If paint is the domestic travel of home decor, then wallpaper is the international excursion. It’s more complicated, more time-consuming and often requires the help of experts to arrange. But the effort is worth it, say interior designers, when it comes to adding luxuriousness, warmth, easier clean-up and visual impact to your home.
After a brief lull during which wallpaper fell out of favor, interior designers say it is back with a vengeance. Today’s wallpaper is being used in fresh ways and with new textures and designs to distinguish it from the occasionally dowdy wallpapers — with lace doilies and ceramic figurines — that made it a feature of outdated interiors. Wallpaper is also a great way to give your home a designer look at a price far more affordable than a trip to the furniture store.
Marketing company owner Rick McCulloch transformed the open floor plan kitchen, family room and dining area of his Virginia-Highland home this spring with a khaki-hued grass-cloth wallpaper chosen by Alan Baggett, the owner of Wallpaper Plus and an interior designer.
When McCulloch bought his 1932 brick home, the kitchen and surrounding areas had been painted white. “It was ghastly,” McCulloch said.
He called the addition of the grass cloth “an unbelievable change. I was stunned at how different it looked. ... It just tied all of these spaces together without competing; in other words there isn’t really a pattern, it just sort of warms the room up.”
“Paint can be very flat and very one-dimensional,” said McCulloch. But wallpaper is another animal entirely. “The richness of it, and the layers of it, are just beautiful. I am just a huge fan of grass cloth.”
Alan Baggett sees the wallpaper revival as due, in part, to the rising popularity of HGTV, where designers including Candice Olson often tout the transformative values of wallpaper. “Another reason wallpapering has gotten so popular is due to the economy,” Baggett said. “People are staying where they are and not moving. Therefore they want to freshen up where they are. And wallpaper is the perfect way to do that without spending a lot of money.”
“The advantages to wallpapering over paint are many. First of all, most wallpapers are washable. Your walls will stay fresh and clean longer,” said Baggett. But its main appeal is more than just practical. “It transforms a room. It creates mood and character whether it’s an accent wall or a whole room. It’s fashion for your home.”
While many DIY homeowners will attempt painting a room, installing wallpaper is often a different matter. Most interior designers recommend that with textured or patterned papers, such as stripes, flocked or graphics, homeowners enlist the help of a professional installer. Part of the reason for wallpaper’s bad rap, designers say, often came from homeowners attempting to hang it on their own without properly preparing the wall surface with a good primer. When it came time to remove the paper, the results were often less than pretty.
“There are certain tricks of the trade that professional hangers know that will ensure a beautiful job,” Baggett said. “For example, I have had many a customer reorder grass cloth due to getting paste on it. The paste, especially at seams, gets into the grasses and dries, and leaves an iridescent film which will never come off. One of my hangers recommends stopping the glue about an inch from the edge to prevent excess paste at the seams.”
Interior designer Jennifer Reiner, a partner in Reiner | White Design Studio, sees the rekindled love affair with wallpaper because of new materials paired with cutting-edge patterns such as the stylish, easily cleaned vinyl papers. “It’s usable again. We’re not afraid of it,” said Reiner. As an example of how user-friendly wallpaper can be, Reiner recently papered two walls in a Brookhaven children’s craft room with a commercial-grade vinyl wallpaper that makes for easy cleanup even when craftiness goes into overdrive.
With the right paper and a great installer, experts see wallpaper as the perfect choice, even for novices.
“If you don’t want to start with a pattern, start with a texture and see how you feel about it,” advised Reiner.
Baggett also recommended that nervous homeowners not invest in something too dramatic initially, which may soon lose its appeal. “Make sure to not lock yourself into colors you really may not want to work with in the future. Sometimes it’s best to go neutral and have a paper with texture.”
“Remember that it’s not permanent” Reiner said. “If the walls are primed properly it can be removed with little effort.”
Pick your paper
Wallpaper is as limitless as a homeowner’s imagination. With the right interior designer or an adventurous DIY spirit, whether your look is graphic and mod or traditional and subdued, there is a wallpaper out there just for you.
Texture
Wallpaper isn’t always just about color and pattern. Texture can transform a space, whether in grass cloth or newer wallpapers embedded with mica or other materials for sparkle and impact. Homeowners can also have a favorite fabric backed with an adhesive that will transform it into wallpaper.
Bold patterns
Fun bubbles and graphics that make a room pop are extremely popular. Bright geometric prints are big sellers at Wallpaper Plus, said owner Alan Baggett.
Tone on tone
Many more traditional homeowners love the tone-on-tone papers, which offer a more muted, warmer look.
Vinyl wallpaper
For quick cleanup, you can’t beat the practicality of vinyl wallpapers, many of which mimic natural materials such as grass cloth and cork.
Unconventional installation
Wallpaper does not have to be a whole room affair. Papering just one wall can be a great way to spice up a dining room or bedroom. And wallpaper also works well in small spaces like foyers and entryways. Or try backing bookshelves with wallpaper, said interior designer Jennifer Reiner.
Custom wallpaper
Numerous companies allow homeowners to choose their own pattern or take a photo and blow it up into wallpaper. Locally, Second Space Graphics (770-967-2565) and Stampede Digital (www.stampededigital.com) offer the service.
