Linen wallpaper

Linen wallpaper puts a woven surface on the flat painted drywall that most American houses are built from. The top layer is spun from flax, the plant linen thread comes from, and the weave sits close enough to read as cloth rather than print. Under a tall window the same panel looks pale at noon and warmer by six, because raised fibers throw their own small shadows.

Where linen wallpaper works in an open floor plan

An open plan gives one long sight line from the kitchen island to the sofa, and a strong repeat has to hold up from every point along it. Woven texture steps around that: from across the room it registers as color, and the structure only shows itself within arm's reach. That suits the long wall of a great room, or a stairwell, where a 9 to 10 ft (2.7 to 3.0 m) ceiling leaves a lot of vertical surface.

It reads differently in small rooms. A powder room in ecru, ivory or a soft gray ends up looking finished instead of decorated, and an entryway in terracotta or ochre meets people with something warmer than paint. Linen also takes the edge off sound, which a hallway with hard floors can use.

European roll sizes and what they mean on your wall

These rolls come from European mills in European dimensions: about 32.8 ft (10 m) long and 20.9 in (53 cm) wide, near the coverage of an American double roll. Measure wall by wall rather than room by room, then count in 20.9 in (53 cm) strips. A 12 ft (3.66 m) wall works out to seven drops, not six and a sliver.

Linen next to the other woven fibers

This surface is one branch of textile wallpaper, a group that also takes in jute, sisal and synthetic yarns. Beside jute or sisal, which both show a coarse open weave, linen has the finer grain and softer hand, so it stays quiet behind a framed print. Silk carries more sheen; the wider textured wallpaper range shows what a woven wall does to a room.

Ordering European linen wallpaper from the United States

Houses such as Elitis and Sandberg weave their wall coverings in small runs, with attention to sustainability and craftsmanship, so order the whole wall in one go and keep your rolls together. Import duties and fees are settled before your shipment leaves, so nothing is collected at your door.

Hanging and caring for a woven wall

• Choose a non-woven backing where you can; it is the easier one to hang
• Keep the weave running the same way from strip to strip, since a turned panel shows at once in raking light
• A soft brush handles dust; a few finishes tolerate a light wipe, but a woven wall is not a scrub-clean surface
• Tape a sample to the wall first; north light and lamplight treat texture differently