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My copy paper wallpaper

Diane Smith at Walter E. Smithe Furniture

11 years ago

Thought I'd share my copy paper wallpaper project. I went through a love-hate relationship with that wall as it progressed.

I had a big wall to fill in and wanted something large in scale but subdued in color.

I went to blockposters.com (no affiliation) and uploaded this scroll image I found on The Graphics Fairy website (no affiliation).

Then requested the image size of 4 pages wide and 8 tall, downloaded it and printed four copies.

I used wallpaper paste to apply...

Then colored the paper with some old wood stain I had that was mixed with glaze.

Not to everyone's taste I'm sure, but it grew on me! I went back and forth between leaving it white and staining but my printer kept printing it out with a pinkish cast on parts, so staining it was.

Looking back I wished I had trimmed the margins in the paper to make the scroll connect but IRL the spaces between each sheet doesn't look quite so pronounced.

I'm thinking of blowing up a handwritten old love poem next and printing on parchment paper to save the step of staining.

Anyway, thought I'd share my latest project with my gw friends.

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Comments (17)

mary_ruth
11 years ago
I am loving that look! how clever and awesome! Very creative and such a rich finish!
ghostlyvision
11 years ago
That is really cool (and so inventive), deedee!
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User
11 years ago
That's really neat! It looks good! I'm confused though... the grout lines aren't real, it's just the paper?
kaijutokusatsu
11 years ago
Very nice! The stain goes so much better with your wall color than the plain white would have. Great job!
PRO
Diane Smith at Walter E. Smithe Furniture
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks mary_ruth and ghostlyvision (great name ghostly - I love a good ghost story!).

Thank you shee. The grout lines are the wall with a little bit of the stain on top. I have a feeling it's going to be a real pain when I tire of this - the stain was an oil based and its going to take sanding and/or priming to prep for the next paint job.
Are you resting? Where's that baby?:)
PRO
Diane Smith at Walter E. Smithe Furniture
Original Author
11 years ago
Thank you kaijutokusatsu!
sameboat
11 years ago
I've never seen anything like it -so creative! Is this just regular runofthemill copy paper? This is crazy fantastic!
PRO
Diane Smith at Walter E. Smithe Furniture
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks sameboat! A touch of crazy never hurts, right?

Yes, just regular paper. Once the paste was applied I couldn't play with the placement much or it would tear. As I wanted it to look weathered, where it did tear doesn't bother me.
cindyloo123
11 years ago
How creative! It's a very cool idea and it seems there would be endless possibilities for what to put on the papers. Great job!
rafor
11 years ago
What fun! It's really cool and you are soooo smart to think of this.
hhireno
11 years ago
That is clever and pretty.
dedtired
11 years ago
You are very clever and extremely patient! Good for you. I like it.
PRO
Diane Smith at Walter E. Smithe Furniture
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks Cindloo123, rafor, hhireno and dedtired!

I can't take too much credit for the idea. I'm not even sure where I heard of the program to make posters. It might have been here on THS.

Here is the link if anyone wants to play with it. It's free and some of the posters people created shown in the gallery are beautiful. Why they show a guy with a hammer as an example on their home page is a little odd though!

Here is a link that might be useful: Blockposters
teacats
11 years ago
Way way cool!!! :)

Just so creative -- and looks like old weathered tile! :)

Fantastic! :)
les917
11 years ago
Very creative! A tile wall with no tiling, and at a much more affordable price! Nicely done.
PRO
Diane Smith at Walter E. Smithe Furniture
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks teacats and les917!

If I ever do it again it will be even more affordable. I think I went through two or three black cartridges and a ream of paper for this one.

I was having problems with the color and parts were more pixilated than others at times and had to reprint. I was using a cheap $50 printer so that may have been the issue. Definitely one of those seat of your pants projects!
User
11 years ago
Ohhhhhh... I get it now. If I would've just read what you first wrote a little closer I would've understood, lol.

It really does look great. Very creative and different!

I've been taking it easy, thanks. No baby yet but I'm thinking sometime in the next few days! :)

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