Contemporary Wallpaper Pattern Trends & Inspiration

Wallpaper of today is definitely not what it used to be with the installation process and the choice of patterns or images available. Ghastly florals and patterns of the past are replaced by reinvented, contemporary florals, patterns and palettes of the present.

This article is presented by InkShuffle.com offering you beautiful Easy Off Wallpaper – perfect for renters. Millions of designs in categories like vintagecityscapes, and room openers.

We recently published a post about wall stenciling, also a booming trend and a more budget-worthy route than wallpapering, but could also be more work, depending on what you chose to paint. Wallpapering can also almost ensure a very clean, accurate and even more elaborate finished wall as well. At the end of the day, both have their pros and cons like anything else, it’s just a matter of budget and preference.

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I’m falling fast in love with Kreme wallpaper patterns. Very Moroccan-inspired design work with fabulous palettes. The example above is one of their more minimalist designs called, Painted Gate.

“Painted finishes, although great in some spaces, don’t equate to the luxury and opulence a few rolls of wallpaper can provide.” – Cadee Wilder of Kreme

Sourced from slideshow in Kreme Wallpaper California Collection 2012

Contemporary wallpapers are sometimes so graphically reinforced with such dramatic design work. This type of pattern design is so intricate that paint just couldn’t replicate (or could, but with a lot of effort).

Template: Antique Spanish by alfarroba 

I often come across patterns on COLOURlovers that could be made in to wallpaper, fabric, wrapping paper, you name it. In fact, most of the patterns at Kreme in their collections remind me of some of the high quality pattern work members are creating more recently. It is cool to see how the trends work their way around the block.

Sourced from slideshow in Kreme Wallpaper California Collection 2012

Black and gray are becoming a nice wall and room element in a not so dark-and-ominous sort of way.

Let’s talk Chevron shall we? A screaming trend right now and how can you not like it? With such a simple design and shape, there are an awful lot of variations that just keep on coming.

Sourced from slideshow in Kreme Wallpaper Muse Collection 2012

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These large chevrons would definitely be something you could tackle with paint!

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Modern chevron patterns don’t always mean sharp angles. More and more organic chevron patterns are emerging in so many variations.

source: listed under Chevron 

This handmade wallpaper is simply amazing! A unique take on the chevron pattern, but still kept simple and fairly clean with a little rough edge to it, giving it a bit more personality with curved instead of sharp edges.

 source: listed under Rousseau

From the same handmade wallpaper source, this artist has outdone themselves with this very detailed piece. My favorite being the magenta and orange overlay. Another image from the source has a gold and coral overlay. I wish there was more information about each wallpaper piece and artist links.

source: Dandelion Clocks by Sanderson

I love the simplicity of most contemporary florals right now. This popular dandelion shape has been floating around for some time now, being used as a design element from wallpaper to fabric and beyond. The muted grayish palette is also a trendy combination.

source: Alice by Marcel Wanders 

We are seeing lot of two-hue palettes and nice combinations of lines and shapes to tone down a busy design. This palette of orange over red or coral, a “fire on fire” combination, is super hot right now as well.

octagon | Soprano Teal | Marenka (red squares) | dimensional squares

Geometric shapes can be loud or subtle, dimensional or flat. Many collections exist and the pattern opportunities endless.

skulls | Ripple PaperForms Wallpaper

There is so much that is being done with wallpaper from dimensional effects to literal 3D effects like this Ripple PaperForms contemporary wallpaper by MIO (above, right).

There are simply too many wonderful designs and styles of wallpaper patterns to showcase here, but we will continue to pin them in our PATTERNlovers board on Pinterest.

Have you come across patterns on COLOURlovers that you would definitely put up on your wall?


creations used in this post:

Must_TurquoiseRomantic_RoomAntique_SpanishPledgeRoom_SharkChevy_ChevronDandelion_ClocksDutch_Alice

Author: Molly Bermea
Hi! I'm the COLOURlovers Community Curator. I come from a family with five imaginative kids. My mom instilled creativity to the max and you can usually find us scheming together, figuring out new ways to sew, craft or build DIY projects. The core of my artistic bone is in the art of painting.