Should You Wallpaper Your Bathroom? (Yes.)

I’m not one to bury the lede: decorate your bathroom with bold wallpaper, and you will bring so much life and personality, you may find a new contender for favorite room in your home – not kidding! A bathroom or powder room with unapologetic style, thoughtful touches, and a bold wallpaper canvas can do wonders, bringing it from predictable to a room of restorativeness. If it’s a bathroom your guests would have access to, don’t be surprised if they dry their hands and report back with wows!

Closed concept with limitless possibilities

By their nature, bathrooms are never open concept spaces. Save for large closets, they are the only rooms of the house that don’t have the pressure to tie into the decor throughout the home if you don’t want them to. This gives us a really exciting palette to work with. You can go bold with dramatic colors without overwhelming the overall style of the home.  

Bathrooms typically have boring and predictable fixtures. A shower/tub, a toilet, a sink. Usually white. Those constants give a little permission to go all out without risk of being gaudy or even all that maximalist. I invite you to look at how you can pattern drench, too. Same print and coordinating fabrics for the walls, shower curtain, bathroom towel, rugs and other decor. It’s a unique space to add unexpected fun! We all need a little more fun, don’t you think?

Bathrooms are the most affordable room to wallpaper

If you’ve ever done any wallpapering, you know that it’s a bit of an art & science that adds up quickly in cost. One of the benefits to wallpapering a bathroom is that there’s just a lot less surface area you need to contend with. They’re usually smaller rooms, sure, but they also tend to have at least some tile or glass that eats at the square footage as well. 

You can get away with one wall too, like in this powder room space I designed. The sink and toilet we were working with are nothing special, but with less than one roll of wallpaper and a few intentional touches, this little bathroom now has immaculate vibes.

What about moisture?

I totally understand any concerns about moisture in the wettest room of the home. As long as there is proper ventilation, a well-wallpapered room is just as durable as paint. Prep work is also very important here and makes all the difference. Use the bathroom fan during showers and baths consistently and crack windows open as weather permits. I’ve designed MANY bathrooms with wallpaper, including bathrooms of my own, and no regrets. 

Feeling inspired to go bold in your bathroom? Here are some of my current favorite wallpapers for bathrooms:

• Dog Wallpaper
• Sweet Floral Wallpaper
• Wallpaper for a vintage yellow bathroom
• Black and white bathroom wallpaper
• Kids Bathroom Wallpaper
• Fabric By The Yard with matching wallpaper

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And please drop me a line if you would like to put our heads together on your upcoming home design project.