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COURTESY OF VANESSA DELEON ASSOCIATES
wall
A WHOLE NEW
COURTESY OF PHILLIP JEFFRIES LTD.
In The Know
WALLPAPER
game
PHOTO BY MARISA PELLEGRINI
INNOVATIVE MATERIALS
AND DESIGNS OF TODAY’S
‘PAPERS’ TRANSFORM ROOMS
BY MARY VINNEDGE
Above: Phillip Jeffries’ Jackson Square starts with paulownia wood
cut into veneer sheets. Additional wood strips are scattered atop the
surface and applied with a metallic wash. The paper is next cut into
5.9-inch squares and laminated onto recycled paper. An aqueous
resin is the finishing touch.
94 August/September 2011
is on the rebound. It fell from favor a decade or
so ago, and New Jersey interior designers Vanessa Deleon, Jerri Eskow and
Judy King say they often experience
pushback when they suggest the “w”
word to clients. But once clients see
the new papers, they embrace them
whole-heartedly.
Why?
“They see a magazine photo with a
new pattern they like and want it. It’s
coming back full force,” says Deleon,
an allied member of the American
Society of Interior Designers and
principal of Vanessa Deleon Associates
in Edgewater.
Eskow, of Iron Gate Interiors in
Warren, says “new wall coverings
provide a look that’s more interesting
than paint and make a room more
special. When clients aren’t moving
or doing major construction, it’s a
cost they’ll go for to make a room
complete.”
King, an allied member of ASID
and principal of Judy King Interiors
in Princeton, agrees. “So many people
say they don’t like wallpaper, but
they’re thinking flowers and prints. It
can be just textures. I show them
examples and then it’s so easy to convince them. One client resisted until I
showed her a black-and-white cityscape of an Italian village by Cole &
Son for one wall. Then she asked,
‘How soon can you get it?’”
Left top: A swirling wallpaper with crystal
beads sets a decidedly feminine tone in this
Edgewater dressing room designed by
Vanessa Deleon. The wallpaper is from
Seabrook’s Bella Rosa collection by Antonina
Vella. Left bottom: Designer Jerri Eskow used
boldly printed grass cloth in this Springfield
powder room.
designnewjersey.com 95
OPPOSITE, CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Designer Jerri Eskow ordered
custom-scaled, custom-colored frescoes from Iksel as insets for the
picture-frame molding in this Warren dining room. • Designer Judy
King of Princeton used a sea-grass wallpaper from Phillip Jeffries
Ltd. on this bedroom ceiling and trimmed the edges with silk gimp.
• The interlocking geometric pattern of metallic-ink wallpaper
harmonizes with the modern spirit that Vanessa Deleon envisioned
for this Edgewater bar. Seabrook features the paper in its Bella
Rosa collection by Antonina Vella. • High-contrast Antonina Vella
wallpaper from Seabrook smoothes over the awkward angles of a
tiny Maplewood powder room designed by Jerri Eskow.
What’s Hot, What’s Not
Designers Jerri Eskow, Vanessa Deleon and Judy King
identify the trends they see in wallpapers.
HOT
4 Fabrics (grass cloth,
hemp, abaca, jute, silk,
linen, wool).
PHOTO BY LEVI MILLER
4 Large patterns such as
stylized botanicals, interlocking geometrics and
damasks.
4 Architectural geometrics
such as Moroccan arches
and Maltese crosses.
4 Gold, silver and copper
leafing on grass cloth.
COURTESY OF JUDY KING INTERIORS
4 Murals, especially those
that evoke feel-good travel
destinations.
4 Neutrals and muddy
colors such as charcoal
and gunmetal (add touches of purple, orange, coralred, pink and turquoise in
the room for pop).
4 Textures (coarsely
woven fabrics; vinyls simulating ostrich skin, shagreen, leather, lizard, suede,
velvet and bamboo).
4 3-D embellishments such
as rivets, embroidery and
transparent colored glass
beads.
NOT
4 Small prints.
4 Window treatments and
upholstery that match the
wallpaper.
4 Wallpaper style synced to
a home’s architectural style
(designers prefer surprises
instead).
4 Realistic floral patterns.
Designed for Today
Make no mistake: These aren’t your mother’s wallpapers,
and often they aren’t papers at all. They’re fabrics, cork,
simulated mother-of-pearl, wood veneer, faux suede and
new-age vinyls hefty enough to simulate quilted leather
or woven sea grass. Stitchery, glass beads, metal-leafing
and rivets add dimension. Metallics and flocks go out
for a new spin, and prints crank up the size and sass.
Enlarged personal photos turn corners; graceful frescoes
can be custom-scaled for a site.
King, Eskow and Deleon use the new wall coverings in
PHOTO BY MARISA PELLEGRINI
96 August/September 2011
COURTESY OF VANESSA DELEON ASSOCIATES
designnewjersey.com 97
Choosing & Using
Warren designer Jerri Eskow offers tips for using wallpaper effectively:
4 Start with a room plan. Decide where you want pattern and where
you want solids.
4 Select the wallpaper first and then choose the rug, paint color,
window treatments, etc. Wallpapers come only in certain colors, so it
may be the least flexible element in a design scheme.
4 Put samples of all your design choices in front of you and evaluate how they look together (scale, color, busy-ness); make substitutions as necessary.
4 Find a qualified paperhanger for your special wall covering through
companies that sell it.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHILLIP JEFFRIES LTD.
Pearlized inks create the look and feel of nail
heads on Phillip Jeffries Ltd. wall coverings of
hemp, abaca, linen and jute.
98 August/September 2011
varied applications: one- or twowall accents, all walls, just the
ceiling and all of the above.
They say new wall coverings
are so revolutionary in look
and feel that they change the
entire dynamic of a room,
making a basic box casual or
opulent, high-energy or laconic,
refined or rugged.
Wonderfully textured papers
provide a beautiful backdrop for
paintings, or murals can replace
artwork altogether. For the latter
application, King likes large-scale
scenes such as Cole & Son’s
Manhattan skyline or Eiffel Tower
designs as well as a hand-painted
Gracie mural of a Japanese landscape that goes all the way around
a room without a repeat.
Deleon often presents wallpaper in her design plans although
clients don’t expect it. “There are
amazing wallpapers out there; for
instance, paper with little glass
beads, vinyls that look like velvet,
and damask with raised 3-D
effects. Those are wonderful
under a chair rail. The 3-D really
makes it pop. [Wall covering
manufacturers] are doing silks
and suedes as well as gold, silver
and copper leafing.”
King especially likes metal-leaf
paper on ceilings “where it’s not
in your face.”
In Eskow’s designs, she most
often opts for textures, including
wipe-clean vinyls for kitchens. “I
love the stitched flannels, wood
veneers and parquet patterns.
They make rooms sing and a lot
more cozy.”
She selects big, bold patterns
for powder rooms where there’s
impact without design fatigue
because the room is used for
short periods. “You can use
something expensive because it’s
a small space. I’m not afraid
that it’s going to get ruined by
overuse. Guests go there, and
you want that wow factor.”
King likewise pushes the envelope in powder rooms, recently
doing one with stylized floral
designs 20 inches high and 16
inches across.
New designs, materials and
applications have taken wallpaper from being a wallflower to
being the belle of the ball. DNJ
Mary Vinnedge has been writing
about home and design for about
20 years. Cheeck her website at
www.EditorForRent.com.