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Decorating

The Spring Essentials: Technology meets decor in our latest range!

Posted on March 30, 2020

It’s safe to say we’re all spending a lot more time inside the house at the moment! If you’re using this opportunity to take care of all of those DIY and decorating tasks you’ve been putting off for ages, you’re not alone! It might not feel like it at the moment but we are in the midst of spring and a new season brings a whole host of new trends.

We’ve decided to bring forward the launch of some of our most anticipated products to date. Developed alongside our incredible design team, we’ve worked with decor experts across the globe to transform the way we decorate.

Colour changing wallpaper

The only problem with this one is deciding when you want to change – after all, who could ever get bored with those beautiful botanical shades?! Happily, when you do decide to change it’s as simple as ‘wipe and start again’.

Ever find yourself wishing you could change your wallpaper without the hassle of paste and ladders? Using the same technology as heat changing mugs, we’ve developed our first colour changing wallpaper that uses ThermoChromic ink to bring this floral wallpaper to full bloom. The colour changes are dictated by the heat in the room, meaning it works best near windows or radiators for the full colour-changing impact.

Tropical Trends

Tropical decor is showing no signs of going away, and in today’s climate who doesn’t want to pretend they’re relaxing on a tropical island? We’ve amped up our botanical collection to include an eco-friendly, washable wallpaper design in a stunning palm leaf. Washable wallpaper is the latest innovation to transform how to decorate. Manufactured using sustainable sugarcane paper (a by-product of sugar harvesting) it’s fully dissolvable when soaked with a warm, soapy sponge – meaning there’s zero waste.

Continuing our tropical theme, we’re excited to launch our very first floor paper! Yes, we’ve seen the uptake in at-home craft projects lately, from pinterest to One4, and when we saw our wallpaper being used as flooring in everything from playrooms to hallways, we decided to task our design team with creating a durable paper that would withstand the toughest of stomps and the highest of heels! If you have laminate, wooden or vinyl flooring, this paper can be placed directly on top for a smooth, level surface.

Our floorpaper range has been manufactured using a high-density fibre base and protective vinyl top layer, which makes it suitable even for high traffic areas.

We took our inspiration for this tropical flooring from one of our favourite interior design bloggers, Floral Poi. We let her test out the new tropical design in her Manchester home, and we love the result.

Get reflective, get crafty!

Finally, we’re expanding our paint collection to include our new favourite glamorous interior trend – mirrors. Mirrored furniture is definitely having a moment and is perfect for any contemporary space. Available exclusively at ILW, our patented mirrored paint allows you to create a full mirror wall with ease at a fraction of the cost of a real mirror. Developed using a high-opacity metallic compound, this paint can be applied with a brush or roller like normal paint and dries with a highly reflective finish.

If you’re not ready to do a full mirrored feature wall, this paint is also perfect for furniture painting! So, if you’ve been itching to upcycle that chest of drawers, now is definitely the time.

We want to see your home transformations! Don’t forget to tag us into your projects, we’ll feature the best ones on the ILW social pages so keep your eyes peeled! Happy decorating!

Advice Decorating

Are wallpapers washable?

Posted on March 19, 2020

The, perhaps surprising answer, is yes many wallpapers are washable, and even as good as waterproof. If you’ve ever noticed wavy lines on your wallpaper packaging, or indeed seen the descriptions on every one of our product descriptions, and wondered what they mean, it’s all to do with just how washable that wallpaper is. Here’s our handy guide to explain it further:

Spongeable

Washable

Extra washable

Scrubbable

SPONGEABLE WALLPAPER

Spongeable – Shimmer Tree Wallpaper Soft Grey Silver £12/roll

Spongeable wallpaper can be cleaned using a slightly damp sponge, with no chemicals, delicately applied to marks to remove them. While this will clear the majority of accidental spillages or knocks, this style of wallpaper maybe isn’t one to put in easy reach of toddlers and paint! It’s also a good idea to avoid rooms in your home that have taps, such as bathroom or kitchens, due to the high humidity levels.

