Walls and their coverings

Hey There!

Today I want to talk about wallcovering choices. This links into an Instalive I did with Michael from @melville_house. If you head over to his page you can see his real love for bold and varied wall papers. My experience with wall coverings is quite different, having grown up in Malta where most houses were built with a porous sandstone, wallpapering wasn't common at all. But before we discuss covering your walls, I just want a mention towards the beauty of bare surfaces.

Bare Brick: I adore this look, its quite easy to come by this in industrial buildings or in older houses. They add great amounts of texture and colour to a space. Unfortunately there is no guarantee that your brick wall will be pretty as it depends on how the wall was built. even in the picture here you can see there are some bricks put in a different orientation to the others. But overall this can add to the character of the space. You can leave this bare (just make sure you seal the exposed bricks), or you can paint it with masonry paint if you wanted to mute down the colours or create something more artistic. 

Cons: Need to really think about insulation if this is an external wall.

​Photo: Cape Cod Collegiate 

Bare Plaster: This is another high texture finish for internal walls. The plaster usually dries in a soft pink finish with beautiful natural variations in the colour intensity and finish. I was very tempted to leave bare plaster in one of our bedrooms as it was he perfect colour of soft pink that I wanted! This surface can be sealed and left bare. It reflects a warm light off it into the space.

Cons: Any marks in the plaster will forever be on show, so be sure that the plasterer does good work quickly as any joint lines can affect the look. 

​Photo: VOGUE Australia 

Painted walls: This the easiest way and is a default for most people. I wont discuss colour choices as that is for a different blog but I encourage you to look at painting walls and their features from a different perspective.

• Does the whole wall need to be the same colour?
• What about the skirting?
• What about the picture rail?
• What about the coving or corncing? 
• How about horizontal dividing line along the wall?
• Why not a diagonal line?
• Can you zone an area of a room or a corner with a different colour?
• How does this colour relate to the floors and the ceiling?
• Does the paint need to be matt? What would a glossy or satin finish wall look like?

Cons: if you have an old house, plaster can move and crack and show up in your paintwork. 
Photo: Domino

Wallpapers and Wall Murals: Now this is where things can get really exciting. There is a gigantic selection of wall papers on the market, from subtle to more out there designs, like this stunning example from De Gournay . Its a super quick way of updating the feel of a space. Its important to consider scale, colour and finish with wallpapers. Here are some pointers:

• Get samples before you put in your order, sometimes metallic finishes aren't well translated though online purchases.
• Make sure its from the same batch, as there is a strong possibility of having a completely different colour if you get a different batch. This mightn't sit well with the original wallpaper.
• If you are matching paints to the paper, wait until you get your paper in, as the batch from the sample might be different. 
• In high traffic areas consider a matt varnish on top to protect them.

​Cons: More costly than paint, and can be tricky to hang properly

Panelling: This is a beautiful way to add structural interest to your walls. It can be formal and elegant like shown here on the side, more rustic with a tongue and groove look, or individual and artistic with a Hex wall like used by KarenAnita. It is relatively uncomplicated to do simple patterns yourself. For more complex patterns and details I would involve the professionals. Some points to remember

• Always use a spirit level
• Make sure your walls are straight
• Consider the height of your furniture
• Caulk is your friend

Cons: Can be very expensive if you don't DIY.

​Photo: Modernfloorlamps.net

Vinyl: These are a lot more resilient than standard wall paper and paint. You are more likely to see these in commercial spaces but they have become a lot more exciting than they sound. They can be pure vinyl with printed patterns, or vinyl backed paper or fabric. The choice in these is growing daily and the example on the side by  Textura shows their beautiful "Endo" collection which has a stone underlay with a crackle finish above.

Keep this option in mind if you have a high traffic area that you want something more robust for.

Fabric: Now I hear you say, What on earth! but yes you can use beautiful fabrics to cover your walls There are many methods that can be considered. 

• If you are using a light weight fabric you can use starch to apply it to the wall. Its also a great solution for renters as it comes off super easy.
• If you are using a heavier fabric, you can drape it like a curtain or use it to create fabric over panels that cover the whole wall. Create one big panel or many smaller ones with the same or various different fabrics to mix up the look.

Some of you might be thinking that this will be very expensve to do, but in reality, some light weight fabrics can be a lot cheaper than high end wallpaper. 
Here is a blog post on Apartment Therapy about how to starch a light weight fabric to the wall as shown with the beautifully colourful fabric here. 

Cons: Can be a bit messy and tricky to get it all aligned. I would advise to stay away from very structured patterns on the fabric if its your first time.

There you have it folks! A collection of inspiring ways to cover the walls in your space. I cant wait to use some of these in my own spaces! If you think of any that I have missed, or have used some of these methods in your own spaces let me know below!

xoxo Pete