Well Appointed Wednesday Series
- The Well Appointed Wednesday Series, runs every Wednesday and focuses on Designer tips and advice on styling main point of your house to give you a professionally finished look. There are key focal points through out your home, that if you get them styled right, you will achieve the look of a Well Appointed show place. Today I am focusing on walls. Sound kind of broad…. Well, let’s face it, they are throughout your entire home, they can’t be ignored. They are the bones. So I am actually going to break The Well Appointed Walls into 3 subcategories. I was originally going to focus on picture arranging, but the truth is if the bones, paint color or wallpaper aren’t right, it doesn’t matter what you hang on it. So the 3 categories will be Wallpaper, Paint, and Picture Arrangements and Hanging, in that order.
I have been working with a client of mine on wallpaper for her Dining Room, Master Bedroom and Living Room (pics to follow once they are installed). The project started a little backwards as she had gotten window treatments first and then called me to do the walls. She has a very specific style and the color and pattern of the drapes she chose for her Living Room has made the search long and tedious. However, in my search, I have fallen in love with wallpaper again. People either love or hate it. I think if everyone got to see everything that is out there now, they would feel differently. It is not like your Grandmothers wallpaper anymore.
With wallpaper, as with paint you have to be cognizant of the colors undertones. If you already have furniture or window treatments you must be especially careful. I will go over color in depth in next week’s paint discussion. Today, with wallpaper I am going to focus on the properties of wallpaper in addition to color; scale and texture. Wallpaper creates such a mood or feel for a room, that this is a very important decision. Unlike paint that can easily fade into the background and go undetected if it is slightly off, wallpaper, even subtle stands out. Paint can easily be changed, wallpaper is forever! (I say that only because I have spent hours days removing wallpaper) in both our condo and our house when we moved in. Both times, I can’t even imagine that someone actually LOVED that paper. I’m all for there is a lid for every pot but some were really ugly. I wish I had pictures!
Design Tip 1: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the paper you pick.
It takes time and a lot of research. You need to work within your budget because unlike paint, there is a wide range of prices. it can range from $15/roll to $ 26,000 per sq. meter!!!!
World's Most Expensive Wallpaper. Mark Evans sculpts leather with hunting knives into a photorealistic depiction of "The Fight of the Year" I will focus on the more “ordinary” numbers. Which in my world range from about $60/roll to $250/roll. To help you get started I will give you some Manufacturers to look at depending on your price range:
If you want to stay on the lower end of this spectrum look at: Thibaut, York, Seabrook
If you are middle of the road: Schumacher, Graham and Brown, Stroheim and Romann
If price doesn’t matter: Romo, Cole and Son, Scalamandre, ArteforKoraseal
It is important to understand the process that goes into the more expensive papers. Wallpaper is really a work of art.
Your next decision is scale: Large print, medium print, small print. It all depends on the drama you want to create with your paper.
Texture is another factor. Now there are papers with glass bead, leather, suede, silk, grass cloth, paper that look and feel like faux painting techniques, they have swarovski crystals, sand, and embroidery!
Some of my favorites:
Twigs as featured in House Beautiful. Great for small spaces 
David Golberg Design David Goldberg’s Romance is one of my absolute favorites and I will be using it when I redo my bedroom!
Arte for Koroseal Antelope Suede with a metallic thread woven through it! Stunning! $$$$$ 
Carl Robinson Embroidered wallpaper....thinking of using this in my Dining Room 
Close up of embroidery 
Scalamandre. For the adventurous! This wallpaper has been seen in the movie The Royal Tenenbaums and Gino’s restaurant on Lexington Ave in NYC
Arte 
Romo glass bead and metal stripe 
Cole & Son's latest collection Bauderlaire gold metallic on linen This looks like it may be the winner for my client’s Living Room
Schumacher Grass Cloth This was the winner for my client’s Dining Room
Raymond Waites Belgian Luxe- I LOVE this entire book! 
Romo glass bead Rooms to Inspire you:
Large scale damask 
Medium scale lattice for a smaller space 
Large Scale Damask 
A fun accent wall 
Love it on the ceiling! 
Go bold in the laundry room via Pinterest
I love the way it creates a border around the barrel ceiling via Pinterest
Great accent wall via Pinterest
Design Tip 2: Use wallpaper on the back of your built-in bookshelves or the inside of an armoire to add character. This is a good alternate if paper the whole room intimidates you or is just not possible
Great use of the picture frame moldings 
Raymond Waites Belgian Luxe 
Add pizazz to the smallest room in your house...the powder room via Pinterest
Take the mud out of mudroom! via Pinterest
Design tip 3: Always use a professional wallpaper installer. Someone who does nothing but hang wallpaper. It makes a world of difference. The average installer should charge $35-$50 per roll to install. I know someone who hired someone that didnt know what they were doing and she came home to rounded corners!!!!
Wishing you a wonderful day,
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