How to Choose Wallpaper (If You Dare)

 

In the interest of full disclosure, since we’re talking about wallpaper today, I have to admit that I used to sell it. I not only worked for a year at Wallpapers to Go, but I sold more rolls than I can count as a designer’s assistant in the 1990s.

Maybe this explains my aversion to it now. When working for a successful interior designer, I made the mistake of suggesting that one of our clients would prefer paint over wallpaper in her contemporary home, and boy did I get chewed out for it. He explained that it was my job to sell the clients wallpaper for every single room in their homes whether they really wanted it or not. The markup on it was how we made most of our money. Did I want to get paid? Then I’d better lug some wallpaper books over to the client’s house, pronto.

I felt so dirty.

I have also had the experience of having to remove old, dated wallpaper, so that is no doubt contributing to my dislike of it. But I do appreciate it when it’s in professionally styled rooms like the one above (via The Inspired Room). And Marni Jameson, author of The House Always Wins, argues that wallpaper is back with a vengeance, and “it’s not your grandmother’s.” I’m trying hard to believe her, but I admit I’m a skeptic. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to return to the halcyon days of wallpaper and matching borders again.

Regardless–let’s suspend our disbelief for a moment and hear what she has to say. Maybe she’ll convince us to give it another try.

To learn how to choose wallpaper that (hopefully) won’t lower your home’s resale value, click “more” below:

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From The House Always Wins:

Because wallpaper is more expensive than paint and involves choosing both color and pattern, I called Paula Berberian, creative services manager for Brewster Wallcovering, and Stacy Senior, marketing director for Thibaut, a company that has been making wallpaper since 1886, for some advice and encouragement. They offered these ideas:

Why paper? There’s no better way to add color, pattern, and texture to your walls all at once.

Look at trends. In the 1980s and 1990s people put pattern everywhere. Then the trend became no pattern, no color. Now we’re back to loving interest, detail, and texture, but the patterns aren’t so busy. Today people are buying papers with softened metallics (not the foil of the 70s), textures that resemble alligator skin, and tone-on-tones, like damask.

Choose your style. Selecting wallpaper is tougher than picking paint, because you’re picking color and pattern. Start by making a design board. Include pictures from magazines that will inspire the room, colors you’ll be using, and any finishes or pictures of furniture. Once you’ev established a mood and direction, picking the right wall covering gets easier.

Get samples. When you find a paper you like in a book, order a sample. If you shop online, ask your wallpaper resources to send you good-sized samples of your top three to five favorites.

Live with them. When the samples arrive, resist the temptation to order twenty rolls right away: First you have to live with them. Tape the samples to your wall for a few days. Walk around your house and see if they feel at home with the other rooms. You want a sense of belonging.

Consider durability. For kitchens and kids’ baths, pick a paper with vinyl. Other rooms can handle paper.

Feeling timid? Choose a classic pattern like damask, a tasteful stripe, or toile. Papers that look like a faux finish are also safe.

Play. Walls don’t have to be completely covered, and borders can go places other than the top of the wall. Try hanging borders a foot from the ceiling, or around a door. Mix patterns. Consider papering the ceiling, too.

Don’t know where to begin? The best rooms to paper are rooms without soft furnishings. Dining rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms are great places to start.

It’s not forever. Gone are the days when it was easier to take out the wall than remove old wallpaper. Today’s wallpaper is easy to apply and remove. If you don’t like what you picked in a few years, no big deal.

(This excerpt was from Chapter 6 of The House Always Wins. All rights belong to the author and Perseus Books. Photos courtesy Southern Accents.)-

 

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So what do you think? Did she convince you to give it a try? Maybe I’m the only one wary of wallpaper, but I still cringe to think of all the time and money I spent on wallpaper in our first home, and how much time its new owners have probably spent removing it. (If the people we sold it to happen to read this–I apologize! It was the early ’90s. We didn’t know any better.) 

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This is part of a week-long series inspired by the book The House Always Wins. I’m giving a copy away on Saturday, March 22.

To enter the giveaway: Leave a comment on the original post by the end of the day Friday, March 21, 2008, and your name will be automatically entered. Bonus: 1) Tell me why you have to have the book or 2) Tell me why you’re hooked on this website (yeah, flatter me!), and your name will be entered twice.

You can visit Marni Jameson’s website for more information. Or you can go straight to Amazon and buy it if you can’t wait another minute to own it yourself.

Other posts this week with excerpts from the book:

• How to Pick Paint Colors
• To Move or Not to Move: That is the Question
• Building Character One Doorknob at a Time
• Why Your Home Will Never Look Like a Model