Textile wallpaper

Textile wallpaper is real fabric — linen, silk, wool, cotton, viscose or suede — laminated onto a backing, usually a non-woven and occasionally paper. That keeps the weave both visible and tactile, and you notice it the moment it goes up: light falls softer instead of bouncing back, the sharpest echo drops away, and the surface gains a depth flat vinyl simply can't match. In a room with plenty of glass, stone or concrete, that difference shows most clearly in the evening under lamplight.

Types of fabric wallpaper: from linen to suede

Which fabric you choose is part taste, part practicality. Linen wallpaper has an irregular, natural grain that reads as calm in a living room or study. Silk wallpaper catches the light with a subtle sheen, lovely in a dining room or bedroom. Suede wallpaper has a deeper, softer character — striking on a single feature wall behind the bed. Wool and felt are the warmest and most sound-absorbing options; cotton and viscose sit below them on price and work almost anywhere.

After a natural look, but plant-woven rather than fabric? Take a look at grasscloth wallpaper and sisal wallpaper too. And if you want texture without a genuine fibre, textured wallpaper gives you relief with the same quiet effect.

Textile brands with a signature of their own

The name says it all with Dutch Walltextile Company: wall textiles as a craft. Italy's Dedar and Belgium's Arte range from understated linen to bold woven designs in silk, wool and suede.

Textile wallpaper for living rooms, bedrooms and hospitality

Textile comes into its own in the rooms where you spend time: a living room, the bedroom, a reading nook. In restaurants, hotel lobbies and meeting rooms the deciding factor is often the sound — fabric breaks up echo. If that damping is your main goal, look at acoustic wallpaper as well, which is purpose-built for it. One thing to keep in mind: textile stains more readily than vinyl and is harder to clean, so keep it away from the kitchen splash zone and wet rooms, and ideally not at eye level along a busy walkway.

Hanging and ordering textile wallpaper

Order a sample first — you can only judge a weave properly in daylight on your own wall, never on a screen. Widths typically run from 70 to 140 cm, and you can work out the number of rolls with the wallpaper calculator. On a non-woven backing you hang it dry: paste the wall, then lay the length against it, which is handy when you're up a ladder. Butt the seams edge to edge, because an overlap shows immediately with textile. Working straight and clean matters more here than with ordinary wallpaper, so if you're unsure about your wall or your hand, bring in a professional wallpaper hanger. Free delivery on orders over € 99 in the Netherlands and Belgium.