How to choose wallpaper for the living room?

The drawing-room is called a drawing-room, that guests are welcome here. That is, according to how this room looks, familiar and unfamiliar visitors of your house learn a lot about how your family lives, what your welfare is, whether the owners have a taste - in general, everything that is usually hidden from prying eyes. In addition, the living room is the place where the whole family gathers and where everyone should be well and cozy. The appearance of any room depends largely on the design of the walls. How to choose wallpaper for the living room?- Let's think about it together.

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What is your living room?

Wallpaper for the living room is not worth buying only because you liked the flowers painted on them. It may very well be that the drawing, quite attractive in the catalog and even in the store, on the walls will look quite different. So first of all you need to evaluate:

• functionality of the room - whether it will be only a living room or you are forced to use this room somehow else;
• features natural light;
• the dimensions of your living room;
• height of ceilings;
• the presence of niches, built-in cabinets, arches;
• number of windows and doors;
• whether the built-in technology is supposed( for example, air conditioning);
• are you going to completely change the furniture or leave the one that is already there;
• will there be on the walls paintings, photographs, pendants with flowers, additional lamps.

Important! In small apartments, the living room quite often performs additional functions, being at the same time an office, a library, a dining room, a workshop or even a bedroom. In this case, it is necessary to provide zoning, and the wallpaper provides an excellent opportunity for this.

Zoning is also used in large living rooms - for example, you can select the corners for a quiet rest, the place where there is a home theater and much more.

Dimensions living room

Traditionally, the living room is the most spacious room in the house. But a large room in a small apartment and a large room in a cottage on an individual project are completely different large rooms. Therefore, it is better to measure a room. You need to know:

• area of ​​the actual room;
• total area of ​​the walls;
• the area of ​​each wall, as well as sections between windows or in a niche.

Important! The area of ​​the room is important, in order to roughly estimate which basic color is better to take. The rule here is simple - the smaller the room, the lighter the wallpaper should be and the smaller the picture on them.

As for the area of ​​the walls, it is necessary for counting the number of wallpapers. This will help to avoid unnecessary costs. If you are going to combine different types of wallpaper, you need to calculate the area of ​​each plot.

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What are the wallpaper?

The times when only paper wallpapers were used to decorate all the rooms were irretrievably gone. Now in stores a huge assortment of wallpapers made of a variety of materials. Each species has its own characteristics, which must be taken into account if you want to accurately choose wallpaper for the living room.

In the shops you will find wallpaper:

• paper;
• textile;
• non-woven;
• vinyl;
• of fiberglass;
• from exotic materials.

Paper wallpaper

Paper is a traditional material for wall decoration, including in the living room. It has many advantages:

• large assortment;
• variety of colors and patterns;
• variety of prices - you will easily find very cheap, but beautiful wallpaper;
• paper wallpaper is easy to paste and easy to remove the next repair.

There are, however, significant cons:

• can be glued only to a well-treated wall, because they do not hide unevennesses;
• they quickly get dirty, while not all paper wallpaper can be washed;
• pasting paper wallpaper, it is not always possible to fit the picture.

Vinyl wallpaper

Vinyl is a popular material for wall finishing. Vinyl wallpaper is slightly thicker than paper, it costs a little more, but it pays off with a vengeance:

• producers produce vinyl wallpapers of various colors;
• to glue such wallpaper is not harder than paper wallpaper, shoot - too;
• is the most cardinal difference - they can be cleaned and washed in almost any way.

Important! This is the ideal wallpaper for the house, where there are small children, or for small multi-purpose lounges.

Non-woven wallpaper

In modern apartments, you can often see non-woven wallpaper. That is, at first glance it is rather difficult to understand what walls are upholstered in - the fleece gives a lot of opportunities to show imagination.

The main advantages of non-woven wallpaper:

• durability;
• moisture resistance;
• insensitivity to ultraviolet;
• they can be painted, and many times;
• an abundance of colors in stores.

Important! Flizeline wallpaper is ideal for those who love and can draw on the walls. You can change the interior even every week, just repainting one of the walls.

Fiberglass Wallpapers

You can also paint fiberglass wallpaper once. There are other advantages to this material:

• they can by faith and truth serve for many years;
• perfectly carry the wash;
• are not afraid of fire - it's a great material for a dacha where there is a stove or fireplace.

Textile wallpaper

Fabric wallpaper - an old type of decoration, it is enough to recall silk-covered living rooms of aristocrats. Do you want to feel like a princess? Textile wallpaper suitable for this is just perfect. They are made, of course, from tissue on paper or non-woven basis. Such wallpapers are rather thick, they provide, among other things, good sound insulation.

