Up the wall

By Andrew Mackenzie

From the days when it seemed that the only place one saw wallpaper was in the back spare room of an aged aunt’s home, wallpaper has once again emerged clad in all the drama and beauty of the 21st century.

The comeback was slow at first, a modest appearance on one wall, the guest bathroom, or half-walls above or below the chair line, careful not to overpower. Perhaps home owners and decorators were simply too timid to venture into territory that had been unclaimed for so long. However, that attitude has changed as wallpaper has become more popular – now virtually a stock standard in the decorating trade.

It was the Chinese who first used wallpaper as early as 200 B.C. About 530 years ago, a French King had angels painted onto a blue background on 50 rolls of paper. So taken was he with his invention that he moved it around from palace to palace. These early methods were fiendishly expensive, and really only for the rich, so it was only with the invention of the printing press that wallpaper started to become more available to the (well-heeled) public.

South African designers are not slouches when it comes to keeping up with trends, and have been cautiously introducing wallpaper into homes and hotels since its comeback a few years ago. According to trend forecasters, caution is about to be thrown to the winds in the next year. Expect to see entire rooms covered in bold, beautiful designs, and wonderful transformations of previously bleak spaces. Papering a wall is a fast, effective way to create mood in any interior. Old memories of large houses with grand sitting rooms papered in embossed cream paper, patterned with gold designs come to mind – the opulence unforgettable. It is indeed time to make far braver use of this awesome medium, than has been done in the past.

Time to experiment and let the creative juices flow; think patterns as well as colours – subtly bold designs, broad horizontal stripes instead of vertical. Metallics are currently in the news, and there are some wonderful wallpaper designs with metallic finishes.

Wallpaper can give a superb design effect in a room at a far lesser cost than actually having the designer in. It creates a feeling of glamour and warmth, and provides the opportunity for getting that all important shell right.

Wallpapering is also quick and effective to instantly update or change the look of an interior – it is a temporary covering, which means that you can literally change your theme on an annual basis.

Take care to not always follow trends blindly, or even to follow your consultant blindly. Colour trends, particularly, can date and you don’t want to invest in an expensive product, which you may not like next season. As far as colour is concerned, your home reflects your personality, so go with what you like in terms of colour. After all, there’s an endless choice.

The selection is huge in terms of patterns as well. Remember, if you choose a busy pattern, minimise the furniture and other pieces in the room to avoid a cluttered look. You can play up the furniture if the wallpaper is more austere. The walls become the feature with bolder wallpapers, while the more gentle patterns create a silent backdrop, which can contrast strikingly with pieces selected as focal points in the room.

If you can’t nail down that perfect picture, you may want to consider the use of wonderfully decadent wallpaper, and allow the room to become the art.

Clearly, pictures are not good on patterned wallpaper. Let the design speak, and keep the pictures for a more appropriate wall. Some of the designs are exquisite and need no further embellishment.