post off: would you wallpaper your ceiling?
I’m not a wallpaper hater. In fact, in the right space and in the right pattern, I actually kind of love it. That said, I’m still on the fence about the idea of wallpapering a ceiling. While the image of former Country Living editor Nancy Soriano’s living room is beautiful, I can’t help but wonder how hard it is to strip wallpaper from a ceiling when you’re ready for a change, not to mention hanging it in the first place. Ouch! In the end though, I guess my objections are more from a practicality standpoint than design. Given the right pattern in the right room (and a different husband who wouldn’t look at me like I’d gone bonkers), I’d probably give it a go, so long as someone else did the hanging. What do you think about the trend? Love it? Hate it? Already been there, done that and have pictures to share? — Sarah L.
image from Countryliving.com
Oh God, please NO. Our first house had all four bedrooms’ walls and ceilings completely covered. Not only was it claustrophobic feeling, but I think my neck still hurts twenty years later from removing all of it.
Yes. I have inspiration if need be– I’ve been tempted to WP our dining room ceiling and keep the walls plain white. It might be easier than re-texturing the ceiling after scraping down all of the popcorn…
Of course, the right pattern would be CRUCIAL.
I didn’t used to hate wallpaper. Until we bought our house and I had to strip wallpaper from several rooms. Wallpaper that had apparently been applied with superglue. It took nearly forever to remove and the job was not perfect in all places.
I now loathe wallpaper with a fiery passion that will never be quenched and will NEVER apply it to even an inch of wall or ceiling or floor.
I’ll echo PJ: For the love of all that is good and holy, NO. When I bought my co-op, it had wet look wallpaper on the kitchen ceiling (in a ’70s gold/olive/orange Dating Game floral pattern, no less.) The neck and shoulder pain that resulted from scraping it off the not very large ceiling gives me nightmares to this day — not to mention the mess of gooey, drippy pieces of paper everywhere.
If you insist on doing this, make sure you’ll love whatever you put up there for as long as you plan on living in your house — or that you can afford a) many visits to the chiropractor or b) to pay someone else to take it down for you. If you leave it up there for the next owner, they will spend their inevitable convalescence sticking pins in a voodoo doll created in your likeness.
I wouldn’t do it unless it was a damaged plaster ceiling and you couldn’t afford to have it fixed properly. Otherwise I think you’d regret it. Both putting it on and taking it off are nightmares but I wouldn’t buy a house with it so think of resale value or issues. My hubs would have me committed if I suggested it.
Having actually put wallpaper on a ceiling, I would advise strong consideration. It is not the same job as papering a wall; gravity works against you, thus requiring many hands,extra tools, and neck/shoulder pain, etc.
Having worked in the industry I would recommend finding a qualified faux finisher, muralist, or artist (who has mad skills) – give them your pattern and have them paint instead of paper. In the long run it just may be worth the cost start to finish. Plus paint is paint and can be easily painted over, is washable, non allergenic, and a host of other good things over paper.
Gah. I don’t think I’d ever do it. Even practical considerations aside, the picture above looks a little too busy for my tastes. I think the closest I could ever get to that would be to paint a faux finish or a mural, as Smee said above… but wallpaper on a ceiling? I’ll pass.
Oh. Hell. No.
oh I most certainly want to! [in our downstairs bathroom] but my husband thinks the process would be hell! :)
We used embossed paper and painted it off-white on the ceiling in our dining room. It had terrible plaster cracks–that had been over repaired. That was and is the only time I’ve really used wallpaper. I’m not a fan but it sure did spruce up that ceiling!
ABSOLUTELY! Why not add a point of interest to a space of our houses that often gets neglected (think of all the cracked ceilings out there that would LONG for some wallpaper treatment!)
The newest issue of Lonny has some beautifully wallpapered ceilings in it -I’m definitely intrigued by the idea but I do have concerns about putting it up/taking it dow/resale values, etc. I guess it really depends on which camp you’re in – the do-anything-for-my-aesthetic or practicality-based.
[...] 1) You don’t even like papered walls, much less ceilings. Anita says: “For the love of all that is good and holy, NO. When I bought my co-op, it had wet-look wallpaper on the kitchen ceiling (in a ’70s gold/olive/orange Dating Game floral pattern, no less). The neck and shoulder pain that resulted from scraping it off the not-very-large ceiling gives me nightmares to this day — not to mention the mess of gooey, drippy pieces of paper everywhere.” See more horrified comments here. [...]