WASHABLE WALLPAPER

Washable – Milan Metallic Wallpaper Charcoal Gold £20/roll

While we’d avoid full-on soakings to remove stains, a sponge is perfect to remove marks from washable vinyl wallpaper products. When it comes to cleaning washable wallpapers, you can be a little more robust than with the more delicate spongeable options. As with all wipeable wallpaper options, avoid scrubbing vigorously as rips and tears can still occur, and chemical cleaners are a no-no to avoid ruining the colours.

EXTRA WASHABLE WALLPAPER

Extra washable – Cleo Geometric Teal £17/roll

Able to stand damp environments, these papers are a fantastic choice for most rooms and withstand cleaning capable of removing most common water-based stains or marks. Looking for washable kitchen wallpaper or even washable bathroom wallpaper? These are great options! We wouldn’t recommend putting them directly around sinks or showers, although they can withstand direct exposure to small amounts of water with no fuss.

SCRUBBABLE WALLPAPER

Scrubbable – Paradise Floral Wallpaper Black, Pink £16/roll

The peak of wallpaper washability! Scrubbable wallpaper is a great choice for high-traffic areas, such as waterproof wallpaper for bathroom walls, or any room in the house marks and dirt are more likely (we’re looking at you kitchen, hallways and kid’s playroom!) You can use a soft brush and mild detergent to help rid yourself of stains from these wallpapers, but it’s worth noting we’d still only employ mild pressure – damage can still occur if inappropriate force is used.

There you have it, a handy guide to just how washable wallpaper can be – to discover every style included in these different groups search for them on our website or take a look at our washable collection.

Advice Decorating

How to Avoid Decor Regrets

Posted on March 17, 2020

Renovating or redecorating your living space can be a lot of fun; it’s a chance to freshen things up in your home’s interior or put your own personal stamp on somebody else’s style. However, it’s not without its risks.

Along the way to achieving the ideal aesthetics for your interior, you’ll find that there are plenty of decor regrets you’ll want to avoid. From the time-consuming to the costly, the learning curve when redecorating can be a steep one, so it pays to have your wits about you be aware of the mistakes you won’t want to make.

Of course, our I Love Wallpaper team are dab hands with DIY and redecorating, so to help you, we’ve put together some essential information on common mistakes and how to avoid decor regrets.

Picking the Wrong Paint and Wallpaper

With so many patterns and colours of wallpaper available as well as different shades of paint, deciding on and picking the right hue for your room is no simple task. Making the wrong decision on either of these aspects of interior design are among the most common mistakes made, and if you haven’t done so yourself, you’ll most likely know somebody that has! Of course, we covered plenty of these in our Filtered Homes feature.

A wealth of choice isn’t always a good thing, and it can wind up with you feeling overwhelmed, second-guessing and picking the wrong tones or prints for the room in question. What’s more, once on your walls, wallpaper or paint can look very different from how it does in the roll or tin. These misleading changes can occur through factors such as the size and shape of the room, as well as how both artificial and natural light affects it.

To avoid making such mistakes, it’s integral that you fully consider the space at your disposal as well as your overall objective regarding how you want the room to look. Factor in corners and recesses in the room, as well as artificial light and whether you’re using warm or cool coloured lightbulbs. Perhaps most importantly though, you should make note of the natural light and where it falls at different times of the day. Make sure to take some time to sit in the room on the morning, afternoon and evening, recording where and how the light hits certain areas and the effect this has on the hues used.

Making use of wallpaper offcuts or test pots of paint before you commit to redecorating the whole room is always recommended, so position your paper or paint samples in different locations and see how the light and space affects them.

Investing in the Wrong Sized Furniture

Another common mistake made when redecorating a room is miscalculating those all-important furnishings. All too regularly you’ll see a room that squeezes in a huge, oversized corner sofa where it’s not meant to fit or cram in a ridiculously sized dining table that will rarely (if ever) get used.

That said, this can work both ways, and so you’ll also want to avoid investing in furniture that rattles around in a more spacious interior space and looks completely lost.

So, how to avoid this? Measure – then measure again! It’s wise that you become well-acquainted with your tape measure when considering furniture for your home, and as painstaking and dull as this process might seem, it’s definitely worth it.

