How to Choose the Right Wallpaper

Choose wallpaper by beginning with the room, not the paper. Consider the size of the walls, the light, the permanent materials and what will stand in front of them. Then look for a pattern whose essential forms remain legible when the surface is interrupted by furniture, doors, windows and corners.

A large motif can work in a small room, just as a dark wallpaper can work in low light. What matters is the relationship between the pattern, the ground colour and the room itself. The final decision should always be made with a wallpaper sample on the wall.

How to choose wallpaper

Step 1. Begin with your home

First consider the house or apartment as a whole. How high are the ceilings? Does the room have broad, uninterrupted walls, or shorter stretches between doors, windows and fitted cabinetry? Are there panels, mouldings, a tiled stove, exposed brick or other architectural details that already give the room character?

The wallpaper does not need to belong to the same period as the building. A turn-of-the-century apartment does not require turn-of-the-century wallpaper. The scale and placement of the pattern do, however, need to work with the proportions of the room.

On a broad, open wall, a large flower, bird or medallion can be given room to appear in full. Where the walls are broken by several openings, a pattern often works better when its leaves, branches, smaller flowers or ornaments also have a presence of their own. The wallpaper then retains its character even across narrow sections of wall.

Begin with the elements that are likely to remain for many years:

• the colour and direction of the floor
• doors, windows, mouldings and panelling
• ceiling height and wall width
• permanent materials such as stone, wood and tile

These are a more reliable foundation than rugs, cushions and other objects that can easily be changed.

Step 2. Choose for the room

A hallway, dining room and living room ask different things of a wallpaper. The difference lies in how long you spend there, the distance from which the walls are seen and how much of the pattern will be obscured by furniture.

Begin with three questions:

1. From where will you most often see the wallpaper?
2. How much of the wall will remain visible once the room is furnished?
3. Should the wallpaper define the room, or mainly bring colour and depth behind the furnishings?

The hallway

A hallway often contains several doors, architraves, mirrors, hooks and storage furniture. The wallpaper therefore needs to work even where only 30 or 40 centimetres of the pattern remain visible.

Do not choose solely for a large central figure that is likely to be cut apart by doorways. Look for smaller elements that recur across the entire surface. A hallway can also carry a stronger colour or a clearer contrast between ground and motif than a room in which you spend long periods of time.

The living room

In a living room, the wallpaper is seen for longer and from several positions. The furnishing of the room is therefore decisive.

If the room already contains bookcases, pictures, textiles and many smaller objects, a wallpaper is often easier to live with when the ground remains visible between the motifs, or when motif and ground are close in value. It is usually an accumulation of small, sharp contrasts that makes a wall feel restless, not the size of the motif itself.

In a more sparsely furnished room with large open walls, a stronger principal form or a deeper ground colour can give the space greater weight. Here, the wallpaper can carry more of the room's character.

The dining room

Dining-room walls are often viewed from across the table and in evening light. Fine lines and subtle shifts of colour that are clear at close range may merge at that distance.

Step back a few metres from the sample. Can you still read the shape of the flower, the movement of the branches or the distinction between ground and motif? If so, the pattern is likely to hold together from across the room.

Always view the wallpaper in the light used at dinner. Warm lamplight can soften blue tones, strengthen reds and yellows, and make the ground colour appear deeper than it does in daylight.

The bedroom

In a bedroom, wallpaper is often seen both at close range and in subdued light. An enveloping pattern can work beautifully without being pale or small in scale.

Consider how frequently the motif repeats and how clearly it differs from the ground. One large form in closely related tones can feel quieter than many small figures with sharply defined light and dark edges.

If the wallpaper will sit behind a tall headboard, check what will actually remain visible. A pattern with leaves, branches or smaller ornaments above and beside the headboard often holds together better than a single principal figure that disappears behind it.

Small rooms

A small room does not automatically require pale wallpaper or a small-scale pattern. A guest cloakroom, entrance hall or compact study can carry both dark colours and large motifs.

What matters is what remains when the walls are interrupted by corners, mirrors, basins, lighting and doors. A pattern is more resilient when several elements have form and presence of their own, such as large flowers, smaller buds, leaves and stems. It can then still be read when only fragments are visible.

Step 3. Judge the pattern scale on the wall

Pattern scale is the size of the motifs in relation to the wall, the furniture and the viewing distance. It cannot be judged reliably by looking closely at a screen or holding a sample in your hand.

Begin with the area that will actually remain visible. A wall may be three metres wide, but it is not three metres of open pattern if most of it will be covered by a bookcase, sofa and several pictures.

Then compare the principal motif with familiar elements in the room. A flower almost as wide as a door will read as a distinct main figure. Many smaller flowers across the same area will be perceived more as a continuous surface.

Use three checks:

1. Can the principal motif be seen clearly somewhere?
   It does not need to appear in full everywhere, but the larger forms of the pattern should be legible in at least a few places.
2. Are there smaller elements that work between doors and furniture?
   Leaves, branches, buds and ornaments allow the pattern to hold together across narrow sections of wall.
3. What do you see from the room's usual vantage point?
   From the sofa, bed or dining table, the principal forms and direction of the pattern should still be clear. The finest details can wait to be discovered when you move closer.

Step 4. Consider colour, contrast and visual texture

Begin with the room's permanent colours: floors, woodwork, stone and tile. A warm oak floor may be supported by muted yellows, reds, browns and olive greens. A blue-green wallpaper against the same floor creates a more distinct tension. Both approaches can work. The question is whether the wallpaper should draw the materials together or provide a counterpoint.

How clearly should the motif stand out?

Contrast is the difference between the light and dark areas of the wallpaper. Pale flowers on a dark ground remain visible from a distance and bring more movement to the wall. When motif and ground are closer in value, the pattern emerges more slowly and competes less with pictures and furniture.

Look at what you notice first. If distinct light and dark figures appear immediately, the contrast is high. If you first see a unified field of colour and only then the motif, it is lower.

How dense should the wallpaper feel?

When a generous amount of ground remains visible between flowers, leaves or birds, each form has more air around it. The wall can feel calm even when the motifs are large.

When motifs sit close together, the surface becomes richer and more enveloping. This can bring warmth, but it may also compete with a room already filled with books, pictures and objects.

Consider how the colour is distributed as well. A complete leaf, a large flower or a broad expanse of ground creates coherent areas of colour that remain easy to read behind furniture and art. Numerous small dots, lines and colour changes make the surface more active.

What does visual texture contribute?

Visual texture is a printed impression of a material such as linen, washi or hand-printed paper. It is visible, but not embossed.

In Linlava wallpapers, texture breaks up perfectly even colour and gives the surface greater depth. From a distance, it reads as a unified field. Up close, threads, grain and subtle variations begin to appear.

On a wallpaper with broad, open areas of ground, the texture can take on a stronger presence. In a denser pattern, it needs to remain quieter so that the surface and the drawing do not compete.

Begin with what draws you in

You do not need to have made up your mind before ordering samples. Choose the wallpapers you are drawn to, even if you are not yet sure which one will suit the room best. It is only when you see them in the room's own light, beside the floor, furniture and other materials, that the differences begin to reveal themselves.

Include samples with a few different characters, rather than several variations on the same idea. A quiet small-scale pattern, a larger botanical and a more restrained surface can each change the room in a very different way. Comparing them in place makes it easier to see what the room can carry.

Our samples are made from the same material and carry the same surface as the finished wallpaper. They allow you to judge colour, pattern scale and visual texture where the wallpaper will actually live, without needing to make a larger decision first.

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