73 of the best wallpapers and Rita Konig's advice on choosing them
I love wallpaper and have no trouble using it all over the place. As with colour, pattern is something people are sometimes afraid of using but if you are worried you will tire of a bold pattern, you could use it only in the areas that you pass through - rather than in rooms you spend more time in. However, used correctly, wallpaper should not really be so in your face that you tire of it any more than you might your husband, or other strong elements in the house. Marthe Armitage, the octogenarian wallpaper designer, believes they should fade into the background and simply provide a canvas for pictures, furniture and the general clatter of life. This may seem odd, as one would have thought she would want them to be the main event, yet she is right, and patterned papers are so much better in the background. It is wrong to think that you cannot put pictures on wallpaper.
If you are not ready to paper your entire drawing room, start in small rooms. Pattern can actually make a small space feel larger, rather than oppressive; your eye is drawn through it rather than halted quite flatly, as it is with a painted wall. It is great to give a small bathroom the gaiety of a tremendous wallpaper. I once did a children's bathroom in 'Balloons' by Schumacher, available from Turnell & Gigon, and it was an absolute delight.
The Americans really print the best wallpapers; there is something about their generous application of ink that makes the designs feel rich. Twigs is an LA-based brand owned by Arthur Athas - it is a real gem that is carried in England by Simon Playle. Arthur's colours are complex and sensational. His 'Fuchsia' design, which I've mentioned before, is off-the-charts fabulous.
How to hang wallpaper
When it comes to hanging your wallpaper, there are a few details to consider. Make sure it is hung the right way up: if you have a pattern where the direction is remotely ambiguous, talk to your wallpaper hanger (this is not something to DIY) - I have walked into a bedroom to find the boughs of fuchsias defying gravity and no one wants that. If you have a pattern that is affected by where it is cut at the top, it is worth pointing that out, too - you don't want decapitated figures at the cornice. American papers almost always have to be trimmed, so talk this through with your hanger before you order; it is not terribly complicated, but they do love to throw their arms up in despair.
I love using small prints in the backs of bookcases or in small rooms. 'French Tile' from Michael S Smith's Jasper range, available at Jamb, is ideal. Robert Kime has a couple of designs that look like endpapers, 'Basilica' and 'Gaia', which I have used in halls, and Hinson does a black star on white called 'Lee', which hangs in my tiny dressing room.
I once had a bedroom covered in Cole & Son's 'Madras Violet'. While looking through the House & Garden archive, I found an entrance hall in a country house designed by John Fowler papered in the same design. With flagstones on the floor and rather serious antiques against the wall, the floral paper took the stuffiness out of this particular Fifties English country house, and made me realise what a mistake it is to pigeonhole florals for bedrooms. In the same happy afternoon, I found another tremendous hall and staircase covered in a wallpaper that was like falling into a camellia bush. So soon after the war, I think our grandparents' generation had much more fun when it came to decorating - unafraid to cover the walls in glorious patterns. We who have had the luxury of such freedom have strangely stifled ourselves with relentless shades of cement.
Rita Konig is a member of The List by House & Garden, our essential directory of design professionals. Visit The List by House & Garden here.
MAY WE SUGGEST: Wallpaper ideas for every kind of home
1/73‘Cottage Garden’ wallpaper (meadow), by Flora Roberts, 70cm wide, £198 a 10-metre roll, from Hamilton Weston
Rhapsody2/73‘Le Déjeuner’ wallpaper (DM 903 01), by Élitis, £4,126 for a 3 x 11 metre panel, from Abbott + Boyd
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9190393614644733/73Wallpapers (from left), ‘Coralie’ (crustacean), ‘Squeak’ (caramel) and ‘Crackle’ (lichen); all £170 a 10-metre roll, from Jean Monro
4/73‘Dutch Tree of Life’ wallpaper (original), £414.98 a 225 x 90cm panel (four panels shown), from Iksel
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5/73‘Rue Jacob’ wallpaper (seine), by Wayne Pate for Studio Four NYC, £74 a metre, from Studio Four NYC
6/73‘Sapo’ wallpaper (multi), by Amechi for Dado, £155 a 10-metre roll, from Dado Atelier.
7/73‘Nomad’ wallpaper (jamboree), 134cm wide, £100 a metre, by Ellen Merchant
8/73‘Dancing Newts’ hand-printed wallpaper by Nicolas Hughes, £280 a 10-metre roll, from Diddletron.
9/73‘Besler Iris’ wallpaper (tobacco), 52cm wide, £210 a 10-metre roll, from Mia Reay Designs
10/73‘Isabelle Large’ wallpaper (original), by Sarah Vanrenen, £190 a 10-metre roll, from The Fabric Collective.
11/73‘Italian Promenade’ wallpaper, from £432 a 225 x 90cm panel, from Iksel Decorative Arts
