For the love of wallpaper

August 23, 2023

When we think about interiors, we think of layers. Layers of colour, texture, pattern, light. We approach each scheme by building up these layers, no matter how subtle each is, how bright or neutral each piece selected.

Wallpaper offers us the opportunity to integrate a new layer in this process, something luxurious that offers depth of space and excited palettes of colours and textures. We love the dynamic way wallpaper changes a space and its popularity continues to grow for this reason

Moving away from neutrals and greys, we are seeing a trend towards colour and pattern as well as a willingness to try the huge range of textures and options on the market. From seagrass to linens, silks to fine wood veneers, the choices are endless so really it’s the perfect time to try some paper in your interior schemes. It’s all about choosing the right paper for the right space so read on for some of our Wallpaper ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ to help you do just that.

It's all about texture

For us, it’s the textures of our favourite wallpaper collections that are really exciting. The possible combinations and how to integrate them into any scheme are endless. We like to use them as we would a neutral paint colour, adding an extra dimension to any room and softening the flatter look of a chalky neutral paint colour. Integrating a leather effect paper or a natural sea grass to set into panelled wardrobe doors adds an unparalleled depth to any dressing room. Textured wallpapers can also bring a certain cosiness to your space offering tactile walls or brushed effect finishes that simply can’t be achieved with paint.

Partner your paper with your space

Wallpapers can be used in any space but if you’re feeling slightly nervous about embarking on a statement paper in one of the bigger rooms in your house, you might want to start with one of our favourite rooms to wallpaper, a powder room. Smaller spaces really lend themselves to testing out some beautifully bold papers and getting comfortable with the impact rather than diving right in with your bedroom or living space. We love to inject colour or pattern into a powder room scheme, experimenting with brighter tones, stronger schemes and complimenting with neutral fittings to set them off perfectly.

A small and sometimes drearv space can be elevated so significantly by wallpaper. Metallic smokey bronze paper on the ceiling of a small office, the niche in a dining room or powder room, can really change the space into something far more interesting.

Paper planning with scale

Scale is incredibly important when it comes to working with wallpaper. Take some time to consider your room and your space. Look at the height of your walls, any period feature and the light that the room receives. Then consider the wallpaper and the pattern repeat it features along with any fabrics chosen so that they don’t detract from each other. If the repeat is large and your space is small, you might find you lose some of the impact in the finished design. If you have large walls and decide to integrate a small scale paper, you could find it will be too busy a pattern to use.

Top Tips

Be careful about the end point of your papering. If you’re moving from one room to the next, or continuing around a corner, be aware of where the papering will end and how that will look. This also applies when you’re considering wallpapering ceilings. Spending time evaluating your plans here is vital. if you have a sloping ceiling, consider whether that will negatively impact the pattern run of the paper. And if you do go for the ceiling proper, remember it needs to be able to be seen from all angles so try and choose a non-directional pattern. For example, using ‘Stars’ from Cole & Sons in a children’s bedroom could be dreamy.

Think textures or murals

On the whole we try to avoid feature walls since we prefer to look at the room as a whole and recognise that wallpaper is designed to be used on all four walls. There are two exceptions to this rule for us. The first is when the wallpaper has the goal of bringing a different texture to the walls. The right wallpaper can offer this new depth and layer to a space even if only used on one wall for example when creating a wood effect on a single wall The second exception is the use of a feature wall to profile a full scale mural wallpaper design. This works beautifully using some of the Designers Guild designs which when completed look like a whole wall of mural, your very own piece of art.

Why not a feature wall?

The Wonder of Lewis & Wood

The ranges of wallpapers on the market is vast with prices, patterns, textures and qualities ranging just as broadly. We work with a large number of collections but one we’re particularly besotted with is Lewis and Wood. At the pricier end of the market, Lewis and Wood have created designs that have the most incredible large-scale patterns and run as wide as a fabric bolt. Often inspired by the past, they feature patterns integrating the designs of gentle country florals, museum artefacts, ancient embroideries or archival fabrics. The effect when the papers are mounted is the most breathtaking large scale scene that elevates any interior.

One paper from the Lewis and Wood collection that we can’t get enough of is Beech which is a neutral tree effect design and integrates beautifully into a scheme. Using large scale patterns, it is important to have the right space which can carry the paper. If your budget doesn’t stretch to a whole room, we’d suggest using it for a small area and complimenting it with with neutral curtains and a leading edge trim.