U.S. Wallcovering can make your walls pop with wallpaper
Jstyle Staff
Where once there were over 200 wallpaper factories in the U.S., there are only three left, Gary Levine, owner/manager of U.S. Wallcovering in North Olmsted, says.
“If you would ask me a couple years ago, ‘is it going to be as big as a once was,’ I would have said, ‘probably not,’” Levine says. “Today, the demand for the product is just incredible, because they’re turning out wonderful patterns.
From left, Gary Levine, third-generation owner/manager of U.S Wallcovering, with his grandfather, Abraham Levine, father, I.H. Levine, front, his brother, Bob Levine.
Photo / U.S. Wallcovering
Levine says that to meet demand, he is importing wallcovering directly from factories in the U.S., England, France, Belgium and Italy to stock his store with over 4,000 patterns to choose from.
“(The wallcovering just adds) so much more interest to a room, and it’s as scrubbable as the best paints,” Levine says. “So durability is paramount, and (if) you want to add interest to a room, and that’s what’s that’s a driving industry right now, patterns just add so much interest.”
U.S. Wallcovering, one of the largest wallcovering dealers with some of the largest stock in the U.S., is 120 years old, Levine says. It was founded by Levine’s grandfather, Abraham Levine, in 1905, and Levine has been with the company for 62 years. The showroom is open twice a week, on Mondays and Saturdays, but the store ships out items six days a week to places around the world, Levine says. Because there are so few wallcovering showrooms around, customers visit from Pennsylvania, Michigan and even Ontario, Levine says.
During the heyday of wallpaper in the 1990s, Gary Levine and his brother, Bob Levine, owned six wallpaper stores throughout the Cleveland area.
Costumers can peruse the volumes of books available at the showroom.
Levine says wallcovering has survived other fads used to decorate walls.
“When a person uses wall covering, they just so appreciate the effect that it’ll go to enhance rooms,” Levine says. “Then even when wallcovering wasn’t that popular, we were always busy, but it really was the way to go in the (1960’s through 1990’s). And then for a while, people were using the faux painting (method to decorate walls). Well that dried completely out, and now people are back into wallcovering, and the selection today is just amazing.”
Some people visit U.S. Wallcovering with themselves or a designer, Levine says, adding that today’s use of wallcovering is likely due to people “getting tired” of having “plain painted” walls.
Levine says wallcovering can be installed in just about any room, but it depends on the type of material of the wallcovering.
“The only ones that I wouldn’t use in a kitchen or a bathroom would be things like grass cloth or fabrics that can’t be scrubbed,” Levine says. “But if a bathroom is not something where you’re going to have a lot of guests and or a lot of kids that might mark up the walls, it can be used in those rooms. Also it can be but it can’t be scrubbed. We’re all walking today with very, very few exceptions, is completely scrubbable as durable as a painted surface.
Levine says that people who enter the store with an idea of what they are looking for, they sometimes change their minds because they see other patterns in the store that may be more suitable for their spaces. Stopping by in person also allows the customer to feel textures.
“They come in with an idea of using something very small, very soft in a small room, and they’re (ending up) using things that are more dramatic that actually add so much interest to the rooms, as opposed to something very plain,” Levine says.
Levine says he is able to keep costs down from purchasing stock directly from factories, even though tariffs have caused factory prices around the globe to increase.
Once a customer selects a pattern and provides measurements, Levine says he is able to quote the customer on how many rolls are needed to complete the job and that the store will not charge for returns of unused rolls, which does not happen if purchasing from him online or from anywhere else online, that he is aware of.
When it comes to installing wallpaper drywall primer, also sold at the store, is key, Levine says.
“The most important thing, if it’s new drywall, you’ve got to prime the wall with a good primer. Okay, so when you want to take the paper down, you don’t destroy the drywall. Now, so often, a builder will not use a real good primer, and that’s what’s caused problems in the past. Well, now the word is out there that a good primer is supposed to be used and removing paper, re papering is no longer a problem, no longer problem, as long as the walls are properly primed,” Levine says, adding that there are ways to correct the damage.
Levine can help instruct homeowners on how to install wallpaper properly or, if they prefer, he can refer them to quality installers, he says.
“I love putting a wallcovering in my house,” he says. “I change things all the time. I could never do it professionally, because I go so slowly. But when I do it (it’s) absolutely perfect, and my customers are getting the same results. I get them in the mode where they’re going for perfection. They’re not in a rush. I don’t tell them they can do it in two hours. I’ll tell them figure a day. So they’re not they’re not thinking that it’s going to be just a quick job. I want them to take their time and strive for perfection. And of course, when a customer gets those results, they’re back for more. So we have people that are just so pleased with what they’ve accomplished.
Wallpaper trend
Over the years, patterns have evolved from formal damasks and classical stripes to Laura Ashley and Waverly florals to William Morris inspired arts and crafts patterns to the contemporary styles of today which frequently include metallic, crystal and sand surface additives. Several major new wallcovering trends are:
• Grasscloth – a natural product that is a renewable resource and uses ecologically-minded elements in the printing process.
• Swedish modern patterns are the newest rage, especially the designs offered by Rifle. The designs are whimsical and colorful and resemble arts and crafts patterns but with a modern touch.
• Decorate a feature wall, or walls, with wallpaper rather than an entire room.
• Use wallpaper in unique ways – cover a refrigerator or lampshade, book covers, notecards, crafts, wrapping paper, stair risers, backs of bookcases or shelves, etc.
• Treating the ceiling as a surface to cover with wallpaper. This adds real room interest versus a standard white ceiling. It makes the room come alive.
