Wallpaper or painting walls: which is better to choose?

Every dwelling should be finished attractively and beautifully. But to achieve this is not easy, even to choose the appropriate design option is difficult. Often there is a choice between painting the walls and pasting them with wallpaper, and the idea of ​​the strengths and weaknesses of both options is vague, incomplete for most people.

Pros and cons of wallpaper

The wall, on which the wallpaper is not glued, seems uncomfortable, abandoned and poorly groomed. If you can choose the optimal type of wallpaper, you can convert any room you want. There are a lot of materials, each of them has its own unique parameters. It will please even the most demanding and demanding aesthetes. To prepare the surface for the application of almost all existing wallpaper will not be difficult, in addition, they are able to cover up even minor defects of the walls.

The choice of textures, ornaments and colors, the overall style (from monochrome classics to custom-made design compositions) will delight you.

In the same dwelling one can use different tonalities and types of wallpaper for each room, fully express its spirit and withstand everything in the same way (or, on the contrary, emphasize features).

The paper base effectively resists the appearance of mold and other fungi, and the printing application of the pattern perfectly safe for people and pets. In an apartment building, wallpaper materials are attractive with excellent levels of noise insulation and heat insulation, and applying them is quite simple if you know some subtleties.

Among the shortcomings, it can be noted that the wallpaper is easily dirty, paper varieties are not cleanable, and vinyl and non-woven need to be rubbed carefully. For wet rooms, not all types are the same, and those that can be used require the use of expensive adhesives. It is necessary to change the coating at least once every five years, and the removal of the previous layer can be very difficult.

Pros and cons of painting

Coloring allows you to mask cracks for a long time, provided that the surface is properly prepared.Repainting is a very simple process, and many types of paints allow you to wash, rub off dirt and use detergents. The choice of colors is no less than that of wallpaper, and the texture is also quite diverse.

But:

  • Coloring gives a good result only on thoroughly aligned and prepared walls.
  • All high-level training is unlikely for non-professionals, like the original wall covering.
  • Surfaces will need to be washed completely from time to time to prevent the closure of pores with dirt.
  • To paint everything in one color is a solution that is appropriate only for some organizations, and a variety of designer paints, even acrylic, are expensive.

What is better to choose?

Make the final decision - wallpaper or painting the walls in the apartment, you still have to. For coloring and preparation for it, as already mentioned, you will need to hire experienced decorators. Wall wrapping is also available to non-professionals. even when working alone, the list of necessary equipment is minimal.

If you want to finish the walls not from scratch, but thoroughly aligned during previous repairs,it is financially more profitable to use paint.

Environmental friendliness

Using a modern-style wallpaper in the room, you can not be afraid of the sanitary environment. Paper coating easily passes air, and synthetic materials are trying to use the same. Anyway used in home wallpaper hypoallergenic.

With environmental characteristics, however, the situation is not so clear. Fully compliant with all requirements, either extremely expensive textile or not very attractive externally paper wallpaper.

What is more expensive?

Even the most experienced specialists will not give an unequivocal answer to this question, because you can only compare wallpaper and paint of comparable categories, and not materials in general. If you look only at quality materials, their cost will eventually be about the same, along with additional costs. Keep in mind that to prepare for painting you need to spend more timethan on the preparations for the wallpaper sticker. The ideal base for both design options is drywall.

What is fashionable now?

If you look at the collections of various designers, both mid-level and top-of-the-range, you can find examples of rooms decorated with wallpaper and paint.Paint and varnish coatings are characterized by a huge variety, some manufacturers have such colors in the range that even a simple description requires an entire phrase. But the manufacturers of wallpaper try to keep up and also constantly improve their coatings:

  • This year, at the peak of popularity are plain wallpaper, and for different rooms they are selected individually, maximally expressing their spirit and style. The combination of monophonic stripes or lines will visually distinguish parts of the room; the freshness of perception is ensured by the introduction of prints into the interior.

In the past year and a half, design experts have recommended using wide wallpapers that form only the minimum number of connections.

