Inspiring Wallpaper Designs capture the beauty and wonder of spaces elevated by pattern, color, and personal interest. We don’t know the names and makers of every inspiring wallpaper pattern below, but you’ll still get a sense of how they can be layered and mixed. The texture and beauty of wallpaper continues to have a moment, and while it is an investment (and more costly than paint), the results can be transformative, energetic, and dynamic.
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Inspiring Wallpaper Designs for Interiors
Wallpaper as an Accent Wall
We explored pretty wares designed by Julia Berolzheimer with Pottery Barn including this classic, vintage-inspired Pattern:
I love how this Poppy Crossover wallpaper was used as an accent in the bedroom below because it is proof that even one wall can be enough.
Wallpaper Can Calm an Interior
While it may not be your first instinct to add the texture of paper to a space that needs to calm down, it truly can be an effective move.
Of course there is a subjective element when selecting a wallpaper pattern. The blue trees below may be too busy for a bedroom for you, but there’s something very cocoon-like about it for me. There are colors and motifs that some of us want to wrap up in, yet those same elements may repel someone else.
That’s what is exceedingly delightful about humans and art and colors and the spice of life. No wonder wallpaper is one of those design elements that feels utterly personal and can richly tell a story.
It may surprise you to learn that adding wallpaper to our entry at the Georgian was not a tricky decision at all despite the commitment. (You’ll recall that in our entry, there were no walls, we built them ourselves to create a more intimate, atmospheric foyer.) And I didn’t ever second-guess the decision.
As soon as the walls went up, it was clear we needed something organic, classic, and timeless.
Which Wallpaper Pattern is for You?
Floral patterns are common, and there is such a broad variety of the theme. The scale can be large:
Some floral patterns can even feel geometric or abstract.
Certain floral wallpapers have a more vintage or historic feel.
And the colorways are endless!
Have you noticed how many folks are adding personality-laden paper to their bathrooms and powder rooms lately? I recall the 1980s being an era where the trend was also huge.
I papered every room of our first condo back then! It gets me thinking about societal patterns corresponding to such decorating trends. Are there certain eras we become hungrier for nature themes or historical patterns?
Wallpaper designs, natural fiber-made papers, and nature-themed prints have been around for ages since bringing the outside in feels life-giving and nurturant. Yet I think it is interesting to consider the junction certain design trends surge.
Our relationship to technology and the virtual world has changed dramatically in the last two decades, and it’s fascinating to notice how it influences design preferences.
Traditional and Modern Wallpaper Motifs
While the choice of a specific paint color is the most common way to create a backdrop for a room’s decor and express personal style, choosing patterns expresses far more individuality and personal style.
Think of the personality traits that spring to mind when you spot a whimsical wallpaper pattern that brings a smile. Is that decorator light-hearted, quirky, or a bit eccentric?
Do they have an engaging sense of humor or a playfulness in their spirit?
How do a person’s values get expressed in the design’s subject matter?
It may not be fascinating to the average bear, but the analysis is intriguing to this one. Interior designers must synthesize all sorts of personal info from clients to choose patterns.
For example, maybe you have intense opinions about the color yellow.
Or maybe a client is open to covering the walls with lavender not because purple is their favorite color but because their mother adored it.
We all have these mysterious proclivities that may surface when choosing art.
Wallpaper Can Intensify Memories
The thing about understated, flat, one dimensional neutral walls is they can be forgettable.
But oh the power of bold pattern and saturated full bodied colors!
I personally have lived in many, many different homes over the years so I have collected experience with wallpapers personally. My folks worked in a profession where we moved every couple of years, and my parents decorated our homes colorfully and beautifully to distinguish them and express their idea of “home.”
Some of the wallpapers they chose for our homes were not my style, but I must say that they were all memorable!
I’m not sure we pay this aspect of decorating and home design enough respect or study.
Colors and patterns become entangled with the memories we form, and they may keep working their magic on us years away from them.
How to Choose Patterns that Suit You AND Your Home
Is it okay to use country French toile wallpaper patterns in a city apartment?
Just imagine opening up this wardrobe every single day and being greeted with this beautiful interior:
Or imagine covering the walls of a powder bath with colors or flowers you adore but don’t want to tire of.
Ever Sampled Wallpaper?
Don’t forget that just like sampling paint colors, it pays to sample wallpaper too.
Peace to you right where you are.
-michele
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