Category: 
Labor day weekend was a fairly lazy one but I did get to a few projects around the house.
We have an odd little space in corner of our bathroom that used to be a window but was (thankfully) painted over when the house was turned into apartments. I thought it would be a cool “wall” to try an interesting wall treatment.
Basically, it involves covering fabric in liquid starch and using a brayer to roll it onto the wall for a temporary wallpaper. I thought it would be cool to cut motifs out of fabric and brayer it onto the painted wall. I chose a really over the top rose fabric because I love to use old, stodgy fabrics in modern ways.
Here’s what you do:
Cut motifs out of a floral fabric in various sizes and shapes.
Dip each floral piece in liquid starch and wring out excess liquid.
Smooth fabric onto wall and roll on with the brayer.
Continue until you are happy with the pattern.
The great thing about this technique is that it is removable so apartment dwellers like myself don’t have to worry about scraping wallpaper from the walls when we move out.
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This entry was posted on Monday, September 3rd, 2007 at 7:03 pm and is filed under craftiness, my house on display, tutorials and projects. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
WOW! That is a great idea, I am adding it to my ever growing “to-do” list.
it looks lovely!! i will have to try it one day.
This is AWESOME! I must try it!
well this is fantastic and yeah it’s a must do. i love the color and the flower pattern you chose. really beautiful and cool!
this looks really great!
Wow, that looks rad! What is the fabric in the foreground, I must ask? It is also amazing!
that’s awesome! do you recommend a particular kind of liquid starch?
at risk of being redundant, that’s awesome! And I love the big pink roses playing off the flora in the foreground textile (shower curtain, perhaps?)
lovely!!
thanks guys! rebecca b.-the fabric in the foreground is my shower curtain. it’s actually a tapestry from urban that i sewed buttonholes in and added stripes of ribbon to.
nancy-i used niagra but i think they’re all about the same. and cheap too!
Very fun project! Love the huge roses!
The walls look gorgeous! How do you remove things stuck on with liquid starch?
Kayte I just absolutely love everything you do on here. You are really really amazing! (and very inspirational)
It’s gorgeous, Kayte. One thing: won’t the water/steam in the bathroom cause the fabric to bubble? I’m sure you thought of it, but…
Anyway, amazing. Just amazing.
I’m definitely adding this to my one-fine-day list. Nice!
thanks again all! i am going to add a few little things to the wall and i’ll take a picture again when it’s all done.
such a lovely idea!
Great technique. It looks wonderful. I enjoy reading your blog and all the directions it takes. Thank you!
Yes, v. cool. But how, exactly, do you remove it?
saussha-
i think it would be pretty easy to remove because it’s just fabric starch and not heavy duty adhesive. i would wet the whole thing with a sponge and peel each piece of fabric off. when you have pulled all of the fabric off, wipe down the entire area.
i have a feeling that it’s going to discolor the paint a bit but i’m ok with that and it’s a small space. when everything is clean and dry, you can just paint over it.
I’ve always wanted to do this. I’ve told my husband about it a half dozen times over the years that I’ve known him and I always get that face: the one like, uhhh, suuuuuuure, we’ll do that. Someday.
Glad to see somebody really has! Did you have a problem with the roses fraying as you cut them out or anything?