Home Wallpaper Design Ideas

Believe it or not, wallpaper in the home has been making a major comeback. Wallpaper was once a hot commodity - back in the 60s and 70s - but became less popular in the 80s and 90s. It wasn't until recently that homeowners and interior decorators started to recognize the value of wallpaper once again - and that is largely because it has come a long way over the past 50 years or so. In fact, it is nothing like the wallpaper you remember hanging on the walls in your grandma's house. Today's home wallpaper is chic, trendy, vibrant, and a great addition to any home.

Where to Use Home Wallpaper

Wallpaper can be used in any room of your home. In fact, in a well-designed home décor, you will use a variety of different wall treatments. This includes using a variety of different paints and wallpapers throughout the home. By varying the wall treatments, you can create more interest in your design while giving the space more personality.

Wallpaper is particularly useful when trying to create a masculine look, such as in a den. Plaid wallpaper or types with a paisley design, for example, creates a rich, masculine look and provides a level of depth and dimension that cannot be achieved with flat paint.

Using Wallpaper in Your Décor

Not only do today's wallpaper designs look amazing, wallpaper is also very easy to use. While the traditional glue-and-paste wallpaper is still an option, there are new designs that make it even easier to cover your walls with stylish designs. In fact, you can get wallpaper that simply peels on and off the wall as needed.

Light Colored Wallpaper
Many of the rules that apply to paint and how it affects the appearance of a room also apply to wallpaper. Light colors will make a room seem larger than it is while dark colors will make a room feel smaller. If you paint a room in light color and keep your furnishings light, the walls will actually appear to recede and the space opens up visually. The same applies to wallpaper. Choose light pastels or neutral colors to visually expand the size of a room.

Take Care with Patterns
When you are trying to increase the size of a room visually, using wallpaper devoid of pattern is usually the best way to go, because patterns can visually shrink a room. If your wallpaper has a very large pattern in it, you can overpower a space with the pattern and actually make the room feel much smaller than it is. If you are going to include pattern on your wallpaper, a good option is to use a medium to small pattern that has little color contrast; this will keep the visual space open. Either a tone on tone pattern or a pastel on cream background will work.

Where pattern works particularly well is when your room is out of proportion. For example, if you have a narrow room, you can add horizontal stripes to the wall to make it feel wider than it is or vertical stripes to make a room seem taller. If you do not need to change the shape of your walls and you are considering a pattern to simply add interest to the walls, you may want to use textured wallpaper.

Add a Little Shine
You can also make a room look larger by reflecting light around the room, and one really effective way to do this is with wallpaper that has a little shimmer in its finish. By coupling shimmer with texture, you can add interest to the walls while still visually expanding the size of the space.

Wallpapering a Single Wall
Another really lively way to use wallpaper in a smaller room is to use wallpaper on a single wall in the room and paint the remaining walls a pale, coordinating tone. Adding wallpaper to a single wall will make that wall a focal point in your room, so if you add it to the wall at the far end of the room, it will pull your eye through the space and make it seem longer.