Anele, you're not alone, I love wallpaper too. I haven't used any in this house yet. I've been thinking it would be a good winter project, at least the powder room and master bath.

Oh, I love that one you posted! I would never try to hang wallpaper and even the thought of narrowing it down from the gazillion choices makes me weak. The patterned roller seems the perfect thing. If it doesn't look good, just paint again. Probably difficult to make it look as perfect as their picture, tho.

They couldn't even make a very small section of this straight, and they are trying to sell this tool! They are only showing us about three feet of one seam and in those three feet, as the roller came down the wall it got closer and closer to the previous "strip". In the next foot down it would have been overlapping the previous strip and that overlap would get worse and worse until the bottom of the wall. Any effort to straighten up the angle, would result in overlap at the straightening point AND cause a problem with the next strip! If they put a guide on the roller and you held that guide to a penciled line for each strip, you might have a chance. Otherwise the thing looks like a good way to drive a person insane.

Btw Anele, I raised three sons in a house where every room was papered. I found the paper to be far more durable than paint would have been. There was only one incident of a child damaging wallpaper. A three year old deliberately peeled some paper off his bedroom wall when he was upset about something.
On the other hand, DH has been responsible for a few bits of minor damage.

What Cindyloo said. I imagine getting it to look even halfway good would be a nightmare.

I think painting over this would potentially be a problem because it leaves a raised pattern behind.

Also what happens to the pattern in corners, around obstructions like trim where a whole roller width won't fit?, at the top and bottom?

It's interesting conceptually but we aren't seeing the whole story.

I'll tell you something about wallpaper, there is a reason almost every hotel room and commercial hallway in the country has it. It can be more durable than paint.

The wallpaper in my complex (Thousands of yards of it spread over seven buildings) was put up in 1965. The only places where it has been removed has been because of water damage or where pipes needed to be replaced. The other places it was removed was the small vestibule in each building.

We actually cleaned the wallpaper in our building with Simple green and nylon brushes a few years back. (It's vinyl).

The small vestibules have been partially or fully repainted every year since the wallpaper was removed about 8 years ago, and manages to look dingy within a few months. The wallpaper is almost 50 years old and is subject to the same abuse, and it still looks decent.

On the Today show last week, they showed a Victorian home for sale in NY state that had the original wallpaper!

Wallpaper has been unpopular for so long, it definitely is coming back. I love it in spaces like small bathrooms.

I am not exactly sure it was all that unpopular, except on Gardenweb and HGTV. They've certainly been selling enough of it all along.

Lol I would need the roller to be ten feet wide and do just one run of it. That's the only way it could be even.

I think it would be cool for printing onto paper and fabric and such, I like the idea of it.

Here is the wallpaper in my building at 42 years old, this is a five year old picture. Bikes and strollers and all kinds of stuff go up these steps. Love it or hate it pattern wise, it has held up much better than paint would.

The exception to durable wallpaper is that awful grass cloth paper. I like the way it looks but if you have a cat... It does not last. I thought wicker was the best thing to keep a cat busy until we bought a house with grass cloth wallpaper.

Grass cloth is pretty, but if you have a cat it doesn't stay pretty for long.

Here's grasscloth at 35 years plus, but no cat in this house. Hmm, I had made promises about getting a cat when we move, but now that I hear this about cats and grasscloth, I don't know.
{{!gwi}}

Grasscloth can really suck up the light, though.

Pal, I've had cats and grasscloth without any problems. Kittens are another matter -- they'll head straight for the ceiling!

However, watch out for that outside corner. It's a very vulnerable spot; the grass is already weakened by being folded there, and brushing against it can cause damage. Be very careful to steer clear.

Pal - darn, I love how grass cloth looks. Seeing that room makes me want some.

For the record, the cat who went to town on the grass cloth was around 8 when we moved into that house, and I remember seeing his eyes light up when he realized what he had at his disposal.

The cat rubbed along an outside corner (like cats do) and heard the slightest crinkle noise from the grass cloth. He turned, swiped the wall once with a closed paw like he was daring the wall to crinkle again, and then the nails came out to wreak havoc on it.

This cat was also a seriously cantankerous Maine Coon mix who tipped the scales at just over 19 pounds. He was built like a tank, and would swat you if you moved too much on the bed and disturbed him (I learned to sleep without rolling over).

