Home Interiors: How to roll out the bathroom wallpaper trend
Metallic Koi by Space Frog Designs, from €49 per square metre cropped to dimensions on order, wallsauce.com.
Rolling out woven paper materials in a high humidity area with steeply fluctuating temperatures? It seems like a clownish idea. Still, bathroom wallpaper is not only trending for next year in traditional rolls and bespoke digital print panelling, but it has also been well-represented in ornate, gorgeous products since the 1840s.
Take imagery to one wall and float it over a wainscot-height bank of tiles. The latest painterly, peel-and-replace papers are an economical, animating up-do for any jaded ensuite or family bathroom.
With easy installation and removal with little more than a winkle up from one corner, you can dive into undulating super-sized koi or focus on a dense tropical forest motif or an art nouveau fairy-tale, feet-up-in-the-bath, without the fear of stripping anything more than your clothes. An all-white or rain-grey tiled bathroom with waist-level areas for papering, can be completely shaken down with a new character paper or instant trompe-l’oeil magic over one weekend.
No paper, mural or dedicated adhesive, no matter how tough and splash-proof, will stay in place in a badly ventilated bathroom. If your windows and walls are beading water after you shower or there is black mould blooming in the grouting, this must be addressed before considering any aesthetic renovations.
Condensation and damp issues are not doing the structural health of your house (or your lungs) any favours. Solutions range from high-velocity, mechanical extractor fans to trickle vents. In a more comprehensive renovation, mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR) should keep the area nicely arid.
It’s not 1952. “Rapid ventilation” (throwing the window open) simply won’t cut it long-term.
If your taps are deluging water out of a shallow bowl onto the walls, look for a new spout with a better flow rate, matched to the vessel type.
Careful installation is crucial to the success of papers in a moist environment. This is not a good space in which to “paper over the cracks” and attempt to hide imperfections. Prepare your walls, ensuring they are smooth and undamaged. Fresh plaster should be primed, and any under-the-surface “tanking” completed for walls near baths or showers.
If your seams are not completely worked down or you leave a ripple or bubble in an area of paper, humid air can get into these areas and start working your paper up and off the adhesive. It must be faultlessly flat.
So what can you use? Any sponge-clean wallpaper with a high-definition print resolution can potentially go in a kitchen or bathroom. If it’s not a vinyl, scrub-down, water-resistant product labelled as suited to humid rooms, it must be sealed, in multiple protective coats in a matt decorator’s varnish after installation. Polyvine, water-based acrylic starts at €18 per litre.
Ensure all seams are given special attention. With the relatively compact size of even a family bathroom, covering one or two walls will allow you to spend just a little more on the right products. That said, wallpaper cannot be repaired so, we have to get this right.
The ideal material for bathrooms is either a full or coated vinyl paper or mural panel, with a paste-the-wall, or Peel-and-stick, low-tack self-adhesive backing. Alternatively, you can choose a 100% non-vinyl product in non-woven paper designed to “breathe” releasing any build-up of moisture but not intended for high-splash zones.
These papers are best sealed after installation. Some but not all dedicated bathroom wallpapers contain anti-mould and anti-mildew finishes. Low-tack papers are easy to put up, and effortless to take down, if you are renting, your landlord may be amenable to a little personalising of your bathroom or kitchen. Ask first.
Positioning paper or even outwardly indestructible vinyl murals, avoid putting them into daily, repeated contact with water, steam and heat. If you want something behind the shower, a shower panel of clear glass or a suitable enclosure will prevent your masterpiece from being beaten, penetrated at a seam, and finally lifting.
Near the basin area, don’t run the paper right down to connect with the lip of the whiteware or the edge of the bath. Design in a return to seamless materials like Silestone or use tiling of 30cm or at the very least thick edging pieces.
Behind a free-standing bath, happy splashes will inevitably run down the walls to the bottom of the wallpaper panels, and work that edge up over time, unseen. Use a bead of silicone to shore up where the wall meets the floor or the top edge of the baseboard.
Mounting wall taps on even vinyl-papered surfaces is a bad idea. Consider a clear glass, acrylic, marble or tile panel to separate them from your decorative paper.
As time goes on, deal with any lifting seams as they happen with a little decorator’s varnish — don’t ignore them or they will curl and continue to degrade.
Consider all the material elements singing together when you’re making up a scheme. Wood panelling, tiling, areas of painted wall and of course a potential paper. Wallpaper has a layering, textural talent. Loose, sensual botanicas look beautiful behind any open shelving and can make good use of the “dry” sides of the bathroom or ensuite.
Choose from upholstering cottagecore ditsy flowers to adding calming, multi-dimensional modern abstracts or dramatic period geometrics (that visually crank walls higher or wider).
Wall lights can really glow against the paper, introducing gentling ambient atmosphere to a hard-edge space, and windows and mirrors can open up and balance their presence.
Notice if any mural or repeating pattern has a vertical or horizontal inclination, and don’t get too hung up on the question of large scale in a small room.
Papers with metallic inclusions are a fantastic opportunity for introducing discreet artificial shine and reflection to bounce light around a smaller or darker space with a shadowy wall or creepy corner. Try the quartz seams of faux marble, or glittering art deco jazz in flashes of silver, both looks continue to make their mark in 2023.
Finally, wiggle free of the typical vintage coastal, marine and botanical themes to explore the wider, fantasy world of wall coverings for every space. You can customise your own image from stock pieces or even use your own digital captures in a good high-resolution file. Just crop to size and order.
Your supplier will indicate any adjustments that may need to be made to optimise seam positions and the scale. Suppliers including Wallsauce and roomeo.ie, suggest a 50mm border added to your dimensions to trim at all edges.
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