Wallpaper is a component of interior design that is often looked past, or seen as outdated. However, you can creatively use wallpaper as a tool to bring life and colour into a room.
Using it unexpectedly can bring intricate designs, colours and shapes into your home space without too much effort. Interior designers often use it as a way of an accent, or to showcase unique parts of your home that can have a big impact on your interior.
Wallpaper The Ceiling
This is one method that may take a little bit of hard work, and the use of a few ladders. However, if you’re willing to have a bit of a crick in your neck – it’s well worth the effort.
Wallpaper is called so as it is mostly used on walls, but using it on ceilings can have an incredible impact.
Using this method helps with smaller rooms, as it draws the eyes up and elongates a space. If you want more tips on how to make a room bigger, read our guide here.
Bringing in accent shades with accessories such as chairs, cushions or tablecloths helps to punctuate the statement throughout the room.
Line Your Shelves
If you’re not quite sold on the idea of decorating the ceiling à la Michelangelo, creatively use wallpaper to add interest through furniture instead.
A popular way to use wallpaper is to line shelves. You can do this by wallpapering the back of each shelf segment, to bring in colour, print and texture.
This works wonderfully in more minimal homes, to add a pop of statement in a corner of a room.
Again, this works well in smaller spaces where you don’t want to overwhelm with colour to cramp a space, but still want some interest in a room.
We love the Orla Kiely multi stem wallpaper for this concept, with the bright pop art style – it really adds some colour.
Wallpaper Lampshades
To build even further on wallpapering your home accessories, use wallpaper for your lampshades.
This is a great way to creatively use wallpaper. Use bits leftover from your walls, or even your shelves.
If you don’t want to go too crazy with a wallpaper that has a heavy print, then line the inside of a lampshade. This gives a hint of the design without being too over the top.
This method also brings cohesion to your interior space. It can help to tie together larger and more open plan rooms.
Wallpaper Alcoves & Arches
If you have areas of your home that are shaped unusually, such as alcoves or arches, it might be that you’re stuck on what to do with them.
If you aren’t able to fit furniture into these spaces, decorate them with wallpaper. Using bold prints and designs allow you to sing about the unique aspects of your home. Make them a feature rather than something you try to fill or work around.
You’ll quickly fall in love with the unconventional spaces in your home. Rather than instead, feeling at your wits end with them.
Wallpaper Your Stairs
With this method, you should only ever wallpaper the front of your stairs. Wallpaper won’t work to cover the whole of your stairs, as the heavy footfall will only rip and tear at it.
However, using it across the front of your stairs can create a simple but effective design feature for your home. We particularly love these with sweeping staircases that you can see from the doorway, it creates an instant impact from the moment you step inside.
Like the above example, you can creatively use wallpaper as an accent for a hallway, to use a print as a theme rather than simply a colour.
Wallpaper As Wall Art
Wallpaper by itself can be seen as wall art. When you use designer prints and styles, it can be a way to create a piece of art in your home.
If you want something slightly less permanent or time consuming, you can have a similar effect by using wallpaper in frames.
Again, this is a good method when you have leftover wallpaper from previous project. It can help to build accents across your home.
We love the effect of using wallpaper as art within a collage, like above. But, you could use a more dramatic piece by covering one large hanging canvas hung on the wall.
Thoughts?
Wallpaper is often labelled as such, and seen to only be good for one thing. However, we hope we’ve changed your mind.
Let us know if you’re thinking of bringing wallpaper into your home interior in an unexpected way!
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