How to Choose the Right Wallpaper for Your Home

Wallpaper can quickly transform any room into whatever you want – from paradise dream and elegant chick to animal farm and jungle madness. To achieve the desired result, you just need to choose the right wallpaper for the occasion. Keep reading to learn tips and tricks on how to do that!

Practical Considerations

Wallpaper can really heavily contribute to the overall look of the room and not just design-wise. Good design, as well as good make-up and outfit, emphasizes the best features and masks minor imperfections, and wallpaper can be used to do that for the room. Other practical considerations include the use and the conditions of the room, as well as what is realistically doable in your situation.

1. Hide wall imperfections

Wallpaper is perfect to hide minor wall imperfections like little bumps, dimples, scratches, etc. All you need to do is to choose the right print or pattern for the wallpaper.

Avoid these wallpaper patterns if you want to hide wall imperfections

If you have some imperfections on the walls, stay away from solid color wallpapers, especially ones in light colors (white, beige, light pink, etc). Since they are in one color and without any texture, they will emphasize the imperfections even more.

When talking about prints, you also want to avoid wide-striped, wide-checked wallpaper and other wallpapers with a large-scale print. The reasons are the same – if a big enough area of the wall is in one color, it will not hide the imperfections but make them even more visible. Wallpapers that won’t hide wall imperfections:

● solid color wallpapers.

● Geometrical shapes, for example, lines, squares, etc.

● Large-scale print wallpapers.

Choose these wallpaper patterns to hide minor wall imperfections

Now that you know what kind of wallpaper patterns to avoid if your walls have some imperfections, we can get into what kind of wallpaper prints will hide those imperfections and make your room look put together and taken care of.

To hide minor defects choose wallpaper with detailed, small print. It doesn’t have to be extremely colorful, there can be just two colors, but it needs to have really small details, so it can make a good optical illusion. Great examples of this kind of wallpaper are Chips of Quarz, Dark Gems, and Night Bloom.

Colorful wallpaper is another wallpaper type that will hide your wall imperfection perfectly. Look for bright colors, good contrasts, and fun prints. Here are a few wallpapers to get you started: Decorative Floral, Abstract Ditsy, and Lost in Lemons.

And last but not least, any wallpaper with a busy print will be great to mask any defects. Check out these: Tropical birds, Crane and Flowers, Daylight tale, and Gentle Magnolia. Wallpapers that will hide wall imperfections:

● Detailed, small patterned wallpaper.

● Colorful wallpaper.

● Busy prints on wallpaper.

2. Make a room appear bigger

If you live in a smaller space, no worries! There are wallpaper patterns and prints that will help you enlarge your room in no time. Paired with other interior design elements that widen a room, you can definitely achieve some noticeable results.

To visually raise the ceiling of a room choose vertical wallpaper patterns. It can be just straight, vertical lines, as well as a pattern that has a vertical feeling. Here are a few great examples of wallpaper that would make your room appear taller: Vertical Ribbons, Modern Conifer, Abstract Waves, Cute Petals, and Drawn Verticals.

If the room is quite small and you want it to feel wider, it is wise to choose light colors for the walls. You can either paint or use wallpaper. Light colors will reflect more light thereby making a room feel bigger. Check out these light wallpapers: Ethereal Blooms, Golden Shapes, and Line Elegance. 

3. Make a room appear brighter

Low natural lighting is a problem that a lot of apartment and house owners face, especially in the city. Small windows, shadow side, and nearby buildings blocking the sunlight are all common issues when living in the city. Even if your home is not blessed with tons of natural light, it doesn’t mean you cannot make it feel homey and bright.

To not take away even more light, try to avoid dark colors on the walls as well as everywhere else (for example, furniture). So, the main tip on how to brighten a dark room with wallpaper alone is to choose light colors and prints, and if possible and your room’s style allows it – wallpaper with some metallic finish. The light-colored walls will not only make the room look brighter but will also make it feel bigger. It’s a win-win!

Here are some light-colored wallpapers you might enjoy: Old Sport, Seashells in Bloom, Flush Blush, and Paper Ikat.

4. Quick makeover in a rental

Peel and stick wallpaper is perfect to give your rental space a fresh look quick and easy. The only requirement is that the walls of the rental have to be bare, without wallpaper, just painted. It is not advised to add peel and stick wallpaper on wallpaper – it can have issues holding on or it can damage the underlying layer of wallpaper. With bare walls underneath the peel and stick wallpaper, you don’t run into issues like that.

