Residential Wallpaper Installation in Portland
Wallpaper That Looks Hung by Someone Who Cares — Because It Is
Every residential project in Portland is installed by owner Robert Simpson personally. That means one standard of prep, one standard of pattern matching, and one person accountable for the result. Here is what you get on every job:
- Free on-site estimate with exact roll-count calculation, so you never over- or under-order.
- Full surface preparation — skim-coating, sanding, sealing, and priming matched to your wall type.
- Millimetre pattern matching across seams, corners, outlets, and window returns.
- Dust sheets and floor protection throughout, and a spotless cleanup when we leave.
- Fixed written pricing — the quote you sign is the amount you pay.
- A raking-light walkthrough with you at the end, plus our workmanship guarantee.
Where Portland Homes Use Wallpaper Best
Living rooms. The most common request in Portland's older neighborhoods: a full feature wall behind the sofa or fireplace in a large-scale botanical or Morris-style floral. On Craftsman plaster we skim-coat first so the pattern sits perfectly flat, and we centre the motif on the room's sightline rather than just starting at a corner.
Bedrooms. Softer textures and quieter repeats work here — wide stripes, gentle geometrics, or textured plains behind the headboard. Because bedrooms are where imperfect seams catch morning light, we hang these walls with particular care for seam placement relative to windows.
Nurseries & kids’ rooms. Panel murals — forests, animals, maps — aligned into one continuous scene. We use fully low-VOC adhesives as standard, and we can specify washable, scuff-tolerant papers that survive crayons and scooters.
Dining rooms. Grasscloth is the Portland dining-room classic: warm, natural, and forgiving in candlelight. It is also unforgiving to install — no pattern to hide behind, visible seams by design, and adhesive that stains the face if handled sloppily. This is exactly the kind of material where a professional pays for themselves.
Powder rooms & bathrooms. Small rooms take bold paper beautifully, but Portland humidity demands the right spec: vinyl or coated non-wovens, moisture-resistant primer, and sealed edges at the ceiling line and backsplash. Done right, it holds for years; done wrong, it peels in one winter.
Wallpaper Removal Without Wrecking the Wall
Removal is half our residential work, and it is where Portland's plaster walls are most at risk. We steam and strip in controlled sections, wash down every trace of old adhesive, repair gouges and cracks, then sand and prime. You get a wall that is genuinely ready for paint or new paper — not one hiding problems under the next layer.
We take on jobs other installers walk away from: multiple painted-over layers, 1970s foils, and un-primed drywall where the paper has fused to the face. If it is on a wall in the Portland metro, we can get it off cleanly.
A Quick Guide to Choosing Your Paper
Non-woven is the modern default — dimensionally stable, paste-the-wall, breathable, and cleanly strippable when you redecorate. It is our recommendation for most Portland homes, especially first-time wallpaper owners. Traditional paper gives the most authentic look for period homes in Irvington or Ladd's Addition, but it expands when pasted and demands experienced handling. Vinyl and coated papers are the workhorses for bathrooms, kitchens, and hallways — scrubbable and moisture-tolerant. Grasscloth, silk, and other naturals deliver texture nothing printed can match, with seams that are meant to be seen and a strict no-mistakes installation process. Murals and panels turn a wall into a single image and live or die by precise alignment. Not sure which suits your room, light, and budget? Bring us your shortlist at the estimate — honest advice is part of the free visit.
Let’s Look at Your Walls
Free on-site estimate anywhere in the Portland metro — honest advice included.