Good morning, color lovers all over this beautiful world!

Everyone’s asking for wallpaper in my consultations these days, but is it the right choice for your home? Here are three important factors to ponder before installing wallpaper in your space. Read on!

1. Let’s examine the boring, practical stuff before even thinking of selecting wallpaper!

Before you even start looking at wallpaper books, consider the labor intensive and environmental aspects of wallpaper installation. Wall surfaces typically need to be sanded down and properly primed. The environmental considerations and proper installation by a professional are other points to have clear in your mind before proceeding. Though I’m not an architectural environmental consultant, I am told by industry colleagues that both adhesive and wallpaper can cause moisture buildup and serious mold remediation issues. Even though this entire post is about wallpaper and I LOVE wallpaper design, I’d be remiss if I failed to mention these health or environmental concerns outright.

Here are a couple of resources I found that discuss eco-friendly wallcovering primer and adhesives and mold behind wallpaper.

Now let’s move on to texture. Do you want a smooth wallpaper with pattern and/or multiple colors, or something very textured? The more texture you choose for wallpaper, the more the texture itself becomes the focal point. Textured wallpaper is a statement in and of itself, so I tend to opt for a neutral color scheme or one bold color, but not usually lots of busy pattern or colorways when working with texture.

Now, before we move into the fun part of deciding color, scale and pattern, we must consider where in the home you want to add wallpaper. Remember that wallpaper is a pretty big commitment, especially as you consider what a cumbersome task it is to remove it later once you’ve tired of the design. Ask yourself the following:

• Am I in love with wallpaper and want it all over my house? In this case, we need to curate a couple of options that coordinate yet are different. In addition to a paint color palette, I’d recommend creating a wallpaper design scheme using 2-3 wallpaper options that have color or motif as their common denominator.

• Do I just want wallpaper to make an artistic statement in certain areas, such as the living room, dining room and a downstairs powder room? Maybe you just want a wallpaper mural on one accent wall. In that case, I’d recommend investing in something very luxurious, high end and artistically or texturally interesting.

• Do I want full rooms wallpapered or just accent walls? MY TIP: The larger the room, the more an accent wall makes sense. With small rooms OR rooms that are very architecturally fragmented, I’d install wallpaper throughout.

2. Experiment with different combinations of color, scale and style when choosing wallpaper. Consider your options. There are so many.

Let’s start with scale. My more bold clients like large scale prints as shown below. Some clients who are more conservative and let’s say classic in preference tend to opt for small scale prints. You CAN do funky, wild things with small prints, though, especially with retro or animal motifs, or by mixing in larger, unique decor items or lighting fixtures. Here are some examples of large scale prints.

Here are examples of small scale prints. TIP: Consider the space where you’ll be installing the wallpaper. A small scale wallpaper will seem larger in scale in tiny spaces such as powder rooms.

Oooh! Oooh! Oooh! Let’s talk wallpaper color and color scheme, too. I addressed something last week about color tolerance and your embrace of color on the blog, so let’s apply that to wallpaper. What color scheme do you already have in paint, hard surfaces, art and furniture? Start there.

Are your colors bold and vibrant, or are they soft and subtle? What level of contrast do you have in your color palette? High contrast color schemes have lots of variation in value, or lightness and darkness. Black and white palettes are high contrast, as are blush pink and deep burgundy. Contrast also refers to the visual difference between or among colors on the color wheel. Opposites on the color wheel such as red and green offer the highest contrast. A low contrast palette is gentle, flowing, and has very little difference in value (lightness or darkness of a color), and typically incorporates monochromatic or analogous (right next to one another on the color wheel) schemes.

Let’s look at some examples below. On the left we see bold color and high contrast (mainly because of the white background). On the right we see an example of bold color and lower contrast. There’s not a huge color value difference even with the touch of dark.

Let’s look at two examples below with softer color palettes. On the left, we see soft colors together with low contrast. Yes, there’s navy, but it’s not significantly darker than the other colors to make it a high contrast palette. On the right, we have soft colors (even though there is an almost black background) and a bit higher contrast.

Now that you’ve examined color and contrast preferences, you can look at what style or aesthetic suits you. I will create a separate post on wallpaper styles for you! There are too many styles to feature on this post, though, so here is a list of some of the most popular and trending wallpapers for 2023:

• Large scale prints

• Floral maximalism

• Ombre

• Botanical

• Whimsical and unpredictable color combinations

• ‘70s prints

• Curved lines and geometric shapes

3. Wallpaper is a creative dream in my opinion. You don’t have to commit to installing it on the vertical walls of your home or studio. Look at different, less committed ways to implement it in your space.

Try framing your wallpaper in large panels! This is precisely the route I would go in my own home.

Have you ever thought of wallpaper as a table topper? I hadn’t until I began researching creative wallpaper ideas on Pinterest. Check these out!

How about a bit of wallpaper as a book shelf accent?

Perhaps my favorite way to use wallpaper is on the ceilings!

From proper installation to scale, texture, color, style and creative ways to play with wallpaper, we’ve covered some important bases. Be sure to comment below with any questions OR additional ways you have incorporated wallpaper in your home. There is a lot of information contained in this post. I know! It’s a conversation starter. Talk to me. Tell me what more you want to know. We’ll dig deeper.

Want your color, materials, finishes or design question to be answered in one of my blog posts? Please comment below, and your question could VERY WELL BE SELECTED AS A BLOG TOPIC!

Hope to hear from you in the comments below!

Your color gal Lauren

P.S. Want to see all of the above images in one place? You know that I reference Pinterest to reinforce my blog talking points. You can find all of the above images on the public domain of Pinterest here: Wallpaper 101 Pinterest Board.