The Great Wallpaper Rebellion: Defending Flamboyance in a World of White Walls

But the bathroom was recently renovated and freshly tiled. Previous owner wasn't a smoker. The buildings were in great shape, and the economy of the housing co-op was great and it was run professionally. And it was an estate sale, so I put in a bid below asking price, and got the apartment, because I was the only one interested in it, and the people selling it didn't need the money, they just wanted to get rid of the apartment!

Sure, it took time to fix it up, and that's a kind of investment a lot of people don't want to do, but the other thing that drives people's behaviour in this is that to them, there's two kinds of money. The mortgage is some kind of abstract number that isn't really money, but magically transforms into a monthly mortgage payment in real money. But buying paint and wallpaper and paying someone to fix up your place, that costs real money all the way, and a lot of it, so people cheap out. And then they spend 2x, 3x that amount as a premium when buying a house where the interior doesn't need to be re-done. But it's in unreal mortgage number money, so people spend it without thinking.

I've always had a pretty easy time of it, so it surprised me when my girlfriend (now wife!) told me she had to see a shirt to know if she liked it or not. I stared at the picture, dumbfounded. But apparently pictures don't really do things justice for her, and she can't do it.

Likewise, when we're designing a layout for a room, she has to see it before she can really appreciate it, whereas I can see it in my mind and be perfectly happy that I know what it'll look like.

We've been house-hunting lately, and the ugly houses with horrible wallpaper or gaudy colors everywhere are really hard to envision without them. Even I'm having trouble with it, but she can't see that first picture without exclaiming about how horrible it is.

And there's one other reason: We're trading up houses, and there's a ton of expenses and things to get done. If the house needs a lot of work, like carpets, painting, new kitchen, etc, that means we need somewhere to live while it gets done, or go without a kitchen/etc until it's done. That means holding onto 2 mortgages for a while, which is crazy expensive. (You get it back later, but it's a nightmare until then.) Picking a house that's already what you want is a lot easier, and a house has to be pretty cheap to make that tradeoff.

For the record, it looks like we're going to put the work in. But only the minimum to move in, and then have to do a lot of it over time as we live there. It's a pretty daunting propostion.

In fact, whenever I've browsed the minimalism-inspired subreddits, I've always made a game of it: minimalism or poverty?

You do occasionally see it done, but registration issues (getting stencils repeatably in the same place) mean it's realistically limited to one colour and it's more skilled labour intensive.

You can also get PVC-based wallpaper, although it usually has a fibre backing for adhesion.

While googling for this I also saw reference to a "mould scare" killing previous popularity of wallpaper.

50s: wallpaper

60s: modern/minimal

70s: mix

80s: wallpaper

90s/2000s: modern/minimal

now: back to wallpaper, apparrently

obviously this is oversimplifying the styles of the era, but yes.

Not shilling but seriously considering it for my next place.

When was wallpaper ever anything other than purely decorative?

Also, don't necessarily think about wallpaper as something merely covering the walls - think of it as a decoration, in the same vein you might hang art. As you mention, it doesn't have a structural purpose. One way I've seen used to great effect is to paper only a single wall in a room, with a very bold wallpaper - eg behind the dining table in a large/long kitchen. It helps to "break up" the room in two sections.

Online stores mostly. I found a nice collection on Amazon a year ago, but it is a premium category of products.

I think the big box home decoration stores tend to carry mostly whatever is in vogue at the moment and will sell to the masses; like faux brickwork or baroque elements without any sense of proportion or sensible colours. This you might find clichéd or gaudy — I do. And of course the inevitable white and beige in a variety of embossings and patterns.

> Show me something that isnt 19th or even 20th century.

The problem to me seems more that most wallpaper is distinctly 21st century. It is trendy and it gradually changes every season. It is literally designed to look current and up-to-date right now, which by necessity implies that it will look dated in a year or two. The idea is that you redo your walls every five years or so.

A bit impractical for most, don't you think?

I'll also point out that wallpaper goes as far back as Roman times, if this is some kind of bizarre appeal-to-tradition argument.