Oh, the wall had it coming.
April 23, 2012 12:17 PM   Subscribe

Please help me find resources or ideas to wallpaper a very small space without spending a ton of money.

I am working on redecorating our upstairs half bath. Because I am a complete weirdo, the design is loosely based on BBC's Sherlock.

Everything is in place except for the back focal wall- I would like to install some wallpaper on it. I have found 100 similar wallpapers to what Sherlock has in his flat, (the actual one is available in Europe, but is actually brown on pearl)....but I am only finding wallpaper huge rolls for hundreds of dollars, which I really don't have to spend.

The actual size of the space I need to wallpaper is 41" tall and 37.5" wide. (there is wainscotting on half of it that will remain).

I really don't want to do the fabric/starch thing. Can you lead me to ideas/resources on how to get a smaller amount of wallpaper?

I have tried craigslist and ebay. Etsy isn't offering anything I can use or in the size I need. I am looking for a black on grey/silver or black on black damask. Flocked would be awesome.

I've never bought wallpaper before, so there might be some big obvious outlet I am missing.

Alternatively, if you have a technique or idea I can use besides wallpaper, I am open to that as well (except for the fabric).

I am near Portland, OR if that helps.

Thank you!
posted by haplesschild to Home & Garden (8 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
How similar do you need it to be? If you're just looking for a large, bold damask pattern, Cutting Edge Stencils has a bunch. We're currently doing one in our living room, and while I was apprehensive about the stencil idea at first I've been very impressed by the results using their recommended technique (regular wall paint applied very sparingly to a dense foam roller) and find it pretty easy to get good coverage without any bleeding at all. Since it's a stencil, you'd have total freedom in your color selections.
posted by contraption at 12:39 PM on April 23, 2012


Response by poster: I looked at those, but I don't know how well they would do on such a small space, with tight corners all the way around it. The other thing that discouraged me was the price. By the time I buy the stencil, the paints, and supplies, I am already going on $100 or more, and it will lack texture. For only 10 square feet to cover, that seemed like a lot of money to spend on something so small, and that depends on my skill with a stencil.

But in case we end up going that way- how did the stencil work when you came to a corner? How long did it take you to do a wall?
posted by haplesschild at 12:59 PM on April 23, 2012


Wallpaper is sold by the roll and it's not like fabric - nobody sells offcuts really. You can get discounted wallpaper for $30 or so a roll. It comes in a standard width of 25 or 27 inches. You will therefore need two strips for your wall, and you will trim off lots getting the two strips to line up perfectly. You will only need one roll, though it will likely come in a double roll length. You can use the extra for super-fab wrapping paper.

Discount Decorating is having a damask sale in fact. This is quite similar. There's also this? Anything match if you browse through all of those sale pages?
posted by DarlingBri at 1:02 PM on April 23, 2012


Ferm Living in the US sells lovely wallpaper by the yard. The US shop doesn't have any very similar to what you're looking for, but the European shop has some options that might be closer.
posted by scarykarrey at 1:21 PM on April 23, 2012 [1 favorite]


Search for "remnants". Here's one on ebay that might work:
posted by raisingsand at 1:41 PM on April 23, 2012


People sell wallpaper by the yard on etsy too.
posted by fshgrl at 1:58 PM on April 23, 2012


But in case we end up going that way- how did the stencil work when you came to a corner? How long did it take you to do a wall?

The material is quite flexible and you can get into corners surprisingly well, though you'll probably end up doing some freehand touchup with a foam brush for last 1/8" or so from the adjacent wall. They also give you some extra stencil bits to help carry the pattern into edges and corners without having to flop around the whole unwieldy full-size template.

We've been very lazy, but when you get the hang of it you can probably complete one iteration every 5 minutes or so. You don't have to wait long at all for the paint to dry before moving the stencil to the next spot.
posted by contraption at 2:54 PM on April 23, 2012


The temporary wallpaper company Tempaper has a damask pattern, black on silver for $95 or black on white for $74 if purchased through Amazon.
posted by tangaroo at 8:38 PM on April 23, 2012


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