Bernau Designs is a professional wall covering installation and wallpaper removal service company located in Troy, servicing Birmingham, Bloomfield, Royal Oak and the surrounding Detroit metropolitan area.
Call us for your next wallpaper project.
I started my career as a wallpaper installer aka “wallpaper hanger”, at age 12. Working the summers for my dad, pasting wallpaper and matching light switch plates. Shortly after working those summers, I ventured out to start my own business, Bernau Designs in 1990.
My career has taken me from hanging wallpaper to faux finishing to working as a scenic artist on a movie set to working on the Nuclear Cowboyz and Disney on Ice show for Feld Entertainment, to writing my first IOS app that made The UK Telegraph’s The 30 best property apps … all the way to doing the best wallpaper job you will ever see!
Through the years, I have worked with many talented people from designers to builders to people that were constantly perfecting their craft or trade…
Someone once asked me, “What does it take to do a good wallpaper job?” My response was, Pride…pride and a love or passion for what you do. Pride because my name is associated with my work. My work reflects who I am. Love because that is what drives you to work late nights and getting up early in the morning.
I believe there is a common thread with those successful and who are the best in their respected industries. And what distinguishes those people from the rest… is pride in one’s self and a love or a passion for what they do.
I have learned something from them all!
Barry Bernau
% of happy customers
years of experience
Call us
21. Wallcoverings
iPhone, iPad, £1.49
Equally useful is this “simplified wallpaper estimator” by decorator Barry Bernau. It lets you calculate the wall space to be covered, then tells you how many rolls you need.
With over 30 years of experience, Bernau Designs specializes in high-end Commercial and Residential wallpaper projects:
murals, de Gournay Chinoiserie, Phillip Jeffries, Graham & Brown, York, wallpaper, vinyl, mylar, foil, grasscloth, hand prints, silks screen, and custom wall coverings to perfection!
Our wallpaper removal service includes:
We now take credit cards as payment.
Best materials make for the best workmanship
Personalize wallpaper installation and removal estimates by the owner, as well as work being performed by the owner.
(248) 924-8944
Try removing wallpaper with laundry detergent…
Prior to starting, test a small area at the bottom of the wall covering, on a seam, near the corner of the wall. Try to peel a little bit off the wallpaper by pulling upward. If it peels easy, congratulations, it’s probably a fabric back vinyl wall covering and all you will have left to do after removing the wall covering is to wash the paste off the wall. However, if it pulls and rips into tiny little pieces, no worries, just follow the directions below.
Okay, so here is a list of items you will need to strip wallpaper:
Layout dry towels or drop clothes at the baseboard to protect the floor. Lay painters plastic in sheets on top of the drop cloths.
Fill your garden sprayer or spray bottle 90% full of hot water and 10% with laundry detergent.
Start mist spraying your homemade wallpaper remover from the top of the sheet, one full sheet at a time, for the next 5 to 8 minutes keep it moist with the mixture. Don’t rush this, patience will pay off here.
Start at the bottom of the sheet as you did before, and slide you putty knife underneath and gently start to push as the wallpaper releases from the wall. Try to keep the sheet from tearing and slowly work it by pulling up toward the ceiling.
Removing wallpaper paste from the wall
After you have successfully removed all the wallpaper, it is very important to remove the adhesive from the wall. Wallpaper paste painted over will crack like a spider web, so it is important to remove the paste.
Replace your sprayer solution with 100% hot water with no detergent. Start where you first started removing your sheet of wall covering and mist spray the wall again lightly. Let it sit for about 2 minutes, then take your green scrubbies and start wiping in small circles to loosen the paste. Follow that, by wiping clean the adhesive off the wall with your wet sponge, then ringing the paste residue into the clean bucket of water. Change your water every 2 to 3 sheets until finished.
I hope your wallpaper stripping job comes off as easy as mine did. Bernau Designs is a Professional wallpaper installation and removal company. If you would like us to do your job. We offer free estimates in the Detroit, Michigan communities. Please contact me if you have any questions.
Best Regards,
Barry Bernau
