Wallpaper Trends: What's Defining Interior Design Right Now

Wallpaper has been one of the most consistent stories in interior design over the past several years. After a long period of painted walls dominating, wallpaper came back with significant force — and the category has continued to evolve in interesting directions. Here is what is defining wallpaper right now: the patterns that are resonating, the textures that are replacing paint entirely, and the applications that have shifted from traditional to unexpected.

Botanical and Floral Prints: Still Growing

Large-scale botanical and floral wallpaper is not slowing down. The appetite for organic, nature-connected interiors that drove the initial wave of botanical wallpaper has continued to deepen, and the category has evolved from the first wave of tropical leaf prints into something more nuanced.

What is defining botanical wallpaper right now: more muted, sophisticated color palettes (sage, warm cream, dusty rose, forest green rather than saturated tropical greens and blues), larger pattern scales that feel more like murals than repeating prints, and more layered, illustrative styles that reference vintage botanical drawings.

The bedroom is still the primary home for botanical wallpaper, but the dining room has emerged as an equally strong application — dinner guests get to sit surrounded by pattern and warmth, and the dining room's evening-use context makes rich, detailed pattern particularly effective.

Geometric Patterns: Precision and Craft

Geometric wallpaper has maintained strong interest but has shifted in character. The current direction in geometric wallpaper favors:

• Smaller-scale, more intricate patterns that reward close viewing rather than bold repeat graphics
• Craft and artisanal quality — patterns that look handprinted, block-printed, or deliberately imperfect rather than digitally precise
• Warm color palettes in ochre, rust, terracotta, deep olive, and warm navy rather than the high-contrast black and white or primary color combinations that dominated earlier
• Arched and scallop motifs as a specific geometric direction that has appeared across wallpaper, tile, and textile simultaneously

(For ways to put both of these pattern families to work in specific spaces, see our room-by-room guide to geometric and botanical wallpaper.)

Grasscloth and Textured Wallpaper: The Anti-Pattern

The strongest trend that is not a pattern at all is textured wallpaper. Grasscloth, linen-look, woven-texture, and embossed wallpapers have seen growing demand because they give walls a material quality that paint cannot replicate — the visual interest of a surface that catches light differently as you move through the room.

Grasscloth in particular has moved well beyond its traditional application in dining rooms and entryways into bedrooms, living rooms, and home offices. The current direction in grasscloth favors lighter, neutral tones — warm white, oatmeal, soft sand — rather than the traditional amber and honey tones. This gives the texture-forward quality of grasscloth while keeping the wall light enough to work with contemporary interiors.

Textured wallpapers are particularly popular as a primary wall treatment in rooms where a strong pattern would be too much — a living room with a lot of furniture and other textiles, a bedroom that already has a patterned duvet or window treatment, or a home office that needs some visual interest without being visually demanding.

Dark and Moody Colorways: The Growing Direction

Deep, rich wallpaper colorways — navy, dark green, charcoal, deep plum, black — have grown significantly from a niche statement choice to a mainstream option. The design conversation around dark walls has shifted: the concern that dark colors make a room feel smaller has been replaced by an understanding that dark walls make a room feel intimate and cocooning, which is an asset in the right context.

Dark botanical wallpaper — dark ground color with lighter floral and leaf motifs — is one of the most striking current applications. In a dining room or bedroom with warm lighting and rich furniture, a dark botanical wallpaper creates an experience that is difficult to achieve any other way.

Vintage and Heritage Patterns: Enduring and Evolving

Vintage-referenced wallpaper — patterns inspired by William Morris, arts and crafts, toile de Jouy, chinoiserie, and other historical design traditions — has found a new audience in the current design moment. These patterns are being applied with more confidence and less hesitation than they were a decade ago, when maximalist pattern mixing was less accepted.

The current version is less restrained: vintage floral or chinoiserie in a maximalist living room mixed with contemporary furniture, or a historic pattern in a fresh colorway that removes the dated quality and makes it feel current.

Accent Walls vs. Full Room Coverage

The single wallpaper accent wall has been the dominant application for several years, but there has been a meaningful return to full-room wallpaper coverage in rooms where it can be executed well — a dining room with botanical wallpaper on all four walls, a bedroom with a tonal textured wallpaper throughout. The scale and immersive quality of full-room coverage creates a very different experience from a single accent wall, and more designers and homeowners are embracing it. If one statement wall is more your speed, our guide to wallpaper accent wall ideas walks through choosing the wall, the pattern, and the scale.

Shop Dogberry's wallpaper collection — botanical, geometric, grasscloth, vintage, and textured wallpapers in the patterns and colorways that are resonating in interiors right now.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most popular wallpaper pattern right now?

Large-scale botanical and floral wallpaper is currently the most popular pattern category, particularly in bedrooms and dining rooms. Geometric patterns with warm, earthy color palettes and artisanal quality are close behind. Grasscloth and textured wallpapers are the strongest non-pattern category.

Is dark wallpaper too risky for a small room?

Not necessarily. Dark wallpaper in a small room can create a jewel-box effect — intimate, warm, and more impactful than a light treatment that tries to make the room feel larger. A small dining room with deep green or navy botanical wallpaper can feel like a special destination rather than a limitation. The key is committing fully: dark walls need rich furnishings and warm lighting to work.

Is grasscloth wallpaper durable?

Grasscloth is moderately durable and suitable for low-traffic areas like bedrooms, dining rooms, and living rooms. It is not recommended for high-moisture areas (bathrooms, kitchens) as natural fiber wallpapers can absorb moisture and be difficult to clean. Most grasscloth wallpapers cannot be wiped clean the way vinyl or coated wallpapers can.

Can you use bold wallpaper in a rental?

Yes, with temporary or peel-and-stick wallpaper. Many of the current botanical and geometric patterns are available in removable peel-and-stick formats that apply and remove without damaging walls. The pattern quality and finish of the best peel-and-stick products now approaches traditional wallpaper for accent wall applications. Our peel-and-stick wallpaper FAQ answers common questions about application, removal, and renter-friendly use.

What color goes with botanical wallpaper?

The easiest starting point is to pull one of the secondary colors from the wallpaper pattern and use it as the primary color for textiles (pillows, curtains, upholstery) in the room. Keep furniture in a neutral that complements the wallpaper ground color — if the wallpaper is on a cream ground, cream or natural wood furniture integrates best.