Complete Wallpaper Guide

Wallpaper has never been so ambitious. Hand-painted panels on silk, made-to-measure panoramic murals, papers that look and feel like linen or straw: the high-end houses have turned the wall into a decorative surface in its own right. This guide gathers everything HART has published on luxury wallpaper, from choosing a house to the final seam. Each chapter leads to a detailed article.

Choose a house: the best European wallpaper brands

Pierre Frey, Élitis, Casamance, Arte, Cole & Son, de Gournay: eleven European houses lead high-end wallpaper, each with a signature you learn to recognise. Pierre Frey dresses walls in the patterns of its fabrics, Élitis plays on texture and illusion, de Gournay still paints its panels by hand. Our guide to the best luxury wallpaper brands presents each house, its history and its style.

Panoramic wallpaper: the wall as a landscape

A panoramic wallpaper is not sold by the roll but by the scene: one continuous composition, designed to cover a whole wall with no visible repeat. The genre was born in France in the early 19th century, in manufactures such as Zuber, and it is back today in printed, digital and hand-painted versions. Formats, pattern matching, materials: our panoramic wallpaper guide explains how to choose one and make it work in a contemporary interior.

Art Deco wallpaper: the geometry of the 1920s

Zigzags, sunbursts, stylised palms, gold on black: the geometry of the 1920s and 1930s never really left the wall. Our selection of 10 Art Deco-inspired wallpapers gathers the most convincing contemporary versions. To understand where these motifs come from, read our history of the Art Deco style.

Textured wallcoverings: walls you want to touch

Some walls are meant to be touched. Grasscloth, raffia, linen, silk, natural fibres or their most convincing imitations: textured wallcoverings bring a depth and a warmth that no flat print can match. In their most refined version, the wall is upholstered with fabric, a craft we explored with Stephen Franklin, master of fabric walling.

Non-woven, vinyl or paper: choosing the backing

Before the pattern comes the backing. Non-woven is hung by pasting the wall and comes off dry. Vinyl withstands washing and humidity. Traditional paper keeps the charm of the original material but asks for more skill at hanging. Our wallpaper backing guide compares the three, room by room.

Wallpaper pictograms: reading the label

Washable, scrubbable, lightfast, straight match or offset match: the small symbols printed on each roll say a great deal about how a wallpaper will behave once on the wall. Our guide to wallpaper pictograms and technical classifications decodes them one by one, so that a fragile paper never ends up in a kitchen.

Hanging wallpaper like a professional

A luxury wallpaper is only as good as its installation. Wall preparation, plumb lines, pattern matching, invisible seams: our professional wallpaper installation guide details every step. For silk, grasscloth, hand-painted panels and large panoramics, the work is best entrusted to a specialist: these materials do not forgive a second attempt.

Where to see the collections

Every January, Paris Deco Off opens the Parisian showrooms of the great fabric and wallpaper houses for a few days of launches. It remains the best place in Europe to see and touch the new collections. Our report on Paris Deco Off 2026 covers the latest edition.

Frequently asked questions

Which wallpaper backing should I choose?

Non-woven for most rooms: it is stable, easy to hang and easy to remove. Vinyl for kitchens and bathrooms, where washability matters. Traditional paper for period interiors, provided the installation is entrusted to experienced hands.

Can you hang a luxury wallpaper yourself?

A printed non-woven, yes, with care and a good preparation of the wall. Silk, grasscloth, hand-painted panels and panoramic murals call for a professional: the material is expensive, often made to measure, and a mistake cannot be undone.

Which are the best luxury wallpaper brands?

In Europe, the reference houses are Pierre Frey, Élitis, Casamance, Arte, Cole & Son and de Gournay, joined by more artistic names such as Les Dominotiers, Coordonné and Mindthegap. Each one is presented in our guide to European wallpaper brands.