A normal sized cat with a sweeter temperament might not be so destructive. I just have a thing for cranky old male cats who don't take crap from anyone (or any wallpaper). The cat we have now is pretty normal - sigh - I keep hoping she'll find her inner thug and start bossing us around like he used to.

Yes!! In fact I have done this. Over 20 years ago. Three or 4 different houses. Called Roller Wall then. It was actually fairly easy to keep straight. No pictures, before digital cameras, so archived in albums.
Also hand stenciled a whole room with a wallpaper stencil. And sponge painted with sea sponge, used a feather duster dipped in paint and slapped on the walls. Then there was a roller tray with three different divisions with a three headed roller to fit that you put on the wall in a 'w'
And smudged all the paint together with a sheepskin like mitt.
Not a professional, just like to paint. All the techniques were pleasing.

Do a search for wallpaper stencils images. Great variety of patterns.

Our cat also destroyed a section of grass cloth by using it as a scratch post.

Not to totally make the thread go in a different direction but...I like cats, I don't love cats. I am allergic to a fairly high percentage of cats. I grew up around semi feral cats that came and went, I don't think I understood what a litter box was until I was in college. I have avoided a cat for ten years in this house, and my significant other and I only live together because SO's cat accommodated me and died of old age.

So there will be a cat in the upcoming house, but quite honestly I like my stuff to stay intact. :(

I was thinking dutch doors on at least one of the bedrooms so it can be a no cat zone.

Pal, get yourelf a Russian Blue cat and you'll love it. They are the sweetest, entertaining furbaby and wonderful pets.

Patty-- I'd love to see what you are considering for choices!

Oly, yes, I agree with you on all counts.

Cindy, good point about it being hard . . .this was my concern, but I more thought about the paint being inconsistent vs. the straight lines.

In our current (new to us) house, only the entryway and one powder room have wallpaper . . .and and the wallpaper in the bathroom is ripped in one corner and pulling up. (There is no bath/shower in there, so it wasn't steam.) It looks bad and seems like a pain to replace. Would be easier if it could just be touched up w/paint.

Pal, good point about commercial/heavy traffic areas having wallpaper. I wonder what makes the difference compared to ours? The kind of paper? The skill of the person putting it up? I want to know why ours is already pulling away from the wall. And as for popularity-- I so rarely see it in homes now, at least around here. Not common on Houzz, Pinterest, etc., either. My mom told me our local wallpaper store went out of business, too, but maybe that is due to places like Home Depot. I LOVE your photos of rooms with wallpaper . . .gorgeous.

RE: grasscloth and cats . . .HAHAHA! I was just talking about this with my mom when I mentioned I wanted to put up wallpaper. She told me not to and said, "Remember the cats!" Growing up, we had a staircase with a very tall ceiling, and somehow my dad put up grasscloth (green!) on that very tall wall. Well, our kittens climbed right up it! (My parents eventually gave those kittens to the "farm," boo hoo.)

Katy-- wow . . .I had no idea these were invented before! And amazing that you hand-stenciled a room! Maybe I could do a little one (maybe) but an entire living room sounds tough. Would love to see pics if you can scan any some day!

And back to the cat thing . . .Pal, my cats generally do not ruin anything other than plants and flowers. Dogs seem to be far more destructive (certainly not all, but the risk is higher).

Well, this conversation has inspired me. Now I am going to push harder around here for wallpaper. I love the layered look and I think wallpaper gives a room just that!

Our house is from '27. I am not sure if it has plaster walls, but I would guess yes? Someone told me that there is a certain way to wallpaper those . . .some sheet you put on or something?

"I wonder what makes the difference compared to ours? The kind of paper?"

There are all kinds of paper and yes, some are much tougher than others.

"The skill of the person putting it up?"

The skill of the hangar has nothing to do with how the paper will hold up to abuse.

"I want to know why ours is already pulling away from the wall."

Already? Was it recently installed? If so, it could be simple installation error. If the walls had glossy paint on them they should have been prepped with something the paste would be able to hold on to. Or, if the walls were properly prepped, it could be there just wasn't enough paste under that one section. Aside from an installation error the next likely culprit is moisture. Did the area get wet at some point? Any leak in the ceiling that led to water running down the wall?

"Our house is from '27. I am not sure if it has plaster walls, but I would guess yes? Someone told me that there is a certain way to wallpaper those . . .some sheet you put on or something?"

