It’s difficult to pinpoint when it happens. It might be just after breakfast, while sipping coffee, or one evening, coming back from a long day at work. You take a step back. Look around in your home, and decide that you are just bored with what you see. It happens to most of us; it’s in the nature of us humans. No matter how much we loved it at one point in time. After a while, we need to get something new in our life. In the interior design world, this means renovating. Does wallpaper come to mind?
Replace Furniture?
The temptation might be to go big, replace the furniture, change everything, but these changes have a hefty price. Luckily renovating a space involves not just looking for new furniture and furnishings. It is also knowing how to give that extra touch to the walls. After decades of absence from the furniture scene, an old friend is back on the scene: the humble wallpaper. Having been banned by interior designers at the turn of the millennium, we can safely say with certainty that nowadays it has made a comeback and become an absolute must.
Nothing comes close to its power in redefining space and creating an atmosphere. A well-defined vibe on a budget, as wallpaper does it. Its powers go beyond simply decoration purposes: a beautiful wallpaper, strategically placed can define and delimit a specific space as well as embellish it. It can emphasize anonymous corners of a room or simply make them more welcoming. Thanks to technological advances in both design and material, wallpaper today come in an almost endless variety of design and material. It’s easier than ever to install.
Wallpapering today
So, we said it: yes to wallpaper! But how? What does it mean to choose this wallcovering as an option for defining a specific interior nowadays? Back in the ’60s, all four walls of a room were completely covered with wallpaper. Nowadays, we prefer to decide from space to space. Often the choice is to highlight a specific wall with a powerful wallpaper. Maybe to define a unique piece of furniture, or to make it contrast with the other walls. In the bedrooms, for example, it is used behind the headboard, in the living rooms behind the sofas, and in the kitchen behind the dining table. In the children’s rooms, however, more often than not it is a good idea to decorate all four walls, or, should this not be the wish, to use it in the play area, defining it clearly in contrast to the sleeping quarters.
A feature wall aims to highlight the beautiful motives and prints of contemporary designer wallpaper, leaving it bare as a sole decorative masterpiece. You should avoid cramming such space with extra features and other decorative elements. These are to be kept for the other walls of the room.
This modern focus on large, gaudy prints has had an unintended effect, bringing back the flavor of the Seventies, the golden era of wallpaper. We are, however, in the 21st century, so, as all comebacks, the original trend has been revisited with new materials, shinier surfaces, and new geometric shapes that better reflect contemporary tastes. Absolutely in trend are also floral prints, geographical maps, animals, geometric shapes, stripes, and all large patterns. Make sure to choose appropriate lighting, with warm hues that can cause the colors to pop!
A Word of Caution
This bonanza needs to be used with a word of caution, however, as not all patterns fit well in every room of the house. For example, we do not recommend wallpaper with flashy pop-art prints in the bedroom as they might not bring the relaxing effect we hope to achieve. Likewise, choose calming colors for the kid’s room, to help the little ones focus and concentrate on their imagination.