A well-proportioned room is important, therefore getting the scale of your furniture right is a massive step towards avoiding any decor regrets. When measuring, you should account for the likes of bay windows, radiators, recesses and space which any doors need to open within, as well as any gaps left between the furniture and your walls. Using masking tape or similar to effectively ‘chalk out’ the shape of your furniture on your floor space is a great way to gain an idea of how big things are, where they will sit, how much space they’ll take up and also how much room will be left for you to manoeuvre in.

Remember the Layout of your Room

This leads us nicely onto our last point; the layout of your room. Whether you’re into your feng shui or not, there’s no denying that the layout directly impacts both the look and feel of your living space.

Our mood is influenced by our environment and surroundings, for instance, many people struggle to concentrate and work in a cluttered environment, and then there’s the old adage of ‘tidy house, tidy mind’.

So, if you get things wrong while formatting the layout of your furniture, your space can soon begin to look either too cluttered or completely empty and soulless. This is particularly important to consider when dealing with narrow rooms or open plan living spaces, both of which require a certain style of furniture, spacing and clear zoning.

Feeling cosy and instilling your own character and personality into a room is key, however, you also need to make sure that your layout and furnishings work together in tandem. This will ensure that your interior is not only aesthetically pleasing but a pleasant space in which to live too.

Did you enjoy our tips and tricks on how to avoid decor regrets? For more essential info and handy interior advice, don’t miss our I Love Wallpaper blog page. For up-to-date demos and the latest products, follow our team on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest!

Advice Decorating

#TopTips: Creating the illusion of space in your home

Posted on February 21, 2020

Ever felt like new houses are getting smaller? Well it turns out that they are! A study in 2018 by LABC Warranty found that UK homes have shrunk by over 160 sq.ft in the last 40 years, and the average two-bedroomed family home now has under 730 sq.ft of living space…roughly the size of two double garages!

With less sq.ft to play with, anything you can do to make rooms feel bigger is going to feel like a win. Fortunately there are plenty of tactics you can use to create the illusion of space, from practical tips (banishing clutter into hidden storage solutions) to insider tricks, used by interior designers the world over to create light and airy looks in the smallest of spaces.

Take a look at our handy hints to make a small space feel bigger. And don’t forget to share the final results with us!

Expert Tip 1: Emphasize the horizontal

Just like in fashion, stripes are a great way of fooling the eye – elongating everything they adorn by playing with how the eye perceives patterns. However, if you thought vertical stripes were the only way to go, we have news for you!

Take a look at the two equal-sized squares below…

If you think the right-hand one looks taller, you are not alone. A famous experiment, known as the ‘Helmholtz Stripes’ proved that, contrary to popular opinion, horizontal stripes can actually work better than vertical ones when it comes to creating height!

London Stripe Wallpaper Silver – @thefurnishingsfairy

With this in mind, when it comes to making your rooms look wider or deeper, go for a classic stripe, such as our London Stripe. If you’d rather the room looked taller, go with a horizontal stripe wallpaper such as our Chevron Geometric – Simple!

Chevron Geometric Wallpaper Grey Silver @rebecca_k_homeinteriors

Expert Tip 2: Add a reflective print

Anything you can do to create light is instantly going to make a space feel brighter and more spacious! Open plan designs can be a huge help, allowing natural light to flood-in through windows into every space.

A well-placed mirror can also be a huge help when it comes to lighting up darker spaces, reflecting the natural brightness of the rest of the room and giving the illusion of more space too!

If natural light is not easy to come by in your home’s layout, why not use wallpapers to add a little extra sparkle and shine, helping any room to feel bigger and brighter.

Go for designs that have a metallic glint, such as our Milan Metallic Wallpaper in a light blush pink colour, or our Prosecco Glitter White Silver Wallpaper.

Milan Metallic Wallpaper Blush Pink Gold @homeatthesmiths

Expert Tip 3: Be colour clever

Using bright whites and deep colours creates contrast, adding depth and giving the illusion of a larger space. Use dark colours in alcoves or small jutting walls to easily create this effect. As a general rule, the lighter a colour or print the more it reflects the light, and gives an overall feeling of space. With a shiny reflection and contrasting colours, Zara Mono is a great wallpaper to achieve this effect.

