Against the White Box

Essay 03

It has been a while since I have seen wallpaper and fabric-clad walls used heavily in homes.

One of the first times I remember seeing padded, fabric-clad walls was in Russia. My aunt had them in her primary bedroom and I thought it was just fabulous. Luxurious, cozy, and slightly old world in the best possible way.

Recently, I’ve started noticing them again, or perhaps just paying closer attention.

A home I visited recently had padded, fabric-calad walls in every bathroom. Another had wallpaper tucked into the interior of built-in bookshelves, wrapping the back and side walls behind the shelving itself. Neither idea was especially novel, but both felt memorable simply because they have become so rare.

Wallpaper, fabric walls, grasscloth, mural papers, textured wallcoverings… all of these things add something that paint often struggles to.

Depth.

Character.

Texture.

Paint can be beautiful, but it can also feel flat. Even when the color is lovely, it can still leave a room feeling one-dimensional. Wallpaper has the ability to make a room feel layered, lived in, and specific.

I think wallpaper still suffers from a bit of a bad reputation because so many people associate it with the floral prints, borders, and heavily themed rooms of the 80s and 90s. But there are so many beautiful, understated, elegant wallcoverings now that I get excited whenever I have the opportunity to use one.

I especially love quieter applications.

Like wallpaper inside a bookshelf, wallpaper in a powder bath, or some nice grasscloth in an office. Maybe a mural in a hallway alcove, or a ceiling treatment in a small room.

Just because a space is small or transitory does not mean it has to be boring.

In fact, those spaces are often where wallpaper works best.

Let’s bring back wild guest bathrooms. Let’s bring back hallways that surprise you a little. 

Let’s bring back rooms that feel like someone actually made decisions in them.

Because for a while, homes became too flat, too white, and too drywall-heavy.

We became so afraid of committing to things in our homes.

It is interesting to me that people will commit to a countertop slab or a cabinet finish without much hesitation, but wallpaper still feels scary to them. Perhaps because it feels more personal. More specific. Potentially harder to undo.

But that is also exactly what makes it good.

Wallpaper can make a room feel intimate in a way paint rarely can. Fabric walls do this even more. They soften a space visually, but they also soften it acoustically. They absorb sound. They dampen echo. In a dry climate like Arizona, fabric walls can even help a room hold a touch of humidity.

I do think there are places where wallpaper should be used carefully. Very large spaces can quickly become overwhelming. Kid-heavy zones may not be the best fit for delicate materials down low. Humidity, moisture, and practical wear all matter.

Although in Arizona, we can get away with using wallpaper and fabric in typically high humidity zones far easier than people in wetter climates. The padded fabric bathrooms I saw recently felt smart, warm, and luxurious.

Wallpaper and fabric walls make a home feel collected, considered, and layered. 

And perhaps that is really what this is about.

Not wallpaper itself, but the return of personal flair.

The return of rooms that feel like someone cared enough to make them specific.

I love seeing wallpaper in homes and I wish it happened more.

I wish people put more of their budgets toward materials like wallpaper, because few things make a home feel more lived in, more real, or more memorable.