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2018: Year of Wallpaper

Don’t panic but I think it’s coming for us this year. I have been pondering the redecoration of the sitting room for some time now. But I can’t think of a colour I love more than Down Pipe. I know it might be a bit ubiquitous and I know that the room has been this colour for five years now (although the furniture has changed in that time) but I still love it.

little greene asterid wallpaper
little greene asterid wallpaper

Perhaps that’s a reason to leave it you say. Perhaps it is. But I’m wondering if it’s something else. A desire – not to find another colour – but to add pattern. The downstairs loo is being wallpapered as we speak. There is wallpaper in the bedroom, although I fear it may be the wrong one and may need redoing this year) but I’m suddenly all over the idea of strong, vibrant pattern.

Now the reasons for this are surely many and varied but I’ll give you a couple of my own theories and you can see what you think. Firstly, I think 2018 is going to be the year of Home (and I use the capital advisedly). When Dulux launched their colour of the year, Heartwood,  a few months back it was based around the idea of Home as a place where we feel safe and comforted.

little greene asterid wallpaper in green
little greene asterid wallpaper in green

When times are tough, we just want to go home. To our happy places and our safe places. The world feels pretty scary at the moment so there is all the more reason to turn our homes into cocooning safe havens where we can shut out the outside.

Now I don’t know about you but a minimal white box isn’t going to do that for me. I want cosiness and textures and that means colour and textiles. Which leads me to my next point. I’m not saying Scandi is dead but I AM saying that I think it’s going to have to move over a little to allow a little more colour, a little softening of those cool, clean lines. I’m looking at rooms that I loved three years ago – all cool greys and concrete and I’m thinking cold not cool.

little greene wallpaper woodblock mono knightsbridge
little greene wallpaper woodblock mono knightsbridge

I’m never going to a be a riot of colour but I do like muted, greyed out shades. And I do like having lovely things around me that spark old memories or even new ideas.

We’ve got used to seeing amazing, patterned ceramic tiles around and I think wallpaper is about to have a moment. But I don’t mean a feature wall. That’s the old way. I mean wrapping it round all four walls as the designer intended. Or, if that’s too much for you sticking it half way up the wall with paint on top. Or the other way round if you like. Or even, if you can find someone to do it for you, on the ceiling.

little green wrest trail pink plaster
little green wrest trail pink plaster

It’s about creating your own personal space that you love to be in. Your happy place. Wrapping it with pattern and colour and creating a home that is uniquely yours and yours alone.

Here’s to 2018 and The Year of The Home. What are your plans for yours? I have fallen completely in love with the wallpaper at the top. I love the way it cascades down from the ceiling. I think I need to have this on all four walls of the bedroom. I don’t think this. I know this. Now, what will The Mad Husband think?

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

9 Comments

  1. I’m with you – with so many beautiful wallpapers around now it feels like there’s something missing in a room with plain walls! I’m tempted by Little Greene’s Upper Brook Street in Minuit to add some interest to the pink and black theme in my office 🙂

  2. I think you’re right about us seeing more wallpaper ideas around this year. Timorous Beastie seem to be building a new range. Some are stunning.

  3. Last time I was in the UK, I found the most marvelous papers, and ended up carrying three rolls back to the states. Nothing at all like these papers here.

  4. Love the new wallpapers! I wondered if you had ever come across this company (US based but will surely ship to UK?) I had a couple of de Gournay Chinoiserie panels once, that we pasted onto MDF boards and hung on the wall, but they had to go when we downsized – I still miss them! Am thinking about repeating the exercise one day but maybe using this instead as a cheaper alternative? http://www.tempaper.com, Garden in metallic silver or gold, or midnight, storm, jade etc…..

  5. Scandinavian style is not really all white and minimalist. We love wallpaper here in Sweden. I think every flat or house I have lived in here ( and that’s quite a few places) has had wallpaper in some ( or all) rooms. Colour is on the uptake too. I do like the idea of “cocooning” at home. Thanks for all of your inspiring posts.

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