Decorating Walls With Fabric - Would You Dare?

Would you dare to decorate the walls of your house with fabric? In this article, we'll give you a few tips and tricks to do it successfully. Keep reading!
Decorating Walls With Fabric - Would You Dare?

Last update: 28 January, 2021

Decorating walls with fabric may sound weird to you. However, doing this will give a special character to the rooms of your home thanks to the varied textures, designs, and colors. Believe it or not, this combination will give a sense of comfort in the entire space.

Also, upholstered walls provide a feeling of well-being that can’t be achieved with other materials. Fabric is smooth and tactile and brings warmth and life to the home. Last but certainly not least, this decor element will provide an original vibe to the room.

Decorating walls with fabric

A multi-colored fabric decorating a wall.

Decorating walls with fabric gives an improvement in the acoustics of the room. Also, it provides insulation from the cold and outside noise. This is thanks to the thickness of the fabrics, which can pad the wall which helps hide small imperfections.

On the other hand, we must mention that decorating walls with fabric doesn’t come cheap. For this reason, people don’t usually apply this decor element to many rooms of the house. Most apply this technique in the bedroom, but it works in other rooms as well.

An upholstered wall in the entrance, for example, will help welcome guests in a very unique way. Likewise, an upholstered wall in the hall, forming panels with fabrics of different colors and patterns, can add a touch of vitality to this area which most people overlook.

The most popular fabrics are those of natural fiber (cotton, linen, felt, raffia, burlap, and wool). Although there are also some synthetic fibers, especially polyester and acrylic, suitable for carrying out this technique. However, it’s important to mention that these can be of poorer quality.

Of course, whatever your choice may be, you must touch the fabric and feel its weight and texture before buying it. You must be sure that it’s exactly what you had in mind before purchasing it.

Textures and prints

A bedroom wall decorated with fabric.

Rough and opaque, fine and shiny… there are so many possibilities when it comes to this. The textures of the fabric will allow the walls to stand out and give more personality to those rooms that may seem a bit bland.

We must say that velvet fabrics reinforce the classic or stately style, while linens and cotton provide a sensation of freshness, something that’s good for a young-looking space.

In general, the thicker the fabric, the more solid it’ll feel. On the other hand, you should bear in mind that patterned fabrics can be used to decorate a space by serving as a frame for a piece of furniture or a sofa.

Decorating walls with fabric, aspects you must consider

If you decide to decorate any of your walls with fabric, you must take into account two important aspects. First off, the placement and, secondly, the maintenance.

Placement

A bedroom wall decorated with fabric.

Although there are fabrics with a paper base, they require a greater placement technique than wallpaper. The difficulty is getting the desired finish.

Most fabrics are placed directly on the wall. Another way is stapling the edges of the fabric onto the wall or onto wooden slats that’ll act as a supporting frame.

For lightweight fabrics, such as moire, a good option is to sew a hem at the bottom and top and tension them, hanging them from bars or wires under the ceiling and above the plinth.

Remember that, when it comes to decorating walls with fabric, you shouldn’t apply the glue on the underside of the fabric but directly onto the wall. This will prevent the fabric from being stained with the glue.

To achieve a good finish, the layer of glue must be thin and well-distributed. You don’t want any lumps of glue showing through the fabric.

Maintenance

You can treat most fabrics with special products that repel dust and make them stain-resistant. Keep this in mind when choosing the room you’ll use the fabric in.

However, if the fabric gets dirty, you can clean the stains with products specially recommended for upholstery. Also, to keep the dust from making the fabric darker, we advise you to vacuum it at least once a week. 

As you can see, decorating walls with fabric is a good option to give a touch of originality to the rooms of your home. Try it out and tell us how it goes!

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