Zara Mono Geometric Wallpaper White Black @robsons_at_number_10

It can also provide the perfect backdrop for clever accessories and furnishings to help your room look bigger – for instance, putting accessories up on the top ¼ of a wall helps to draw the eye upwards, and leaves walls at sitting eye-level clutter-free, creating a feeling of more space., Having a repeating patterns such as the Milan Geo that draws eyes up and outwards is also a definite space-enhancing win!

Milan Geo Metallic Wallpaper Grey Silver @greyhousetoahome

There you have it, some handy hints to easily create the illusion of space in your home. If you try these out, we’d love to see your results! Send us your pictures through our social media channels.

For more handy hints, be sure to take a look at our other blog posts and we look forward to sharing more #toptips soon!

Decorating Inspiration

How to take the best home interior photo for Instagram

Posted on January 30, 2020

Capturing a beautiful, well composed interior photo for Instagram isn’t easy.

We’ve gathered expert tips from photographers and room stylists to bring you 5 essential tips to perfecting an interior image for your Instagram feed. You don’t have to be an expert photographer to showcase the thought and love that’s gone into creating the home you love.

Read to the end to enter our #ILWinstaworthy competition and win £100 Voucher!

1. Lighting

Perfecting your lighting is definitely most important when taking a photograph. If you’re not a professional photographer and you don’t have expensive, fancy lighting, then you need to use daytime light to the best of your advantage.

Avoid clicking your flash on and make sure you have the light behind you to create the illusion of a bigger and open space.

Although it may be your first instinct to turn all the lights on in a room before taking a photo, don’t do it. Lights will give your photo an orange tint, and can make the shot look dated and dingey. Natural light looks so much better, and softer.

With plenty of practise you will master the best times of the day to shoot in each of your rooms.

2. Placing

It is really important to think about what accessories you want in the shot. This photo does not need to be over-crowded, it does not need to show every single item in your room, it needs to highlight the most important feature. Instagram is all about imagery, if you try and squeeze every item in your home in one photo, your feed will get pretty repetitive – very quickly.

Experiment and get fancy with your placing. Think of it as your own home photo shoot. You want it to portray your home in the best light, showing only the best bits. Relevant items need to be clearly displayed within shot, and perfectly positioned to compliment the main focus, which in this case – is the wallpaper.

3. Focus

This brings us to point number three. An important factor to remember is that every picture tells a story. You need to think about what your focus is for that image. Highlighting this first will make it easier to create unique content for your page. Once you’ve decided what the main feature of the image is, you can then create the scene.

If for example, you wanted to do a close up shot in your dining room, but wanted the focus to be on your new wallpaper, you would make sure the clearest thing in the photo is the wall. Set everything else up in the room to divert everyone’s focus to that wall.

4. Composition

The rule of thirds is a compositional “rule” that suggests dividing the image into thirds and placing the subject on one of those sides, instead of in the center.

Depending on what the focus of the photo is and how big the space is, capturing your image from waist height can portray more of a natural perspective. However, if the focus was a high wall then you may need to think about positioning it a bit higher.

Any movement in a photo can cause your image to be blurry. You may want to consider getting a tripod for the device you’re using, whether that’s your smartphone or camera. This will create a more professional and clear image to share on your feed.

5. Editing

Instagram feeds can vary. Sometimes you can click on your favourite influencers page to find they use the same filter on every image. This creates a theme and can be aesthetically pleasing. However, this can become old very quickly.

We suggest being open to new styles and colours. Explore brightness in one shot if it’s a sunny day, and dress your image with a moody undertone if it’s a rainy day. You need your posts to be relatable, but also welcoming.

We don’t advise overdoing it when it comes to editing. Maybe up the exposure and add a little contrast. Adding tints or going all out on your saturation can create a very false image. Instagram followers want to endeavour into a space that is inspiring, not Photoshopped.

There are a lot of factors to take into consideration when shooting the perfect interior photo. Overall, be sure you have plenty of natural light behind you, don’t cramp the space you’re shooting, and focus on one thing. Then once your image is complete – don’t over edit it!

Create an Instagram feed that is bright, shows your home at it’s best, and most importantly, will inspire your followers.

We want to see your home interior photos! Do you have our wallpaper up in your home and would like to participate in our #ILWinstaworthy competition to win £100 voucher?

Simply follow the steps in this blog post, publish your best interior picture and hashtag #ILWinstaworthy for the chance to win!

