You won’t meet a designer who advocates for wallpaper more than me. I ask almost every client to let me install some in their home. Often it’s a yes please right away, but then there are those clients whose trauma gets triggered. And I get where it comes from.
The seventies. I blame that entire decade for scaring and scarring a generation.
The designs at the time were extra, to say the least. But let me assure you: wallpaper has come such a long way since then. And I suggest it so much now because I’ve seen its transformative powers at work.
To get you experimenting with wallpaper at home, I’ve prepared this ultimate guide. It’s a set of room rules, wallpaper ideas, expert tips and inspiration – put together in partnership with the team at Olive et Oriel (our fave art brand that designs and manufactures their own amazing wallpapers right here in Australia).
All the wallpaper designs in this post are peel-and-stick too (which makes things easy), and I’ll include links to each one so you can get the design that speaks to you the most. Enjoy!
1. Wallpaper Adds Warmth in a Way Paint Can’t
So often, people don’t understand the power of wallpaper until it’s up on the wall. It adds warmth to the room; that final layer that completely resolves the space. It’s a result that paint just can’t replicate.
Paint can feel too saturated or glossy at times, and sometimes ends up quite different to the paint card once you get it on the wall. You don’t get any of that when you use designer wallpaper like these ones.
2. The Right Wallpaper Reveals Itself as You Get Closer
My favourite wallpaper trick is choosing a design that’s so subtle that from a distance it looks like paint. You walk into the room and feel that sense of resolve, but as you move closer to the wallpaper the design reveals itself. Oh, that’s not paint. I love that element of surprise. It makes you experience the room in a deeper way.
3. Use Peel and Stick Wallpaper to Ease into the Experience
Commitment-phobes, I hear you! What if I don’t like the design? That’s why I suggest easing into your wallpaper journey by using peel and stick wallpaper.
Peel-and-stick goes on easily, and peels off just as smoothly from a suitable, properly prepared wall. All the designs in this post are peel and stick, so if you like something, you can secure it and get applying.
4. If the Wallpaper is Calm, Wrap the Whole Room in It
How many walls should I wallpaper? My approach when designing a room is to first determine whether it’s a calm wallpaper (reads as paint from a distance) or something bolder and more visually elaborate.
If it’s calmer, the room can take a full wrap of wallpaper. Often just applying a calm design to one wall feels like the room isn’t finished or that you didn’t have the courage to take it further. And we definitely want you to feel like you took it further!
5. If the Wallpaper is Bolder, Consider a Feature Wall
A bold wallpaper, in a larger room like a living room or bedroom, can really shine when used on just one of the walls. Behind the bed is a great location for something dramatic because you get the impact when you enter the room, but you don’t see it when you’re laying in bed each night. The same goes for the wall behind your sofa.
How do I want the room to feel? Every good design starts with that question. Once you’ve worked that out you’ll know if you’re going for a bold or subtle wallpaper, and if you’re wrapping the entire room or applying to one wall only.
6. Wallpaper Your Guest Bedroom as a Starting Point
I tend to suggest the guest bedroom as the place to try an experimental design first. I say this because it’s not a room you’re in every day, so it can take something more daring. It’s often the case that you’ll apply a wallpaper to the guest bedroom, realise its star power, and then get over your fears and apply it in your main bedroom.
I mean, imagine the above room with just a white wall and no wallpaper? Criminal!
7. Try Covering Your Powder Room in Something Bold
Wallpapered powder rooms are the most exciting place. It’s like stepping into a different world.
Because they’re smaller, contained spaces, I always suggest clients go wild and cover the entire zone in a paper that’s going to evoke a reaction. Like a guest bedroom, you’re not spending hours at a time in this space, so it’s the best place to play with something loud.
8. Nurseries are a Fun Place to Experiment with Wallpaper
Parents, you’re in the fortunate position of getting to design an entire room for your little one in a style and look you love. The added bonus: the client doesn’t have a say! This means you can apply the most fun, whimsical, bold and bright wallpaper to create the nursery of your dreams.
