Transform Your Room into a 'Jewel Box' with Beautiful Wallpaper

Connie LeFevre is absolutely thrilled about the new products arriving in her Fabric House showroom, where she offers fabric and wall coverings to both interior designers and homeowners.

“I’m excited for the new items coming in—handmade paper made from pineapple and banana waste. It’s amazing what technology is enabling us to do,” she shares, noting that in addition to traditional “paper” wallpapers and enhanced vinyls, manufacturers are now creating wall coverings from wood, mushrooms, and recycled windshield glass.

Her Fabric House showroom, located near her Design House furniture showroom at the Houston Design Center in northwest Houston, features more than 75 wallpaper lines from around the world, including luxury brands like Versace, Armani Casa, and Thibaut, as well as mainstream names such as York, Candice Olson, and Wallquest. 

^{For the powder room in her own home, Houston interior designer Laura Manchee wanted high drama. She paired a colorful Phillip Jeffries wallpaper with a pair of sconces, a geometric-shaped mirror, and a black vanity. Floor tile with a strip of inlaid brass completes the look.}

The surge in wallpaper popularity that started a few years ago is now even stronger, with new materials and technology improving the look and durability of existing wall coverings. This also opens the door to new products, like wallpapers with embedded LED lights that plug into electrical outlets and can be turned on and off with a switch or remote control.

Vinyl wallpapers, once thought of as low-budget and unattractive, are now a top choice for even the most discerning residential designers. Manufacturers have made patterns sharper, colors more vibrant, and textures so impressive that even vinyl grasscloth needs to be seen and felt to be truly appreciated.

At the same time, older patterns are seeing a revival. In the mid-1800s, wallpaper became popular among all social classes in Victorian England. William Morris, an artist, poet, and entrepreneur who led the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain, sought to create wallpaper for the middle class using hand-cut woodblocks and mineral-based dyes.

His first pattern, “Trellis,” debuted in 1862. Over his lifetime, he created dozens more. The company he founded in the 1860s still exists and offers his designs in both wall coverings and fabric. His “Pimpernel” design, which he used in his own dining room, became one of his most beloved patterns and continues to be highly sought after in both the UK and the United States.

Many of his patterns and color choices are inspired by nature, featuring leaves, vines, birds, and flowers. These timeless designs attract homeowners looking for a classic aesthetic with a touch of color. Numerous knockoffs produced by competing brands are often referred to as “Morrisonian” in style.

^{Textured wallpaper gives the walls in this kitchen a three-dimensional quality, says Fabric House showroom owner Connie LeFevre.}

Laura Manchee, an interior designer based in Bellaire and founder of Laura Manchee Designs, believes Morris’s 150-year-old designs offer the warmth that many people want to bring back into their homes.

“We’ve just gone through a whole period of gray, and now we’re moving back to a more classic environment. William Morris and his creations really speak to that,” Manchee explains. “His designs are inspired by nature, and the colors reflect that. I’m happy to see people revisiting the past.”

Manchee incorporates wallpaper into most of her projects. She says the right wall covering can "turn a room into a little jewel box."

“Even if a client is keeping their existing furniture, changing the wall covering can refresh their space,” Manchee adds. “If you want to add color and texture, we can do that with a feature wall.”

For example, she used a soft pink pattern in a nursery and cork with metallic backing in a living room. A blue floral pattern on an office ceiling was perfect for a woman who wanted something subtle that wouldn’t distract her.

^{Houston interior designer Laura Manchee of Laura Manchee Designs created a next-level accent wall with blue grasscloth wallpaper in a client’s Galveston vacation home.}

Technology has also advanced products like grasscloth, which is now crafted more smoothly than the chunky midcentury versions—although those are still available, too. Shoppers can now find vinyl options that are tough enough to withstand the humidity and moisture of bathrooms.

“The new vinyls have really improved. It’s similar to porcelain tiles. At first, they all looked printed and were mainly used in commercial spaces for fire ratings,” Manchee explains. “Now they look fantastic. They’re subtler, the dye lots are more consistent, and the tones are more monochromatic.”

Custom work is also becoming more popular, with designers and homeowners requesting wallpaper in different colors and scales. This sometimes involves turning beautiful landscape scenes into full-wall murals or enlarging a single flower bloom to cover an entire wall.

^{For a pop of whimsy, Houston interior designer Laura Manchee used wallpaper with a beach scene for an elevator in a Galveston beach home.}

Designer Lynne T. Jones, who grew up in a farmhouse in West Texas, recalls the first time she visited the home of an artist there and fell in love with the blue grasscloth wallpaper. “I had never seen anything like that in my life,” Jones says, crediting the experience with inspiring her to pursue a career as an interior designer.

Jones recently completed a powder bathroom project in Jersey Village, where she added wallpaper.

“It has texture and is a bit like grasscloth but more structured. It’s so beautiful, it’s like having art on the walls,” Jones says. “My client told me she just loves sitting in her beautiful bathroom to admire that wallpaper.”