*Terms and conditions apply

Advice Decorating Inspiration

Do’s and Don’ts of Feature Walls

Posted on January 29, 2020

Feature walls are a fantastic way to add an instant wow factor to any room. Your walls provide a blank canvas for a huge range of colours and textures, but choosing what to use as a feature requires careful consideration and a delicate balance of dos and don’ts.

Though it’s a quick and easy approach to livening up your living space, getting the right mix of components is a potential minefield of interior design mistakes and mishaps. To guide you safely down the path of successful interior design, we’ve put together a handy list of feature wall tips for your home.

Read on below for the I Love Wallpaper do’s and don’ts of feature walls.

Feature Wall Do’s

Let’s start with the dos of making your feature wall work for your interior space:

Find A Good Balance

Achieving the right balance is important, but it can be a delicate operation. Too little of one colour can mean it gets lost in the mix, while too much of another can be way too overpowering. That said, a 50/50 blend of colours can also look too artificial and a little “boring” for the eye.

We recommend employing a 60/30/40 split between the components that make up your interior’s design, with 60% of space allowed for light colours, 30% for contrasting and darker colours and the remaining 10% to add in the little details and those all-important finishing touches.

Seek Out Complementary Colours

It seems obvious, but this is an important rule that shouldn’t be overlooked. It pays to carry out some paint tests or try some wallpaper samples in your space, as well as some research to make sure that the colours (and patterns!) you use complement each other and don’t clash together.

Accentuate Your Interior’s Space

A feature wall done well has the ability to define a specific space in your home, this technique is especially effective open plan areas or multi-use spaces where it can be a challenge separating one area of the room from another.

Feature Wall Don’ts

We’ve covered some of the main dos behind a successful feature wall, but what about the important points that you should avoid? Here are some of our main feature wall don’ts:

Pick the Right Room

Feature walls don’t work for every room, especially concerning smaller rooms where it can feel a little claustrophobic, so consider the space that you have to play with before painting or papering.

It’s important to remember the purpose of a feature wall; it’s there to highlight a space and bring the interior together – not to work against other aspects of the room and overpower it.

Don’t Go Overboard

You can quickly get carried away while decorating, so be wary of overdoing it and rein in that enthusiasm.

Plan everything out carefully and keep it as simple as you can, limiting your use of colours, patterns and materials in one room so as not to create confusion and chaos with other rooms. One handy tip towards achieving the right balance is creating a mood board of paint, wallpaper and materials you’re considering using.

Don’t Forget to Factor in the Sun

One element that many people forget to consider is natural light. Sunshine can have a huge effect on how your interior looks at certain times of day, so make sure that you factor in sunlight when designing your feature wall.

Check how the sunlight hits the room at different times, be conscious of potential bleaching from sunlight, as well as any mirrored objects that might reflect the light. Natural materials and plants absorb heat well, so bear this in mind when putting together a mood board or adding the finishing touches to your room.

If you’ve got more feature wall do’s and don’ts you’d like to share with us, don’t forget to follow I Love Wallpaper on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. For more interior design advice and inspiration, check out our blog page.

Decorating Inspiration

Top Design Picks: Discount Store Decor

Posted on January 23, 2020

Changing up your home’s aesthetics doesn’t have to be hard on the wallet. There’s actually a world of inexpensive decorating ideas out there to explore that can switch up the appearance of your interior while keeping those purse strings tight.

From thrifty shopping trips to refreshing your existing furnishings, our I Love Wallpaper team have put together a list of budget decorating ideas that won’t break the bank.

Feature walls
Pick up some plants
Rugs
Refresh with wallpaper
Fabrics
Charity shop treasure
Reuse glassware
DIY artwork (frame old magazine pages, calendars)

1. Feature Walls

Rather than redecorating the whole room, why not add in a feature wall (or accent wall) instead? Feature walls are a fantastic means of refreshing up an interior design without committing to changing every colour in the room.

Instead of painting all four walls and changing your furniture, a feature wall allows you to pick up on accents and textures that are already apparent by using a carefully chosen wallpaper. For more advice on this, check our guide on the dos and don’ts of feature walls!
Pick up some plants

2. Pick up some plants

Going green is a serene means of breathing life into any colour scheme. The addition of a little plant life and greenery gives your living space a glorious colour hit, especially if your room is all-white or packed with neutral shades.

