Modern Wallpaper Ideas

The way you decorate your interior spaces plays a huge role in how you feel about them. Regardless what method you choose for covering your walls, you can create a strong emotional flavor. Even wallpaper, which has long been relegated to the old and boring, possesses the ability to redefine interior spaces.

It’s not about what you use to cover the walls but how you use it. The reason you probably associate wallpaper with boring settings is because you’ve only ever seen boring wallpaper. If you’re willing to step outside the box for a moment, however, you’ll find that wallpaper has many possibilities besides the blasé styles you’re accustomed to.

Here are some of the best modern wallpaper ideas from top interior designers in the field. They include basics that you might not have thought of, including:

• Wallpaper design ideas
• Modern vs. classic textures
• Accent placement

Wallpaper Treatments

There are multitudes of different textures that can grace wallpaper. Modern printing technology means that you’re no longer limited to factory-made images. Your wallpaper can include a corporate logo, photos or even your own abstract designs. Viesso wallpapers make it easy to turn your decor into art with images that surpass your expectations.

Wallpaper designs are easier to match with the rest of your decor now that you can customize them. Even if you go with something premade, choose your wallpaper treatments with color and style in mind. Follow these tips:

• Limit your color pallet so that you can change your furniture and still match
• Make use of the empty spaces in your wallpaper design for fixtures and furniture
• When matching textured wallpapers, always include contrasting smooth surfaces to even things out

If you do things right, it will be easy to match your walls to your furniture and fixtures. Still, for some, the appeal of using wallpaper lies in its ability to instantly bring old-looking rooms into the future.

Modern Wallpaper

Many people who like the idea of using wallpaper would appreciate it more if they could use modern designer styles. Fortunately, high-quality photo-level printing allows you to imbue your wallpaper with a much more modern textural feel.

Realistic wallpaper textures lend a modern air to interior spaces. Much of popular modern decor simply incorporates visual textures in lieu of bright colors. Focus is achieved through the use of depth instead of contrast, ensuring that your wallpaper treatments make the room more attractive.

When using textures, you can achieve a sense of increased space by limiting your textures to certain areas. A brown leathery or mottled texture that only goes on the doors in a room might look even better when the walls are covered in the same brown color without the texture.

Modern textures often evoke an old, grungy feel. Textures like cracked paint and rust build add an air of used livability that some people absolutely adore.

Classic Wallpaper

Sometimes that old world feel is what you really want. While modern textures and images are very popular, many wallpaper enthusiasts seek nothing more than a traditional motif. They then combine these motifs with similar decor and limited color palettes to create refined, reserved decor schemes.

Paisley, plaids and other busy textures often get a bad rap, but the fact that they’ve stuck around for centuries means they definitely have a place. You shouldn’t dismiss them out of hand. Wallpaper that relies on these classic designs can be used to create very posh interiors. As long as you’re careful about mixing and use more simple designs to offset the busy ones, things will look great.

Still, it’s just as possible to take classic wallpaper in the complete opposite direction. When used in focal motifs like textured murals, classic wallpaper can create a modern feel. Using classic wallpaper in limited spaces creates an expensive urban look, especially when it contrasts with industrial sensibilities.

Wallpaper Placement

Of course, wallpaper doesn’t work everywhere, but it can actually liven up some unexpected spaces. Small sections of off-colored wallpaper in areas like foyers, coat closets and on doors really make these places stand out. Restrooms and hallways, complete environments of their own, also benefit from unique decor that isn’t present in other areas.

Wallpaper can even act like picture frames do. If you know that you have certain spots that will only ever hold pictures, light switches, or other fixtures, surround them with wallpaper squares. Round the edges, and you’ve instantly created a futuristic urban look that adds to the area’s usability. These accents can help unify decor throughout different rooms, or they can be used to set it apart.

Wallpaper is the best way to accomplish unique color schemes. Small rooms tend to make bigger impacts when they contain murals, motifs or stencils, which is why these are common in bathrooms. Wallpapering is the easiest method of effectively creating such area-specific decor. Of course, the same principle applies in larger spaces.

One of the most underused functions of wallpaper is creating simple accents in wide areas. An accent could be a single lone wall in a room, or it could be a stripe around the perimeter. By using textured wallpaper to create accents, you can easily realize visual focal points. Wallpapered accent walls behind televisions or around fireplaces are extremely popular in modern design.

The secret to successful interior design is knowing how to work with your space, not against it. Wallpaper affords you the ability to easily draw attention to specific areas over others. Still, you can just as easily create a regular background that remains unobtrusive without being too flat.

Wallpaper can also add height to rooms. Dark horizontal stripes near ceilings seem to open up space overhead. These elements serve to accent the negative spaces below them, drawing attention away from themselves with strong contrast. Using deep tones or textures allows you to add flair without being gaudy.

Wallpaper Materials

Of course, no two sheets of paper are alike, at least in terms of depth. Although you may have the same thing printed on separate wallpaper sections, the fact that each has its own natural texture makes a huge difference.

Many prints seek to cover up any natural texture and others are created using smooth paper that hides it. The weave of a wallpaper substrate, however, can serve as a modern texture in and of itself. Some papers are more varied, revealing natural fiber patterns. Others actually have a tactile roughness to them that coarse to the touch even though they look smooth.

The secret to these differences lies in the method of manufacture and the materials. Viesso wallpapers made from 100 percent natural jute fibers can be created in any texture. Depending on the length of fibers and type of sizing used in the paper making process, the results will have different textures. The natural qualities of jute and other environmentally-friendly wallpaper substrates add depth to rooms and accent walls.

Eco-friendly wallpaper materials also open up a whole range of new options for those who want to create more natural settings. Simple earth tones and muted geometric patterns are ideal for adding a sense of modern contrast to a home. When combined with naturalistic wallpaper textures and wood fixtures, they reveal a rustic nature that many designers strive to attain.

In all, there are plenty of modern wallpaper ideas for spicing up your living spaces. You should pick and choose those that you think fit not only your desired look, but the attitude you want to convey as well. Of course, you can always get in touch with the Viesso experts for more great ideas and information at www.viesso.com.

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