Wallpaper

With some paint and glazes, a few tools and a little time, a plain, functional front door can become a home's welcoming statement, with the rich colors and grains of oak or mahogany. A concrete column can look like marble, a ceiling can become a cloud-dappled sky and old cabinets can get new life. To get those looks and more, all homeowners have to do is go to school. The Faux School, founded in Frederick by artist Ron Layman, 41, offers classes on decorative painting techniques to amateurs and professionals alike.

Robert Larkin's association with Oak Crest retirement community in Parkville began long before he and his wife purchased a condo there in 2001. The 86-year-old retired Baltimore City police major had contacts with Oak Crest before it even opened its doors. "I used to walk over here from Perry Hall during construction," Larkin said. "I'd wear my hard hat, [and] I got to know all the workers. That was in 1994. " There was never any doubt that the he and his wife, Gloria, would move into Oak Crest when they felt the time was right.

Two years ago when I started stripping the wallpaper from the first of six papered rooms in my 90-year-old house, I would have never suspected that today I'd be checking out wall covering design houses online and asking decorator friends if they knew a good paper hanger. I've lived in old houses my entire adult life, and they've all had bad wallpaper in common. English ivy climbing the walls. Tiny pink and yellow flowers suspended in a burgundy field. Sometimes layers had been applied one on top of the other, strata of bad taste.

With some paint and glazes, a few tools and a little time, a plain, functional front door can become a home's welcoming statement, with the rich colors and grains of oak or mahogany. A concrete column can look like marble, a ceiling can become a cloud-dappled sky and old cabinets can get new life. To get those looks and more, all homeowners have to do is go to school. The Faux School, founded in Frederick by artist Ron Layman, 41, offers classes on decorative painting techniques to amateurs and professionals alike.

Joan C. Moag, a family matriarch who started a successful home wallpapering business on a whim, died of complications of cancer and Alzheimer's disease Monday at the Blakehurst Retirement Community. She was 78 and had lived in Tuscany-Canterbury. Born Joan Swanson in Chicago, she attended Aquinas High School and Loyola University of Chicago. She married John Andrew Moag, a neighbor who lived on the same block, in 1953. They spent their honeymoon in Paris and lived for a year in Heidelberg, Germany, where he was stationed with the Army.

Q: We rented our condominium for a year, but are now preparing to return to it as our permanent home. When we decorated it, I invested in rather expensive wallpaper. My problem is that the renters did not take good care of our condo and some of the wallpaper is now smudged with stains. I would like to clean these walls, but I am unsure how to go about it. Do you have any suggestions?A: If the wallpaper is washable, such as a vinyl or vinyl-coated paper, most stains can be removed easily by applying thick soapsuds with a soft sponge, then rinsing well with clear water.

When Gary and Robin Houston chose the wallpaper for the dining room of their home in Baltimore County, they did so because they loved the formal pattern and the colors. Two centuries earlier, the Phelps and Hatheway families in Suffield, Conn., must have felt the same way."Fontaine de Fleurs," with urns, flowers, swags and birds, was hand-blocked in Paris by Jean Baptiste Reveillon around 1791 and installed in the Phelps-Hatheway House sometime between 1794 and 1796. Discovered there by Henry Francis du Pont, America's premier connoisseur and collector of 17th-, 18th- and 19th-century American decorative arts, the wallpaper was carefully removed and then hung in the Federal parlor at Winterthur, du Pont's country home near Wilmington, Del., now a public museum.

Q: We are slowly restoring our Queen Anne Victorian house as we can afford it. The dining room walls have us puzzled. What we thought was just old embossed wallpaper turns out to be leather, tooled into intricate designs. I'm sure it was beautiful once, but now it's a mess. We've heard there's a new wallpaper that's embossed to look like leather. Do you know any more about it?A: I know that you're half right: Indeed, there are inexpensive embossed products that go up like wallpaper to create the look of intricately carved plaster, leather or wood.

Q: Instead of the usual wallpaper, I had planned to cover a wall in my dining room with a fabric that I like. A friend told me that the installation method would be more complicated than for wallpaper. Do you think it's still sensible for me to pursue the fabric option?A: While I'm not an expert on installation techniques, I do think your friend has exaggerated the difficulty of applying a fabric wall covering.Latex or paper-backed fabrics can easily be affixed to a wall by a professional paperhanger.

