apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time


Look! Painting Embossed Wallpaper

atla-032508-doors01.jpgATLA readers Jason and Lori shared the doors they'd transformed in their new house. Lori did them herself using embossed wallpaper and paint. She'd been inspired by door panels she'd seen when she and Jason were house hunting. She shared the how-tos with us. Instructions after the jump.atla-032508-doors02.jpg

 
 

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  • Begin with embossed paintable wallpaper, applied to the surface (in this case the door panels) with wallpaper glue and allowed to cure (fully dry) for a week.

  • Using a good quality brush, about 1 1/2" to 2" wide, paint on a thin coat of the first paint color. Lori used “metallic” paint from Behr, available at Home Depot. This will become the paint on the “raised” part of the design.

  • Allow this first coat to dry for about 4 hours.

  • Thin second coat (Use latex paint in your choice of colour) with faux glaze so that the resulting mixture loses some of it opacity.

  • Paint on this second coat of paint.

  • Immediately and carefully, using a piece of paper (newspaper or “loose leaf” paper work here) and working in sections, blot the second coat of paint to remove it from the raised portion.

  • If necessary, go back and touch up the raised portion with the metallic paint.

  • It’s a good idea to practice the technique – especially the painting and blotting portions – to find your rhythm before applying the wallpaper to your surface. All embossed wallpapers are not created equal.

  • When you’re finished, step back and admire your work!


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Comments (12)

So damn gorgeous!

posted by JV on 2008-03-25 13:28:59
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Where did you get your emoboseed wallpaper?

posted by madtrait on 2008-03-25 13:36:53
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Madtrait,

Lori found her embossed wallpaper online by googling "embossed wallpaper".

Best,
Abby

posted by abby on 2008-03-25 13:54:34
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looks great on the door, you could also frame it as artwork

posted by LaDonnaNichole on 2008-03-25 13:59:11
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i'm wondering if this could be used to accomplish a tin ceiling effect. any thoughts on how this could work on a ceiling?

posted by alp on 2008-03-25 14:03:45
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I've used this a couple of times before: Once painted with very metallic silver paint for a tin look, and once painted white to cover the lower half of badly cracked plaster walls with a chair rail. In this case I painted the both wallpaper and the chair rail white. I bought my wallpaper at Home Depot, and I still have some of the original roll left, they're huge! I will be using it for a back splash in my new apartment.

posted by Angie in Montreal on 2008-03-25 14:22:00
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I've seen it at Home Depot too
Sometimes its called Anaglypta
My mother did her backsplashes with it an painted them gold, they looked amazing. I think she did that 10 tears ago

posted by Hollie on 2008-03-25 14:26:49
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Stunning!
I'm googling and getting way too many results thought...
Would be much obliged if you could let me know where your wallpaper came from- I love that pattern!
Thanks
Ian

posted by Ian B on 2008-03-25 17:32:52
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For the canadians reading this, you can get Debbie Travis embossed wallpaper at Canadian Tire.

To make the painting process easier, you can also apply your first coat as the 'background colour', and then apply your second coat with a hard roller, so that it only colours the raised parts of the paper. A much more mistake proof process, i'd think!

http://www.canadiantire.ca/browse/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524443289242&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474396672772&bmUID=1206481352815&OmniCrossSell=0481048%20Debbie Travis Metallic Paint

posted by Deeliscious on 2008-03-25 17:43:02
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i believe i bought the wallpapers featured here at www.rensup.com and/or www.creativewallcovering.com. unfortunately, i bought some of them several years ago so you might need to wade through all of the links if you don't see what you like at these sites!

as for deeliscious' process, that might work just fine and be easier for some wallpapers. however, one would have to be very careful about the amount of paint on the roller when applying the color for the raised areas so that it doesn't "spill" into the recessed areas. a lot of it depends on the type of wallpaper you wind up using: how large are the recessed areas, how raised are the raised areas, etc. i tried a lot of different methods (including an additive technique like the roller method) to get the effect i desired, and the process described is the one i found worked the best for my wallpapers.

posted by lorilulubell on 2008-03-25 21:20:02
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thanks lori!

best,
abby

posted by Maxwell on 2008-03-26 04:05:09
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I found some of the paintable embossed wallcovering at www.designyourwall.com.

posted by Greg D. on 2008-05-19 14:48:27
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