Our Bedroom Wallpaper
During our planning phase for our bedroom redo, water was my main inspiration - its color, shape, and flow, was at the center of our theme. Since I am a big sucker for wallpaper, I jumped into my search to find a wallpaper that checked all of the above.
Initially, I googled like crazy, checked all the wallpaper vendors and companies I’ve worked with before, but nothing came close to what I had in mind.
Here is the initial round-up of all the wallpaper I considered.
Although some of these were close, Zen by Sandberg Wallpaper was love at first sight and it checked all the boxes.
Zen in Dark Blue by Sandberg Wallpaper
While searching for the right pattern with the right tone is essential, I wanted to share some things I considered before making a final choice that might help you when you’re doing the same.
The Theme, Pattern, and Scale - Knowing the overall “theme” helped me select a pattern. The scale of a pattern plays a big role in the selection - the bigger the pattern, the bigger the statement, but remember that bigger patterns could give the illusion that a room (or space) is smaller. So always get samples and tape them up to the wall you are working on.
Texture - Our bedroom is only 12’x15’, so bringing texture was not our goal. However, plenty of spaces can benefit from exciting surfaces like wood textured wallpaper, mother-of-pearl, stone, seagrass - there are too many to count, but options are there.
Material - I specifically chose non-woven paper wallpaper for one simple reason - the installation!
Installation - Since this was my first time installing wallpaper myself, I made a conscious choice for a simple “paste-the-wall” installation. Most wallpaper will have symbols on the label that tells you how it should be installed.
Priming - Priming was essential for our previously painted wall. It seals all porous surfaces and prepares the wall for better adhesion. In addition, if you need to strip it, later on, it comes off easier without damaging your wall.
I used Zinsser Bulls Eye Zero Water-Based Interior/Exterior Primer and Sealer. It applies just like paint, with zero VOC, which was necessary for our indoor air quality. It did have a slight paint-like odor, but it cleared in no time with a few open windows.
Adhesive - I used ECO-888 Strippable Clear Wallcovering Adhesive from Roman, and most wallpaper pros I’ve worked with use Roman products. It’s a transparent thick paste with no odor that’s also strippable and was easy to clean up with a moist sponge.
Hopefully, you found my geeking out about wallpaper as interesting as I do.
