Most of the check list I’ve included here is common sense, but I’ve found it is well worth running through this with clients to get the happiest results in the end, so please ask yourself:

How do I want to feel when I am in a room with this wallpaper?

The paper you love the most when you are looking at samples may not be the paper that would give you the most pleasure to live with in that particular room. For example, I love bluey greens, I know I love bluey greens, but if I have already filled a room with bluey greens, and I want to feel cosy in that room then I might, horror of horrors, need to choose a light brown print on a wallpaper for part of the room. A brown wallpaper may be what I need to make all my other bluey greens look great. (NB. Of course this would probably never happen for me, and I’d get the cosiness by introducing some wooden furniture or something else, and still insist on bluey green wallpaper, but you get the idea). The colours obviously make a huge difference. If you love a bold design but you want a restful space, then don’t assume you can’t have the bold design. Just choose restful colours and also make your printed colour very similar to the background colour to really crank down the contrast.

Large area vs small area?

This is an obvious one, but worth mentioning that if the wallpaper you love is bonkers but you don’t want to live in a visually ‘noisy’ room then consider just wallpapering specific areas. The classic choice is of course the alcove, but the quirkiness of a hand-made paper does make it particularly suited for placement in unusual places, so get inventive, the inside of a display cupboard? ; a bathroom ceiling? ; the back of a door? Is it a space I live in day in day out, or more of an occasionally used area? Spare bedrooms, attics, loos, etc. are all excellent places to really let rip and try something crazy. You only live once! Sometimes clients assume that a hand-made paper won’t do well in more challenging settings like kitchens and bathrooms or public spaces. Actually if sealed with decorators varnish (see later), then these papers are very wipeable and tough, and actually the slightly chaotic nature of the print means a hand-printed paper looks good for longer than a plain painted wall, or a perfectly repeating digitally-printed paper.

What exists in this space already and am I planning on keeping things the same, or changing parts of it?

Hand-printed wallpaper is a bit special, and can be made exactly to your design, so take a minute to consider if and when you might want to change other elements of the room to show off your ideal wallpaper design to best effect. Conversely, if you have tiles or carpet that are definitely staying, remember that you can have whatever colour you want in your paper, so you can really make sure it sits well with these elements. Design choices that will need to be made. Existing pattern vs bespoke pattern? Choosing to have a printing block made up to your own design needn’t be as expensive as you might think depending on its complexity and how clear a vision you have of what you want. Just about any shape can be made into a successful, simple, single motif-type design very quickly. Of course the joy of wallpaper design is that things can be much more ambitious than this, and in many ways the way I work really lends itself to the creation of something very bespoke and specific to you and your room.

Existing colourway vs bespoke colourway?

I always print paper to order so all colour choices are available. Choosing tried and tested colourways can save time, but I am always happy to give free advice on which combinations I think will achieve the effect you are after.

To add a protective layer or not?

All papers printed on a pre-painted or hand-painted backgrounds are wipeable to a certain degree and if you especially value the ultra matt finish of Farrow and Ball estate emulsion, and they are going in a sheltered spot, then they needn’t be protected further. Having said that, a few coats of decorators matt varnish does greatly toughen the surface of the paper and I would definitely recommend this for papers going into bathrooms, kitchens and high traffic areas like hallways or children’s rooms, public spaces etc.