A new wave in home decor is building in the shape of custom wallpaper murals, and as a consequence many homes and workplaces are taking on a new dynamic. Fortunately for those wanting to redecorate, the proliferation of wallpaper mural manufacturers added to the increased availability of millions of high quality images from stock photo agencies means that these are to be seen in more homes and businesses than ever before. Now easier than ever before, creating stunning room spaces is possible for anybody and not just the professionals. Whichever wall space, room, corridor or door that you want to change, there will be the right image available for it; it is just your imagination and courage that will limit you!
Wallpaper murals fit any wall space
Think about the number of great wall spaces in your work environment or at home that could be livened up. Do you have in mind one or two spaces that could benefit from some wallpaper murals? For example, one of the most popular rooms to enhance with dramatic or fun wallpaper murals is a child's or teenager's bedroom. As we know, children are all individuals and they will each have their own ideas of how they would like their personal spaces to be adorned. So now you can give them an amazing choice. Next on the list of most popular rooms to have wallpaper murals are the main living areas. This can be majestic spaces in open plan living rooms, through to smaller but interesting walls in dining rooms. In these main living areas, the most popular murals that we print are cityscapes and landscapes. These often offer the effect of dramatic and mind expanding extensions to the look of the rooms. However, be sure not to limit your thoughts on what you can do, as wallpaper murals can be used in hallways, corridors, on doors, bathrooms, playrooms and more.
From just £10 m2
The cost of the custom wallpaper murals can vary greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer. It is not necessarily that some manufacturers are greedier than others, it may be that they have different specialities, different costs and different expectations from their customer base. In the United Kingdom right now (2013-2014), you can pay anything from £10 +VAT per square meter up to £60 +VAT per square meter. Understanding the basic costs of manufacturing these products means that you don't have to pay top prices for the best products. While basic material costs mean that the top of the range products cost too much to offer at the lower price ranges, you won't have to pay top dollar to get the best. For my personal choice, I would recommend that you consider wallpaper murals that are in the price range of £25-£35 +VAT per square meter. Taking this all onboard will enable you to have wallpaper murals that have incredible lightfastness, are easy to install with repositionable self-adhesive backs, and which offer great colour rendition as well.
Choosing the best image
The most important choice of all with wallpaper murals is the image that you will want to be displayed. Some retailers of these products do not offer a custom service, as they only have standard stock murals in set sizes. These are cheaper, but do not offer anything remarkable. Being able to use your own image by uploading it online or emailing to the manufacturer is one of the key features of the custom services. Some even offer their own extensive online image galleries for you to be able to choose from. If you are not familiar with professional imaging, it is easy to send the manufacturer an image to be made into a large wallpaper mural that isn't of high enough a standard. It is often best to check their requirements before doing this. If you are not sure about your image, you can always ask for a small sample proof in advance.
Some last decades, others don't
If you are wanting your wallpaper murals to last longer than a year, then there are a couple of things you need to check out when making your choices. The environment around where the wallpaper is hung affects its lifetime, as does the brand of inks and brand of paper that it is all printed on. To explain, the combination of a high grade substrate (or paper) and fade resistant inks will allow a predicted lifetime for your wallpaper murals of up to 100 years. A long product life is certainly a hot selling point, so if the seller is not promoting this as a benefit the wallpaper mural that you are about to buy may fade quicker than expected. This could be as short as a year or two. Manufacturers will give advice, usually on or about their sales pages, where and where not to install the wallpaper murals, however they cannot control this. This applies to both home and business uses. The biggest factors that work against the long term use of your wall displays is moisture and sunlight. This is the same for any digitally printed product, so be sure to double check the manufacturers specifications before making your purchase.
Other products that work with Wallpaper Murals
Why stop at wallpaper murals. There are some other products that work brilliantly alongside them and will only enhance the rooms that you are decorating. Printing technology and product design is advancing all of the time, and now you can incorporate custom printed acrylic panels, which are high gloss and durable. These can be in desktop sizes, wall sizes with hidden fixings and can now even be printed as one-off acrylic headboards The images are printed on to the rear of the acrylic panels and the resulting effect offers deep colour saturation in the image plus a spectacular experience for the viewer, especially when compared to normal prints. The acrylic panels are crafted into photo frames and have wall mounts fitted, these wall mounts invariably lead to the frame standing clear of the wall. Some of these frames even have a 'hidden fixings' design which leads to a contemporary and interesting floating effect. Some craftsmen even incorporate printed acrylic panels within furniture designs. Perhaps a less obvious product, consider the idea of ceiling murals and floor murals. All of these alternative ideas are perfect for both the home decor enthusiast as well as the professional business space designer.
Paper and inks are not all equal
A important issue that people often neglect when choosing who they buy their wallpaper murals from is the specifications of the wallpaper material itself (the substrate). The nature of this substrate affects a whole range of things, for example it's effective lifetime, the final colouring of the inks, and even how easy it is to hang. The importance of your choice of paper is reflected in the sheer varieties on offer. If it is the best that you are looking for, then a thick, heavy weight fabric based material is best that is created for interior wall coverings. You can get them so that the paper won't wrinkle or stretch when hanging them, and this makes life much easier. Offered less often is the self-adhesive kind. These are the easiest to hang of all, and the process is altogether a lot less fussy than the 'paste it yourself' variety. On this point, the final thing to consider is the size of strips that the image is printed on; some manufacturers print them on poster sized panels while others will print the whole image on one massive sheet. My personal favourite is the type that arrive as rolls of pre-cut lengths, a little wider than regular wallpaper. Coming with a plan for which order to hang the panels in, these are the nicest to instal.
Summing up your choices
To offer you a final checklist of all the points made so far, you can enjoy the benefits of cheap, ready made images in preset sizes or you can order custom made and beautifully printed wallpaper murals quite easily. You have the option of choosing from highly impressive previously selected professional images, or you can upload and use your own favourites. The manufacturers websites that have galleries of images for you to choose from often allow you to select your favourites at no extra charge, or you can visit stock photo agency websites where you will find millions more to choose from in every subject that you can think of. The overall quality of the product is important for its installation as well as for the final effect, so you need to consider whether you want a 'paste yourself' wallpaper or one that is self-adhesive. Consider the paper material itself and whether it is a wrinkle free, non stretch fabric based material. Remember that the wallpaper can be delivered to you as a single massive sheet, poster size panels or in pre-cut lengths that are easiest of all to install. Light fastness is an issue with some products, particularly the cheaper ones, so in order to avoid disappointment with fading be sure to double check the claims in the product specifications before ordering. Keep this simple checklist in mind and you are sure to be enjoying the dramatic effects of high quality wallpaper murals in your home and office for many years ahead.
