Despite what the name might suggest, wallpaper needn’t be contained to just the four walls. These homes from the ELLE Decoration archive show how extending it upwards across the ceiling, into alcoves and onto shelving creates an all-encompassing ode to pattern. Better still, paired with graphic rugs, printed textiles and clashing curtains it becomes a study in exuberant decorating.
The Hollywood home with a cloudy hallway
‘That wallpaper was so great to take up onto the ceiling,’ says homeowner Randy Barbato. The Emmy-winning director and producer turned to Commune Design to help transform his classic California colonial-revival house, built in 1936 by Milton Black. The hallway is given over completely to Fornasetti’s ‘Nuvole’ wallpaper design for Cole & Son, which makes for a dramatic entrance for visitors on entering the home. The antique rug was sourced by Amadi Carpets.
The larger than life Zurich home
This opulent home was designed by Claudia Silberschmidt, founder and creative director of Atelier Zürich. In the kitchen, worktops and island are made from nero assoluto, a kind of black granite from Zimbabwe. It is the perfect foil to the House of Hackney ‘Mey Meh’ wallpaper that covers not just the walls, but the ceiling too. Pattern continues on the floor, where there’s a combination of wooden herringbone parquet and cement tiles from Bisazza.
Dynamic patterns in a Paris apartment
One of illustrator Pierre-Marie’s key tips when it comes to pattern is to vary the scale. His Paris home shows just how impactful this approach can be, with a riotous combination of pattern found in every room. The living room features a graduated fireplace, decorative panels and lights he designed. He also designed the mesmerising fabric on the room divider for Paris-based brand Créations Métaphores. The ‘Baisity’ armchair, upholstered in 1980s leather, is by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia.
The Berlin home on the straight and narrow
Stripes are the defining pattern of this rainbow-hued Berlin home. Designer Fabian Freytag used the pattern across walls and ceilings. In the bedroom varying widths of Farrow & Ball’s ‘Sutcliffe Green’ and ‘Dyrehaven’ create a graphic effect while the ‘Husk’ bed by Patricia Urquiola for B&B Italia breaks up the scheme.
The London home with an unexpected interior
This unassuming Victorian home in east London has an interior that’s an extravagant combination of floral, zigzags, circus stripes, electric blue and shocking pink. From the de Gournay wallpaper that was a ‘feat of engineering’ to hang, to the two chimneys clad in Capital Granite, the living area is designer Rachel Chudley’s favourite room. ‘It’s total joy when you’re in there,’ she says. Via Arkadia supplied the humbug-striped floor tiles which lend graphic contrast to the opulence of the wallpaper.
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The Florence home of a fashion heavyweight
When Edgardo Osorio, founder of the luxury brand Aquazzura, moved into his Florence home it was all white. That quickly changed, as he devised an interior that reflects his travels and passions, combined with his love of colour and print. This is apparent from the moment you enter, with an entrance featuring an intricate, hand-painted de Gournay wallpaper paired with a graphic black and white chevron striped rug.
Texture and pattern combine in this powder room
Powder rooms might be small, but they are also ripe for a maximalist moment. Creating a jewel-box interior is achieved with sumptuous colours and an artful mix of wallpaper, tiles and surfaces. Nicola Harding combined a geometric wallpaper with a finer floral motif and a tented ceiling in a chintzy print for WOW!house 2025. ‘We filled it with art, including simple sketches, offsetting some of the grander features and giving the sense that the room evolved organically, over time,’ she says.
The big bold home in the countryside
This garden room in a Cotswolds rectory house is just one of its many moments of spectacular pattern clashing. Interior designer Henri Fitzwilliam-Lay paired Iksel’s ‘Kubilai’s Tent’ wallpaper with floral ‘Magnolia – Cream Blue’ Roman blinds by GP & J Baker. The sofa is from Dudgeon and has been upholstered in ‘Leopard (Emerald Rose)’ fabric from Parker & Jules, while a ‘Bamboo Trellis’ rug by Neisha Crosland for The Rug Company adds a final decorative flourish to the scheme.
Wall-to-ceiling botanicals in Italy
With a combination of verdant houseplants and jungle-print ‘Jardin d’Osier’ wallpaper by Pierre Marie for Hermès, this room in the home of Caterina Fabrizio takes the notion of a winter garden to the very extreme. The cane chairs are vintage pieces by Joe Colombo, and the cushions on the sofa are upholstered in velvet by Dedar, the company she co-owns.
An animalistic study in London
Designer Trilbey Gordon chose one pattern and doubled down in the study of this opulent London home. Pierre Frey’s animal print wallpaper covers the walls and ceiling while another animal print fabric by the French firm covers the chair. Leopard print speaks to an extravagant type of glamour, which is perfect for this home that’s a true ode to disco. A cherry-red table adds a final lavish touch.
