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Original poster

Redecorating, is photo wallpaper cool or tacky?

66 replies

bedraggledmumoftwo · 30/01/2016 12:06

Have just started stripping wallpaper in what will be our lounge. Very old house and the current dodgy textured wallpaper has been there since the dark ages. I've hit on a massive photo wall (something like black and white new York city skyline) as a way to drag the room into the 21st century rather than just a fresh coat of paint. Dh said it would either look cool or kitsch or just tacky. Then he decided it would get in the way of him having a massive TV on that wall, so now he is against. But I am really keen and want some opinions on whether it is a terrible idea? It would be one whole wall so 12ft long and all the way up to the ceiling. Any thoughts?

OP posts:
YouGottaKeepEmSeparated · 30/01/2016 12:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Valentine2 · 30/01/2016 12:50

Skyline ones look cool but after some time they start to get on your nerves I think. For me, a wall mural of natural life and green woods etc would nearly always keep me relaxed I think.

Battleshiphips2 · 30/01/2016 12:52

My personal view is wallpapers such as that are tacky and horrible BUT my DB and sil have just done their room with this paper (fireplace wall) and painted the walls white and it actually looks really nice! I was really surprised by how good it looked.

IssiePink · 30/01/2016 12:55

If it's done really well, I like it... However, I'd rather pay for an artist, but realise that's expensive. I would only do it in a bedroom :)

PurportedFeminist · 30/01/2016 12:56

Do the New York Skyline or Brooklyn Bridge have any personal significance to you?

If not, get some custom made with an image that does (nicer and it'll take longer for you to get sick of it). Even B&Q do it. You can use your own photo or find a stock image online.

Floggingmolly · 30/01/2016 12:58

Don't decorate your house to please visitors (or Mumsnet members, none of whom will be dropping round for coffee any time soon)
You're the one who has to look at it. Taste is so very personal.

harrasseddotcom · 30/01/2016 13:00

we used the pixers for my younger ds and it came to arounD £140 for one wall (we had a 40% off voucher but it looks like they now doing a 60% off). It also came in 4 rolls which was much easier to match/put up than the mural for my ds(15) which came in four quarter pieces. Putting up the first three bits was more difficult due to the size and shape of it and then trying to match the last bit to the bit above it and the bit beside it was pretty fiddly.

PurportedFeminist · 30/01/2016 13:00

No I was wrong, it's Homebase that do it;

www.homebase.co.uk/en/static/custom-wallpaper

Original poster
bedraggledmumoftwo · 30/01/2016 13:07

Do the New York Skyline or Brooklyn Bridge have any personal significance to you?

Dh and I went to NYC for a child free city break last year. So it seems perfect for the child free sanctuary I am trying to create every other square inch of our house is a play zone

OP posts:
GrumpyOldBag · 30/01/2016 13:12

Tacky

LovelyFriend · 30/01/2016 13:12

not as tacky as a massive tv on the wall :)

pictish · 30/01/2016 13:15

Yuk...that Brooklyn Bridge mural is so not my thing. I think huge pictures of American cityscapes are baffling. They seem very popular and I can't fathom why.

PurportedFeminist · 30/01/2016 13:18

Ah, I see. I tried to create a child free sanctuary once Grin

pictish · 30/01/2016 13:20

Regarding the concept of photo/mural wall paper overall, I think it can occasionally work in certain properties depending on the theme of the paper and the style of the property.

I can't see an American cityscape working in an old character house at all. They are completely at odds with one another. There is no relationship there.

I mean it's up to you OP of course, it's you who has to look at it.

Dreamonastar · 30/01/2016 13:22

I know someone who has it and it looks utterly horrible.

I wouldn't normally be so erm 'honest' but it's really grim.

Mind you I have traditional tastes.

PennyHasNoSurname · 30/01/2016 13:24

Id only do it if it were a world map. Maybe sepia/rustic looking.

No other prints though.

pictish · 30/01/2016 13:25

I think American cityscapes look very 'Interiors by Argos'. I just don't like them at all.

RJnomore1 · 30/01/2016 13:25

Well you asked for opinions so-

Oh dear god no. Please don't.

PennyHasNoSurname · 30/01/2016 13:26

Like this

Redecorating, is photo wallpaper cool or tacky?
Dreamonastar · 30/01/2016 13:28

Yeah me too pitsch I like that phrase Grin

Aspergallus · 30/01/2016 13:28

What pictish said. Treś Travelodge.

PurportedFeminist · 30/01/2016 13:29

That's gorgeous Penny.

iamnina · 30/01/2016 13:30

absolutely so so tacky Sorry but like he coronation st birds but much worse - at least they weren't trying to be anything.

I've never understood why anyone would plaster a mural of Brooklyn bridge or opera house etc on their wall

However if you like it, you live there and you are the one who needs to smile every day when you walk into the room so stuff what anyone else thinks. :)

iamnina · 30/01/2016 13:31

and totally with pictish on tacky Argos interiors

DickDewy · 30/01/2016 13:34

It would be a Hell No! from me.

It's naff - like affirmations in a cursive script or those twatty big letters.