Wallpaper is great for giving a makeover to a rental space because it covers a quite big area which makes the changes look grand. It is also perfect to hide the signs of usage from previous owners – scratches on the wall, dirt from the furniture, etc. And, of course, the best part is – it is easy to apply and easy to remove.

5. The use of room

When you are choosing wallpaper for a room, take into consideration what it will be used for. For example, if it is a kids' room – think about the prints. Maybe you want to choose a pattern that will grow with the child, rather than changing the look of the room every other year? However, it is also fine to want the style of the room to change, just choose stick and peel wallpaper, for easy makeovers!

Light wallpaper is a great choice to brighten and widen a room (as we have learned!), but it is also a hue that will get dirty more visibly than dark-toned wallpaper. For example, a light-colored wallpaper might brighten a dark entryway, but you have to be ready to clean it often as it is a place where we often reach for the wall to help us with stability while we are putting on shoes.

Style Considerations

Once you have decided on your wallpaper needs from a practical standpoint, it is time to think about the style and design of the room.

Whole room or accent wall

How do you want to display your wallpaper? Do you wanna wallpaper the whole room or have just an accent wall? It is also an option to mix two corresponding wallpapers in one room to achieve a fun and interesting look. Just make sure the prints and colors go very well together and don’t clash.

An accent wall is a great way how to display a bright, busy print. If it feels like a specific pattern will be too much for the whole room, make it the accent! If you are still feeling cautious, use stick and peel wallpaper for your accent wall. That way, when you are done with it, you can easily remove it.

Simple, minimalist wallpapers will look perfect when placed on all four walls of the room. It will be kind of like the room is painted, but with a slight edge – a pattern gives an interest to a room and makes it look purposely designed.

Wallpaper print according to the rest of the design of the room

In what style is your room designed? Art-Deco vibes, mid-century modern, Scandinavian, minimalistic, rustic, etc? You can easily highlight your chosen style with a corresponding wallpaper.

Art-Deco style room will benefit from fan prints and diamond shapes, spiral designs, and scale prints in luxurious colors – gold, black, and sand. Check out these art-deco wallpapers: Orchard House, Gatsby’s Party, and Sun Cottage! Maybe one of them can supplement your art-deco-styled room?

Scandinavian and minimalistic room interior design will look great with minimalistic wallpaper in white, black and white, or gray. As an example see these wallpapers: White Brick and Poly Lines.

Colors already in the room

Take a look around. What colors are dominant in your furniture and decor elements? If you are having a renovation but you are not changing the furniture, make sure the new wallpaper sits well with the elements already in the room.

For example, if you have a red couch, maybe don’t choose red wallpaper, but go for something more subtle. Another option is to choose wallpaper with red elements to bring it all together.

If your furniture is dark (black, dark brown), consider what you want to achieve – either a very moody, gothic vibe, in that case, go for dark wallpaper, but if that is not your style, choose lighter tones and patterns to balance the dark tones.

Also, notice if the furniture colors are more in the warm or cool tone spectrum. Choose wallpaper accordingly – warm-toned furniture should go very well with warmed-toned wallpaper and the other way around.

Definitely take a look at your curtains, since they will be in close contact with the wall. If the curtains already have a pattern, make sure it looks good with the wallpaper. Notice, also the color and undertone, and choose a wallpaper that goes well with the curtains.

Traditional or stick and peel wallpaper

Once you have chosen your print, style, and color of the wallpaper, you need to figure out what kind of wallpaper to get – traditional or stick and peel?

Traditional wallpaper will be paper-based. The application process will be a bit more complicated and messy, but the wallpaper will stick to the wall very well and stay there for a long time. Once on the wall, it won’t peel off and will fit the wall as a glove.

Stick and peel wallpaper application will be a bit faster and requires fewer steps. Stick and peel wallpaper is perfect for rental spaces as it is possible to remove it without damaging the walls. If that is your case, definitely go for stick and peel. Stick and peel wallpaper we offer will have a more fabric feel.

Conclusion

Wallpaper can be a perfect addition to any room and any design. It will look great in the living room and bedroom as well as in the kitchen and bathroom. When choosing wallpaper, consider what colors, what prints and which wallpaper style (traditional or stick and peel) will be the best for your room to make the most of your wallpaper choice. Have fun designing!