Move over, gray-painted walls: wallpaper is back in a big way. NoVA interior designers Tracy Morris of Tracy Morris Design and Alex Kober with TriVista Design + Build say the use of wallpaper in home design has surged in the last 10 years.
Kober says clients are looking “to make a more bold statement and have a little bit more fun and really personalize their spaces with wallpaper. So, we’re seeing brighter colors and more adventurous patterns.”
Morris says that new, easier-to-clean materials are also helping to drive the trend. “The wonderful part for our industry is the introduction of the printed and vinyl wallpaper, because it allows homeowners, especially folks with small kids, to be able to use wallpaper without the fear of it being ruined,” she says.
If you’re thinking of trying out wallpaper on a home project, Morris offers this advice: “My general rule of thumb is, if you are going to go bold, I usually keep it small — so powder rooms, laundry rooms. … And if you are just loving that bold wallpaper, then, by all means, bring it into other spaces.”
Keep in mind that, “You want the wallpaper to seamlessly blend in with the other elements that you have in the space,” Kober says. “You want everything to feel cohesive.”
Morris and Kober share how they incorporated wallpaper into these home projects.
Bedroom
Morris says she chose this blue velvet Tetra pattern by Arte for a bedroom for its thick texture, which gives the room a cozy feel. “It feels heavenly. It’s just a very, very soft, plush texture,” she says.
Dining Room
This Phillip Jeffries Studs & Stripes wallpaper is one of Morris’ personal favorites. “It’s just sophisticated. I loved it. For that space, I wanted something that allowed me to utilize gold, because I love the soft gold fixtures, but I didn’t want to go overboard. And the linen texture on the walls next to that studded gold really allowed all of that to be pulled together,” she says.
Kitchen
Kober says his client saw this CW Stockwell Martinique banana leaf pattern while visiting the Beverly Hills Hotel. “The pattern always really resonated with him, and [he and his wife] really wanted to bring that sense of liveliness and that interest into their home. … We paired it with a green color in the cabinetry and on the walls to really tie it together,” he says.
Butler’s Pantry
Morris says she chose this bold, Phillip Jeffries Fretwork wood-veneered wallpaper because it “pulled in the gold from the dining room. It just pulls you right into that space. And that’s what I really wanted.”
Basement
For this family basement retreat, Morris chose Ashore by Phillip Jeffries “to make that space feel warm and welcoming and give it texture. Sometimes paint can fall so flat … and this particular paper allowed us to have a great texture on the walls without overwhelming the space.”
Feature image by Nova Soul Imagery
This story originally ran in our April 2026 issue. For more stories like this, subscribe to Northern Virginia Magazine.
