Wallpaper feature wall - Yay or Nay?

[BettyUnderswoob]

I'm completely redoing my bedroom and it will be green. I am wondering whether I should have one wall wallpapered: a bit of a feature wall. There are so many nice patterns now, but have I missed the boat? Is it terribly naff?
Room will have medium dark wooden floors, some dark green painted furniture and fairly industrial bedside cabinets and lights. I prefer a modern to a traditional look.

Also considering doing skirting in a darker green than the walls, but I guess that's a question for another thread!

I have a feature wall in my bedroom and I love it.

The wallpaper is geometric grey/marble pattern and the other walls are a matching grey/blue.

I love it.

The only wallpaper I have in the whole house is one wall of Cole and sons woods and stars paper behind my bed and it's absolutely gorgeous- the nicest wall of my house.

No to the big flowery prints especially the maroon ones on beige - totally passé

How about doing the wallpaper just above the picture rail?

No. I’d say a lovely light and fresh green paint all over the walls would be great. I’m personally not a fan of feature walls but your choice of course.

I have just finished a refurb on my new home and papered the chimney breasts in the sitting room and my bedroom. I think they look lovely and the wall place goes with the tiling on the fireplaces. I don’t give a toss whether it is on trend or not. Choosing the wall paper was so much fun. I ordered at least 14 samples and stuck them up to get to my end result. I would do what you think looks nice!

If you want one, have one. We have them in lounge, dining room and bedroom and like them. Going to redo the bedroom and there will be another one.

Some think they are naff, others don't. It's like kitchen islands, some love them, some think they are crap. I'm in the crap camp on them, but it doesn't matter to others.

I love a feature wall. Make sure the wallpaper is fantastic

It’s a yes from me but with conditions.

If it’s cheap crap wallpaper with big flowers or whatever on from b&q it’s a no. But if you pick a beautiful wallpaper, and these normally cost ££££ and tone the rest of the walls in with it, then it’s a huge yes.

So it’s about the quality of the willpower and how you tie the other walls in. That makes it a yes or no

I'm about to put wallpaper on the main wall in my living room, its a light brown and has light imprint of cow parsley all over.
I love it!

I did a wallpapered feature wall in the main bedroom and really like it. The wallpaper came from www.grahambrown.com who have loads of different styles/colours/etc.

Take a photo of the room with a good view of that wall and 'copy' the wallpaper onto the photo...if will give you a rough idea which might help.

Good luck ;-)

No. Do the whole room.

I’m confused by people saying a feature wall is naff. Surely it’s only as naff as the paper you choose?! There are some amazing wallpapers out there. I love a feature wall.

I love Emma J Shipley wallpapers but would find them too overwhelming on all 4 walls. So in my bedroom I did one wall in paper. I got the matching curtains. I love it. I don’t care if anyone thinks it’s naff. I’m the one spending time here and it makes me happy.

I recently had my lounge decorated, and added a fabulous wallpaper on one wall. It's a really bold, geometric retro design. I bloody love it.

Definitely yay, I have two feature walls, I love them. Just make sure you get a wallpaper that won’t date. It’s a personal thing and a good way of brightening up a room and putting your stamp on it.

Decorste your house for yourself, not for the people on Mumsnet! Personally I love wallpaper because it can completely change the look and feel of a room. And if you only do one wall it's easy enough to change in a year or so if your tastes change. Go for whatever you love, even if that happens to be maroon flowers on a beige background from B&Q 😁

Ah, nice to see the wallpaper/ feature wall lovers bringing up the rear!

Thank you all so much for your comments and suggestions.

I have decided to do it! In response to a couple of you, no - there will be no big florals, though I do like trees/leaves/foliage.

@carlywurly Trees and Stars is gorgeous. DD has a cheaper looky-likey in her room, the only wallpaper in the house at the moment.

And @Bluntness100 I promise any paper I choose will be reassuringly expensive! Cheapest I’ve seen that I’ve liked was £50 per roll; most expensive £140

Thanks for the suggestions... I remember Graham&Brown used to be fairly mainstream @WindyRose, but they’ve really upped their game and gone quite posh and interesting. Lovely leafy, toile and animal prints... £65 per roll

And @Meruem the Emma J Shipley ones are amazing! I think it likely I’ll be buying one of hers. Even on the first page of the site I couldn’t pick just one!

Thanks again, all.

I think it depends. Big red and black flowers on a white background with a flat-screen telly hung on it a la Changing Rooms in the 90s - noooooooo! So dull, so predictable, so ugly. And that's what 'feature wall' means to lots of people I think, hence the horror.

But a really stunning, expensive, striking wallpaper on one or two walls, with equally gorgeous paintwork, furniture, etc? Go for it.

I think it takes confidence and a great 'eye' to do it really well though.

Haha cross-posted OP. Glad you've decided to go for it!

We've just redone the kitchen diner and replaced the feature wall (well, area really, it's 2 walls and a diagonal chimney breast) with another in a nice flowery design. The rest of the room is a duck egg and it's big so the wallpaper just signifies a change of area use rather than being a pointless mural.

It suits my house, my lifestyle and my kitchen so it works. If yours would suit you and the room then go for it. Get some samples and hang them for a week, see how it looks in different lights. Enjoy not being constrained by others who don't live there.

If you like it, it must be right.

Xpost there. The paper we chose after 20 samples was the cheapest. Not by choice but it was the pattern we all as a family liked.

Feature walls can look naff, but they can be done well. I think that they look best when matched with bold paint on the walls. So I like the sound of your green. When the feature wallpaper is the only feature, and the other walls are a magnolia wasteland, that’s not so great!

Getting samples is a good idea, @Pascha

Hopefully the one I like best will be the cheapest... though somehow I doubt it!

I think it depends. Big red and black flowers on a white background with a flat-screen telly hung on it a la Changing Rooms in the 90s - noooooooo! So dull, so predictable, so ugly. And that's what 'feature wall' means to lots of people I think, hence the horror.

I think that wallpaper has appeared on every episode of ‘homes under the hammer’!

I didn't think so either until we hid the cost of each sample and just chose the one we liked best. I think the shortlist had paper ranging from about £25 up to £70.

Mines a kitchen so premium unwashable silk designs were never going to get a look-in anyway. There was definitely a practical aspect to it. Maybe we would have chosen differently in our bedroom.