A small feature today on Wallpaper and its applications. Now, I'm a big fan of wallpaper: nothing has a bigger impact on a room than pattern and colour on the vertical surfaces. But it's not always a cut and dry affair when considering how or where to apply it.
Over the decades, wallpaper has fallen in and out of vogue, and its currently experiencing another popularity boost, owed extensively to the hospitality industry and their use of signature wallpapers in 4 and 5* hotels. Designer wallpaper has become synonymous with luxury. Not a day goes by without another celebrity designer hopping on the bandwagon and putting their name to a new range of wallpapers for your local DIY store. But sometimes, it's not what paper you use, but how you use it which makes the real impact. I would say there are maybe 5 different ways of applying wallpaper which can dramatically change your interior.
As you can see in the sketches, the same design has been applied in completely different ways into the same room to generate a different aesthetic. Three of the applications are fairly well used: the "Feature Wall" application, "Full Room" application and the "Low level" application are well recognised methods.
The other two are perhaps a bit more adventurous but do have some valid pros. With high quality designer wallpaper, these applications are often the more practical approach. When a roll of paper costs in excess of £100, a "less is more" approach is a little easier on the purse strings, particularly when you consider that the average roll will only cover around 4 drops – that's an average wall run of 2m. To create a designer style on a budget, using a single strip all around the room or the up and over effect can be a much better solution.
The above image shows this beautiful Jocelyn Warner wallpaper applied in the "up and over" method. It works particularly well with the floral motif which then extends across the ceiling.