For the manufacture of textile coatings are used different materials, so you can choose wallpaper for the living room, based on:

• silk;
• flax;
• felt;
• velor;
• polyester.

Important! With the right selection of colors, the living room, upholstered with such wallpaper, looks simply gorgeous. The seams are invisible, the pattern and texture are exquisite.

Main disadvantages of textile wallpaper:

• high price;
• complexity of care - the fabric very well collects dust, and the wallpaper should not be washed.

Wallpapers from exotic materials

Designer fantasy is inexhaustible. Artists on the interiors offer their clients a variety of materials for the decoration of the walls. In the abundance of options there are materials traditional and even ancient - wood or cork, for example. But there are quite rare options, such as algae.

One of the materials, still rare in European living rooms, but gaining increasing popularity, is bamboo. The wallpaper from this material looks luxurious, easy to take care of - like any natural materials, bamboo is beautiful to moisture, does not suffer from sunlight or artificial lighting.

Important! Is it worth it to finish with such wallpaper the whole room?- It's a very big question. Maybe it's better to limit the panel or designate one of the zones as bamboo wallpaper.

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Choose the color and drawing

Construction shops offer customers wallpapers of the most different colors. What color to choose? Or, more precisely, what is the main tone in your living room? The very first rule - the color should not annoy any of the family members. Moreover, it is highly desirable that everyone likes it.

Therefore, first, ask all households what color they like best, choose several options, and then give preference to the best. That is, one that matches the parameters of your living room, like family members and is combined with the existing furniture.

Warm or cold?

To properly choose wallpaper for the living room, you may need some information from the field of color. Colors are:

• achromatic;
• warm;
• cold.

We'll deal with them a bit more:

1. Achromatic colors - white, black and gray. They fit perfectly with any others, but the walls of the living room, covered with wallpaper of one of these flowers, will not look very good.
2. Warm tones - yellow, red, orange, purple with a predominance of red. They have a wonderful property - a room whose walls are painted in warm colors, it seems lighter and warmer. Warm tones include also beige, pink, brown.
3. Cold colors - green, blue, blue, purple with a predominance of blue. The room, where the walls are painted in such colors, seems a little colder than it really is.

Important! When choosing the main wallpaper for the living room, consider the location of the room. If the windows go to the north or the house is constantly in shadow from the next - choose warm tones. The room will seem lighter and bigger. Well, for the sunny side, any color is suitable.

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A little bit about the drawing

The drawings on the wallpaper are very different. However, if you look closely, you can divide all the wallpaper into several large groups:

• monochrome;
• in strip;
• with flowers;
• with fine spots;
• with large spots.

How to choose a wallpaper for the living room from all this variety?- Not so difficult as it may seem:

1. For living rooms with exquisite furniture and a lot of various ornaments, one-tone wallpaper is the most suitable.
2. As for the wallpaper in the strip, the stripes can be both vertical and horizontal. Vertical stripes are good for living rooms with low ceilings, as visually increase the height. The horizontal pattern allows you to visually move the walls, that is, it is suitable for small rooms.
3. On wallpaper with flowers can be depicted not only roses or chamomiles. Designers call it any wallpaper with large recognizable objects - birds, animals, fruits. Choose such wallpaper for the living room should be cautious, because large and closely located elements can visually reduce the size of the wall, and accordingly - and the room as a whole.
4. This also applies to wallpaper with large spots, regardless of what it is - an abstract brushstroke or print with a picture of a palm, a lion. Large spots - for large living rooms, they will make a smaller room even smaller.
5. But the picture with small spots is suitable for any room.

Drawing and style

On sale you can find different options for decor and choose wallpaper for the living room with or without a picture. Which to choose depends on the style in which you decorate your living room. For example:

1. For a very popular now medieval style there are wallpaper with a pattern for stone - paper, vinyl, non-woven.
2. For the living room in the style of ethno, wallpaper with a pattern for a tree will suit, while manufacturers are as sophisticated as they can. You can find a drawing that simulates oak panels and even ebony panels. True, this style requires a fairly tough selection of furniture.
3. Fashionable Provencal style - a lot of light and space, elegant furniture, exquisite paintings or works of European masters of arts and crafts. This style requires the corresponding wallpaper - light, with noticeable floral ornaments.
4. For the style of rococo wallpaper suitable with intricate curls. They can be made of cloth or paper, and any other materials too. The main thing - a drawing: a flower ornament "under olden times", light tones, golden lines.
5. For a drawing room in the style of minimalism, single-colored walls without ornaments are characteristic, colors - neutral or with an unobtrusive pattern. Austerity in everything.