  • To dilute excessive monotony is not only possible, but even necessary. For this purpose, using unusual patterns. Or seemingly ordinary, but with thin dark outlines of figures. European and Asian motifs are consistently in demand, such solutions can be chosen boldly without fear of their going out of fashion.
  • If painting is chosen instead of wallpaper, there are also their undisputed leaders.The design community and manufacturers are now inspired by the colors of natural greens, clear water (in the ocean or in a waterfall), ornaments with bright wild flowers. Kale tonality is intended to be the backdrop for the more eye-catching and vibrant elements. When you want something light, but practical and not assertive, it makes sense to choose the color of hazelnuts.
  • In the event that you need to revive and invigorate the room as much as possible, we can recommend lapis lazuli. Do you want extreme brightness, flashiness, love radical experiments? Then the red-orange tonality “flame” will suit you - the most intense and energetic in the latest collections. Such colors should be used on as large an area as possible, and other colors should be used only as accents or additions.
  • For several years, the use of blue tones has proved to be a very popular solution. By varying the warm and cool hues of this color, you can easily express your unique mood. You should not go beyond the warm and cold groups, choose in each room a different tone, but close color temperatures.
  • The “Marsala” tonality began to be applied in the interior relatively recently - and there is every reason to believe that it will be one of the leaders in the near future. Keep in mind that this juicy cherry color concentrates attention, and therefore it is suitable only for accent walls.

What is more practical?

Wallpapers that are made today can last longer than any paintwork material. But if you decide to change the look, use a different concept, it will be easier and easier to paint the walls.

The combined version - wallpaper for painting - allows you to apply additional coverage up to ten times, as the manufacturers claim. The only problem is that the texture is stored no more than five times, and then the paint layer becomes completely smooth.

If it is still very difficult to make a decisive choice, think about applying paint in some rooms, and wallpaper in others. Or try to separate them in height, to take under them the different walls of the main room. In new buildings and where the walls will often get dirty, you should use wallpaper, and if the room is very wet, it is more appropriate to use a paint and varnish coating.

Coloring is more suitable for those who like frequent changes.; it is also the only option that allows you to decorate a log house. Theoretically, the wallpaper can also be glued to it, but it is necessary to prepare a mediating layer that will destroy the decorative advantages of the log house.

Alternative solutions

It should be noted that in some cases it is easier to abandon paint, wallpaper and use alternative material. Which one depends on your priority quality. So, naturalness and ecological purity will be best of all at the tree and all coatings based on it (wall paneling, laminate, blockhouse and decorative panels). Plastic panels are moderately durable, very hygienic and have excellent antistatic properties. But these advantages are crossed out by high toxicity during combustion, susceptibility to high temperature, a tendency to warping and the inability to clean with abrasives.

Brick, stone, tile and porcelain surfaces can even not be considered - this is a completely different price range. Which particular option to choose, you have to decide for yourself,because neither the designer nor the builders will live in a renovated house. Weigh the pros and cons before making a decisive choice.

Design Ideas

Decorating the space in a new building can be very original and effective: experts recommend combining different types of wallpaper. If they are represented by vertical stripes, it will be possible to overcome at least partly the humiliation of the ceilings. In order not to break the harmony It is necessary to apply a coating of a single color range, varying only shades. When drawings of different types are combined, it is worth choosing those that are the same in color or style.

When coloring is chosen, it is possible to resort to a combination of three colors, and it can be expressed both in completely imperceptible transitions from one tone to the next, and in sharp contrast. There is no prescribed stiffness of the border, it can be in the form of protrusions, often used moldings and other decorative elements. In choosing a combination of colors, there are no canons either, you can rely entirely on your imagination.

Knowledge of the simplest principles of selection will help to create an original, appropriate to the current fashion interior as with wallpaper,and with the help of paint and varnish coatings.

For more details on how to paint the walls in two colors, see the following video.

Comments
 Comment author

Kitchen

Wardrobe

Living room