The Wallpapers We Reach For Again and Again
If you've followed along with our projects for any length of time, you already know the truth about us: we do not believe in a blank wall when a beautiful wallpaper could be there instead.
We get asked all the time how we choose pattern for a room, and honestly, the answer is usually instinct first, logic second. But looking back at some of our favorite projects lately, we started noticing a thread. The rooms that feel the most like us are the ones where we let the wallpaper lead. Not as an accent. Not as a "maybe just one wall." As the whole point.
Here are a few of our go-to approaches, pulled straight from real projects, for anyone who's ready to stop playing it safe on their walls.
Let the pattern climb the walls and the ceiling
In one of our favorite dining rooms, we wrapped a lush blue and cream botanical print from ceiling trim to baseboard, then painted the ceiling and millwork a deep teal to match. The result feels like stepping into a garden that happens to have a dining table in it. We layered in cane back chairs, a sculptural pendant, and a plush blush counter stool so the furniture could be quiet while the walls did the talking.
Our rule of thumb: if a print has this much personality, don't dilute it with a busy floor plan or a dozen competing colors. Let the wallpaper be the star and build everything else around supporting it.
Mix pattern with a little bit of humor
Not every wallpaper moment has to be serious. For the Peddler Steakhouse redesign, we used a warm plaid wallpaper in olive, rust, and black above a painted board and batten wainscot, then hung a illustrated cow print in a gold frame right in the middle of it. Plaid and a cow illustration should not work together on paper, but in person it is playful and a little unexpected, exactly the kind of detail that makes a space feel considered rather than decorated off a template.
This is the part of our process we love most: pairing a strong pattern with something a little whimsical so the room has a sense of humor about itself.
Let a graphic print set the mood for a whole room
Not every wallpaper moment needs to be moody or grown up. In one of our favorite bedrooms, we used our very own green and navy Birds of a Feather paper, ran it around the entire room and topped it with a crisp navy ceiling line. From there we layered in a blush and grid-check bedding mix, a wavy blue rug, and a cane headboard to keep things feeling fresh rather than fussy.
This is a good reminder that bold pattern is not just for formal dining rooms and entries. A graphic wallpaper can set a cheerful, collected tone in a bedroom too, especially when the rest of the room's colors and textures are pulled straight from the print itself.
Use pattern to make a small room feel bigger
Powder baths are one of our favorite places to go bold, and this one is a perfect example why. We ran a navy and white scalloped wave print from the top of the tile wainscot all the way to the ceiling, letting it read almost like clouds rolling across the wall. Paired with simple white vertical tile and a marble vanity, the wallpaper gets to be the whole personality of the room.
In a small space, a busy floor plan is not really the risk. The bigger risk is playing it too safe and ending up with a room that feels like an afterthought. A graphic, high contrast print like this one gives the eye plenty to look at without needing more square footage, and it turns a room people spend two minutes in into one they actually remember.
Don't forget the fifth wall
People forget the ceiling counts as a wall. We never do.
Upstairs on a landing that could have easily been an afterthought, we papered the ceiling in a delicate blue pinecone print and left the walls a soft cream, grounded by black trim. It is one of our favorite tricks: when a hallway or landing does not have much square footage to play with, the ceiling becomes prime real estate. Look up and there is a whole moment happening. It is unexpected, it is a little bit cheeky, and it makes people stop in their tracks, which is exactly what a passage space should do.
Our takeaway
If there is one thing these projects have in common, it is confidence. Confidence to cover a full room, confidence to look up, confidence to let a pattern be a little bold, a little unexpected, or a little playful. Wallpaper is one of the fastest ways to give a space a real point of view, and we will keep reaching for it every chance we get.
If you have a wall (or ceiling) that is ready for its moment, we would love to help you find the print that feels like you!