If you’re considering a home improvement project – or freshening-up a room – you have exciting decisions to make. This is true whether you’re redecorating the smallest bathroom, or the grandest living room.
One of the biggest headaches is whether to paint the walls, or add wallpaper. The options for both these days are extensive. You can really get creative with both wallcoverings and interior paint thanks to modern manufacturing and design.
What are you trying to achieve?
A lot depends on your theme for this room. For example, do you want something bold and dramatic, a real visual feast? In that case, a highly decorative wallpaper – or even contrasting or complementary coverings on different walls – means you can really get creative.
Or do you want a more laid-back and softer décor to relax in? In that case, you have a wide range of beautiful paint colour shades to choose, including such finishes as matt, satin and egg-shell.
Size counts
With careful planning when decorating, you can make small rooms look more spacious, or reduce down spaces that are too overwhelming. You can also use colours and patterns to draw attention to specific focal points or features too, such as your patio doors. This can help you to choose between wallpaper or paint.
For example, a busy or darker coloured wallpaper can make a room look smaller. Whereas creative use of lighter, brighter paint – in one shade – can fool the eye in to thinking the room is bigger.
Practical considerations for choosing
The choice between paint or wallpaper can come down to more basic pros and cons.
For example, it can cost less to prepare and then paint a wall, than it does to buy and apply wallpaper. It can also be a lot quicker to paint a suitable wall.
Stripping old wallpaper off can be a time consuming and messy task. You may want to avoid doing it again the next time you redecorate.
However, you can only paint a wall that has been carefully prepared. It looks dreadful if paint is applied over cracks, dents and small protrusions. However, these are the minor defects that wallpaper can sometimes cover – especially if it’s decorative.
Lifestyle influence
When deciding between wallpaper or paint, the way the room is used is important.
For example, a family room experiences considerable wear and tear and may benefit from easily wipe-clean paint. You can get durable wallpaper – even varieties you can scrub clean. However, wallcoverings can suffer from constant bashes from chairs or children’s toys!
It’s often easier to make quick repairs and touch-up painted walls, rather than finding a torn sheet of wallpaper impossible to adequately replace.
If the room is likely to be relatively calmer, then you could opt for wallpaper.
Bathrooms and kitchens
As wallpaper is applied using adhesive, a busy kitchen or bathroom is not always the best environment due to moisture in the air. Though some wallcoverings and adhesives are specifically manufactured for high-moisture areas, people often prefer the simplicity of painted walls in those rooms.
Best of both worlds
You could consider having both wallpaper and paint.
For example, you could have one feature wall covered in a fabulous wallpaper design, then have the other three walls in a complementary colour for dramatic effect.
Or, you could paint all of the walls and add a matching border for decorative interest.
There is also the option to apply a basic textured wallpaper, and then paint over the top. You can change the colour scheme relatively easily at a later date, too.
It all comes down to personal choice, and what you can live with, when the work is done.
