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Design 101
How to Choose Wallpaper for Your Home
November 21, 2024
Wallpaper is taking the design world by storm once again. Gone are the days of hard-to-install, messy wallpapers. Modern wallpaper comes in many textures, patterns, and colors to suit any taste. If you’re wondering how to choose wallpaper for living rooms, kitchens, and other design projects, you’re in the right place.
Different Types of Wallpaper
When searching for your new wallpaper, you’ll come across many types.
Vinyl
Vinyl wallpaper is often prepasted but can be unpasted or self-adhesive. As one of the most versatile wallpapers, vinyl comes in three forms:
•
Vinyl-Coated Paper
This wallpaper features an acrylic vinyl or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) coating over a paper backing. It resists moisture and works well for kitchens and bathrooms.
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Solid Vinyl
With an all-vinyl format, this wallpaper has high durability and can withstand water. It tends to have a sheen.
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Fabric-Backed Vinyl
This type lasts the longest and features a fabric backing. It can handle high-traffic areas of the home.
Peel & Stick
Also known as self-adhesive wallpaper, peel & stick has a sticky back that you remove before pressing the paper onto the wall. This wallpaper is also easy to remove from the wall, so you can change up your decor without trouble.
Textured/Grasscloth
Textured wallpaper and grasscloth wallpaper are similar. Both have textured or raised surfaces, but the grasscloth only contains natural materials like sisal, jute, triangle grass, hemp, or cork. Textured wallpaper can include natural and synthetic materials and comes in prepasted, self-adhesive, and unpasted forms. Grasscloth is more delicate and only comes in unpasted form.
Paste-the-Wall
Also called unpasted, this is the traditional method of applying wallpaper. You paste the wall with wallpaper adhesive and lay the paper on it. Many types of wallpaper are unpasted, such as fabric, grasscloth, and flocked.
Identify the Type of Wallpaper for Different Rooms
How do you know which wallpaper works where? Here are the best types according to room.
Wallpaper for the Kitchen or Dining Room
Kitchens and dining rooms see moderate to high traffic, so they need a wallpaper that can hold up. While vinyl and peel & stick suit kitchens, wipeable wallpaper with more flair, such as textured or fabric-backed vinyl, may fit dining rooms better.
Wallpaper for the Bedroom
In the bedroom, you want the walls to bring peace and sophistication. This is where you can turn to unpasted wallpaper in a variety of styles, such as flocked, fabric, or grasscloth.
Wallpaper for the Bathroom
Bathrooms are high-moisture areas, so they need wallpaper that withstands water vapor. Peel & stick and vinyl or vinyl-coated designs are an excellent choice for these rooms.
Wallpaper for the Office
Like bedrooms, offices are spaces that can handle many types of wallpaper. They aren’t high-traffic, so you can play with textures, keep things easy with peel & stick, or choose a fabric or flocked design.
Wallpaper for the Nursery or Child’s Room
Nurseries and kids’ rooms can sometimes take beating from curious hands. In these spaces, it’s best to focus on easy-to-apply, easy-to-clean wallpaper. Peel & stick styles are a good choice here because you can change them as your child grows.
Determine the Mood of Your Room
You’re eager to put wallpaper in your home. But how should you do it?
Luckily, there are many ways to decorate a room with wallpaper:
1.
Cover all the walls
2.
Create one accent wall
3.
Paper the kitchen backsplash
4.
Line the back of a bookshelf
5.
Use wallpaper on the top half of the walls and tile or wainscoting on the lower half of the walls
6.
Cover the stair risers
7.
Put wallpaper on the back of the door
8.
Use it for wardrobe doors or drawer fronts
As you work on your wallpaper plans, you’ll want to determine the mood of the room. Do you want it to be sophisticated? Cheerful? Casual? While warm colors are inviting, cool colors and pastels bring plenty of relaxation.
Decide the Color Scheme and Focal Point
Next, get to know the room’s natural lighting. Is it bright and filled with direct light? Does it get indirect light for half the day? Is it always in the shadows or lacks windows altogether?
You should also choose the focal point of the room. Will it be the wallpaper? If so, you’ll have more ability to go bold. If the wallpaper is more of an accessory, choose muted colors that enhance but don’t act like a statement piece of their own.
Choose a Solid Color or Pattern
Now, to the fun part! You get to choose the wallpaper you’ll use to decorate the space. Solid colors and patterns work in nearly all rooms. The trick is to know when to use them. Here are some tips:
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Use light prints to add the illusion of space and dark prints to make a space more intimate.
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Pick cool colors to bring relaxation and warm colors to help energize.
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Go for reflective, light, metallic, or shiny wallpaper to brighten a room.
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Choose textured or grasscloth prints for a more refined look.
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Use oversized patterns and motifs as accent walls to avoid overwhelming the eye.
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Pick textured wallpaper if you want to hide flaws.
Select a Finish
Finishes can “finish” the look! Do you want coated or uncoated wallpaper? Coated wallpaper is usually covered in a thin layer of vinyl, giving it a glossier finish. Uncoated wallpaper doesn’t have this coating, so you’ll have a more matte finish.
Finishes can also help you see which rooms are the best fit. If you’re eyeing a coated wallpaper design, you might find it works best in high-traffic or wetter areas. Uncoated would be better in rooms without plumbing.
Figure Out Your Measurements
How much wallpaper will you need? Figuring out your measurements is essential to a smooth application. You’ll need a measuring tape, pen and paper, and a calculator (or your phone).
Follow these steps:
1.
Measure the width of each wall (or other feature) and record the value.
2.
Add all widths together.
3.
Divide by the width of the wallpaper. For example, let’s say your walls measure 32 feet, and the wallpaper width is 2.5 feet. Use 32 / 2.5 = 12.8.
4.
Measure the ceiling height and record it.
5.
Add the ceiling height to the pattern-repeat measurement (noted on the roll or product description). For example, you have 8-foot ceilings and a 3-foot pattern repeat. So 8 + 3 = 11 feet as an adjusted height.
6.
Divide the wallpaper length by the adjusted height. Many rolls come in lengths ranging from 25 to 35 feet. We’ll use 30 feet for an average value. So, 30 / 11 = 2.73.
7.
Divide 12.8 (from step 3) by 2.73 = 4.68.
8.
Round up and add one roll for mistakes. You’d need to buy six rolls of paper for this room.
DIY or Hire Professionals
Knowing whether to DIY or hire professionals is a personal preference. If you’ve never wallpapered before and worry you’d make too many mistakes, you’re better off hiring professionals.
What if you’ve never wallpapered but are willing to do a test run on some bookshelves? Let the DIY begin! You can keep practicing and building up to larger projects.
Accentuate Your Furniture With the Perfect Wallpaper
Whether designing a single room or entire home from scratch or simply upgrading the existing design, you can add a lot of color and style to your space with wallpaper. Now, you also know how to choose wallpaper for every room depending on the traffic and other important factors.
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