And avoid a color mistake you'll regret
Years ago, back in the first butter-yellow era of the 1990s, I decided our dining room needed to be yellow.
Butter yellow was everywhere, and I loved it.
I was also trying to save money, so instead of doing what any sensible person would do and buying enough of the right paint, I bought a small amount and decided I could somehow create the color myself.
A little water. A little white paint.
What could go wrong?
Quite a lot, apparently.
The result was not the soft, warm butter yellow I had pictured.
It looked like pee.
My father walked into the room, took one look at the walls, made a comment that had all of us laughing, and that was the end of my experiment.
I repainted.
Eventually, I got my pretty butter-yellow dining room, and we happily lived with it for years.
But I learned something I've remembered through nearly forty years of making homes:
Loving a color and choosing the right version of that color are two very different things.
And wallpaper adds one more piece to the equation.
Light.
Your Room Is Part of the Color Palette
One of the hardest things about choosing wallpaper online is that you're looking at the pattern in someone else's light.
- Maybe it was photographed in a bright studio.
- Maybe the room you're admiring on Pinterest has enormous south-facing windows.
- Maybe your dining room has one small window and gets its best light at four o'clock in the afternoon.
The exact same wallpaper can feel quite different in each of those places.
That's why I don't think the first question should be:
“What color goes with this wallpaper?”
Instead, ask:
“What did I love about this wallpaper in the first place?”
Was it the lightness?
The warmth?
The moodiness?
The softness?
That answer tells you much more about where to go next.
If You Loved the Lightness, Keep It Light
Maybe you chose an ivory wallpaper because you loved how airy and quiet it felt.
Don't immediately complicate it.
An ivory or soft neutral paint can be lovely because it allows the pattern to remain the focus while preserving the feeling that attracted you in the first place.
You don't always need to pull out the smallest blue flower or green leaf and put it on the trim simply because the color exists in the pattern.
Sometimes the simplest answer is the best one.
If You Loved the Moodiness, Don't Get Nervous Halfway Through
The opposite is true too.
If you fell in love with a rich, moody wallpaper because it felt enveloping and cozy, surrounding it with a stark white may take away the very thing you loved.
This is where color drenching can be beautiful.
Let the room be moody.
Use the background or a closely related color on the trim, doors, or even the ceiling and allow the room to wrap around you.
Sometimes we choose something with personality and then get frightened and try to neutralize it.
You don't have to.
If You Loved the Warmth, Stay With the Warmth
This brings me back to yellow.
I'm still drawn to those warm colors all these years later—just perhaps with a little more discernment than I had during my unfortunate paint-mixing experiment.
When I created Hydrangea Stripe in Golden Hour, I wasn't trying to make a “yellow wallpaper.”
I was thinking about that beautiful, softened warmth that happens late in the day.
Golden Hour has a warm, muted ground with hand-painted hydrangeas, deep greens and blue accents. It feels aged rather than bright; warm rather than sugary.
And if that warmth is what makes you love the pattern, I wouldn't immediately introduce a completely different paint color and ask it to compete.
I'd stay close to the background.
Farrow & Ball Cord is a beautiful coordinating direction for Golden Hour because it allows that warmth to continue around the room rather than interrupting it.
One of my safest rules when you're unsure is this:
Change the value before you change the color.
In other words, stay within the same color family and go lighter or darker.
You're creating contrast without introducing competition.
A Room Is Never Really One Color All Day
One of my favorite rooms in a house we lived in in Connecticut taught me this beautifully.
The house was built in 1754, but an addition had been put on in the 1940s. It had a fireplace and windows running across the back wall overlooking the woods.
In the afternoon, the light would come through those trees and into the room.
It was beautiful.
Years later, I had a studio in a sun porch in another house.
The morning light there was completely different—clear and crisp and wonderful to work in.
Then late in the afternoon, that golden sunlight would come through and change the entire feeling of the space.
Same room.
Same walls.
Same furniture.
Different light.
That is why I will always tell you to look at a wallpaper sample more than once.
A paper you love at 10 a.m. may become warmer at four.
A color that seems creamy in daylight may look quite different once the lamps come on at dinner.
Neither is necessarily better.
You simply want to know which version you're inviting into your home.
Don't Decorate Someone Else's House
Pinterest and Instagram are wonderful for inspiration.
I use them too.
But after all these years of decorating houses, I've learned that trying to make your room look exactly like an inspiration photograph isn't particularly useful.
Unless, of course, you plan to go to Target and buy every single thing the influencer used.
I'd rather ask:
Why did I stop at this photograph?
Was it the way the mantel was arranged?
Was it the cluster of objects?
The different heights?
Was it symmetrical or slightly off-center?
Did I love the old wood against the wallpaper?
Was it the combination of pattern and solid color?
Once you understand why you liked the room, you don't need to copy it.
Go shop your own house.
I've been married for almost forty years. We have wonderful things we've collected along the way.
Things from different houses.
Things from trips.
Things with stories.
Things that would never arrive together in a perfectly coordinated catalog room—and that's exactly why I like them together.
Your house should look like your life, not someone else's shopping list.
Let the House You Have Help You Decide
This is the part I wish more women trusted.
Your room is already giving you information.
Look at the light.
Look at your floors.
Look at the wood in your furniture.
Look at the rug you're keeping.
Look at the old chair you still love.
Look at the painting you bought twenty years ago.
You don't have to erase any of it to make the room beautiful.
The wallpaper should become another layer.
Collected, not coordinated.
And you don't have to decide on a photograph on your phone.
Before You Order Wallpaper, Live With the Sample
Tape the sample to the wall.
Then leave it alone for a few days.
Look at it with your morning coffee.
Walk past it in the afternoon.
Turn the lamps on at night.
Move it to another wall.
Hold it beside the wood furniture you're keeping.
Put your fabric next to it.
See what happens when the sun moves through the room.
And pay attention to how the paper makes the room feel.
- Light?
- Warm?
- Moody?
- Quiet?
- Comfortable?
That's usually where your answer is.
And if you're considering Hydrangea Stripe in Golden Hour, don't decide from your phone.
Bring it home first.
Samples are $5, which is a very small investment compared with wondering whether you've chosen the right wallpaper for an entire room.
Let your own house have the final say.
Order a $5 Hydrangea Stripe — Golden Hour sample
Because the goal isn't to make your room look like somebody else's.
It's to make your home feel more like yours.
