Black Wallpaper

Black wallpaper does something no other color can: it makes the walls stop announcing themselves. Corners disappear, the ceiling reads as higher than it is, and whatever you hang on the wall — art, a mirror, a brass sconce — becomes the only thing you see.

Why small rooms are the best case for black

The instinct is to keep small spaces pale, and black wallpaper proves it wrong. A powder room, a coat closet, a windowless hallway: paint or paper those in black and the boundaries blur, so the eye stops measuring the room. A large bright living room, by contrast, will show every seam and every scuff in black, which is why full black rooms tend to work best where there is little daylight to expose them.

Finish decides everything. A matte black is enveloping and forgiving; a lacquered or mica-flecked black throws light back and turns theatrical after dark.

Pattern on black wallpaper

Black grounds carry pattern differently — a print that looks busy on cream reads as texture on black, because the contrast between motif and ground does the work instead of the color. Metallic inks are the classic partner here, and gold or bronze on black is the most reliable formal combination in the trade.

Roll sizes in feet and inches

Rolls run 33 ft long (10.05 m); the 20.5 in width (52 cm) covers about 56 sq ft, roughly an American double roll, and 27.5 in (70 cm) rolls cover around 75 sq ft. Two practical notes for dark papers: cut with a fresh blade every few seams, since a dragged edge shows white, and prime the wall in a dark tinted base so nothing pale grins through at the joins.

Where to look next

Metallic and dark grounds meet in metallic wallpaper and gold wallpaper; for pattern on black, look at geometric wallpaper, floral wallpaper and historical wallpaper. House of Hackney and Mind the Gap work the dramatic end, Dedar the graphic one. Neighboring shade: anthracite wallpaper.

Ordering from the US

Samples are worth the wait here: matte, satin and lacquered blacks look identical on a screen and nothing alike on a wall. Duties and taxes are included in the price shown; orders ship insured from the Netherlands.