How to find inexpensive, beautiful wallpaper

How to find inexpensive, beautiful wallpaper

In the late 90’s my family moved into a new house. My parents were cool enough to let us help make redecorating decisions. We started with my little sister’s room. She wanted wallpaper baddddd- so we headed off to the local wallpaper store and bought a daisy border and forest green striped wallpaper to go under the border. I still remember the transformation (it was the most beautiful room to me) and have loved wallpaper ever since.

I love uing wallpaper in my house! I think that it makes a big statement that can majorly add to the ambience and the “look” of your room. I am all about a big pattern and wallpaper gives that to you. The first room I wallpapered was my master bedroom. Next I wallpapered my stairs (an epic DIY failure, but not the wallpaper’s fault). Most recently, I wallpapered my baby’s nursery. In all of the instances, I was looking for a specific look for an affordable price tag. Since the nursery was my most recent wallpaper experience, I’ll use that as an example of how to find wallpaper that you love for cheap/ on a budget.

Step 1– Find out how much wallpaper you need. Measure your space- lately I’ve only wallpapered a statement wall so this part is actually really easy (you can do it!)- measure the width and height of the wall. If there are any windows or doors, you will subtract that square footage. I always use a website to plug the measurements in (source no longer available) and then it will tell you how many rolls you need. I like figuring out how many rolls I need first so I can use that number to plan my budget. For me, I found out that I needed two double rolls for the nursery. Wallpaper is strange- it is sold in double rolls, but sometimes listed as single rolls for sale, but you can only buy them in double rolls. Keep that in mind as you are looking for wallpaper and pricing so you don’t see a price for a single roll, but have to buy as a double roll. I needed 2 double rolls for my nursery wall (and spoiler alert, it was barely enough wallpaper with the repeat).

Follow At Home with Ashley’s board Baby on Pinterest.

Step 2– Find your inspiration! I get on Pinterest and search away. For this room I searched things like “baby room wallpaper” “grey baby room” “safari baby room” “safari wallpaper” and pinned whatever I loved. Above is my actual Pinterest board so you can get a visual and sources on what I pinned. I loved a wood planked wall, but it was both too expensive and too labor intensive for my life at the time. I considered grass cloth, but it wasn’t a big enough look for what I wanted, though I do love some texture. When I found the safari wallpaper options, I got really excited- this was the perfect fit!!

Step 3– Do deeper research into the wallpaper you find. I’ve clicked through Pinterest and found wallpaper for $500 a double roll- ouch! And I needed two- um, not exactly budget friendly. Or you might find links to designer wallpaper options where you have to have a resale license to purchase to even see the price- so these probably aren’t accessible (plus, I pretty much guarantee that they’re expensive). Here are the three wallpapers I found for the nursery that I loved in the baby room examples-

                -Rifle Paper Co. Wallpaper $140 for a double roll (left) (no longer available)

                -Anthropologie Wallpaper  $88 for a double roll (top right) (no longer available)

                -Amazon Wallpaper (National Geographic brand)  $39.90 for a double roll (bottom right)(no longer available)

Step 4– Choose your choice. For me, the Rifle Paper Co. one was too expensive, plus I wanted black and white to go with the already painted grey walls (the design was beige). So that one was out. I really loved the whimsy of the Anthropologie wallpaper, but I personally felt like it was too feminine for a boy’s room, so I nixed that one. I loved the Amazon National Geographic wallpaper! The color was perfect and so was the price! I loved that it was by National Geographic so that the animals are realistic. Plus, I’ve read that babies first see in black and white and having strong black and white graphics helps them develop their sight. I ordered two rolls and spent a little over $100 for the wall- such a good deal (it was a little more expensive when I bought it then)! I could have bought samples, but with the positive reviews and my time crunch, I just bit the bullet. But I was pleasantly surprised!

Here are some other tips for finding inexpensive wallpaper–

–          Once you find the wallpaper you love, look on other sites to try and find a cheaper price. Try www.amazon.com and www.steveswallpaperandblinds.com to find a better deal. Or just Google the wallpaper maker and name of the book and see what pops up. I have more sources for SUPER inexpensive wallpaper here.

–          You can also go to a local wallpaper company in your area to see what they have. I go to Wallpaper Warehouse (the location in West Valley or Sandy if you’re in UT) because they have tons of samples. Sometimes they have good deals and you can buy the rolls they have in store without paying for shipping. Or you can look through lots of books at once and have them order in the wallpaper you love. Or just write down the name of the book and the style and page number so you can find in online later (although, I haven’t done that because I’d rather purchase from the company I am viewing books from). A bonus of going to the location, is you can touch the wallpaper or check out a wallpaper book to bring home and see the options in the room you are wallpapering.

–Emily Henderson has a great roundup of wallpapers. Some are expensive, but it is a great source!

I recently used these tips for finding wallpaper for a work project. It worked like a charm! I ended up buying the Hourglass Trellis wallpaper from Amazon*. Above is a screen shot of my board since my project got buried, but here is a link to the board.

*Denotes Affiliate link