wallpaper disaster

[sunnydaze8]

had a fairly large bedroom wallpapered yesterday. over the bed i thought it was just the shadow and reflection from wardrobe mirrors, but now today when i look at it, three strips out of the five on the smaller wall are not the same shade at all. we definitely picked up the same batch number for all the rolls we used. what can be done about it? b and q are going to say we didnt pick up the same batch and they did ask us at check out. the decorator surely wont come and rectify it without a fee.

[moonshadow]

I have had the same problem with Laura Ashley wallpaper.Fortunately I still had the labels off all the wallpaper which the decorator had put in my bin.You will need these to prove they were from the same batch.They paid for the room to be stripped and redecoration at no cost to me.Did the decorator leave the wrappings and offcuts? If he took them away I would give him a ring and ask if he still has them.

[stanbesida]

I am a professional decorator and have worked for myself for over 40 years, one of my customers purchased Laura Ashley wallpaper but when I opened the rolls every single one had a stain down the edge of it, so I rang my customer at his work and he came home and took the paper back. Just before Christmas last year I decorated his bedroom but I only papered one wall, he had purchased Laura Ashley wallpaper again as well as their paste (I normally use Solvite), I finished the job at 10-20am on a Sunday morning and my customer was overjoyed with it. I was sitting at home at 12-15pm and he rang to ask me if I had any paste left over, I assumed that he wanted to paste some other paper back but he said the edges had all lifted on the paper I'd just hung. I thought he was joking but when I went down every single edge had shrunk, I asked him to leave it for a few days and I would sort it out, I contacted Laura Ashley and told them that this wasn't the first time I'd had a problem with their paper and they agreed to replace it and it was delivered by courier so I went back and re-papered it the following Friday as my customer had stripped it ready for me. I tried to claim the cost of labour but they wouldn't pay for it, what I will say is that your decorator should have noticed the different shade on the paper and he should have told you instead of hanging it. If I get a customer with Laura Ashley paper again I will warn them about what could happen, and I'll be charging extra so that I don't lose so much money if anything goes wrong with it.

[WILLWONKER]

I agree with most of what STANBESIDA says but sometimes you cannot blame the decorater for the shade differents always, when the paper is unrolled you don,t always see it in different lights and also the wet paste can alter the shade and you will not see the true colour until it is dry. Has too L/A paper it is over rated and over priced
and most times rubbish, if he checked the batch numbers he did his job, these batch numbers can and do get mixed up at the factories

[sunnydaze8]

mmm dont have the batch labels unfortunately, i havent called the decorator. debating whether to leave it. i would hope he comes round and changes the 3 or 2 strips out of the 5 behind the bed, he said he hadnt got any work on so maybe he will be kind enough to come and inspect then change it for me, i would give him £20, am i mad or just realistic?

[WILLWONKER]

Changing two or three strips out of five would not work, the whole wall will need to be done from scratch, you have no batch numbers to match, and even if you did it would not butt up very good to the strips you leave on. when decorating is done wrong it can be difficult to put right without starting all over again and most times that is what you have too do.