Wallpaper has been very popular for a few years now, but many people still only imagine it being used in their elderly relative’s homes of years past. I can fondly remember my Grandparent’s hallway with a flocked gold and brown number.  I can’t remember the exact pattern, but do remember caressing the flocking as a little one.

Well, a lot has changed since those days.  Wallpaper now comes in all sorts of patterns, textures, colours which you can imagine and they are designed to suit all tastes and interiors.  The big difference is also now there is a veritable array of pared back, neutral options available.  To use wallpaper doesn’t mean you have to introduce a crazy over the top pattern or colour combination.  If you’re new to wallpaper then committing to an entire room might be too much for you.  Let’s examine a few ways to make wallpaper work for you where you can still have fun with it without looking like a Victorian mansion vomited in your home!

1 – Ways to make wallpaper work for you…using wallpaper on stair risers

Why should walls have all the fun?!  This is such a great way of introducing interest into an otherwise purely functional area.  This is also a cost effective way of using wallpaper as you shouldn’t require more than one roll. To allow for potential wear and tear, several coats of varnish should protect the paper.  Renowned Interior Designer Abigail Ahern is a devotee of this use, as seen here.

www.abigailahern.com

2-Ways to make wallpaper work for you…as a part of a splashback

Kitchens can sometimes be somewhat lacking in individual character.  Really, how crazy can you go apart from paint and tiles?!  Glass splashbacks are very popular in tints and colours.  Consider introducing wallpaper behind a glass splashback.  Your kitchen will have instant personality. Even using heavily textured but plain wallpaper behind the glass will be a stronger design statement than merely glass alone.

Wallpaper Splashback – via www.turbulences-deco.fr

3- Ways to make wallpaper work for you…as art

Many types of wallpaper are like an artwork in their own right.  Why not treat wallpaper as art then? It’s quite easy to come across short rolls or remnants of wallpaper.  Without outlaying a lot of money, you’ve already got your print, but how to frame it?  I’ve done this in my apartment, using a piece of Florence Broadhurst Cranes, I used timber moulding to create a frame around the wallpaper mounted on ply board.

Wallpaper art

4 – Ways to make wallpaper work for you…in the last domain of decorating

What’s the only room in the room that really doesn’t get any love?  It might be lucky to get an artwork (or calendar!) at best.  But we spend a lot of time there and so do our guests.  The toilet.  If it’s a small space, you can really go for it.  Make a statement, have fun, give your guests something to smile about it!

Wallpaper in a powder room – Bloglovin via Pinterest