The best part about peel and stick wallpaper is that in a few years when your child has grown and their tastes have developed, you can remove it and apply a new design without having to overhaul the entire room. I love that for you.
9. Wallpaper Your Kids Room with their Favourite Hobby
Kids rooms can be more literal; I give you permission to adopt this approach. If your child has a keen interest in a craft, sport, or hobby, lean into it with a wallpaper design that channels their fave pastime.
The design above is so tasteful, and it is the foundation for the entire look and feel of the space. It’s not cliched, but it very much reflects their love of surfing.
10. Lead The Eye Down a Hallway Using Wallpaper
You might not realise how wallpaper can encourage movement in a room, but it can very much take you on a visual and literal journey. When applied in an entry or hallway, especially if it wraps around a corner, it can create a sense of curiosity.
You not only get to enjoy the impact the wallpaper design brings to the zone, but you also get to have it direct traffic in your home. That’s some double duty design right there.
11. Wallpaper Your Stairwell to Draw You Upstairs
Similarly to a hallway, wallpapering the walls of your stairwell is a sublime way to make the journey up and down the stairs more interesting.
All too often thoroughfares are left white with nothing in them. When you wallpaper, you give people (including you) a reason to stop in these zones. You make them designed areas instead of forgotten passageways.
12. Laundry Wallpaper: Making The Forgotten Room a Design Destination
Imagine, that instead of the laundry being a place you have to do the washing, it becomes a space you actually enjoy being in; a room that has its own design and personality. Wallpaper can give you this. It can be the first element you introduce that informs the rest of your style decisions.
The wallpaper above is great in that respect; a little modern-country in feel, it’s elevated further by the shelving, baskets and plants. It also teams beautifully with the flooring. How charming!
13. Bold Wallpaper Shines in a Formal Dining or Living Room
You’ve just unlocked Wallpaper: Genius Level when you deck out your formal living or dining room in a bold paper design. This approach works well if you already have a day-to-day living or dining space, with a second room that sits independantly as a room you use for more formal occasions.
Covering the whole space in a dramatic wallpaper elevates the zone, evokes a distinct feeling, and marks it as a place you go to for occasions.
14. Wallpaper in Nooks Elevates Everything
Literally, any and all nooks at home look a thousand times better with wallpaper applied to the back wall. A workspace nook in a hallway: wallpaper it. A kitchen bar nook: wallpaper it. A built-in bench seat nook in the entry: wallpaper it.
I kid you not, the blank white wall in these nooks is killing the vibe. A considered wallpaper design will add so much personality to these zones and make them feel special.
15. Use Wallpaper to Fake a Finish like Panelling or Tile
Peel and stick wallpaper is so easy. Applying VJ panelling to your walls… not as much. By choosing a wallpaper that mimics a finish like panelling or tiles, you get the look for less and without the hassle.
And as we’re about to discover, if you choose a wallpaper design that mimics vertically panelling, you not only create a visual wow moment but you also get to make the room look taller. Scroll on for more!
16. Use Vertical Stripe Wallpaper to Make the Room Feel Taller
You heard it here first: small rooms handle wallpaper incredibly well. In fact, a small room can be made to feel larger when you use the right wallpaper design.
The ‘small rooms should be white’ theory is so outdated. Instead, choose a vertical wallpaper design like a stripe, that leads your eye up the wall to give the illusion that the ceiling is higher. Trust me, it works. The same goes for a horizontal pattern making the wall feel wider.
You can even design custom wallpaper through Olive et Oriel, making the vertical lines thinner or wider to create your desired effect. I love it.
17. Wallpaper is the Answer Behind a Uniquely-Shaped Headboard
I’ve used this approach in a recent project and it worked a treat. The headboard I sourced for the client had an elaborate, quirky shape like the one above, which is never going to look amazing when a square or rectangular artwork is hung above it (the shapes all get too visually busy).
The answer for me (and it’ll work for you), was to wallpaper the wall behind the bed so it felt resolved, the wallpaper became the art, and we didn’t need a framed piece at all. Give it a try!
