Bold and indulgent, or soft and dreamy – the only rule for wallpaper is that you must adore it
Choosing wallpaper in 2023 is less about chasing trends and more about falling in love.
Interior design is like fashion in that sense, say Jo Gray and Relda Frogley of Auckland mural wallpaper company Back to the Wall. “Think of that beautiful shirt you bought 20 years ago that’s still in your wardrobe and you still love it,” Jo says. “Now, more than ever, we are all wanting to create home interiors that say with confidence, this my personality, this is what I love.”
Twenty years ago, few of us were putting up wallpaper in our homes. But the unpopularity of wallpaper around that time was also its liberation. No longer straitjacketed by the need to serve a primarily practical purpose – cover the walls of an entire home, paper over the cracks or add insulation – it was freed to be reinvented into a bolder, individualised form. An art form, even.
When wallpaper returned to vogue a decade or more ago, it was not as the serviceable wall covering of previous decades, but as a fashion statement. The painted feature wall gave way to the wallpapered feature wall, minimalism moving aside to allow room for selective maximalism.
And thus wallpaper – which has lived through many reinventions, from the painted rice paper of ancient China, to the Renaissance craze for hand-painted imitation velvet and marble, to the screenprinting boom of the 1950s – was once again reborn.
Even high-end fashion brands have embraced wallpaper. The likes of Gucci, Christian Lacroix and Versace are papering the homes of the rich and famous, supermodel Kate Moss transformed a guest room in her historic home in London into a verdant bamboo jungle, and movies and TV shows such as Bridgerton, The Queen’s Gambit and the most recent Emma have used wallpaper to set vivid, dramatic scenes.
“Wallpaper sets an ambience and can be stunningly beautiful,” says Resene colour consultant Brenda Ngatai. “Generally, people aren’t doing their entire homes anymore but creating more a statement wall or two, or doing one room, such as a powder room. So you can go as bold as you like. Wallpaper can cosy up a room or give a room more personality.”
Rebekah Joy of Nelson interiors company The Inside says wallpaper is the icing on the cake. “Paint can’t transform a room or evoke a feeling, mood or style like wallpaper can.”
Thousands of stunning designs are available, from neutral textures to jaw-dropping murals. The only thing that they have in common is that they are not boring. So how do you choose what’s right for you and your home?
Expert tips
Feature walls
Wallpaper feature walls are the murals of 21st-century interior design, and a chance to make a dramatic statement, if that’s your thing. Full walls uninterrupted by windows are ideal. For best effect, choose a wall that’s smack in the middle of your eyeline when you walk into your living room and, if possible, also in full view of your favourite seating spot. Go as bold and transformational as you dare. “We look at our designs at Back to the Wall as large-scale artworks for your home,” says Jo. “There is nothing like a mural to bring that drama or mood to a room.”
Where else?
Other popular spots for wallpaper are powder rooms, for that luxury boudoir feel, and behind a headboard in a bedroom (choose bed linen to complement your feature wall, to draw the scene further into the room). Brenda is a fan of the entranceway feature wall, to set a mood from the second you and your visitors walk in the door, and give a sense of leaving the outside world and entering a sanctuary.
Painted panelling that comes midway up a wall is ideal because you can wallpaper the top half, thereby drawing an intricate pattern further into the home without it being overwhelming, while leftover wallpaper odds and ends can look gorgeous as hidden delights in cupboards, wardrobes and the pantry.
Thinking patterns
Brenda has noticed a big demand for nostalgic retro patterns, though with a contemporary edge. Think geometric shapes such as half circles or foliage such as bamboo, but in modern colourways. It’s not all about the past, though. The lush, escapist jungle-like papers that Kiwis have embraced in recent years are still popular, while the industrial patterns that were in vogue before that, such as brickwork, are still high on people’s wishlists but the colours are trending towards softer, modern tones.
A key consideration is the scale of the pattern. The general rule is that the smaller the room, the smaller the pattern should be, while with larger spaces you can get away with a larger pattern.
When it comes to selecting a wallpaper with a repeating pattern, Jo recommends that you consider the effect across a full wall. “The brain is very clever at picking up a pattern repeat and this can sometimes be disappointing once installed.”
Living colour
Though retro is returning, the colours are softer, says Brenda. Think soft, powdery blues, burnt rustic orange and soft, warm yellows. “It’s a ’70s look but not as intense and way lighter, which is a similar trend to what we’re seeing in furniture.” The industrial-look wallpapers are tending more towards soft, modern tones, such as neutral greys. As with paint, Brenda cautions that dark wallpapers can dominate a small space and feel uncomfortable.
Textural healing
It’s not all about splashy, mural-like prints, says Brenda. Neutral textured wallpaper can set a mood of soft, calming warmth, and can feel like less of a risk than patterns. Popular textures included the fine-linen look, a hessian weave and plaster effects. “Textures give their own sense of personality. They look gorgeous and can really set an atmosphere. They can sit quietly in the background and really warm up and soften an interior.”
Rebekah has noticed more and more texture coming in, with an emphasis on handmade natural weaves that, like nature, are imperfect and unique. Her company currently has more than 6000 grasscloths or other natural fibre wallcovers on its books – so many that they can’t all fit on the website. She’s also a fan of paintable textured wallpapers, such as the art deco-style Deco Paradiso Anaglypta, which can be painted (and repainted) in any colour you wish.
In context
Even a feature wall that’s designed to make a splash still needs to be a cohesive part of its environment. You’ll want to take everything in the room into account, not just what’s on the other walls, but also your furniture, furnishings, cabinetry, floors and art, and even the views from your windows. A busy feature wall can be tricky to fold seamlessly into an existing interiors theme. The best-case scenario is to renovate everything at the same time, but if you’re doing things bit-by-bit, it’s a good idea to at least combine wallpapering with a wall repaint, so you can colour match, and also draw the theme and colours into accessories such as cushions and throws.
“Wallpaper has to connect comfortably with everything else that is going to be in the interior, so that it makes sense,” says Brenda.
Rebekah recommends using a moodboard to check which wallpaper works with your upholstery fabrics, furniture, etc. “There are a million ways to incorporate wallpaper or any design product into your home. But the best way is to choose something you love and work around it.”
Words by: Bronwyn Sell
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