The Wallpaper Chase: Patterns on Walls, Stairs and Chairs is Stylish Again

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AT ALEXANDRIA'S Jackson 20 restaurant, the darkly dramatic dining room boasts a life-size bronze pig, ceiling lights shrouded in metal mesh shades and a rusty wall clock that looks zapped in from Victorian London.

But it's a single wall — covered in black and white wallpaper printed with empty, Baroque-style picture frames — that packs the biggest punch. "We were going for a modern colonial mood to fit the neighborhood," says interior designer Robert Polacek, who chose the slightly cheeky Schumacher paper. "The wallpaper makes a bold statement."

Until recently, having halls decked with wallpaper meant that you were either living in your grandma's house or stuck in the 1980s, when neon squiggles in Boy George hues were the rage.

But now, fueled partially by the crafty-cool movement, the paste-up patterns are back. "There's a greater appreciation for graphic design and illustration by this generation," says Lauren Smith, co-author of "Wallpaper Projects" ($23, Chronicle). "Newer papers are graphic but modern. It's a big change from the country-kitchen look people remember."

Indeed, wallpaper — which first became popular in the 15th century among decor-mad Europeans who couldn't afford tapestries — has experienced a hipster revolution in the last decade. Target and Anthropologie started trafficking in the stuff. Trad companies such as Graham & Brown partnered with cutting-edge designers including Marcel Wanders to roll out wild patterns such as dusty red Celtic knots; newer houses such as Denmark's Ferm Living produce witty, pretty papers including the black-and-white "Fashion," with its silhouettes of catwalk babes. "People take toiles and update them or do florals in unexpected ways," says Aimee Lagos of Ferm's U.S. Web site (Fermlivingshop.us).

The way interior pros and DIYers use wallpaper has changed, too. While it's still chic to cover a small space (e.g., a powder room) with wall-to-wall damask or stripes, just papering a smidge of real estate comes across as modern and surprising. "It's important to break up your wallpaper," says D.C. interior design Joseph Ireland. "Doing paper in two adjoining rooms would be a mistake."

"It's very contemporary to paper one wall," says Heather Cole of Bradbury & Bradbury, a pattern company that has seen sales of its Arts and Crafts landscapes and 1950s amoeba prints spike. "It's like an art installation."

Other clever concepts: putting up a faux headboard using a punchy graphic, papering your stair risers or putting vintage scraps in frames. Wallpaper can also headline in crafts projects. "People decoupage with it, apply it to lamp shades and even cover kitchen cabinets," says Cole.

When choosing paper, "get samples, tack them on the wall and live with them for a while," Ireland says. And while it might be tempting to color-coordinate, pairing an orange and olive paper such as Graham & Brown's "Boheme" with a similar-hued sofa, "There's no matchy-matchy," says Lagos. "Wallpaper that contrasts with furniture provides a nice contrast."

To use wallpaper, you'll have to get it on the walls. "It's always the question of whether you should hang it yourself," says Smith. "That depends on how crafty you are. You'll need a buddy to help. It can be unwieldy." For tips on how to cut and paste, check out the video on Fermlivingshop.us. If, as Cole recommends, you "stick to the pros, which is best if you have no experience," ask a local paint store for recommendations.

Whatever you do, before mixing up the paste, "Be sure you're in love with what you put up," says Cole. Because while wallpaper is cool again, taking it down is still about as enjoyable as staring at Grandma's rooster print-covered walls.

WHERE TO BUY
» Anthropologie — The boho-chic retailer hawks twee-to-trendy designs including a deep blue lace pattern ($198 per roll) and a terrier-strewn yellow and blue beauty ($108 per roll).
» Graham & Brown — One of the most comprehensive wallpaper sites on the Web stocks the British company's own paper, such as the Studio 54-sleek "Boheme" ($60 per roll), and styles by other design houses, such as Basso & Brooke's "Alphabet," a complex web of Greek letters.
» Schumacher — Posh papers include everything from trad, Nantucket-y stripes and Trina Turk's Palm Beach brights to Goth-glam "Go Baroque" (Shown at right, price upon request). Buy through the Find-a-Designer program at Washington Design Center's Schumacher Showroom, 300 D St. SW; 202-646-0610.
» Wallpapers to go — The mega-site offers everything from country-kitschy borders to Sandpiper Studio's urbane, green Eco Chic Collection, with loft-worthy styles such as "Wood Grain" ($34 per roll).
» Bradbury & Bradbury — Mad for mid-century modern or admiring of Arts and Crafts? This Cali repro house stocks everything from Victorian vine patterns to fab 1950s styles such as "Atomic Doodle" ($60 per roll).
» Ferm Living — Mod, statement-making papers include "Tree Bomb," ($115 per roll) a dreamy silver and black twiggy design, and funky wall decals ($51-$140) depicting bikes, stacks of vintage suitcases and even — ew!— a giant, buzzing fly.

ADDITIONAL TIPS:
» Expect to pay from $20 per roll for vinyl paper to $200 and up for hand-printed rolls. Rolls are about 15 inches long and 20 to 27 inches wide. Calculate how much paper you'll need, and then add an extra roll. Get help with this from wallpaper sellers or Doityourself.com/stry/howmuchwallpaper.

» Colorful and eye-popping, wallpaper scraps can star in craft projects. No DIY gene? Type in "vintage wallpaper" on Etsy.com to score finds like:
1) Wallpaper-decked light switch covers from Fondue ($10-$20, Fondue.etsy.com)
2) Draw Flower's necklaces carved from groovy, '70s remnants ($22, Drawflowers.etsy.com")
3) Drum shades (Pictured at left, $105-$287)

» Pictured above (left to right): Ferm Living's "Family Tree," Taylor & Wood's "Frames," Basso & Brooke's "Alphabet" and Ferm Living's "Fashion" and "Wild Flower.

Photos courtesy Ferm Living, Graham Brown, Bradbury & Bradbury, Washington Design Center