18. Use the Wallpaper to Frame Windows (And Call out the View)
Wallpaper doesn’t have to detract from your view. Like dark window frames in a home, a wallpaper design can actually frame the view and draw your eye to it even more.
The wallpaper above is a great example of this concept at play. Not only does the design mirror the window panel profile, but it gives the room inside depth and interest, all while highlighting the beauty of the view outside.
19. Use Wallpaper to Elevate a Neutral Room Instead of Art
Calm rooms need careful editing, because you don’t want to be overwhelmed by too many elements. Sometimes, art on the wall is simply too much. The right wallpaper, though, can resolve the blank-wall feel without pushing the room over the edge into visually-busy territory.
The design above strikes this balance perfectly. It almost becomes a supporting player in the room. The ceiling beams and timber table get to be the rustic heroes in the space, with the wallpaper helping those two elements feel more at home in the setting.
Wallpaper is such a good unifer in that respect.
20. A Mirror Over Wallpaper (Instead of Art) Can Work Wonders
Should you hang art or a mirror over wallpaper? Here’s my rule: Very bold wallpaper designs benefit from a mirror to break up the potential busyness of the design. Calmer papers can take a framed artwork over the top to create a focal point in the room.
Put simply: bold wallpaper can’t really take bold artwork. A calm wallpaper can take bold art and/or a mirror. Every room needs one focal point. Busy wallpaper and busy art creates too much visual chaos.
21. Use Wallpaper to Set Intention for Your Room
Wallpaper can actually dictate how you’re meant to feel in a space or how you should use it. A room with a calm, nature-inspired design (like the one above) suggests the room is a place to unwind and relax. A formal living room decked out in a bright wallpaper with geometric shapes would suggest it’s a lively space to have fun and party.
Consider this when choosing your wallpaper. It really can be a way to change your mood when you enter a space. A full wrap of calm wallpaper in your bedroom would be a great way to deem this zone your zen place to support a good night’s sleep.
22. Use Wallpaper to Resolve a High Window in a Bedroom
Another genius wallpaper remedy to the rescue! This solution is for those bedrooms (or other spaces at home) that have that high-set yet narrow window installed up top.
With a bed underneath, it can’t really take an artwork, nor can it take a decorative curtain. The solution is wallpaper. It resolves the wall, gives it some personality, and deems art completely unnecessary. Try it at your place; you will not regret it.
23. Take a Half-Height Approach to Break Up Your Wallpaper Design
The best way to turn down the volume on a wallpaper if you’re concerned is not to go for a safer design; it’s to install it at half-height with some panelling below. It gives you the bold moment up top, while allowing a little visual break below.
This creates a great sense of balance in the room. It says, I was gutsy but considered, rather than, I played it too safe and now I feel nothing. If you’re ever in doubt, always err on the side of being more adventurous.
24. Use Wallpaper to Cement the Design Style of Your Home
Wallpaper speaks so clearly. When you choose the right design, it can tell people in no uncertain terms what style your home evokes. For example, by choosing a gingham or tartan wallpaper you’re moving towards a more traditional style (it could be French Provincial or farmhouse). Whereas a playful polka dot evokes a more casual, contemporary feel.
If you’re building or designing a new home and want to define the style early, wallpaper is a great help. It sets the foundation for the overarching style and allows you to build on it with complementary furniture and decor.
25. Choose a ‘Family’ of Wallpaper Designs at Once
It’s a nice idea to wallpaper a few rooms in your home at once. For example, a full wrap with a calm wallpaper in your bedroom, one bolder design in your powder room, and something nature-inspired for your laundry.
While each design should feel unique to the space, you want there to be some relationship between them. If you laid them all out side-by-side they would work as a family. They’re not twins, by any means, more sisters or cousins. You want to feel a sense of cohesion at play; a connection between the designs through colour, pattern or style.
This is the best way to end up with rooms that feel harmonious.
Which is your favourite design from this showcase from Olive et Oriel? Drop me a comment below to share and let me know if you have any questions about how to choose the best peel and stick wallpaper for your rooms.
