Since our recent Gimme Five! Wallpapers post, we’ve been thinking about wall coverings quite a lot.

The majority of vertical surfaces in our home are painted a warm, cream colour – with a couple of exposed stone walls and a splash of bright orange in the kitchen. The house is quite open plan so the cream walls let spaces flow into one another.

It works well, but there’s one wall in the lounge area that we think would benefit from something a bit more dramatic – and we think wallpaper is the answer. Wallpaper is having something of a spectacular renaissance. It’s a relatively easy way to create real impact in a room – from simple bold colours to elaborate murals.

The paper also covers imperfections in a plaster surface – and can provide an extra layer of insulation or even soundproofing.

Options are endless – heritage lines with classic Georgian & Victorian patterns, Arts & Crafts florals, Mid Century Modern atomic styles – and all manner of vintage inspired & retro looks.

There are tactile, textured papers that reflect light or create shadow to interesting effect. Silk, wool, cotton or linen can also be incorporated. Large landscape murals can be made to measure & customised images integrated into designs.

We’ve just been scouring the wallpapers on offer at wallcover.com. They have a huge range – over 10,000 designs. All the examples shown in this post are taken from their website. Prices range from less than €10 to over €350 per roll. Along with many of the options described above, there are some interesting wall coverings with new twists & interpretations – papers that mimic surfaces such as wood, stone, brick and animal skin for example.

These ghostly books are very effective – and as with many of the designs come in a choice of colour ways.

There are a number of brands or manufacturers housed under one roof – AS Creation, Architects Paper, Erismann, Graham & Brown, Innova,  Living walls, Marburg, P+S  International, Rasch, Rasch Textil and XXL Wallpaper.

The coverings are generically termed ‘wallpaper’ but they can of course be used for to decorate many other surfaces – customising furniture for example – or lining shelves & drawers. They can also be used as a covering for books & stationary. Lengths can even be framed and hung as artworks.

In addition to our feature wall, we have another specific use for these papers – they make excellent backdrops for our website & blog photographs, creating a distinct atmosphere for the object we’re photographing – and if you mount the paper on boards they can easily be moved to where the light is best. These orange Op Art circles would be great to show off 1960s pottery & glass…

…and aged weatherboard patterns would be perfect for staging vintage industrial items.

Those are relatively easy decisions to make – more thought is required when it’s a large expanse of wall in our lounge.

The room houses quite an eclectic mix of country furniture, leather club chairs & vintage industrial – along with 1950s & 60s ceramics & textiles.

We need to give it some careful consideration – perhaps avail ourselves of some samples which is always an option.

The perfect paper is out there – we’re off for another browse!