agree....

oh and I'm sick to death of stucco too. I;d be happy to never see a stucco wall again. But I live in Florida. I'm stuck, oh.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Dark wood floors are well worth it.

But I recommend buying quality, because the cheap stuff gets warped if you leave water on it. Of course, it's possible we were suppose to seal it...

[OriginalGeek]

16. Dark wood and

maybe a Buchanan plaid throw rug...I may have to re-task a bedroom for myself to get away with the plaid throw-rug....I love my family tartan but I guess it's not fashionably versatile...But man that would make for a good picture in November when my kilt arrives.

How does one know what wood floors are quality? certain brands or do I need to look deeper?

[Baitball Blogger]

17. We have two experiences with wood flooring.

We bought cheap stuff from Home Depot. The flooring didn't hold up to heavy traffic. The second wood flooring was selected by a friend who is in the designing business. Good stuff. So, there are different grades.

[OriginalGeek]

18. Well I was on the right track then

I always avoid Home Depot lol...

[Paulie]

19. No wallpaper, were doing tile

3ft by 1ft white glossy ceramic tiles. Easy to keep clean and a hell of a lot easier to take down later.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. I don't know, but there's a special place in hell ...

... for whoever put wallpaper on the walls of my house. The stuff is impossible to remove.

[Taitertots]

21. Anyone who has ever tried to remove wallpaper knows why it is unpopular

[Baitball Blogger]

22. Tile is an even bigger mess, and it remains popular.

I think the problem is that there are too many choices in wall paper, which makes hone resales difficult because of differing tastes.

[Taitertots]

23. There are practically as many choices in tiles as there are in wallpaper.

If anything it is because people have come to expect to be able to easily change the color of their walls (living room, bedroom). And, they have come to expect difficulty redoing areas that are commonly tiled (kitchen, bathrooms).

[mnhtnbb]

25. When we bought a house built in 1924 and hired a painter to strip EVERYTHING

from the walls...he told me he found 17 layers of wallpaper and paint in the entryway!

[Baitball Blogger]

28. I bet they thought their wall paper was textured by the manufacturer.

[Adsos Letter]

27. I was a painter for 35 years.

Seems like I helped strip acres of the stuff (ok, a slight exaggeration). There are tricks to getting it off fairly quickly, depending on the type, but it's still a chore.

I had a couple of friends who were paper hangers, but I never developed a taste for the stuff and rarely saw one I really thought worked.

[Blue_In_AK]

29. I just hung some really nice wallpaper on some accent walls in my house.

I love wallpaper, and even if I have to special order it, as I did this, it's worth it. Here's the pattern. It goes great with the new paint and my husband's beautiful woodwork.



I guess I'm kind of old-fashioned.

I prefer to have just a couple of walls papered and paint the rest. I'm not planning on ever moving, so I decorate however makes me happy.

[politicat]

31. That is a lovely paper.

If you don't mind, do you know the manufacturer and pattern number? I have a pair of bathrooms that are starting to peel.

[Blue_In_AK]

32. Kathy Ireland Natural Living line

Last edited Wed Sep 18, 2013, 10:22 AM - Edit history (2)

NL58001

She has some really beautiful patterns. It's allegedly easily removable, and also has pencil lines that wash off for matching the pattern, which made it super easy to put up.

Here's a link to the other patterns in this Collection. my pattern comes in different shades, as you'll see. http://totalwallcovering.com/Book/181/Natural-Living-By-Kathy-Ireland.aspx


Also no booking required ... just wet it and put it up. It was the easiest wallpapering I've ever done, and I've done a lot.

[politicat]

33. Thank you.

I'd like to finish the major cleaning I started during the rain last week, but you know, after the house is clean, it's time to make a mess again.

[politicat]

30. I hate textured walls, and that's all that's available, so we have lots of wallpaper.

I hate painting, then reprinting, then going over the texture with a tiny brush to fill in the dots the roller missed and touching up the ceiling and messing with the baseboards. (I don't like white, ivory, cream, eggshell, or any variety of beige, either; our painted walls are red, grey and a dusty plum.) Wallpaper requires a close attention to detail in hanging, but I find it simpler.

If builders would flat-plaster, I would probably be more willing to paint, but I haven't seen flat walls in decades.

We've been in our house 12 years and we're not planning to move for a while. If we do sell, I'll live with pale grey walls for a little while. I'll have to strip the paper and repaint anyway because I've put dozens of holes into the walls (anchors).

It's my house -- I decorate to please us.

I'd buy a house with parquet and oak floors, and as long as the wallpaper isn't flocked or heavily textured, I don't much care about the pattern. It can be covered.

(Also, stainless steel sucks. If I wanted to cook in a morgue or an industrial kitchen... When are the manufacturers going to realize that the most sensible refrigerator finish is the same as a whiteboard?)

[Baitball Blogger]

37. We are banker wall types.

Beige, champagne colored or taupe.

The kid's rooms are more creative.

But I'm ready to get wild and go for a cranberry accent wall.

I did see one person's house that had an open design where you could see three rooms at one time. They painted each room in a different color but the same palette. One was cranberry, the other a forest green, and the third was gold.

Very striking.

[Joe Shlabotnik]

34. Wallpaper is passé,

Wallmeat is the new thing.

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[Baitball Blogger]

36. Is that Lady Ga-ga's parlor room?

[bigwillq]

38. I've never liked wallpaper

I always thought it looked tacky.

[Kaleva]

39. I have a 1917 Alfred Peats Co. wallpaper sample book

It's pretty interesting to browse thru every so often. I had two such books but I donated the one in better condition to the local historical society.

[Baitball Blogger]

40. Now, that's cool.

Where did you get the books?

[Kaleva]

41. Found them in an old boarded up closet while remodeling

I always knew the inside dimensions of my bedroom closet was much smaller then the outside but never thought much of it. While in the process of knocking out the lathe and plaster when I decided to replace that with drywall, I found the two books laying on the floor of the part of the closet that had been walled up decades ago.

Other interesting things I found were empty paper Trojan condom packages that were tacked over knotholes and a part of a newspaper that had a Stanley Steamer car ad and an article about a group of Canadian immigrant families who left their farms and homes to go look for Jesus.

Here is a link to an article that discusses that particular pilgrimage:

http://www.doukhobor.org/Elkinton.htm

[Baitball Blogger]

42. That hidden closet turned out to be a time capsule.

Did you ever speculate why they would board up the closet in such a manner?

[Arugula Latte]

43. I hate the stuff. I never saw any that looked good.

Most wallpaper makes rooms look dated and claustrophobic even when brand new.

Unfortunately, it does seem to be making a small comeback. Most of the HGTV shows that feature it tend to use it sparingly, thank goodness, like on one "accent wall."

[applegrove]

45. I like coloured walls much more than wallpaper. Grew up with wallpaper. You get

much more of a 'feeling' when a wall is one colour. Better to see pictures too.

[grasswire]

49. I see wallpaper all the time on the decorating shows.

It was out.

Now it's in again.

No geese, though.