Accent Wall in Damask

A spontaneous moment had me installing an accent wall yesterday afternoon.

 The wall in the dining room with the big carved mirror

is going to get wallpapered in an aqua and old gold damask

 pattern that I stumbled across while shopping at Lowes. 

 I saw this wallpaper and thought it would be pretty 

inside my office desk interior~but one thing led to

 another in my head and suddenly I found myself thinking 

it was just the ticket for this wall downstairs.

The only wallpaper I have ever bought at Lowes 

was bead board wallpaper~but they had some 

pretty damask papers and this one package 

was going to cover this wall above the chair rail.

 The first thing I did was measure the wall 

and check the repeat of the pattern. 

Then I made all the cuts I would need to do this little area.

 So I cut five strips by laying them side by side

 and matching up the patterns, 

and then laid them out in order of which one would be hung first.

 I used a big angle square to make straight cuts and simple scissors to do this job.

 I filled up the bathtub with water and then one 

by one put a rolled strip into the water and pulled it 

out and then booked it, which means you fold it onto

 itself (picture further down). This lets the paste activate.

 I hung the first strip using the edge of the wall 

as my straight edge and you can see the little extra

 that is hanging over the top and the bottom. 

 Use a sponge to smooth it out as best you can.

 I used a putty knife to press it against

 the molding and a new razor to slice off the excess.

 Just cut it off~

 Then using a sponge some more to remove the air bubbles~

 See those bubbles, make sure you rub them out to the

 sides and the bottom to get rid of the air pockets.

 Then check to make sure you are not spreading 

your matching seams apart when you sponge the bubbles out.

 Here you can see the matching pattern. I will use the sponge

 and butt the two edges together with no overlap.

 Overlapping the edges makes a thick ridge and it is undesirable. 

 One hour and counting~one more strip to go...

I have to get this done before dinner!

 This is what it looks like when I book the paper. 

Booking is when you fold the wet paper half way 

to the center on itself. Then you unfold only the top 

half and apply it, then peel back the bottom 

of the booked paper and sponge that onto the wall. 

 Alas the sun was setting and the flash was needed to get the final result.  

I'll be styling the room and giving the whole effect later on~

but this accent wall really looks quite marvelous, if I do say so myself!

Wallpapering is pretty easy~so give it a try if you never have.

And at $35 and two hours of time, it was well worth it.

Thank goodness for lack of impulse control!