Used Creatively, Wallpaper Works

I don’t have one stitch of wallpaper in my house. Not one little border, not one decorative chair rail.

I’ve always thought that wallpaper is to, well, busy, to put it nicely. All those big, floppy florals; checks and prints and stripes and textures and combinations of all of the above.

I’ve always liked my backgrounds clean, a sort of blank canvas that everything in the particular room can stand against without looking like it’s about to be devoured by a plague of cabbage roses.

But I’m beginning to falter. The more I thumb through wallpaper decorating books and all the promotion stuff that comes my way from wallpaper manufacturers, the more I think a touch of wallpaper here and there might not result in a case of cardiac arrest, or decorating dementia. It’s beginning to look better and better.

Just the other day I was at some friends’ house and wondered at the fine, textured, painted walls they’d done themselves. They loved it. Success. Sweet success. The walls were not painted at all. No indeed, they needled me. Textured wall covering.

No messing with sponges and trowels and drippy paint and not getting it right the first time - or the second or third, for that matter. I was sheepish, maybe even cowed, and more than a touch impressed.

Hey, I’ve got an open mind. If I was to introduce wallpaper to my house, it still wouldn’t be in large swaths. I haven’t reached that point and probably never will. But little bits here and there - even a textured accent wall? That, thanks to my smart, smug friends, has become an entirely different consideration.

Possibilities? Plenty. I might choose to round up an unfinished, decorative wood screen and cover it with a paper that coordinates with the fabrics, colors and patterns already in the room. I can visualize it now behind my sofa and in front of the wall the sofa nuzzles up to. A good look without going wallpaper ga-ga.

I’m also seeing instant headboard - at a fraction of the cost a true headboard would demand.

I’d use coordinating paper and borders, applying the paper to the wall behind the bed, then trimming it with the coordinating border. If I tire of it, I can always change it. No bank loan necessary for this project.

I’d team my paper headboard with a solid spread or a spread that coordinates with the pattern in the paper and border. Many wallpaper collections now come with matching fabrics. Not even I can botch this one.

I’ve been toying with the idea of converting a spare bedroom closet with sliding doors to a home office nook. I could cover the closet walls in a subtle paper to give it a decorator, finished look. Or I could paint the walls and use a border to define the space and give it a little decorating oomph.

I might also choose to do up a simple lampshade with wallpaper or use some of the new textured paper as matting for pieces of framed art. A different sort of approach with satisfying results.

Like I’ve said, I’m no fan of oodles and oodles of wallpaper in a room. But used creatively, wallpaper, for people like me, can have its place in any living space. It’s a matter of being discriminating, choosing the particular use carefully, then sticking to it.