• An interest in peel-and-stick products. Not recommended as it is difficult to align strips for a seamless look.
• Stone, brick, wood and other natural material wallcoverings, referring to patterns that are made of paper but made to look like natural surfaces.
SOURCE: U.S. Wallcovering
Wallcovering or wallpaper – what are they?
The terms are interchangeable. Wallcovering is a little broader and allows for different types of substrates like grasscloth, which is technically not paper and papers today are frequently vinyl-coated and not just “paper.” Decorators are more likely to use the term wallcovering because in some instances a wallcovering is fabric and/or can include additional elements such as sand or crystals.
Wallcovering and wallpaper have been in use for centuries. Originally limited to custom products designed for the palaces of kings and emperors, the bourgeois class gradually adopted the habit of covering their walls with fabric or paper products to add interest and warmth in a literal and figurative sense. The earliest wallpapers were hand-blocked prints and costly. Eventually, with the advent of printing presses, wallpaper could be mass produced and the audience grew until wallpaper achieved a cult status position.
Wallpaper has played a unique position in many cultures. For example, wallpaper is commonly used in Scandinavian countries to provide cheery colors during the long, dark winters.
SOURCE: U.S. Wallcovering
THE WONDER OF WALPAPER
EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW AND MORE
Jstyle spoke with Gary Levine, owner/manager of U.S. Wallcovering in North Olmsted, about wallpaper – from costs to its popularity and more.
JSTYLE: Why is wallpaper coming back in style?
LEVINE: If you have asked me as little as three years ago will wallpaper ever be as popular today as it was 20 to 30 years ago, I would have said probably not. Today, the interest and demand by the younger generation is so great that I expect the popularity of wallpaper will be as great as it was in the past with a broader demographic base.
JSTYLE: When was it popular?
LEVINE: Wallpaper was popular 20 to 30 years ago.
JSTYLE: When did it go out of style and why?
LEVINE: Wallpaper went out of style 20 years ago when a new craze – faux painting – was promoted by the home shows. A homeowner could take a sponge or tools and create textures. The interest in that technique ended abruptly four to five years ago when consumers realized it was too random a process and led to imperfect results and did not add warmth or texture to a room.
JSTYLE: What rooms are best for wallpaper?
LEVINE: Wallcovering will add interest to any room. Use it to great effect in a powder room, living room, kitchen, dining room, home office, entranceway, recreation room, library, family room, laundry room, even a garage.
JSTYLE: What patterns are best for each room?
LEVINE: The beauty of wallpaper is that there is such a color and design range that it is always possible to find just the right pattern for a particular decor. Some placements are counterintuitive – for example, one would think a dark color wp should not be used in a small space because it would make the space look smaller but the opposite is true – a dark color in a powder room will add drama and interest and enlarge the space. Traditionally, florals were reserved for bedrooms and stripes for living rooms and damask for dining rooms but there is no right or wrong with wp design placement.
JSTYLE: How do you prepare a wall for wallpaper?
LEVINE: The wall should be primed with a good primer or a good quality satin or flat paint. If there is a good quality satin or flat paint already on the walls, and the walls are smooth, there is no need to prime or repaint the walls. If the walls are not smooth, we offer a product called wall llner that helps prep a smooth surface.
JSTYLE: What are the advantages of wallpaper over paint?
LEVINE: The interest that it adds, the texture, the warmth, the scrubability leading to ease of maintenance plus the vast array of design, color, texture and pattern options.
JSTYLE: What are the costs to wallpaper a room?
LEVINE: If a person provides the size of the room – dimensions and ceiling height plus door, window and other openings etc., we can provide a calculation of roll requirements. We use a system based on strips, which is far more accurate than just by square footage. We encourage customers to get extra material because there is no restocking charge on in-stock wallpaper and you always want at least an extra roll to ensure there is enough material to complete a job plus some left over for possible future repairs.
Cost will vary by room size, cost of paper selected and any special room details such as a high-ceiling requiring scaffolding.
A standard 8-by-10 room with 8-foot ceiling height would require @ 10 rolls single rolls.
Wallpaper prices range from a low of $20 per single roll up to $400 or more per single roll. Some very high-end wallpaper patterns are sold by the foot or yard rather than a roll.
Based on the 8-by10-foot room example requiring 10 single rolls at at $20 per single roll, the total wallpaper cost would be $200.
Adhesive is $25 to $30 per gallon and two gallons would be enough for 10 rolls. We recommend pasting wall and paper so two gallons is a safer quantity, but if only one gallon of adhesive is used, the other gallon can be returned for a full refund.
It is easy to DIY your wallpaper project. We provide instructions – advanced techniques for hanging today’s wallpaper – breaking the process down into simple elements. The process is therapeutic because with instructions customers are successful, love the results and have instant gratification. We can offer the names of recommended installers for customers who would prefer that service. The costs can vary greatly. A baseline for an 8-by-10-foot room is at least $300 for professional installation. Typically, a job is quoted by the job and not by the roll or by the hour. This is good for the customer because you know what the total cost is before the job starts.
JSTYLE: How long does it take to wallpaper a home?
LEVINE: Depends on particulars-high ceilings, need for scaffolding, condition of walls and whether a primer is required, etc. One day per room of standard size is an estimate. The idea is to put yourself in perfectionist mode and take as much time as necessary to do a perfect job.
JSTYLE: What makes a good quality wallpaper?
LEVINE: Today’s materials are exceptionally good from all the factories. Most are strippable and completely scrubable and are designed to last on the wall for many years.