Texture

Wallpaper can have a smooth texture or relief - bulges and pits are arranged chaotically or in strict order. The choice of this or that invoice entirely depends on the style in which you decorate the room:

• large bumps are good for medieval style or for ethno style;
• for classics is a better smooth wallpaper;
• and for rococo style - shallow indentations and convexes arranged in a strict order.

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Combined wallpaper

The living room does not need to be completely pasted with the same wallpaper. Of course, you can do so, especially if you have luxurious furniture and many ornaments. But more and more popular is the combined design. There are a lot of options:

• all the walls are covered with different wallpaper;
• on one of the walls is a panel of wallpaper of a different kind;
• in the room are allocated zones and denoted by different wallpaper;
• trellis with curbs;
• Wall Mural.

Each wall can be "assigned" its own color. However, in this case, you must act very carefully and choose wallpaper for the living room in colors that really combine well and visually do not reduce the size of the room. The wallpaper is better to choose different in color, but similar in texture.

A wallpaper from a different kind of wallpaper will give your living room a very original look. For example, it looks good wall, the main surface of which is covered with wallpaper with a small pattern, and a square or an oval in the middle - with a similar pattern, but large. Do not forget to make a spectacular edging.

It is interesting to look and the panel, if the whole wall is covered with wallpaper in warm colors, and the panel - in the cold. Or vice versa - the door to winter or the door to summer, as someone likes.

Zones

Zoning is simply necessary for small apartments. Why not divide the living room into zones? Here is a corner for relaxation - a wallpaper of calm color, an armchair, a coffee table, a floor lamp. And here - a home theater with a bright screen, but a dark background. Or corner for needlework - a nightstand in the corner, suitable for the plot of the panel.

Tapestry with curbs

Great option for living room. For such decoration fit wallpaper from any material. For example, the walls are covered with fabric wallpaper, and wide and wide borders of paper or vinyl wallpaper depicting marble or gilded ornaments are made at the top and bottom.

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Wall-papers

For the living room it is always possible to choose wallpapers - for the whole wall or for its part. Of course, you should not cover all the walls with wallpaper. But by placing a beautiful landscape on one of the walls, you will visually enlarge the room, besides, random visitors will get the impression that there are more windows in the room than there is actually.

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Little tricks of the

So, you chose wallpaper for your living room. It was their turn to glue. To work and money did not go wrong, consider several circumstances:

• humidity;
• surface quality.

Humidity test

In order to evaluate the humidity of a concrete wall, you will need:

• roll polyethylene film;
• adhesive tape.

Humidity test is performed as follows:

1. Apply polyethylene on the wall( completely covering the surface).
2. Attach the tape with tape.
3. Leave the film overnight.

Important! If the film appeared in the morning drops - dry the wall. Then the wallpaper will fall on it like a glove.

Wall quality

This parameter is checked by a knife or other sharp object. Scratch the wall. If it began to crumble, it would have to be plastered again.

Can I glue wallpaper on a wall that was previously painted? It is possible, but the wall should also be checked. It is not difficult to do this, you just need an adhesive tape:

1. Stick a piece of tape on the wall.
2. Tear off the adhesive tape.

Important! If there are no traces of paint - everything is in order, you can glue the wallpaper. If the paint comes off - it should be removed if possible. But whitewash needs to be washed off.

If the wall is not flat enough, and you expect to use a smooth wallpaper - you will have to surface the surface. Composition you will sell in the building store.

A few words about wallpaper gluing:

1. Adhesive wallpaper is better in the afternoon. This is not only preferable in terms of aesthetic, but also much safer. Electricity in the apartment is better at this time to turn off, especially when you glue the wallpaper near the switches and sockets. Sockets are better for this time to remove, switches too.
2. Provide an optimum temperature. The room should not be too cold or too hot. The optimum option is 18-20 C. There should be no drafts and direct sunlight, even if you glue in the summer.
3. If the outlet or switch falls directly to the middle of the canvas - after gluing the canvas, make a cross-cut in this place. When the wallpaper is dry, cut out a hole in the shape of an outlet or switch. After that, screw in the sockets.

Where do I start?

In most premises it is more convenient to start from some angle, and then already glue in one and the other side. However, if you have an arch - first glue those bands that will be next to it, and only then - the rest. In this case, the first bands should be a couple of centimeters wider than necessary. The remainder is wrapped in an arch. This edge will still be sealed when you glue the opening.

Important! Before you glue, mark the wall. On the plumbline, draw a few vertical lines, this is especially important before pasting the first strip.

We hope that after reading this article you have no questions about how to choose wallpaper for the living room. Show your imagination, act confidently, but not absurd, and then you will always be pleased to be in the rest room in your apartment and not hesitating to invite your friends there.