The Top 35 Wallpaper Ideas

“Family love is messy, clinging, and of an annoying and repetitive pattern, like bad wallpaper.” –  P. J. O’Rourke

Painting your walls makes them a color, which is nice, but also a bit plain. Take your room design up a notch by adding wallpaper to the walls. It’s a much easier way of adding a design or pattern to the walls. Then the walls themselves become the decor.

Unfortunately, wallpaper tends to get a bad rep because people automatically think of the traditional style of wallpaper that’s dated looking and difficult to work with.

It’s time to say goodbye to the outdated wallpaper you’re familiar with and meet the next generation of wallpaper. These wallpaper ideas will show you that you can use them in your modern home and have it look fresh, bold, beautiful, and exciting.

1. Art Room

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could paint a wall mural feature wall inside your home? You could hire someone to come in and create a design. Or you could try painting one yourself.

However, there are some serious time and money drawbacks to this approach. Instead, a much easier solution is to use a wallpaper mural.

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You can find mural designs that fit any design theme, from elegant to edgy. Some will look right at home in a children’s room, and others that will give your home a cool urban feel. Some wallpapers look like high-definition photographs. Others look like a watercolor design painted directly on the wall.

2. Bedroom

Many bedroom wallpaper ideas for the master bedroom use a statement wall. Instead of wallpapering the entire bedroom, only the wall behind the headboard gets the wallpaper treatment.

This creates a focal point in the room and grounds the bed to the wall. For the greatest effect, choose a patterned wallpaper.

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Tie your statement wall to the rest of the room. It helps to start with the wallpaper. Choose a wallpaper that has a color scheme and design that you like. Then take colors from that wallpaper and use them throughout the rest of the room.

You could have an area rug on the floor that’s one color. Then use another color of the comforter on the bed. Then use both colors in a pattern for the throw pillows that decorate the bed.

3. Cool

Thanks to modern technology and developments, we have countless more wallpaper options than what homeowners before had.

Add a metallic wallpaper to your glamorous, modern, or industrial-themed room. There are metallic wallpapers that come in every type of metal. Some are high shine, and others have a brushed satin feel.

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There’s also designer wallpaper that is expensive but comes with a customized design unique to that designer.

If you’re willing to invest in this wallpaper, it will make a strong statement in your home. Then there’s bold wallpaper that has a large-scale mural design. You order the wallpaper by submitting your wall dimensions, and the paper gets printed to fit.

4. Dining Room

You don’t have to have wallpaper on the entire wall. Instead of wallpapering from floor to ceiling, add a chair rail mid-way up the wall. Then paint the bottom half of the wall and wallpaper the top half of the wall. The paint is more durable and easier to fix, while the wallpaper is more decorative.

The dining room has chairs that get pushed out and bumped into the wall. People are walking around and rubbing against and bumping the wall. Perhaps food gets splashed and hits the wall. All of this will beat up the paint on the bottom half while your wallpaper continues to look beautiful on the top half.

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Choose an elegant design for a more formal dining room. Typically, people choose a darker-hued color or soft white for a sophisticated feel. Vibrant colors will give your dining room a modern and more casual feel.

5. Floral

Floral designs are a traditional pattern for wallpaper. You could embrace this traditional floral wallpaper look with a soft repeating pattern of small flowers. This will give your home a more feminine feel.

If you want to keep your room feeling light and bright, choose a wallpaper that has a white or light-colored background. For a moody vibe, choose a wallpaper with a darker background.

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Don’t be afraid to make a bold statement with brightly colored botanical prints. Or choose a wallpaper with a large-scale pattern. The wallpaper will have a floral design, but the single flowers will take up the majority of the wall. The design won’t repeat.

6. Kitchen

Kitchens tend to look a bit plain. There’s a single color painted on the walls and then another color for the cabinets. Adding wallpaper to your kitchen walls can bring life to it with patterned wallpaper. Check out kitchen wallpaper ideas that use decorative wallpaper to accent different areas of the kitchen.

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Use wallpaper in the breakfast nook or table area. This defines the space without physically separating it from the kitchen. Add wallpaper to an accent wall that doesn’t have anything on it. Avoid using wallpaper for the backsplash; tile is a better material used here.

7. Living Room

Several living room wallpaper ideas tell you to make an accent wall by adding wallpaper to a single wall. You could do this, but other design ideas are more creative for your home decor.

Consider adding wallpaper to the ceiling. A peel and stick variety will be easier to apply and remove later.

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If you’re going to add wallpaper to the walls, consider adding wallpaper to more than one wall. Adding wallpaper to two or more walls ties the room together better than a single accent wall. It’s also a fresh take on the accent wall idea.

8. Modern

Traditional wallpaper is a nightmare. You have to mix up a paste, and brush it on the wall, then place the wallpaper while hoping you position it just right. Then press it into place while cleaning up the excess glue that comes seeping out of the seams. Get any piece of the puzzle wrong, and your wallpaper will begin to bubble and peel.

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Modern wallpaper is so much easier with peel and stick wallpaper options. This makes it removable wallpaper so that you can use it anywhere and not worry about when you grow tired of it.

Modern wallpaper also refers to the design. The geometric pattern is popular with crisp lines. Contemporary wallpaper mirrors the straight lines and crisp, clean design that you see in contemporary furniture and decor.

9. Powder Room

Your powder room is typically the guest bathroom. It’s the smallest room in your home and consists of a vanity sink and toilet.

It’s a bathroom but with minimal moisture. This makes it the perfect place to do something unexpected with its interior design. Some decorating ideas suggest a floor-to-ceiling wallpaper pattern.

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Interior designers use this approach to make the small space feel bigger than it really is. A wallpaper with a dark background and bright design will cause the walls to sink back and feel larger. A light-colored pattern will reflect more light and also feel bigger.

10. Unique

Don’t be afraid to take a unique approach to your wallpaper. This could be in the type of wallpaper you choose to use or where you decide to apply your wallpaper. For the unique design. 3D wallpaper is a modern trend that isn’t widely used yet.

If you aren’t quite ready for full-on 3D, then try a textured wallpaper that mimics other materials with a realistic feel. This is a perfect option if you want a brick, stone, or wood look.

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Try putting your wallpaper in unexpected places in your home. You could put up hallway wallpaper or decorate your laundry room. Then if you’re feeling really adventurous, you could put it on the ceiling.