Comeback trail
Wanting your home decor to have a personal touch is nothing new.
But now making a new play at youthful trends and customers who are looking for a fun upgrade is an old decorating staple: wallpaper.
“Wallpaper is making a little bit of a comeback,” said Keri Dolan, manager at Worsley's on Main Street.
Traditional and contemporary looks — especially those with a country flair— still are popular with conventional wallpaper customers, who are in their 40s or older.
But now the industry also is targeting younger homeowners and others who have embraced the “transitional” style.
“Typically, contemporary is geometric shapes and wild,” Dolan said. “Transitional is something more traditional, like a leaf, with a twist so that it looks more modern.”
The paper trend is driven by magazines and television designers, such as Home & Garden Television's Candace Olson, who are incorporating more wallpaper into their projects.
This bucks the previous vogue of removing existing paper or painting over it.
Pat Lowe, manager of the National Guild of Professional Paperhangers in Ohio, said wallpaper fell out of favor over the past decade because do-it-yourselfers skipped a step in the installation process, causing wallpaper to be difficult to change.
“People got turned off on wallpaper because it was so hard to remove. But if you put a primer up first, it creates a barrier between paper and the wall or drywall,” Lowe said. “If you skip that step, wallpaper adheres too well ... and when you go to take it down, parts of the wall come down with it.”
Wallpaper, Lowe pointed out, also provides benefits that paint cannot. For example, she said, it acts as an added layer of insulation to the walls and it cuts noise and glare.
“It's coming back on a practical side, too,” Lowe said. “Cyclically, trends repeat themselves every 20 years like clothing. Wallpaper is making a comeback, just in a slightly different way.”
In addition to new print styles, designers today encourage adding just one wall or a framed panel of wallpaper to create just the look a unique look.“You can really make a statement because you can do so many things with wallpaper,” Dolan said. “Paint is one dimensional.”Abby Thomas, assistant manager at Sherwin-Williams in Butler, said she's seen customers not only use wallpaper to accent a wall, but they're also papering furniture or using wallpaper as framed art.“Wallpaper is more multipurpose now,” Thomas said, noting especially popular for this purpose is retro patterns and vintage styles.Paint still is the less expensive wall treatment. A decent can of $35 paint will cover 400-square-feet of wall space, while that same money will buy only 22 square feet of special order wallpaper.However, there's a savings to be had by purchasing just one accent wall or panel of paper, or by buying in-stock wallpaper, which runs about $10 for 50-square feet.Then, Dolan said, you still can pick coordinating paint for the remainder of the walls.And, with the variety of paintable wallpapers on the market, wallpaper is still is the wallet-friendly choice for treating damaged walls.Today's paintable papers, Dolan and Thomas said, come in on-trend textures such as basket weave, the tin ceiling look and stria.Thomas said one of the draws to paintable papers is the ability to customize by selecting the color you paint it. And then, a few years down the road, you can change the paper's color with a fresh coat of paint.“It's really cool,” Thomas said.Matchy-matchy or overly coordinated looks are a long gone trend for both wall treatments and wall and window combos.Dolan said now the push is to put together different colors and materials that pair well.“You can do so many things. Five different people can pick the same pattern of wallpaper, do different things and have five different looks,” Dolan said.“Who wants to look like their neighbor?”
