The Endless Possibilities of Wallpaper
Living by Design
Featured in The Tribune
Endless possibilities of wallpaper – the right choice lifts spirits, boosts mood and brightens even the smallest spaces
Next time you think a room or space in your home or office needs a bit of a facelift, think outside the paint palette and go bold, adding texture, substance and colour with wallpaper.
Wallpaper is one of my favourite design elements because it packs such a punch.
Paper has come a long, long way since your grandmother proudly stood back and admired the teapots in her paper on her kitchen wall or the tiny pink roses against a creamy background in the bathroom. Of all standard design elements, in fact, probably none has changed more nor gained a greater place in the arena of home improvement in the last few decades than paper. Wallpaper is so popular and offers such diversity of effect that few designers face a project these days without recommending a trip to a wallpaper specialty shop or an internet browsing session to start.
The choices are endless and so are the possibilities from using a bright pattern on a single wall to covering three of four walls or, if choosing a textured paper without a pattern, all the walls of a room. Wallpaper is versatile, allowing you to liven up even the most mundane area. Botanical prints and leafy patterns are a great way to bring the outdoors in and offer a feeling of breathing in the fresh air. It takes deep pockets to commission an artist to paint murals on the wall, but wallpaper choices include murals and when murals are a bit too over the top, you can choose bright colours, strong patterns or geometric shapes to create a certain artistic flair.
Not all paper needs to be bold. The use of grasscloth adds texture, depth, serenity and warmth. It is a subtle statement of respect for a space.
Whatever you choose, remember that wallpaper creates a mood. If you are still unsure, try papering one room. Here’s an example from our home. We have a small powder room with a high ceiling so I dared to go big, papering it with a strong banana leaf pattern in greens and whites and it instantly transformed the ordinary space into an eye-popping wow. We added a large rattan framed mirror to continue the theme of outdoors and rattan sconces.
In design, we often try to find one piece to set the tone or mood, one show stopper whether it be a grand dining table, a piano, a piece of art but wallpaper is one of the most transformative show-stopping elements and because the choices are endless, it’s up to you to choose the mood you want to create. It can be soothing colours in the beiges and pale olives of grasscloth or bold, bright and strong or something in between but whatever you choose, I strongly recommend taking a few samples home and pinning it up to you wall for a few days before choosing. Also bear in mind the conditions of the area you are papering. If a bathroom, there will be moisture so choose accordingly. If you are selecting a single wall, make sure that it is a wall with finite corners so the paper does not appear to trail off into the abyss. Wallpaper – it’s come a long way since Grammy’s kitchen and its impact is hard to overstate and fun to achieve.
