Fresh designs revive wallpaper

Take a look at your walls. Not at the art or the mirrors or the other decorations, but at the walls themselves. Like what you see? If the answer is no, you may have "drab wall syndrome."

To remedy this condition, more people are turning to a familiar but unlikely cure: wallpaper.

That's right — wallpaper.

Now, before you scream, "No!," understand this: We're not talking about the same wallpaper that covered every room in the house you bought. The wallpaper that took hours to strip away. The faded, peeling paper with huge cabbage roses that made you dizzy.

Nope. The paper that's now turning heads and turning up on walls from hipster pads to traditional-styled homes is bold, brash, graphic and fun.

Far from the tiny, repetitive motifs of Granny's wallpaper, today's designs are big and geometric, sassy and hip, retro yet modern.

Bold and sassy

Hints for hanging and removing wallpaper

• Before hanging paper, seal walls with a good primer.

• Select a good quality wallpaper because it likely won't tear apart in layers when you try to remove it.

• Pick the type of wallpaper paste appropriate for the paper you select.

• To make removing paper easier, use a commercial wallpaper removal solution, or mix one yourself.

There are many wallpaper-remover recipes available on the Internet, including this one, courtesy of www.handymanwire.com:

1. Mix together one-third cup fabric softener with two-thirds cup hot water, or add 1 cup white vinegar to a gallon of hot water.

2. Pour solution into a large spray bottle, and moisten the wallpaper.

3. Allow to stand 15 minutes or until wallpaper is loosened enough to be peeled off.

4. Vinyl wallpaper will need to be scored before you apply the wet solution, so the solution can penetrate the paper.

Source: Thibaut (www.thibautdesign.com), a wallpaper and fabric manufacturer, and www.handymanwire.com

The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal

"People are getting the wallpaper message," says British interior designer Linda Barker, perhaps best known to Puget Sound audiences as co-host of BBC America's "Changing Rooms" and "House Invaders."

Barker, interviewed via phone recently, has just written a book, "Wall to Wall: 100 Great Treatments for Vertical Surfaces," which delves into a myriad of modern ways to embellish walls, from paint to paneling, tile to texturing. But it's the wallpaper in her book that's outta sight.

Hand-painted papers in vibrant colors; neutral papers with graphic prints but subtle tones; large, contemporary floral designs; papers you actually can paint on.

Who knew wallpaper could be so ... well ... so hip?

The book's beautiful photography casts wallpaper in a brand-new light. For example, there's a huge photo-image depicting a woman's clothes hanging randomly from pegs along a wall. Shot in black and white with some dresses in color, this trompe l'oeil wallpaper by Deborah Bowness would be a standout in almost any room, and is one of Barker's favorites.

She also likes a fun and feminine design by Rachel Kelly that's printed floor to ceiling with fancy women's shoes and boots. What makes this paper special is the set of rub-off transfer stickers that comes with each roll, allowing homeowners to add their own one-of-a-kind look directly onto the paper.

Resources

Really Linda Barker Limited: www.reallylindabarker.co.uk

Deborah Bowness: www.deborahbowness.com

Graham & Brown Wallpapers: www.grahambrown.com

Rachel Kelly: www.interactivewallpaper.co.uk

Twenty2 Wallpaper: www.Twenty2.net

Stephen Phillips' grass cloth

wallpaper: Astek Wallcoverings, www.astekwallcovering.com

"It's all about making your home individual," Barker says.

Interactive wallpapers like Kelly's, as well as the gutsy and graphic designs of other papers, prove that this newest wave of wallcovering is anything but boring.

Barker, who has designed her own collection of geometric and romantic wallpapers, says that today, "Wallpaper design is very exciting."

Walls as art

Closer to home, the New York-based husband-and-wife team of Kyra and Robertson Hartnett, founders of Twenty2 Wallpaper, upped the ante in wallpaper design with their fresh and contemporary take on pattern and color in hand-screened papers that really play with graphics.

A good example is the "Casa Mila," their Gaudi-esque design whose organic pattern and fluid movement capture the spirit of the famed Barcelona building that inspired the paper.

Or the Montague, a leafy, gingko-patterned design that's quiet and subtle when rendered in tone-on-tone shades, but arrestingly graphic when the oversized gingko leaves are painted red on gold Mylar paper.

"Our patterns are exciting and interesting as art itself," said Kyra Hartnett. But that doesn't mean you can't treat them like traditional wallpapers. Feel free to layer pictures or other decorations on top, she says. "Use them as you would a paint color, only with more depth."

Both Hartnett and Barker agree that today's super-snazzy wallpaper designs are a reaction to the spare decor style of the previous decade.

"People have shied away from the minimalist look established in the '90s," Hartnett says. "People are looking for something richer, more embellished, a way to personalize their spaces."

Try textiles

Want even more ways to perk up your walls? Perhaps textiles are for you.

"Fabrics make a wonderful wall covering," says Seattle interior designer Stephen Phillips. "Stretched and upholstered onto a wall," fabrics add texture and can deaden the sound in a room, he adds.

For the den he designed in last fall's American Society of Interior Designers' Moore Mansion Showhouse, Phillips used a grass cloth wallpaper to give the tiny, jewel-box-like room a "cozy intimacy and deep, rich color," he says.

And though grass cloth isn't new — "it's been around for years," he says — it's about finding a new legion of fans with folks hungry for novel ways to dress their walls.

Robyne L. Curry is a Seattle freelance writer and interior designer with a specialty in wall design. Her Web site is www.robynecurryinteriors.com.