Despite the huge selection of wall decoration options in the living room, the leading position in this list is held by traditional wallpaper. But even here you can find room for creativity and for the implementation of their own ideas about beauty and comfort. For example, combine wallpaper when pasting, which will help create a unique interior.
Wallpaper
Before exploring the principles of combination, let us dwell a little on the material with which to work.
Paper canvases, single-layer and multi-layer. Cheap, and in stores represented a wide range of a variety of colors and patterns. But extremely impractical: they break, quickly burn out and lose their appearance, deteriorate from high humidity. It’s easy to work with them, but to make them look perfect on the wall, you need to try hard.
Acrylic Wallpaper. Acrylic is applied to the paper web - a relief structure is obtained. Wallpaper is inexpensive, safe, but because of the paper base also does not withstand high humidity.
Vinyl. Expensive but durable. For living quarters, vinyl with silk screen printing is most often chosen. The disadvantages include the poor assortment, and the fact that this material does not let air through, which can lead to the appearance of a musty smell.
Non-woven. The most popular option. Cloths are glued both as a finish and as a paint. At the same time, non-woven fabric is durable, moisture resistant, vapor permeable and environmentally friendly.
Textile canvas. Rarely used due to the high price and difficulty in working. They consist of a paper or non-woven backing and natural fabric - cotton, linen or silk. They look stylish and expensive.
Photo and 3D wallpapers. Expand space due to volumetric pattern.
Liquid. Sold in powder form, applied to the walls, as a putty. The price is high, but they can be used several times. In addition, it is easy to eliminate any defect - remove the layer from the area and apply fresh.
Cullet. Long lasting modern material. Designed for subsequent painting.
These are the main types of material with which to work. You can combine any wallpaper, of different types and colors. But there are several common solutions, among which you can choose something for yourself.
Style and texture
A good design of combined wallpapers implies the principle of unity of style. Therefore, do not combine paintings with a strict geometric pattern and wallpaper with flowers in the Provence style. Materials should not visually conflict with each other, despite the different color and ornament, they must harmoniously coexist. Only a talented designer can combine different styles during design, and not everyone can appreciate the result of his efforts.
The textures of different materials should either combine well with each other, or play in contrast. So, for example, today volumetric wallpapers with imitation of masonry or brickwork are very popular.
Ready-made solutions
What if you find it difficult to combine wallpapers? Alas, not everyone is an artist in his soul. Many lack a sense of taste and measure, but only confident people are ready to admit it. Fortunately for everyone, in stores you can find ready-made solutions - paired rolls of wallpaper. They are ideal in color, texture, and style. Most often there are compositions from paintings with a pattern and plain in a pair to them. The buyer only needs to decide how to glue them - alternating with strips, or highlighting individual places, for example, a wall or a niche.
Those who want to bring a big touch of personality can be advised to look at materials from one collection in the store - as a rule, they combine well with each other
Wallpaper for painting
A separate space for creativity is provided to those who chose wallpaper for painting. This material is good in that you do not need to spend time aligning the walls - a thick canvas will cover all the defects. Here you can combine different shades and staining techniques. The easiest way is to highlight one wall or individual elements (beams, niches) in a different color. You can also use textured rollers to create a picture or stencils. The latter can be made independently, so this is a great option for those who really want to create something new and original.
The remarkable thing is that wallpaper for painting can be repainted from 3 to 7 times, depending on the type of material.
Color combinations
How to create an interesting design without much effort? We combine wallpapers of different colors and shades! It is important here not to overdo it and not turn the room into an erratic color mess, cutting the eye. In order to avoid this, you need to remember a few simple rules:
- There should be only one bright, juicy color in the design of the walls. In the company he should pick up muted tones and midtones.
- Combined wallpaper in the bedroom is better to choose pastel shades. They can be combined as you like, but it is better to use no more than 2-3 in one room.
- For those who are not friends with the palette, it is best to use related colors in the interior: one is saturated and in the company of his own muted versions.
- To emphasize the contrast, you should choose well-combining colors, for example, red with gold, blue with violet, pink with coffee, yellow with green and brown, etc. In this case, gray, white and black are universal colors that go well with any shade.
- The combination of two dark walls always looks bad and visually reduces even a large room.
- Light colors are much easier to combine, they are well combined both among themselves and with bright colors.
Zone Allocation
Combined wallpaper in an apartment is a good way to designate different areas in the room. So, in a small studio you can highlight the kitchen area, and in the living room indicate a place for receiving guests, space for children’s games or for work at home. The same method can be applied in a children's room when it is necessary to designate a play, working and sleeping area. You can also divide the space of the room when two babies live in it at once. True, psychologists advise doing this if the children get along with each other. Otherwise, such an emphasized division of living space will increase their hostility.
Vertical or horizontal division?
People started combining wallpapers for a long time. Back in Soviet times, it was customary to divide the wall: dark material was glued at the bottom, lighter at the top. This technique is used today, while using different proportions. For example, you can divide the surface into three parts - 1/3 of the bottom is glued with some wallpaper, 2/3 - with the other. Or vice versa. Sometimes the same material is used, but a contrast strip is used for separation - it can also be at different heights, for example, at eye level. But more often it is tied to the height of the windowsill.
The traditional option is to use several horizontal stripes in the wallpaper. Horizontal combination is not suitable for rooms with a low ceiling, but it will perfectly help to get rid of the effect of a well.
Vertical wall separation is a very popular technique. Strips of different types of wallpaper are arranged symmetrically, asymmetrically or make an interesting emphasis on the transition of colors. To create an interesting effect, one of the strips can be put on the ceiling - this will visually expand the space.
Select one wall
Often, combined wallpaper in an apartment (example is shown in the photo below) means the design of one wall with photo or 3D wallpaper. Most often, nature drawings or city panoramas are chosen. This is an interesting solution that emphasizes the individual preferences of the owner. And at the same time it is a large and bright detail of the interior, which you pay attention to.
You can select one wall in another way. For example, today many people choose the design of one wall in an apartment in the form of brick or masonry. But natural materials are quite expensive, so you can use imitation - a special plaster on which the relief is drawn, or voluminous wallpaper.
The easiest way to highlight one wall is to paste it with wallpaper of a different color. About combinations of shades was written above. It is worth adding that the dark surface opposite the window visually reduces the space.
Panel or insert
In fashion magazines you can find photos of the design of combined wallpaper in the form of panels. This design is rooted in the period when the walls were covered with expensive fabrics, and the material was attached to special frames. This design of the premises was available only to the upper class.
Today, anyone can make a bright and unusual panel: you just need to order a frame of the right size and choose beautiful wallpaper with an interesting pattern and texture. You can do without a frame - various niches or columns are pasted over with small inserts.
If the panel is small, then you can experiment with saturated colors. So it will become a bright detail of the interior. An interesting solution will also be small mosaic inserts. It’s like a patchwork bedspread, only on the wall.