One big positive is that plants sit right at home in all kinds of interior styles, and if you’re worried about keeping the real thing alive, there’s plenty of great-looking, convincing fake foliage around to ease the guilt too!

3. Rugs

Carpeting a room can be a costly affair, so why not add some colour, texture and warmth without paying out of your pocket for it? Embracing natural wooden floors and throwing down a rug is a great way to tick all of these boxes while simultaneously saving money and complementing the different accents and features of your interior’s design.

There are plenty of budget-friendly rugs out there in a huge range of pattern styles and colours, so you’ll have no trouble finding a piece that’s perfect for your space.

4. Refresh the wallpaper

Many people choose to upcycle old furniture and accessories with a lick of paint, but why not freshen things up with wallpaper instead? The many prints and patterns of wallpaper available can provide much more of a visual feast than paint, and sometimes all you need is a simple offcut to achieve your desired finish!

Wallpapering the likes of cupboards, cabinets, backsplashes and headboards is a great way of giving your furnishings a completely new and inexpensive look in a matter of minutes.

5. Fabrics

Of course, one of the more popular and cheaper methods of changing up your decor is with the addition of fabrics. Think about it, how many times has a new cushion caught your eye, you’ve impulse purchased, thrown it on the sofa and immediately felt refreshed?

This strategy is as economical as it is effective, and it doesn’t just stop at cushions either; you can recover furnishings with fabric and switch things up in your interior space with new bedding, pillows, slipcovers and throws.

6. Charity shop treasure

We’re huge fans of trawling charity shops for hidden gems and unexpected treasures. There’s a simple pleasure in digging out something that’s been discarded but is perfect for your decor; as the saying goes, one man’s trash is another man’s (or woman’s) treasure, and there’s certainly plenty of opportunities to be uncovered.

From lava lamps and retro prints to vintage furniture and art deco pieces, you may be surprised at some of the amazing bargains you can bag at a charity shop.

7. Reuse glassware

Ever picked up some wine just because the bottle looks rather nice? Yeah, us too. Well, why not hold onto the bottle next time and repurpose it into part of your home’s decor? After a quick soak in hot soapy water – hey presto! You’ve got an attractive, ready-made vase.

The likes of jam jars and jugs are also great for repurposing; a favourite trick of ours is to add in fairy lights to make an eye-catching and inexpensive lamp that’ll look great in the kitchen or on a mantelpiece.

8. DIY artwork

The walls of your home can look pretty bare without the addition of some sort of art, but you don’t have to spend the big bucks to add those finishing touches to your decor. Instead, why not create some DIY artwork?

Sticking to the colour scheme of your interior’s design, you can pick out old magazine cuts, posters, calendar pages… The options are endless! Stick to a theme and frame your findings for a quick and fund-friendly means of adding art to your walls.

For more style tips and inspiration, follow us over on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest, while you’ll find tons more ideas and advice on the I Love Wallpaper blog page.

Decorating Inspiration

How to style your home for Christmas

Posted on December 12, 2019

The year has flown by once again, and here we are hunting the loft and basement for our old, reliable Christmas decorations. If you are an interior Instagram follower then you will know how much pride everyone is taking in their home. With the hashtag ‘#interiorstyling’ reaching over 7 million mentions, 2019 really has been a monumental year for interior lovers.

Christmas is no exception when it comes to taking pride in interior design. Give your home some festive flair this holiday with our gorgeous Christmas living room decorating ideas. From dressing the tree in decorative bows to jazzing up the coffee table with sweet cinnamon scented candles, we’ve found ways to make every corner of your space fabulous this festive period.

Crystal Greek Key Glass Beads Wallpaper in Gold.

Choose your theme

Are you a traditional Christmas decorator? Covering your tree in all things red, green and gold. Or are you strict colour coordinated? The “anything that doesn’t match isn’t coming near” type.
Sometimes it can be difficult to find a balance between traditional and contemporary, and find a look that suits your space.

Try dressing your tree in the same shade as your upholstery to bring the whole room together. We have taken luxury home interior to the next level by accompanying the Crystal Greek Key Glass Beads Wallpaper in Gold with a heavenly blush coated tree.

