Every home should be decorated attractively and beautifully. But this can be difficult to achieve, even choosing the appropriate design option is difficult. Often there is a choice between painting the walls and pasting them with wallpaper, and the idea of the advantages and disadvantages of both options is vague, incomplete for most people.
Pros and cons of wallpaper
A wall without wallpaper seems uncomfortable, abandoned and poorly maintained. If you can find the optimal type of wallpaper material, you can transform any room you want. A lot of materials have been created, each of them has its own unique parameters. It will please even the most demanding and demanding aesthetes. Preparing the surface for the application of almost all existing wallpaper will not be difficult, in addition, they are able to cover even minor wall defects.
The choice of textures, ornaments and colors, general style (from monochromatic classics to custom-made design compositions) will delight you.
In the same dwelling, you can use different tones and types of wallpaper for each room, fully express its spirit and withstand everything in a single key (or, on the contrary, emphasize the features).
The paper base effectively resists the appearance of mold and other fungi, and the printing completely safe for people and pets. In an apartment building, wallpaper materials are attractive with an excellent level of sound insulation and thermal insulation, and it is quite easy to apply them if you know some of the subtleties.
Among the shortcomings, it can be noted that the wallpaper gets dirty easily, paper varieties cannot be cleaned, and vinyl and non-woven ones need to be rubbed more carefully. For wet rooms, not all types are equally suitable, and those that can be used require the use of expensive adhesives. The coating will have to be changed at least once every five years, and removing the previous layer can be very difficult..
Pros and cons of painting
Painting allows you to mask cracks for a long time, provided that the surface is properly prepared. Repainting is a fairly straightforward process, and many types of paints allow you to wash, wipe off dirt, and use detergents. The choice of color is no less than that of wallpaper, and the texture can also be quite varied..
But:
- Painting gives good results only on thoroughly leveled and prepared walls..
- All preparation at a high level is unlikely to be successful for non-professionals, as is the initial wall covering.
- Surfaces will need to be washed thoroughly from time to time to prevent clogging of pores with dirt.
- Painting everything in one color is a solution that is appropriate only for some organizations, and a variety of designer paints, even acrylic, are expensive.
Which is better to choose?
Make the final decision – wallpaper or painting the walls in the apartment, you still have to. To paint and prepare for it, as already mentioned, you will need to hire experienced finishers.. Wall gluing is also available for non-professionals even when working alone, the list of required equipment is minimal.
If you need to finish the walls not from scratch, but thoroughly leveled during previous repairs, it is financially more profitable to use paint.
Environmental friendliness
Having used wallpaper of a modern design in the room, there is no need to fear for the sanitary situation. The paper covering is easily breathable, and they try to use the same synthetic materials. Anyway wallpapers used in everyday life are hypoallergenic.
With regard to environmental characteristics, however, the situation is not so clear-cut. Either extremely expensive textile or not very attractive paper wallpapers fully meet all the requirements.
Which is more expensive?
Even the most experienced specialists will not give an unequivocal answer to this question, because only wallpaper and paint of comparable categories can be compared, and not materials in general. If you look only at high-quality materials, their cost, together with additional costs, will be approximately the same. Please note that you need to spend more time preparing for painting, than preparing for wallpapering. The ideal base for both design options is drywall.
What is fashionable now?
If you turn to the collections of various designers, both mid-level and extra-class, you can find examples of rooms decorated with both wallpaper and paint. Paints and varnishes are of a colossal variety, some manufacturers have such colors in their assortment that even a simple description of them requires a whole phrase. But wallpaper manufacturers are trying to keep up and are constantly improving their coatings:
- This year, monochromatic wallpapers are at the peak of popularity, and for different rooms they are selected individually, expressing their spirit and style as fully as possible. The combination of plain stripes or lines will visually delimit parts of the room; freshness of perception is ensured by introducing prints into the interior.
In the past year and a half, design experts have recommended the use of wide wallpapers that form only a minimal number of joints..
