Photo by Muffy Aldrich
Muffy Aldrich's SALT WATER NEW ENGLAND

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Reader Question: Wallpaper?

 A Reader Question:

Dear Muffy,

I have recently been drawn to wallpaper, maybe because I have been seeing so much of it on social media lately.  It seemed to go out of style and now am wondering if it is making a comeback. 

We are having some work done on our house, so I have been thinking of adding some wallpaper once the carpenters are done.  What is your or SWNE readers opinions on favorite wallpaper companies and patterns?  We do have two children under 10.  Do you have any tips or suggestions for putting it up?  I am not sure if this is a task I could handle or, is it advisable to bring in the professionals?

Thank you 

 

33 comments:

  1. I have stripped wallpaper, and I have patched, sanded, primed and painted rooms in our house. I leave hanging wallpaper to professionals so it doesn't look sloppy near windows and trim.

    With young children, make sure it's wallpaper that is easy to clean & can take a beating.

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  2. Schumacher. I just used the Cloud Toile in Quartz. Use a professional hanger.

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  3. You won't find anything more SWNE than Sister Parish. And, as Andrew said, leave the installation to the professionals.

    https://sisterparishdesign.com/pages/aboutsisterparish

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  4. "nd business men in button downs
    Press into conference rooms
    Battalions of paper minded males
    Talking commodities and sales
    While at home their paper wives
    And paper kids
    Paper the walls to keep their gut reactions hid

    --"Harry's House" by Joni Mitchell

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    1. I went to YouTube to look up that song, then spent the next half hour listening to other tunes on that album. I had never heard of the album. Pretty fantastic.

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    2. Yup. Just about all of her stuff is pretty fantastic.

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  5. I won't use wallpaper but should you choose to, heed the advice above and hire professionals. My home had dated/trendy wallpaper in two rooms that had to be removed ( reduced the price of the home though :D ) and after attempting to remove it myself, I decided that I would never wallpaper anything.

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    1. In an earlier time, I was an interior designer. And, once that bug bites, it never really quits. To my mind's decor eye there is nothing more beautiful than a wallpaper design (with coordinating fabric) by the houses of Brunschwig & Fils, Scalamandre and very few choice others. I realize that this posh look does not resonate with most these days. At the same time, in the right house and with choice pieces of fine furniture, nothing is more stunning or classic in an interior. As a child, my nan had a treehouse built me for me. Needless to say, she climbed right up that ladder, and together we thumbtacked wallpaper to its walls ... Collars up !!!!

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    2. You are so right. Nothing sets off a room like the right wallpaper. Let’s all go back to Zuber. Even now there are fresh takes on classic designs and patterns. Anyone for marbled wallpaper? It’s perfect for library accents and powder rooms.

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  6. Almost all the walls in our house are wallpaper, even the showers. Use vinyl wallpaper for them papered over waterproof sheet-rock. It's cleanable and good for children's grubby hands. Definitely hire (if you can find an experienced person) to hang it , especially if it's patterned with flowers or designs which must line up around corners, along baseboard and ceilings, etc. The wallpaper has lasted for decades. Our walls are going on twenty plus years without needing painting. I just noticed a sample square in a bathroom where the wallpaper has been fine since 1975, so I guess there are plans to be getting that redone....

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  7. Has anyone ever heard of the imaginative phrase -"busier than a one-armed wallpaper hanger." ?

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    1. The phrase I'm familiar with is :as useful as a one armed paper hanger"

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    2. I think you could be right, and it just got switched around during the Italian translation.

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  8. I grew up in a colonial home that had wallpaper in nearly every room. Now after inheriting the house, I can't get rid of the wallpaper fast enough. I think wallpaper makes rooms look too busy and too cluttered. I love our linen white walls with Benjamin Moore's double Navaho white trim that's replacing the wallpaper. The result is a clean serene look that gives our family peace and happiness.

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    1. Bring to mind a lot of the townhomes I have visited in the last five or 10 years. Everything just sprayed white. So empty. So sad.

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    2. 90% of our cottage has white walls. Maybe we'll get a So Empty So Sad house plaque made!

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    3. All white certainly can look sad, but it can also be ideal for displaying art and serving to bring out deep colors such as old carpets.

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    4. Different tastes for different people. Some like to decorate themselves in nothing but brilliant colors while they live in a white stark home. Some dress in nothing but bland boring clothes yet their home is full of color and texture and depth. As they say “different strokes”.

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    5. I like this look, as it is easy to vary the room’s accessories with the seasons, or one’s moods. White is a flexible backdrop for rooms focused on fabric texture and wood tones, as well.

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  9. For some great wallpaper nostalgia watch “Home Alone”.
    The lovely home has perfect ‘80 decor with most rooms covered in wallpaper.
    Our tiny bathroom has a sunny yellow and blue paper above the wainscoting.
    It makes me happy.


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  10. We used House of Hackney Plantasia in Tobacco colorway in our dining room. Very beautiful!

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  11. I always liked grass cloth wallpaper but never put any up. Wallpaper is rather a pain to deal with both in installation and the inevitable getting tired of it. Paint is easier for most. Wallpaper is right for some.

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  12. The vast majority of wallpaper will look dated within a decade. Yes, houses like Scalamandre make some that are timeless, never the current trend and never off putting but always such a focal point that it's necessary to have the rest of your decor able to stand up to it. I would not want young children messing with it. When we moved into this house, the bathrooms and the kitchen had wallpaper. The kitchen was pretty good, a mixture of stripes on the bottom and a pattern on top, separated by a broad stripe. The colors were vivid yellow and blue, giving a Provencal vibe. Getting rid of wallpaper is either nasty or expensive. Ours is a fading memory. I am very happy to have Gray Owl walls and Muslin trim from Benjamin Moore.

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    1. Gray is the new Brown.

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    2. Moses Eaton in the late 18th cen. roamed New England adding his stencils to many colonial houses. His designs can be viewed and copied , qv. Worth a look.

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    3. I am having a hard time envisioning gray as the new brown. I do not recall having ever been in a brown room. However, I am only in my mid-70s. Maybe I'll encounter one yet!

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    4. I’m quite sure that that was sarcasm.

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  13. This topical arena has emerged as "Less is more..." vs. "Less is boring..." As always, collars up !!!

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  14. I have been both docent and attendee at many home tours, including one which promoted and exclusively featured wallpaper from a high-end manufacturer. Based on those experiences, I believe that wallpaper works best in a small space, such as a powder room or half-bath. A larger space requires more from the furnishings and art, which are easily overwhelmed by the colorways and design incorporated in the wallpaper. If a paint color becomes tiresome, that is a problem which is easy to rectify. Wallpaper, not so much.

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  15. The pages of current Architectural Digest magazines are full of beautifully designed homes with wallpaper. It’s definitely a thing right now.

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  16. Yes. And, during Garden Week here in Virginia this past April, a goodly number of houses had WP. So lovely. Collars up !!!

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  17. A vintage print, still goes a long way, to set off a room!

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  18. Hire a painter and forget the wallpaper.

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