Is wallpaper back in style?
Nothing dresses a wall like wallpaper. Designers love it because it adds interest and style to every room of your home. Wallpaper just might be the quick fix if you’re freshening up your home and preparing it to sell. Many of today’s contemporary home stylists swear by it.
Invented in the early 1800s and made more popular with the advent of industrialization, wallpaper was a fixture in modern homes until late last century. With paper’s tired designs and fussy application methods, consumers in the 1990s seemed to tire of it. But with today’s cool designs and neat adhesives wallpaper just might stick around.
What’s Hot
Wallpaper is modern and high tech with bold, fresh colours, interesting textures and contemporary patterns. Geometric shapes are very popular for 2015. Botanicals, modern florals in oversize prints are also brightening up today’s homes. Another popular type of wallpaper is metallic print, like chrome, brass, silver and gold. Some wallpapers have been reproduced to mimic the appearance of materials like leather or hemp.
Installation
Forget paste and brushes. Today’s wall papers are very simple to use. They’re lighter and adhere to the wall much more easily. Many wallpapers are peel and stick. And what goes on the wall also comes off the wall just as easily. No more scraping wall paper or steaming it to get it off the wall. Papering the wall takes much less time than painting.
Wallpaper Methodology
How we use wallpaper has also changed with time. Our grandmothers may have papered every wall in a the room. Some very old homes may even have wallpaper on the ceiling in an attempt to keep plaster from falling off. Today, wallpaper is perfect for a feature wall in a living room, one side of a hallway or accent wall in a bathroom. Some may still paper a ceiling to achieve a certain affect. By using wallpaper on just one wall, you can create depth or add new life and interest without completely overwhelming your room. There are no rules really for wallpaper. If you find a paper you love, cover the room. It’s your home and your style.
If part of your plan is to hide flaws in an existing wall with your wallpaper, choose a textured wall paper. A lighter paper may accentuate any bumps or holes under the paper. Even small nail holes will be noticeable under smooth paper.
You can do some nifty special effects with wallpaper. If you want the ceilings to appear higher, choose a paper with vertical stripes. Conversely, a room will look wider with horizontal stripes.
How much… and… how much
Wallpaper is generally available whereever paint is sold. Hardware stores, big box stores and paint dealers should stock wallpaper, or you can even buy exotic wall paper online from dealers anywhere in the world and have the rolls shipped to you.
You may be able to find clearance wallpapers for as little as $4 a roll, or specialty paper straight from the designer at $100 a roll or even more. The median price falls in the $20 to $30 a roll range.
To find out how many rolls you require, especially if you’re ordering online where no sales person is present to assist you, multiply the width of the wall or walls by the height. Take that number and divide by 50. A typical double roll should take care of 56 square feet of wall, but we suggest dividing by 50 to account for waste.
Should you DIY?
If you have never hung wall paper before or fearful of putting up expensive wall paper, call a professional. As easy as it may sound to apply, there is some matching you have to do. There should be no gaps in the seams, patterns should match up and have continuity and there could still be bubbles if you haven’t applied the paper square to the wall. Estimates are in the $2 per square foot of wall for a pro.