- Diluting excessive monotony is not only possible, but even necessary. For this purpose, unusual patterns are used. Or seemingly ordinary, but with thin dark contours of shapes. European and Asian motives are steadily in demand, such solutions can be chosen boldly, without fear of their going out of fashion.
- If painting is chosen instead of wallpaper, then it also has its own indisputable leaders. The design community and manufacturers are now inspired by natural greenery, clear water (in the ocean or in a waterfall), ornaments with bright wild flowers. Kale’s tonality is intended to be the backdrop for more catchy and vibrant elements. When you want something light, but practical and not assertive, it makes sense to choose the color of hazelnuts..
- In the event that you need to revive and invigorate the room as much as possible, you can recommend coloring lapis lazuli. Do you want extreme brightness, catchiness, love radical experiments? Then the red-orange tonal “flame” will suit you – the most intense and energetic in the latest collections. A similar color should be used on as large an area as possible, and the rest of the colors should be used only as accents or additions..
- For several years now, the use of blue tones has been a very popular solution. By varying the warm and cold shades of this color, you can easily express your unique mood. You should not go beyond the warm and cold group, choose different tones in each room, but close color temperatures.
- The “Marsala” tonality began to be used in the interior relatively recently – and there is every reason to believe that it is she who will become one of the leaders in the near future. Keep in mind that this juicy cherry color is eye-catching and therefore only suitable for accent walls..
What is more practical?
The wallpapers that are produced today are able to last longer than any paints and varnishes. But if you decide to change the appearance, use a different concept, painting the walls will be easier and easier..
The combined option – paintable wallpaper – allows you to apply additional coating up to ten times, as the manufacturers assure. The only problem is that the texture is preserved no more than five times, and then the paint layer becomes completely smooth..
If it is still very difficult to make a decisive choice, consider applying paint in some rooms and wallpaper in others. Or try to divide them by height, set aside different walls of the main room for them. In new buildings and where the walls will often get dirty, it is worth using wallpaper, and if the room is very humid, it is more appropriate to use paintwork.
Coloring is more suitable for those who like frequent changes.; it is also the only option that allows you to decorate a log cabin. Theoretically, wallpaper can also be glued on it, but you will definitely need to prepare a mediating layer, which will destroy the decorative advantages of a log house.
Alternative solutions
It should be noted that in some cases it is easier to refuse paint, wallpaper and use an alternative material. Which one depends on your priority quality. So, naturalness and environmental friendliness will be best for wood and all coatings based on it (lining, laminate, blockhouse and decorative panels). The plastic panels are moderately durable, highly hygienic and have excellent anti-static properties. But these advantages are canceled out by high toxicity during combustion, susceptibility to high temperatures, tendency to warping and the impossibility of cleaning with abrasive agents..
Brick, stone, tile and porcelain stoneware surfaces may not even be considered – this is a completely different price range. Which particular option to choose, you will have to decide for yourself, because neither the designer nor the builders will have to live in a renovated house. Weigh the pros and cons before making the decisive choice..
Design ideas
Decorating a space in a new building can be very original and effective: experts recommend combining different types of wallpaper. If they are represented by vertical stripes, it will be possible to overcome at least partly the lowering of the ceilings. In order not to break the harmony, it is worth applying a coating of a single color gamut, varying only shades. When drawings of different types are combined, it is worth choosing those that match in color or style..
When coloring is chosen, you can resort to combining three colors, and it can be expressed both in completely imperceptible transitions from one tone to the next, and in sharp contrast. There is no prescribed rigidity of the border, it can also be in the form of protrusions, moldings and other decorative elements are often used. There are no canons in choosing a color combination either, you can focus entirely on your imagination.
Knowledge of the simplest selection principles will help create an original interior that matches the current fashion, both with the help of wallpaper and with the help of paintwork.
For more information on how to paint walls in two colors, see the following video..
