Frequently Asked Questions.

Wallpaper

Why should I use wallpaper instead of paint?
What if I don’t like wallpaper?
My paper is falling off the wall!

Design

I have a small room what can I do to keep it from looking even smaller? or Why would I paint my ceiling?
How high should I hang my art print?

Fifth Wall Theory

Why should I use wallpaper instead of paint?

Many people have the idea that the biggest differences between wallpaper and paint have to do with price and ease of application.

The price of wallpaper, compared to paint, seems at first glance to be high, but there are factors to be considered when looking at the two products. The initial cost of wallpaper can be $200 or $300 for an average room. The same sized room can be painted for less than $100, but if you look at the difference in long-term durability, wallpaper can actually be cheaper. The average life of wallpaper is 12 to 15 years. The average life of paint is less than 3 years. You can see that in 6 to 9 years the paint has actually started to be more expensive than the wallpaper.

A lot of people say, “I can paint it myself but I will have to hire someone to paper.” Doing it yourself with paint is quicker than with wallpaper, but if you have patience and the right training you can hang wallpaper and the satisfaction you get when someone says “You did this yourself?” is worth the time you spend.

There are times you need to hire a pro. If you have a stairway or a room with a lot of nooks and crannies, you would probably hire a professional painter also and, hour for hour, painters charge as much as or more than wallpaper hangers. If you factor in the overall durability of paper, you will even save if you have it hung. When was the last time that you were in a commercial building than did not have vinyl wallpaper in the hallways? Why, because in the long run it will save money for the owners when compared to paint. It's the same thing in your home. Modern wallpaper is very easy to install as opposed to the old papers that needed to be trimmed, then pasted and would tear if you looked at them wrong.

Talk to people who know. Ask friends if they have hung paper or know someone who has and ask them for advice. If you’re in someone’s home and you notice a beautiful paper ask where they got it and who helped them. Always buy from people who know wallpaper. Accent Interiors at The Wallpaper Place has been in business for over 25 years. You don’t stay in business that long without satisfied customers and you don’t have satisfied customers if you don’t know your products.

Stop when you are having a problem. Call the place you bought the paper. We have an answering machine so you can call after hours and let us know you’re having problems. We will call back the next business day and in most cases can help. Sometimes helping is calling a manufacturer regarding a defect or maybe it's just sharing some information that a professional hanger has relayed about a particular paper. Either way it’s good to have someone on your side trying to help. Keep in mind that a little knowledge, a little luck, time, and patience is all it takes to hang wallpaper. If that's not you, hire a pro and enjoy your new room.

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What if I don’t like wallpaper?

The huge amount of diversity in wallpaper makes this statement nonsensical, the equivalent to saying, “I don’t like color.” Does this mean you only like clear? The range of styles in the market today makes it harder for most people to decide on just one than to find only one that they like. Do you like fabric, a view of the mountains, or subtle monochromatic stripe? How about one of those faux finish paint jobs you see them do on the decorating channel? All of these, and hundreds more, are available today at modest, middle of the road prices. Before you give up on creating a unique background to surround your things and give your room the personality it deserves, try going to a full service, design oriented shop, like ours, and investing a few hours. Good design is timeless but doing it right takes a little time and some knowledge. We’ve got both and some great flavored coffee or tea to enjoy while we work.

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My paper is falling off the wall!

Questions regarding application or post application problems really need to be handled on an individual basis. Give us a call at 316-681-3361 anytime. If we are not open, listen to the short message about the current happenings at Accent Interiors and then leave us a message. We will get back to you the next business day. If you live outside KS then I recommend calling Mon.-Fri. 9-6 Central Time. Most of the time we can help and if the paper in question was purchased from us we have even more options.

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I have a small room what can I do to keep it from looking even smaller?

This is one of our most asked questions. Surprisingly the answer usually lies in the most often ignored part of the room, the ceiling. If you ask, “I have a small room with a white ceiling. Do I need very light paper or paint to keep the room from looking smaller?” The answer is YES, but there is another question you should ask...“Must I have a white ceiling?” The answer is NO.

Our eyes always perceive a dark color as being closer or advancing toward us, conversely a light color tends to recede. A light colored ceiling often makes a room look taller but that will also make the walls look closer and make that small room appear much smaller. Our eyes are also always attracted to light colors, so when you walk into a room with a white ceiling, without even noticing that you are doing it, you look up to the ceiling. Also, if you put a medium color like a gray suit type of color next to white, the gray looks dark. Put the same color next to black and it will look very light. Colors are affected by the colors that surround them.

The ceiling in my living room is a buckskin or golden brown color, darker than a brown paper bag. The walls are papered in a hopsack or gunnysack material that is lighter than the ceiling. The room truly looks 2 feet wider than when it had a white ceiling. For several months after I had painted the ceiling, I would stop people on the front porch as they were leaving and ask, “What color is the ceiling in my living room?” They had been in that room not more than a minute before and yet everyone would say either “I don’t know” or “Off white”. Not one person had noticed the color and yet my room appeared to be lighter and larger than it had with the “normal” ceiling white. So the question should be, “If my room is small with normal 8 foot or higher ceilings, should the walls be lighter than the ceiling?” And the answer is: "YES!"

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How high should I hang my art print?

Whenever possible I try to answer a question with a question so, ”What height was the painter?” What I’m saying is: look for the point of view of the painter. In the painting to the left we are obviously looking down at the floor and the bar top but we are looking up at the ceiling. In this example, the point of view is about at the hat of the man standing at the bar. A person 5 foot tall is “kinda” short and someone 6 foot tall is “kinda” tall so put the point of view about half way between or about 5’6” from the floor. It is very off putting to look up at the ground or down at the sky, so always try to avoid that if possible! And, yes, there are exceptions, so don’t be afraid to ask, “How high …”