Where to Add Wallpaper in Your Home: Creative Ideas for Every Space

Wallpaper is making a comeback, offering homeowners a new sense of creativity in their home design. This resurgence does not mimic the wallpaper styles we saw in generations past, however. Modern wallpaper features are applied selectively to add personality, texture, and sophisticated color into homes throughout Montgomery and Bucks Counties.

Whether you want to make a dramatic statement or are just looking for some subtle enhancements to your interior design, wallpaper may be the perfect element to transform your living space. Modern applications are highly versatile, allowing you to fully customize their placement to work with the function and purpose of their location.

Use Wallpaper to Create Dramatic Focal Points with Statement Walls

For a bold impact, use wallpaper over a full accent wall in your home. Accent walls naturally draw attention, and wallpaper enhances the statement beyond what a solid paint color can accomplish. For homeowners who enjoy a bit of visual drama, but know that full coverage would overwhelm the senses, accent walls with wallpaper offer the perfect balance. 

In the living room, the accent wall is well placed behind a sofa or surrounding the mantle and built-in shelves. Your choice of location will impact furniture placement, so it is important to think about the overall room design and whether or not you’ll be able to change it around in the future.

In a formal dining room, accent the wall behind your buffet server or fine china cabinet. If you have an open concept kitchen and dining room, the wall that parallels the long edge of your table will help to draw people into the dining space and create breathing room in the kitchen. 

In the bedroom, an accent wall is perfect behind the headboard, especially if that’s the wall that can be glimpsed from the hallway. This placement creates great style in the room without being a visual distraction when you’re trying to rest.

Using your ceiling as the accent wall has a dramatic effect. This draws the eyes upward and generates a unique, eclectic aesthetic. A wallpapered ceiling with solid complementary wall colors offers contrast that defines the room. Add charm to the kitchen, whimsy to the powder room, wonder to the playroom, or elegance to the bedroom.

When selecting wallpaper for accent walls, consider the room’s function, lighting conditions, ceiling height, trim and furniture coverage, and existing color palette. Bold patterns and darker colors work well in rooms that have excellent natural light, while subtle textures and muted tones may be better for smaller spaces or areas that are meant to be calm and relaxing.

Memorable First Impressions in the Entryway and Halls

Transitional spaces like entryways and hallways are often overlooked when it comes to design. These functional areas are meant to move people from one room to the next, so they are usually very neutral. Why not give them a chance to introduce visitors to your home’s aesthetic?

Since halls and entryways are typically low on furniture and architectural elements, wallpaper can become a significant design feature. A creative selection will draw anyone right through the space and further into your home. Because of the smaller coverage area, this is also a great opportunity to experiment with textures and patterns that might be too intimidating in a larger application.

Durable wallpaper is especially important for these high traffic areas. Hands touch the walls in entryways and halls more than in most other rooms, so make sure your product is washable and not easily stained. Also consider flow in your design choice, especially with hallways. The walls at both endpoints of the connecting space should be an easy visual transition.

Add Unexpected Touches of Character

Some of the most interesting wallpaper applications are in unexpected places where a dose of color and texture stands out. These small scale creative touches add character and charm to personalize your home. Smaller applications are also easier to change if you want a feature that can be updated every so often.

Built-in cabinets and shelving units are a great place to add a pop of pattern and texture. These accents create depth and visual intrigue that draw attention to the items being displayed. Small accents, especially using removable wallpaper, are perfect for shelves, the back wall of bookcases, drawers, and glass-front cabinets. 

Stair rises are another opportunity for the creative placement of wallpaper. Coordinate multiple styles or build a cohesive flow in this overlooked space. Always keep safety in mind when dealing with stairs. Test the visual effects carefully to make sure there are no optical illusions that will lead to injury on the stairs.

Other small nooks and corners can be set apart by distinctive wallpaper. Your reading alcove, window seat, backside of your kitchen island or peninsula, or the thin wall that separates two doorways can all highlight a bit of style with wallpaper. These placements can create a space within a space, or they might provide for a smooth transition from one solid color wall to the next.

Professional Considerations for Wallpaper Success

While wallpaper can be an amazing creative asset to your home, getting your desired effect requires careful installation. If you’re embarking on a DIY project, give yourself plenty of time to plan and prepare. In particular, make sure your surface is properly cleaned, primed, and smoothed so that your finished product will be perfectly flat. Also, spend extra time ensuring that your pattern and seam alignment are correct before finalizing the placement. Remember, you want people to look at the wallpaper, not the flaws in your application!

In high-moisture rooms, be sure to use products that are suitable for humidity. If your wallpaper is somewhere that people can touch it, be assured that they will. That means working with a washable product that doesn’t show stains very easily. Consider the quality of your materials and how long they can be expected to last. You don’t want to be frustrated at the sight of peeling seams and corners in just a few months.

Professional installation is usually a worthwhile investment to achieve the appearance you want. From interior design guidance to meticulous application and material quality, a professional team can create the wallpaper look you want with a long-lasting finish you can trust. 

Lauro Painting works with homeowners throughout Montgomery and Bucks Counties to transform their interior spaces. We incorporate wallpaper accents into many of our residential interior painting projects. Our team enjoys working through the creative process with our clients to help them craft the visual style they envisioned. If you have been imagining your walls with interesting texture, shape, and pattern elements, contact us. We will come out to discuss your ideas and provide a complete estimate for your updated interior living spaces. Lauro Painting is a residential interior painting contractor located in Oreland, PA. We are proud to serve our neighbors with integrity and fine craftsmanship for interior residential and kitchen cabinet painting services in Doylestown, Ambler, Chestnut Hill, Glenside, Warrington, and the surrounding areas in Montgomery and Bucks Counties.