‘Wall Paper Has Gotten So Much Cooler’

As many of S-One’s brands are leading the way with new digitally printable décor materials like wallcoverings, fabric, canvas and more, we headed out to visit local interior retail showroom, Blu Home, where we met owner and interior designer, Chelsea Dunbar. Our goal: pick her brain about where wallcoverings have been and where they’re going.

Just 10 to 15 years ago, faux painting on walls and columns were all the rage. Today, it’s hard for designers to find skilled painters. “When the economy crashed, a lot of them left the market,” Dunbar says. Not to worry though, her aesthetic is decidedly more modern, and printed wallcoverings are a quick and less-expensive way to “make it look contemporary … and feel high-end,” she says. “Wall paper has gotten so much cooler — and it’s become a replacement for faux painting.”

Major wallcovering trends that Dunbar noted are natural materials, like the grass-look, pictured above, at her store. Other popular finishes include any sort of texture, metallic and cork, as pictured below.

Digitally printed wallcoverings make the design process easier, as well, she noted, especially when it comes to repeating patterns on a wall. “This isn’t your grandmother’s wall paper,” Dunbar says. “You can do so much more with it.”

We can’t wait to see how these creative minds incorporate printed products into their design, either with wallcoverings, canvas wraps or printed fabrics. Here are two more examples of new wallcovering styles we found at Blu Home: