When you think of wallpaper, you might get a mental picture of a busy floral print that looks a lot like antique upholstery fabric. Perhaps the smell of lavender and musty books comes to mind with a musical accompaniment counted in by Lawrence Welk. Ah-one-anna, two-anna. Well it’s time to associate a new image with wallpaper because it’s back in a big way.
As the owner of a couple of fixer-upper homes over the years, wallpaper was always something dated and stubborn that had to be painstakingly heated or wet and scraped away for hours. I only chose it once, for the foyer of an older home. The era-specific striped border and paper I picked was impossible for a first-timer to master, especially in a room that was so far out of square it was almost round. I hired an experienced installer who made child’s play of perfecting the wonky corners while I vowed to never even consider attempting it again. But the new generation of wallpapers is much friendlier to the DIY set and I’m considering a change of heart. Smart designers have made patterns easier to match up at the seams so there’s less frustration and a lot less waste.
Canadian décor retailer Bouclair Home has just launched a new line of chic wallpaper in many of its stores. The collection includes 16 striking prints featuring several colours and black-and-white combinations that range from geometric to pleasing floral. Unlike some of the flimsy, precious papers of old, this new assortment is pre-pasted, washable and peelable. Best of all, a double roll is $29.99. Sandra Bracken, Bouclair’s President of Marketing, says wallpaper is a natural fit for the stores already chock full of bedding, lamps, accessories and artwork.
“Wallpaper is very on trend right now. We felt the prints we have selected are a great compliment to the mix of products we currently have in store. Wallpaper has become a fashionable accessory for the home and an excellent way to add excitement to a room.”
In great-Grandma’s day, she’d paper all four walls but it’s more fashionable now to choose a feature wall for paper and leave the rest painted. The new bold, bright designs, such as the ones carried by Bouclair, work well as an accent for a pop of colour and pattern. If you were surrounded by some daring geometric shapes, for example, you might feel as if you were on a roller coaster. So unless you want to install seatbelts on your sofa, less is more.
Your choices in wallpaper aren’t just limited to looks. There are textures from seagrass to faux brick, and various materials to consider. Moisture-resistant selections are meant for high humidity areas such as bathrooms. Fabric papers are pricier and the opposite of scrubbable. Vinyl versions are difficult to remove but that’s generally the next owner’s concern. Paintable papers prevent buyers’ remorse; if you don’t like the colour, changing it is as easy as painting a wall. The same installer who did my foyer also papered my kitchen ceiling and painted it in a high gloss white for a tin-ceiling look at a fraction of the cost of real tin panels. No one ever imagined that it was wallpaper. The options are nearly endless.
It takes about 10 seconds to find simple how-to instructions online but even though the process is easier than ever, hanging wallpaper is still a lot like creating a detailed recipe. If you skip a step, it just won’t taste right. When the instructions tell you to create a plumb line, they don’t mean eyeball the room and take a good guess. If it all seems daunting, hiring a pro is your best route to a perfectly papered wall.