Decorating with a warmer wallpaper shade has enhanced comfort and charm throughout this living area. Gold can be used as an accent colour all year round to complete and lift a simple scheme. Pairing these gold hues with blush decor has delved into a delicate and soft colour pallet. Don’t be afraid to add some sparkle too! Glittery baubles are all the range right now.

Add some home comfort

If your home is usually the hub of family festivities at Christmas, then your living room will be the go-to space to relax and unwind. Which is even more reason to create a nostalgic, cosy home full of furry accessories! Yes that’s right – from fur coated cushions to thick lavish faux throws. Layer up in style this Christmas.

As well the obvious winter warmers, make sure you dot plenty of Christmas scented candles around! Your home needs to smell as good as it looks, and nothing says Christmas like flickering festive candles.

Let there be light!

The light in a room ultimately sets the mood and creates an ambience of choice. A simple change in lighting can completely alter a room’s vibe and transform a dull space into an inviting hub with the flick of a switch.

The Tree is usually the focal point of your Christmas decor, lighting up the whole room. To match the warmth of the wallpaper, we recommend opting for warm honey-coloured Christmas lights to create a deeply rich and charming scheme.

The crystal beaded wallpaper is set to sparkle all year long with this Pasadena table lamp. It’s frosted shade and gold metallic stand complement the Greek Key design beautifully. Find a lamp that can perfectly fit in with the exclusive and exceptional style of your home.

Get crafty this Christmas

No one said you have to spend a fortune to bring your glamorous home vision to life. You can get really creative with the decs by making your own! This not only means yours is original and like no other – it also adds to the festive fun.

We used unwanted wallpaper samples to create our very own Christmas tree topper. This is a fabulous way to re-use your samples and the perfect finishing touch. There’s plenty you can make too. From baubles to homemade garlands and wreaths. The list is endless, and will provide some amusement for you and the family.

Effortless glamour

The crucial element here is the furniture. Opt for plush fabrics, velvet covered chairs and a metal or glass side table. This variety of textures adds effortless glamour, creating a very sophisticated yet relaxed look.

Start by selecting 2 or 3 colours that contrast subtly with the wallpaper and have some fun! Gold, Neutral & Blush Pink works so heavenly together, and we have incorporated those tones throughout the furniture and decor to match. Adding velvet furnishings is tactile and durable with a hint of decadence,. The texture will instantly turn a room from drab to fab.

Find the perfect backdrop for your home and start creating a Christmas hub of dreams. Whether you adore our admirable gold designs, or need some frosted snowflake vibes we have it all here to create a home you’ll love this festive period.

Decorating Inspiration

Matching Paint to Wallpaper

Posted on September 30, 2019

Matching paint with your wallpaper can give many image-conscious homeowners a massive headache. After all, you don’t want to spend countless hours deliberating over the perfect wallpaper to have your design undone by mismatching paint, do you?

Mercifully, the wallpapering wizards and interior experts here at I Love Wallpaper have made things a whole lot easier for you! Many of our stunning wallpapers include some handy suggestions on the perfect paint to accompany your print, meaning that achieving a cohesive style is just a click away.

However, should you wish to branch out a bit and plump for some bolder colours and different shades of paint, we’ve also compiled some helpful tips on the best paint colours for your wallpaper.

Consider Your Space

Before you commit to splashing your walls with a new colour, you should really think about the space you have to work with.

First things first; find some inspiration. The likes of Instagram, Pinterest and home decor magazines are great for picking up pointers, bookmark your favourite interior design ideas or even create a mood board to help you finalise how your room will look and feel.

Lighting is the second thing to take note of; study the levels of natural light, any artificial lighting and how they might affect your paint colour of choice.

Lastly, it’s a good idea to buy testers before purchasing pots and pots of paint. Perform a colour test on an A4 sheet of paper first with your paint samples, then once you’ve narrowed the colour contenders down, apply the chosen few to your wall; make a note of how they dry and monitor them in different levels of light too.

Matching Paint to Plain Wallpaper

Despite being more simple in its design, plain wallpaper can often be trickier to pair with paint. Pick the wrong shade and your paint runs the risk of overpowering subtle wallpaper prints, so it’s essential that you compliment and not detract from your interior’s design.

