A Maximalist’s Guide to wallpaper
Wallpaper is maximalist magic and I have to admit at being obsessed! It can be bold, expressive, or quiet and textural but the one thing I love about it most is it often comes packed with pattern personality. I can’t understand why you’d settle for plain walls when you could have charming florals, or elegant chinoiserie, bold geometrics, or a scene-stealing mural?! It’s not just decoration—it’s a style statement. Question is which pattern personality are you?
You may have heard that latest interior buzz is all about colour drenching right now—this is using one shade of paint across walls, ceilings, and woodwork to create an immersive effect. But for maximalists we can do one better and pattern drenching is where it’s at. Wrap walls, ceilings, even cabinetry in a glorious prints. The effect is confident, layered, and utterly indulgent.
If you’re ready to transform your space with wallpaper, here’s how I’ve done it in my own home, the maximalist way…
Pick a print that suits your personality
One of my key design threads is to choose a pattern motifs and repeat it throughout your home. Are you tropical jungle vibes, English country florals, zig zags or stripes? I’ve taken inspiration from the location of my home, a Sussex country farm house, nestled amongst woodland and wild flowers. When I worked on my collection of wallpapers with Harlequin, we used this as a jumping off point for the whole collection, and I urge you to do the same when it comes to your own home. It helps give a sense of coherence, personality and flow to your home. Myself and the Harlequin design team took inspiration from their incredible archive and updated classic English country florals with a modern colour palette. This summed up my personal style which loves to straddle old and new. I love vintage finds along side contemporary art and ceramics. I feel that my bedroom design sums up my style perfectly with this incredible Eighteenth century floral, recoloured and renamed Wonderland Floral. I love the way it dances around the room and mimics the view of the tree tops from my bedroom window. And yes, you’ve guessed it, I’ve wrapped the whole room around in this wonderful pattern. If you live by the sea, you may be inspired by watery blues and dreamy fluid patterns. A city home I think allows for a little more poetic licence, and really anything goes.
Wonderland floral wallpaper in lapis, Harlequin x Sophie Robinson, available at John Lewis.
Yes, you can wallpaper a bathroom!
This has to be one of my most asked questions over on Instagram. As long as you keep it away from splash zones, like behind the basin and bath and if you are concerned by humidity you can give it a coat of decorator’s varnish (which is matt in appearance) to protect it against the moisture. My bathroom doesn’t have a shower in it so I’ve not bothered and all I can say is that after 5 years, it’s holding up strong!
Because most bathrooms are small but mighty, they can handle bold prints. A dramatic floral wrapping around all four walls would look so luxurious or like me, go for a joyful geometric that dances around the room. Bathrooms can be so hard to add a stamp of personality to so if you can get some pattern in here it will really elevate the space, and bring in some much needed colour and interest.
Wallpaper is “Improvisations” by Ottoline De Vries
The kitchen – let the wallpaper do the talking
This fabulous Woodland floral wallpaper totally sets the tone in my kitchen. Just like bathrooms, there is a misconception that you can’t wallpaper in this heavy traffic room but again, a few practical things to consider and it’ll hold up fine. Again avoid splash back areas like around the sink and hob. I’m lucky (or did I cleverly plan it) but my sink is positioned in front of the window and the hob is in the island. If either are against the wall you’d need tiles or a glass splash back. I recommend an up-stand all around the worktops so you aren’t wiping up against the wallpapered wall. Again you can apply a couple of coats of decorators varnish and the wallpaper will become wipeable.
Woodland floral wallpaper, Harlequin x Sophie Robinson, available at John Lewis.
When designing my overall kitchen scheme I picked the wallpaper first, then pulled my cabinet colours, work surface, and even the curtains from its palette. The result? A space that looks effortlessly put together, like everything was meant to be.
If you don’t want to go for an all four wall strategy in your kitchen you could consider zoning an area in pattern, like a dining nook, behind open shelves, or even inside cupboards for an unexpected pattern pop!
