Wallpaper: Not Just for Walls

Isn’t it funny how things trend “in” and “out”? Old things become new again if you wait long enough, but they will be referred to as “vintage” or “classic”.

I’m not so sure that’s true with wallpaper.  Maybe it is.

What are your options for walls – wallpaper or paint, right?  Paint.  Its hard to compete with paint.  Paint is affordable, easy and it doesn’t require the time and patience wallpaper does.  And don’t even get me started if you have to match a wallpaper pattern!  Many a sitcom or cartoon has gotten a hearty laugh at the expense of the actor trying to put up wallpaper.  

It’s interesting to note how the definition of wallpaper has changed.  To those of us over the age of, hmmm, thirty, maybe?  It means “a decorative paper-like covering for the walls of a home or office.”  For the younger crowd, it means the background on your smart devices or computer.  I googled ‘wallpaper’ and only got screen images available as designs, texture, anime characters, etc.  Oh how times have changed!

I digress; back to wallpaper…

Today though, as with many, many things – we are encouraged to think out of the proverbial box – how to repurpose or use something differently than its original intent.  I want to encourage you to think that way about wallpaper.

Try these ideas on for size and let me know if you come up with a few more!

• Wallpaper the ceiling instead of the walls.  There are so many cool ways to do this its in someone else’s blog!  Nice job, lushome.com
• Wallpaper your furniture.  There are several sites on Pinterest that help you see how you can do this.  (I think I would lose my furniture if the same wallpaper was on the walls and the furniture, kind of like losing a hunter in camo in the woods!)
• Use wallpaper as a mat in a frame – an affordable alternative to mats
• Use it as art in a frame.  A nice section of a print, busy or simple, can be a lovely collage on a wall or a stan alone piece
• A piece of wallpaper under glass on a coffee table, display or desk
• Bookcovers – for actual use or decorative on a bookshelf
• Wallpaper the outlet covers and paint the walls
• Wallpaper in a large frame or framed out on a wall.  (Especially good for an apartment where you can cover nail holes, but you can’t remove wallpaper paste without serious damage.)
• Wallpaper the stairs!
• Wallpaper only the top of a desk or piece of furniture, or use it under glass for a less permanent solution

I’d love to hear any other creative ideas you can come up with for wallpaper!