Don’t Fight Your Wallpaper

In 1892, Charlotte Perkins-Gilman published her landmark short story “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The story, about a seemingly mentally ill housewife writing in her journal about her repression and her angst while being locked away in a room at the advice of her husband, is regarded as a milestone in feminist literature. The unnamed protagonist of the story spends much of the time detailing her conflicted emotions about the yellow wallpaper that surrounds her. She describes its repulsive smell, the smears, the missing patches and the breakneck pattern, and how all of it is making her go mad. She starts to believe someone is living in the wallpaper, and starts a savage battle against the said wallpaper by tearing it apart piece by piece. Now, indeed, this fictional story proves as an extreme example of someone who is unpleased by their wallpaper. Most of us would just hire someone to paper over it, or indeed do it ourselves, not lock ourselves in a room for an entire summer until we had “defeated” it. But it is obviously possible to have an adverse reaction to one’s wallpaper, and there are ways to avoid this. The most obvious solution is to visit your local wallpaper store. A majority of these stores will gladly sign out books of samples to their customers for a brief amount of time. This allows consumers to go back home and attach a sample of several selections of wallpaper to the walls of the house. This is a convenient way to figure out the patterns and colors go best in your home, rather than asking the advice of the store clerk, who despite all of his or her wisdom in the industry, is not going to know what color works best in your house without actually seeing the inside of your house. There are several tips to keep in mind when selecting your wallpaper. For instance, if you have larger walls, select paper with larger patterns. It’s an effective method to shrink the space. Larger patterns also tend to make a room appear more cozy and intimate, particularly when these patterns are imbued in darker colors. For your rooms that don’t have windows in abundance and therefore don’t let a lot of light in, stay away from using cool tones, as warm tones are generally more aesthetically pleasing for these conditions. A big trend noticed recently for consumers is the purchasing of striped wallpaper. While striped wallpaper can look pretty neat by itself, it can be rather difficult to match up in a room. Most rooms are not a perfect square, so as a result, lining up the wallpaper with the door and/or window trim can prove to be something of a chore. If you insist on buying the striped type, it is best to use a spirit level for this task. Is picking the absolute right wallpaper the top priority for most people? No, of course not, especially when you ask younger men. But the right wallpaper can set off the proper mood in whatever room you are using it in, and can say a lot about you. And hey, you certainly don’t want to lock yourself in a room and go to war with it, right? Check out custom printed wallpaper and customized wallpaper for your own home.