What Makes Wallpaper Look Considered, Not Trendy?
Last updated: 16 October 2026
In short: Wallpaper looks considered when it carries a story and a real surface rather than an effect. Designers quoted in 2026 trend roundups call imitation textures gimmicky and hard geometrics dated, while Divine Savages' Jamie Watkins describes designers moving toward vibrant narratives told through print and color. A pattern drawn from an original painting begins with the narrative already in it.
What are designers leaving behind for 2026?
Apartment Therapy asked five designers which wallpaper trends are out for 2026. Killy Scheer, an Austin designer, said papers that imitate wood paneling, brick or stone "can come off as gimmicky." Jade Joyner of Metal + Petal in Athens, Georgia, said geometric prints "can feel harsh and dated now, especially in small spaces."
The shared complaint is about imitation and insistence. A paper that pretends to be another material, or a pattern that shouts its trend, asks the wall to perform. The designers in that roundup prefer a wall that simply has something to say.
What are they choosing instead?
Jamie Watkins, co-founder of Divine Savages, told Livingetc that "designers are ditching 'quiet luxury' in favor of vibrant narratives told through print and color." Hill Rondero of Ro House Studio in Chapel Hill told Apartment Therapy, "I'm drawn to stripes, plaids, florals, even animal prints."
Both point the same way: pattern with a point of view, chosen for the room rather than for the season. The word that recurs is narrative. A wall can hold one.
Why does a painted source change the wall?
Diana Vreeland said, "The eye has to travel." A pattern drawn from a painting gives the eye somewhere to go because it was composed by a painter to be traveled: marks that thicken and thin, color that changes temperature across a field, edges that were decided one at a time.
The patterns in this studio's wallcovering line are drawn from Angela Simeone's original paintings, which is why the wall reads as singular. The wallpaper itself is not hand-painted. The painting is made by hand and the wallcovering is printed by a manufacturer onto 20 oz Type II commercial-grade vinyl with an embossed face and a slight strié shimmer. The texture is physically in the material, not an image of one. Rolls are 24 inches wide, pre-trimmed and unpasted, with 52-inch rolls for commercial work, and custom colorways and scale are available to the trade.
How do you judge a sample before you commit?
Hang it where it will live and look at it at nine in the morning and at six in the evening. Check how the pattern behaves at a seam, and compare a large-scale and a small-scale version against the size of the wall. Ask whether the surface has a real texture or only a printed one. Samples are available, and designers can use the Trade Program.
→ Browse the collection: Artist-designed wallpaper by Angela Simeone · For designers: Trade Program · Meet the painter: Angela Simeone
Frequently asked questions
What wallpaper trends are out for 2026?
Designers quoted by Apartment Therapy name geometric prints that feel harsh and dated, and papers that imitate wood, brick or stone, which can come off as gimmicky.
What are designers choosing instead of those?
Pattern with a narrative. Divine Savages' Jamie Watkins describes designers moving toward vibrant narratives told through print and color, and Ro House Studio's Hill Rondero favors stripes, plaids and florals.
Is artist-designed wallpaper hand-painted?
No. The painting is made by hand and the wallcovering is printed by a manufacturer onto commercial-grade vinyl. The patterns are drawn from Angela Simeone's original paintings.
What is the wallpaper made of?
20 oz Type II commercial-grade vinyl with an embossed face and a slight strié shimmer, laminated to a fabric backing. Rolls are 24 inches wide, pre-trimmed and unpasted.