I used the colour palette within the Woodland floral wallpaper to pick cabinetry colours, and anchors the maximalist scheme. Kitchen Cabinets: Magnet
Murals: the ultimate statement
Murals are wallpaper on steroids. They turn walls into giant works of art and while commonly used on a single feature wall, I say… why stop there?! In my office, I wrapped the entire room in this glorious mural , and now it feels like I’m working inside a woodland glade. This ‘Into the woods’ mural is particularly special as its been digitally printed on a textured vinyl that makes it feel like an artists canvas, it’s so clever. It was painted for my collection with Harlkequin, and Flora from the studio hand painted this scene which is the actual view from my office window! Pretty special huh? I have to say, I LOVE IT.
‘Into The Woods’ mural from my collection with Harlequin x Sophie Robinson, available at John Lewis.
One thing to consider with any mural or wallpaper is what to paint the adjacent walls, wood work and ceilings because this must be considered. You absolutely cannot default to white. In my office I painted the ceiling Pale Berlin, by Little Greene, as it matched into the blue sky at the top of the mural. I did consider painting all my wood work in one of the forest greens, but instead chose to keep my lazuli blue, from Zoffany, as it’s part of my design thread and ties in as there are streaks of this colour throughout the mural.
Ceiling in Pale Berlin, by Little Greene. woodwork in lazuli blue, Zoffany. Curtains and blinds made in Garden terrace, Chair covered in wonderland Floral, Harlequin x Sophie Robinson.
Want to make a room feel bigger? Wallpaper it!
It’s a misplaced preconception that wallpaper crowds a room and makes it feel smaller when in fact the right pattern can make a room feel bigger, and definitely more interesting.
Take my petite guest bedroom, just 3 m x 3m, it’s not huge. I chose this delightfully delicate daisy trellis wallpaper, which has a light white ground which helps the eye travel through the pattern, and beyond. It’s a maximalist optical illusion, and I adore the way it makes this little cottage style bedroom feel extra special too. You could try a scenic mural for extra depth, a vertical stripe to stretch the ceiling height, or a large-scale floral to bring an unassuming room to life.
Daisy Trellis wallpaper: Sophie Robinson X Harlequin
Instead of going for a contrasting colour on woodwork, here I’ve pulled the white from the wallpaper and colour matched it to a particular white paint colour then applied it on doors, skirting, panelling. This allows the subtle pattern to do the talking. Thing to note here is the wrong white would really shine out, so take your time getting the right one. It’s good to establish who the hero in the room is, and here I didn’t want anything competing. However I have pulled out the yellow from the daisy motif and painted our cottage style windows in it, in order to draw attention to the stunning view outside. But the key take away here is always match your paint colours, even whites, to the wallpaper.
Window painted in Grandiflora by Sanderson.
Wallpaper is your best friend – use it everywhere!
So to recap. We all know now that wallpaper is not just for feature walls but can give you so much charm and visual impact wrapped around all four walls, even the ceiling too! It’s what will instantly supercharge your room in the style stakes.
I particularly love to pattern drench a space. This may be taking a mural all the way around the room or choosing a contrasting pattern and applying it to alcoves or the ceiling. Pick a paint colour from your wallpaper for woodwork and ceilings and bring cohesion to the whole scheme. Because maximalism is all about MORE, wallpaper is one of the best way to get there.
Feeling inspired? If you’ve enjoyed this post and would love to deepen your knowledge on how to add all the other elements that make up a successful patterned room scheme then let’s turn that excitement into action! My online course How to Create Maximalist Interiors is jam packed with all my interior design know-how and trade secrets, with a foolproof process to help you craft a home bursting with pattern personality. No pressure, no deadlines, no homework—just pure design joy to be enjoyed at your own pace.
So, ready to ditch the beige and embrace the bold? Let’s do this!