There is something called wallpaper liner. If you have damaged, uneven walls (and plaster usually fits that description), you may want to line your walls before papering them. It�s a matter of whether you think the imperfections are going to show through your new paper or not. Every paper is different and the only way to know how it will look over imperfections is to try it. I would take a small piece of the paper I planned to use, slap it across the area with the worst damage, and see how it looks when its dry.

I actually know someone who has this in her large entry/foyer. A professional painter did it, but from what I understand, he didn't have much experience with the technique beforehand. I think it looks fabulous. She says if you look hard enough, you can see some mistakes, but they aren't visible to anyone else. Her walls are a medium blue with darker blue pattern. I love it.

Count me in as another who LOVES wallpaper! Especially in the kitchen, bath and laundry. Those are the rooms that typically need washed down and paper is sooooo easy to wash.
I did put some in my new home - so far only the dining room, but I do plan on doing the laundry and powder room!

I love wallpaper too, but DH is afraid of it on sheetrock....in our old house we had plaster board walls that were darn near indestructible.

To do wallpaper in the DR, he made me mount it separately and then put frames around it so it isn't actually on the wall. Interestingly people mistake it for fabric at first....

"On the Today show last week, they showed a Victorian home for sale in NY state that had the original wallpaper!"

I was once in a house in the town we lived in that was going on the market. I think it was an estate sale, and the man who had died was only its third owner, i.e., his grandfather had had it built or moved into the newly built house. I'm not sure of its age, but I do know there was a post-Civil War building boom, including on that street. Despite a somewhat plain exterior, the interior details were amazing, e.g., large, highly patterned plaster ceiling rosettes in the twin parlors. The stairwell to the third floor and the hallway were papered in original, very ornate, patterned Victorian paper - I remember a metallic gold as part of it. Even the ceiling was papered. There was an ornate stained glass window in the hall, at the front of the house, too. Can you envision what it looked like, with the light shining through the colored glass onto the paper? It was really amazing.

lynxe, that was exactly what this was, too. It was amazing. I don't know how to link to a video, but it was a Barbara Corcoran segment on "What you get for $400K". The house is in a small town in the Finger Lakes region of NY; that is probably why you can get an awesome Victorian for that price.

It's a shame for any person to have a fear that paper will ruin sheetrock. It's like an irrational fear of riding in a car. Just because you hear about all of the people that make mistakes and pay a high price for it, does not mean it can't be done in a perfectly safe manner, lol.

Cindyloo, I had to laugh when I read about your angry three-year-old peeling wallpaper.

There's a famous story in my mother's family about her brother, who was four or five when the family moved to yet another ramshackle rectory in the village where my grandfather had the church. In a corner of the living room the aged wallpaper had begun to peel, and he just couldn't help himself...my grandmother came into the room to see him happily shearing the paper off with a silver butter knife.

"What on earth are you DOING!" cried my grandmother, to which he, all round-eyed innocence, replied, "Oh, I was just standing here, with the paper knife in my hand...the clock struck, and the paper fell off the wall!"

Here is the house from the Today show segment - located in Weedsport NY

Here is a link that might be useful: Original wallpaper

What a cool house. A pity they took off the tower.

My mother-in-law had her foyer walls stenciled with a roller when she moved into a new building in 1965. And it was not a new technique then.

Helene

Heh, that old Victorian has a lot going for it, but this?
This is nightmare inducing.
It gives me vertigo and I'm not even in the room.

Wow.

Is that in fact original paper, or is it Bradbury & Bradbury?

Whatever, I can't believe how cheap that house is!

ceabhaill, there was a huge, three-story Victorian in our town I saw during its open house. The owner owned a wallpaper store. Possibly the house was some kind of laboratory; that might have explained why every room, every hallway, every stairwell had a different - and LOUD and BUSY - wallpaper. Not even repro historic patterns; just loud, gaudy, and very, very busy. It ranks up there in my mind with the house with the working toilet right out there in the middle of the basement as one of the worst ones I've ever been in.

Cearbhaill, I would love to get my hands on that pattern-mad house! The carpeting by itself is bad enough...yow!

If the upstairs hall and the woodwork are indicative of the rest of the place, transforming it would be great fun.

There was this house in the listings in Canada sometime this past year:

A house completely frozen in time! I love the wallpapers, especially the juxtaposed ones in the first and third pictures.

I wonder whether the house's new owners will want to "upgrade" it.

I love the roll on paint pattern. I wonder if it would work with textured walls. I'm going to have to see what patterns they have. Thanks for posting it.