The use of wallpaper seems to go in and out of fashion but as with all fashions things are cyclical. What was fashionable 20 years ago will probably be fashionable again soon as each era seems to get a revival with each new generation wanting to put their own stamp on it, define their identity and be different. For thousands of years people have been stamping their identity and uniqueness with their choice of clothing, footwear and jewellery. People have always made statements with wallpaper and Do-It-Yourself programs and home makeover shows will always spark new interests and showcase NEW products. New products will often be old ones revamped or revisited. Rooms used to be covered from floor to ceiling with big, bold prints, flocked or woodchip wall paper. We all have memories of our parents struggling with the buckets of wallpaper paste, trestle tables and rolls and rolls of wallpaper. Not to mention matching up the patterns, putting it up the right direction so the joins aren’t too visible when you walk through the door into the room. Cutting, pasting, trimming and then rushing off to the store to buy another roll because you underestimated and hoping that the store hasn’t sold out of ‘pink flock no 222’!
So, perhaps the trend is not to cover an entire room in some outrageous print. The alternative of painting a room Magnolia because you might want to sell your house in years to come and every ‘Help me sell my home show’ will always say, “Neutral, neutral, neutral!” doesn’t appeal either? This is where the feature wall came into its own. Just choose one wall to accent with a bold wallpaper print or design and leave the others plain. A common activity when renovating an old home was to save bits of the ugly wallpaper revealed when knocking down a wall to create space and open plan living, frame it, hang it on the wall and call it art!
Wallpaper has moved on and wall paper murals are gaining in popularity for many reasons:
1. Many are removable so great for rental properties or if you want to take them with you
2. Reasonably priced
3. Easy to put up (often pre-pasted and just requiring the application of water)
4. They are designed in easy to put up sections (not huge rolls)
5. Do not require any cutting (unless the one you have bought is too large for your chosen wall)
6. Can be custom made from your own digital artwork (how’s that for uniqueness?)
7. Come in many different designs e.g. dinosaurs, under-the-sea, world maps, fairies and so many more!