Crystal Valley Blog

The trendy wallpaper that interior designers are encouraging this year include bold statements of wall-to-wall patterns and prints. Are they for everybody? Maybe not, but as Alec Ramsay of Ramsay Wallcovering in Littleton says, if you don’t know about the latest in wallpaper, it’s time to find out!

Grandma’s Old School Wallpaper

Alec says in his 43 years as a paper hanger, he’s been busier in the last three years than in the previous 40!

“I track my work daily, weekly and yearly and I’m turning away much more work than I accept,” he says. “It’s off the charts!”

 Wallpaper fell out of favor with consumers because like the automobile industry, Alec maintains, they needed better and more attractive products. Grandma’s version was wallpaper’s worst self, he explains, but then the industry pulled itself up by its bootstraps, . 

“Now it’s an international industry with the UK leading the charge. They have the best designers, artists, production companies — everything is the best,” he says.

And he’s not just talking about paper and patterns, either. “It’s textures, stuff that looks like stone, wallpaper made out of wood, out of bamboo, out of all kinds plant materials, like cobs – actual corn cobs. Really, really stunning,” he says.

The Trendiest Wallpaper

House Beautiful showcases a variety of the trendiest wallpapers from large scale geometrics for people who want a bold, fresh feel, to softer pastel patterns that create the illusion of a three-dimensional surface on wood. There are more options than there are swatches in a Pantone color wheel!

Elle Décor shows off a gallery of colorful wallpaper treatments from abstract florals by Madeline Weinrib wrapping a kitchen to textured sand weave by Phillip Jeffries. And designers seem to all have their own preferences and affinities. Like fashion, there are no hard and fast rules, says My Domaine, except sticking to your color palette and existing patterns. You can experiment wildly — or as much as your comfort-level will allow! 

Hire a Contractor?

And while applying or installing wallpaper requires some effort: sanding to prep the wall, vacuuming the dust, priming, then applying adhesive, even to pre-pasted wallpaper it’s a job. 

Heritage Wallpaper and Blinds carries a dozen different vendors’ products and over 1,000 colors and styles. Their showroom in in Colorado Springs. Guiry’s in Parker on Keystone Blvd., also carries a variety of wallpaper, and is about 15 minutes away.

But if you don’t have the stamina for hanging paper, a contractor can help.

“If you just want to do a wall, headboard walls are really popular right now and so are accent walls,” says Alec. “You might need three to four metric rolls and spend anywhere from $200-$500 on the wallpaper,” says Alec. “And you could get a heck of a nice product for that.”

And for Alec? He usually doesn’t show up for less than $300. And for say, a powder room, you’d be writing him a check for around $600. 

You can DIY a wall yourself with peel-and-stick wallpaper, and there are lots of choices in that department. Chasing Paper has pages of swatches to scroll through, with hover images of how each might look in a room and you can find online how-to videos to show you best practices. These self-adhesive, repositionable, removable wallpaper options are sold in panels, like Tempaper Designs Distressed Floral — which comes in a 27-inch by 9-yard swath for $98 per panel. 

Wall-to-Wall Wonder in Crystal Valley! 

The walls are picture-perfect in the new homes that comprise the master-planned community of Crystal Valley in Castle Rock, where rooms offer home buyers a palette of personalization options. Tour the stunning new models from D.R. Horton, Kauffman Homes, and Richmond American Homes, in ranch and two-story designs, priced from the $300s.