I think wallpaper will really make a few of my rooms gorgeous. Can you tell me how to hang it? What are some of the most important steps when hanging wallpaper? Are there special tools one uses? I will get you started, but I urge you to look around for books, videos or DVDs that really explain the wallpapering process. You will need these basic tools: Assemble a tape measure, a 4-foot level, a 4-inch flexible putty knife, a paint roller and roller pan, a 2-inch paintbrush, a stepladder, a snap-blade razor knife, a smoothing brush and a large table or flat working surface.

Just two years ago, Bill and Jennifer Bartley were living on a three-acre property in bucolic Mount Airy. But with their grown children moving on, they were ready for a complete change of lifestyle. So in March 2009, the Bartleys exchanged views of the countryside for a harborside city view from their new condominium at the Ritz-Carlton Residences in downtown Baltimore. "Once the kids left, we knew we'd be ready to move," Jennifer Bartley recalled. "This 'lock and leave' lifestyle is perfect for us. " Moreover, the traveling couple wanted to turn the page to a new and elegant chapter in their lives as empty nesters.

Joan C. Moag, a family matriarch who started a successful home wallpapering business on a whim, died of complications of cancer and Alzheimer's disease Monday at the Blakehurst Retirement Community. She was 78 and had lived in Tuscany-Canterbury. Born Joan Swanson in Chicago, she attended Aquinas High School and Loyola University of Chicago. She married John Andrew Moag, a neighbor who lived on the same block, in 1953. They spent their honeymoon in Paris and lived for a year in Heidelberg, Germany, where he was stationed with the Army.

Two years ago when I started stripping the wallpaper from the first of six papered rooms in my 90-year-old house, I would have never suspected that today I'd be checking out wall covering design houses online and asking decorator friends if they knew a good paper hanger. I've lived in old houses my entire adult life, and they've all had bad wallpaper in common. English ivy climbing the walls. Tiny pink and yellow flowers suspended in a burgundy field. Sometimes layers had been applied one on top of the other, strata of bad taste.

From its new perch on the wall of an ornate State House meeting room, the recently unveiled portrait of former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. can finally gaze down on the $37,500 rug he ordered in early 2006. The handmade custom piece from India - featuring an 8-foot-in-diameter replica of the Maryland seal - is one of several lush touches to a $10 million renovation receiving its de facto unveiling today. Less visible will be the rich red fabric that covers faded wallpaper in Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller's inner office - part of a separate $10,000 job paid for with Senate funds, according to Miller's chief of staff, Vicki Gruber.

It won't be long before my kitchen walls are alive with the sound of music. About a month ago, I wandered into a wallpaper store in downtown Catonsville, killing time while my son took a music lesson across the street. I figured it was a nice warm shop in which I could browse without ever feeling compelled to buy anything. After all, there are no impulse-shoppers in the wallpaper category - who pops into a wallpaper store on a whim and comes out with 15 double rolls? When it comes to wallpaper, people typically look, look some more, and finally return to the store to look some more.

In the small foyer of Deni Miller and Chris Morrone's Canton rowhouse, it is impossible to take in the scene all at once. Lemon-yellow walls pop under bright, recessed lighting. Several mirrors reflect photographs on the walls opposite them. Shadow boxes and curio cabinets filled with treasures create the appearance of a well-organized, high-end second-hand shop. It is clear the house has taken on the lightheartedness of its occupants, who are eager to show it off. Miller and Morrone are the third owners of the two-story, 12-foot-by-40-foot brick house, which they purchased in 2001 for $97,500.

Borders, expanded vinyl, coordinating prints, ready-made ensembles and fabricated vertical blinds -- that sums up what's new in wallpapercoverings and design this year.Interior designers are finding the "fully-coordinated" look is in for their customers. Wallpaper patterns match comforters, shams and dust ruffles, curtains and accent pillows. Bathrooms play host to coordinating shower curtains, window treatments and rugs.Kitchens and bathrooms are the most wallpapered rooms in the home, says Jim Forsythe, co-owner of Wallpapers to go at the Festival at Pasadena on Ritchie Highway.

Las Vegas Wallpaper City Guide Phaidon Press, $8.95 These chic "anti-guides" for "anti-tourists" are slim and stylish enough to consult on the run while concealing the fact that you are just an out-of-it out-of-towner. Created by the editors of Wallpaper magazine, which is devoted to international design and lifestyle, these discreet directories employ classy photographs lightly seasoned with savvy suggestions. The Las Vegas version opens with a fold-out shot of the Strip and a photo gallery of Vegas landmarks, followed by a tour of top hotels, a sampler of top restaurants, and a whirlwind, 24-hour itinerary (breakfast at Wynn Buffet, gawking at Graceland Wedding Chapel, slots at Bellagio, drinks at Onda and burlesque at Forty Deuce)