Wallpaper is not just for your grandma’s kitchen anymore. It’s hotter than ever – and you’ll want to get on board after seeing these great looks.
For a while all we did was paint. You would go to the store, pick out your color swatches, no matter how weird the combinations, and either paint the walls yourself or hire a painter.
Patterns and wallpaper were so last century. Besides, if you picked the wrong wallpaper, not only would all that work of cutting and pasting go wasted, conventional wisdom said you’d get no return on investment.
But the papered wall is making a comeback. With inventions like the removable wallpaper, risk is minimal.
And it’s high time we start paying attention to upcoming wallpaper trends.
1. Natural Materials
Printing and computer technology has made design so much more realistic. You can print a natural wood pattern and unless you are within inches of the print, you might not be able to tell it’s a print.
If you can’t afford to panel your entire wall in mahogany beveled squares, then you might want to consider wallpaper. Printed wallpaper can mimic most any natural material.
If you want stone walls, you can buy stone wall printed wallpaper. If you want concrete walls, you can buy prints of concrete.
2. Optical Illusions
When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut. So, when my parents asked what I wanted for wallpaper in my room, I said I wanted a moonscape wall mural.
This was in the 90’s and wallpaper printing wasn’t up to snuff. Plus, my parents tried to install the wallpaper themselves, so they didn’t do the best job.
But with wallpaper today, you could put up a printed wallpaper that makes you feel like you’re sitting above a piazza in Rome. Famous artists have been doing this for years, today technology has made it cheaper.
You could trick the eyes into seeing a hallway when in fact there is only a wall. Add space and light to a much smaller room.
3. Flower Power
Flowers have been a classic pattern for centuries. We just can’t seem to get enough of those heady colors and implied scents.
So, it makes absolute sense that flowers would be back in fashion. Especially when it comes to wallpaper.
This time around it isn’t about cramming as many flowers into the space as possible. It’s about the negative space as much as it is about the positive space.
And the flowers on today’s walls tend to be massive. I’m talking the size of your torso large. Which gives visitors a wonderland sense when they walk into a room.
4. Geometry 101
Get out your protractor, because geometry is in. Well, at least on paper.
Wallpaper, that is. And it’s the most hipster and amazing thing I’ve seen in a decade.
Take Escher’s paintings and drawings, delete the detail, and you have geometric wallpaper. You could go full elegance with gold geometric emboldened lines on white.
Or you could make it look as if things are fading with tile-like patterns and concrete print extrusions.
Conclusion:
Wallpaper is art. Imagine investing in art that crawls across your whole living space.
This is what you are doing when you wallpaper your space. So, get out there, pick a pattern that speaks to your soul, and get draping.