Finding A Wallpaper Hanger In Houston TX

Wallpaper is in hot demand right now, not only in Houston but in the entire country. It was already trending upwards but Covid-19 has blown its demand through the roof.

People have been self-isolating, working from home, and now that ugly wall in the dining room is really getting to them!

Unfortunately, the demand has outpaced the supply of the labor to install it. The majority of the population are not DIY and when it comes to wallpaper, it’s best not to be. This is one of those jobs that looks easy until you actually do it.

What could be easier than hanging a couple strips of wallpaper on the wall? Simple enough, right?

Well, no, it’s actually not. There are a lot of little details and intricacies that go into installing wallpaper. There is wall preparation, knowing to paste the sheet or wall, smoothing out air bubbles, and lining up the match (drop or straight). And these are just the initial things to worry about.

But finding a hanger is tough. Houston has approximately 6,300,000 people in the entire area and these are probably less than 10 experienced and qualified installers.

Understand, I am talking about true wallpaper installers. I am not talking about random handymen or painters who are wannabee wallpaper installers. I am talking about real paperhangers (official name for a person who primarily installs wallpaper for a living).

And when you include myself, there’s maybe 10 real paperhangers for a city of over six million people. That’s 1 true paperhanger for every 630,000 people in the fourth most populous city in the United States.

You can blame the 90s and early 2000s for this predicament. Wallpaper as an industry in the United States went through a pretty rough time for a while.

1990-2012 could be called “The Wallpaper Middle Ages” as far as I’m concerned. It was slim pickings for stores and installers. It was during this time that most stores went out of business, manufacturers declared bankruptcy and installers went into other fields because it was so slow.

So you have a 20 year gap of no new paperhangers entering the industry. Everything was frozen in time. Most of the paperhangers who are still around are in 50s and 60s.

There’s a few reasons why the wallpaper industry went cold but it can be boiled down to new home builders. For the longest time, picking out new wallpaper was one of steps to closing on a new house.

The builder would give the wife a few books and she would pick out the patterns for each room that was to be wallpapered. Most builders had a team of paperhangers they worked with who would install wallpaper for their customers before they moved in.

Well, this process added an extra 2 weeks to a month to the home sale, depending on how busy they were.

In the late 80s or early 90s (not sure exactly when) builders finally got the idea to just offer a free washer and dryer instead.

No more time waiting for the wife to pick out new wallpaper and no more time spent waiting for the paperhangers to install it. I’m not sure who started this trend but it went viral and become the norm.

And so a whole generation grew up without ever seeing wallpaper unless they went to their grandmother’s house for milk and cookies or had the arduous task of taking it down from an older home.

It’s funny how people think wallpaper is this new and novel thing these days 🙂

It’s been around since the 1400s and become popular in Europe during the 1700s. In fact, the French monarchy were the first to set standards of roll dimensions.

There’s nothing new about wallpaper but IT IS something new to many people who grew up without ever seeing really it.

Now back to you finding a wallpaper hanger in Houston.

Here is my advice: plan ahead. Start looking for an installer even before you buy the wallpaper. It’s always better if your paperhanger comes out, measures, and gives you the exact amount of single rolls or double rolls you’ll need.

If you tell him what you’re thinking about purchasing he or she can also tell you what you will need and any special requirements that paper might have.

For example, let’s say you want to purchase natural grasscloth wallpaper. Did you know that this type of wallpaper will always have seams? No two blades of grass are exactly the same so every roll installed will have slightly different shading than the next. It’s part of the look but you wouldn’t believe how many homeowners don’t know this and are shocked when the installation is complete. Grasscloth will also be more expensive to install because it’s a delicate material and we have to go slower as to not get any glue on the front, which will not come off.

Many installers, in Houston and all over the country, are booked at least a month out so it will at least that long before your beautiful wallpaper can be installed.

Also note, most paperhangers like myself will want to look at the room before giving you a price.

I try not to give hard prices over the phone because I’ve gotten burnt in the past by that.

People tend to leave out important facts because they don’t think it matters when it does.

Little things that you might think are no big deal can add up to three more hours to a job. Special materials, odd shaped walls, toilets, plumbing fixtures, wall outlets and exotic backings need to be taken into account when providing an accurate quote.

I will either ask to come to your house to see the wall(s) or ask that you text me a picture of the room AND the wallpaper.

Need expert advice or an estimate? I will be happy to provide that for you.

Give me a call and we’ll discuss it. I can come by, talk about the job with you and let you know exactly what needs to be done. Thanks for stopping by and look forward to hearing from you.