We recommend picking up on accents in the wallpaper rather than mirroring the predominant colour in question, while you can also choose a paint that pairs well with your furniture and decor accessories too.

How to Choose Colours to Match Your Bold Wallpaper

On the other hand, there’s bold wallpaper. Arguably, there’s a lot more scope when choosing paint to match your bold wallpaper, given the wealth of eye-catching colours and strong prints available.

There are a few techniques that will help you tackle picking paint to match bold wallpaper; if you’re looking for the wow factor, why not go for the high contrast approach? Art Deco, Animal and Tropical wallpaper prints are all in, with each offering some fantastic colour palettes to play around with. Pairing the vivid pint of our Flamingo Wallpaper (pictured left) with complimenting, contrasting bold navy blue colours and retro furnishings gives your living space an instant impact.

If you prefer a more subtle colour scheme, why not let the bold prints of your wallpaper do the talking? Mixing impactful wallpaper designs with lighter colours creates a high-end finish that isn’t too in-your-face.

Our Bird & Butterfly, Floral and Leaf wallpaper feature an array of amazing prints that embody this stylistic approach. The eye-catching wallpaper does all the work while delicate whites and soft furnishings work harmoniously with designs such as our Meadow Floral Trail wallpaper.

Matching Feature Wallpaper with Paint

Feature wall designs are intended to pull the eye in their direction, but it’s important that you pick a paint that’s going to work in tandem with your feature wallpaper. Damask, Geometric and Retro wallpaper prints are all on-trend feature wall choices that are getting a lot of love at the moment.

Use designs such as the stunning Nova Geometric Wallpaper in Navy & Gold (pictured left) to attract attention for all the right reasons.

When paired with a subtle paint choice and corresponding furnishings, your feature wall will really be allowed to shine. Which accents from the feature you choose to focus on and repeat in your choice of paint colour and interior design are up to you, but bear in mind how the colours will tie in and work seamlessly with your furniture and accessories.

If you’d like more help with matching paint to wallpaper or further information on any of the prints featured, please don’t hesitate to contact our I Love Wallpaper team who’d be happy to assist! For more up-to-date advice and essentials, check out our amazing blog section.

Advice Decorating

Essentials You Need To Hang Wallpaper

Posted on July 17, 2019

Whether you’ve hung wallpaper before or you’re completely new to it, we can all take a refresher on the wallpapering essentials. Here at I Love Wallpaper we’ve put together a handy list of tool needed for hanging wallpaper successfully so that you can update your home in no time.

Once you’ve chosen your preferred wallpaper and the wall you want to put it, it can be easy to jump straight in and get to work installing it. But to avoid many common wallpapering mistakes, it’s a good idea to have everything prepared and ready to use as part of your wallpapering essentials kit. Investing in good quality wallpapering equipment will be a cost effective decorating strategy in the long run, and can also ensure great results!

Tools Needed For Hanging Wallpaper

Paper-hanging scissors with long blades
Wallpaper or pasting table
Lining paper (if required)
Plumb line measuring tool (and chalk/pencil)
Wallpaper adhesive (paste)
Wall sealer (if required)
Application brush
Seam roller
Wallpaper brush
Combination smoother/cutter
Step ladders (if required)

You may only need lining paper and wall sealer in your kit if you’re working with old walls with lumps and bumps, so these can be eliminated for your wallpaper essentials kit if they aren’t applicable to the area you’re working on.

Have everything you need to hang wallpaper ready to go and within easy reach as a way to make the process easier for yourself. Work in a well ventilated room and if hanging wallpaper in trickier spots such as a stairwell, get an extra pair of hands to offer support when working at height to ensure safety when decorating.

Another factor to consider when gathering your wallpapering essentials is how many rolls of wallpaper you’ll need to cover the designated walls – there’s nothing worse than having to leave a job half done! Use our handy Wallpaper Calculator as a way to find out how much wallpaper you will need to cover a wall or room.
Choose your favourite wallpaper from I Love Wallpaper and visit our Tools & DIY department to get everything you need to hang wallpaper! For tips and tricks, be sure to check out our blog

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