Wallpaper Versus Paint. What Is The Right Choice For Your Home?

Wallpaper Versus Paint. What Is The Right Choice For Your Home?

Home decoration is a very serious undertaking, as you will be living with your results for a rather long time (depending upon how committed you are to change). It is always a good idea to do as much preparation, planning and research as possible before jumping into a new project. Especially when decorating the room in any permanent sense, such as flooring, fixtures, or wall coverings. Toward this end, let’s examine the difference between wallpaper and paint, so that you can make an informed and intelligent decision for your next exciting room changing project.

First, before deciding whether to wallpaper or paint, it is always a good idea to consider the current condition of the room. Does it already have wallpaper up? Or is the room painted? And what kind of surfaces are you dealing with? Some things to keep in mind:

Painting over wallpaper is generally a bad idea. Typically it ruins the quality of the paint, is noticeable, and makes wallpaper removal that much harder.

Wallpapering over wallpaper is generally acceptable, depending upon whether it is textured, the overall condition, and whether it’s vinyl or smooth. Vinyl wallpaper should be removed first.

Next, go out and physically look at paint samples and wallpaper possibilities. It might also be a great idea to look at some wallpaper examples online, since it’s such a vast market and diverse field. I would also consider the pros and cons of both wallpaper and paint.

Wallpaper Pros
· Versatile
Wallpaper is the most customizable option, giving you the greatest range of options to accomplish exactly what you want.

· Elegance
The ease of adding murals, heavy design and even custom photos are a breeze in wallpaper, making it a more elegant option than paint.

· Durability
Wallpaper can last 10 to 15 years, giving great sustainability and reliability.

· Cost effective
If wallpaper lasts its whole life span, which can be up to 15 years, it is much cheaper than painting a room, although there is a greater initial cost.

· Personalization
Nothing makes a home your own like doing custom or design wallpaper that really speaks to you, allowing greater personalization.

Wallpaper Cons
· Humidity
Too much humidity can make wallpaper slowly peel off over time, making maintenance a must.

· Application
Typically wallpaper takes more time to apply and remove than paint.

· Permanence
This can be a double edged sword, cutting both ways, since it means redoing your décor is more expensive and a greater hassle if you decide you’re tired of your wallpaper.

· Matching
Matching older wallpaper can be hard since design wallpaper often come and go in fads.

Paint Pros
· Practicality
Painting is often the easiest and most practical solution to quickly redecorating.

· Cheap
Painting a room in typically the least expensive initial cost in wall coverings.

· Ease of change
Painting is easy to cover up with more painting, or even wallpaper, whenever you want. This allows the opportunity to change your walls whenever you choose.

Paint Cons
· Can be messy.
Much care is needed when applying paint so as to not stain your floors, furniture, or other fixtures.

· Less permanent.
Again a double-edged sword, because if you’re still around you’ll find yourself redoing your paint, or at least retouching every three or four years.

· Lack of customization.
Painting is typically done in flat colors. You can do two or three different colors in a room, but eventually they start clashing. And attempting any kind of mural generally requires a specialist.

· Less personalization.
You get to choose the colors, but other than that there’s not much difference between one type of paint job and another. Any type of paint designs (outside of color schemes) are hard to accomplish.

Keep all these factors in mind as you shop around between the types of wall coverings. Wallpaper allows more customization, greater personalization, and is more permanent. Paint is quicker, easier, and requires more upkeep over the years, with less personalization. Truly, it depends upon what you’re going for and what you wish to accomplish. Take time and make the right decision based upon what you want, and not upon what someone else recommends. Because it will be your home, and you’ll truly have to live with it! Either way, as long as you put in the research, preparation and consideration you will end up happy with the choice you make.

Author Bio: Chris Garrett is an online publisher for the large format printing and custom wallpaper expert megaprint.com, and blogs on the topics of interior design and printing.