We might often think of wallpaper for the walls, but the ceiling is a true hidden gem that can elevate any design when wallpapered.
You may have heard of ‘pattern drenching’ which involves using a continuous pattern throughout the space, but ‘wallpaper drenching’ leans into the use of using wallpaper on both walls and ceilings for an alternative to the popular ‘colour drenching’ approach.
If your room is lacking visual integrity, this feels like the co-ord of the fashion world, easy to pull off, and limited design choices required, yet the result is quite incredible.
Wallpaper Drenching Ideas To Inspire You
Ascend In Style
I snapped this gorgeously drenched hallway in a suite at Hotel Endsleigh, designed by Olga Polizzi hotelier and interior designer. Using Cole and Son Wallpaper, the result is one that is cocooning yet welcoming as you step through the front door.
With the white ceiling out of sight, what you think would create a chaotic feel is actually one that is soothing, and instead, your eyes are still drawn up to the ceiling, but you’re greeted by a much more visually enticing affair than white paint.
Cosy Attic Room
If there’s any room that lends itself perfectly to a wallpaper drenched look it’s a cosy attic space with a sloped ceiling.
It creates a seamless, cosy space without making a feature out of the sloped ceiling by painting it in a different colour.
Envelope In Stripes
Stripes are always a good idea if you’re looking for a timeless wallpaper pattern.
Add a touch of modernity with a wiggle stripe, it challenges the norm of those perfectly angled lines and softens up the finished look of the wallpaper.
Add Drama With A Perfect Paint Colour Match
This wallpaper is handpainted and gilded with gold leaf for a regal look that is audacious and regal in equal measure.
For an extension of the drenched look, colour match your paint to your wallpaper and use across all the woodwork and furniture details in the room.
Play With Stripes
If you think stripes are playing it safe with pattern, you’re wrong. You have the opportunity to play with both ways – either horizontally or vertically. The beauty is that either approach will help to give the illusion of a larger space.
Just make sure to perfectly line those stripes on the ceiling up with those on the walls for a seamless look that carries you through.
Cocooning Space
Another example of how a small attic room can be transformed into a lively, visually enticing space that feels cosy.
Don’t let size impact your choices with wallpaper, it’s actually a beautiful way to create a more intimate, cosy room.
Embrace Plaid
Challenge the norm and lean into plaid for a laidback, country inspired feel.
Creating a vintage inspired look, it’s beautifully captured with the sloped ceiling and wooden beam. Take inspiration from the below with the adjacent room which is drenched in an entirely different wallpaper.
Blue Florals
This is one of my favourite wallpaper drenched looks, transforming an under stairs, uninspiring nook.
The blue tones in the wallpaper create a dramatic feel, perhaps bringing out the depth of the wallpaper even more with the addition of the red sofa – the ‘unexpected red theory’ working in action perfectly here.
A Tactile Feel
This is the Sandberg wallpaper in modern classic Raphael, a subdued blue that is soothing and cathartic for a bedroom.
The key to nailing a wallpaper drench look is by pairing with other tactile elements and bold shades to continue that visual feast for the senses.
Farrow and Ball Stripes
You can’t go wrong with Farrow and Ball wallpapers, their striped collection is notoriously popular. It’s simple yet utterly classic in design.
Where a painted ceiling doesn’t make sense, this should be the inspiration you need to carry the wallpaper up and over.
Dainty Florals
Petite, dainty florals are a key wallpaper design trend for 2025. They help to continue the feel of ‘pattern drenching’ by introducing juxtaposing patterns into a scheme.
Classic stripes are pretty much the perfect accompaniment for a busier floral print, as shown in the bedroom below.
Go Darker For A Dramatic Feel
If you want to lean into the darkness, or have a particularly sunny south facing room that needs something to balance the intensity of the sun, a darker wallpaper will bring gravitas and drama to a room.
Keep woodwork white for a crisper contrast. A super fun look for a child’s bedroom using Farrow and Ball Adelaide wallpaper.
Sweet Pea Florals
Delicate florals will forever be one of my favourite approaches on wallpaper, they’re so versatile for any room.
Featuring Sweet Pea Cole & Son’s wallpaper with Farrow and Ball’s Breakfast Room Green on the wardrobe for a playful use of colour in this kids room.
Whimsical Feel
When you carry dainty florals across a wall and ceiling, it really does create a whimsical feeling in a bedroom.
Playing safe with a colour choice on woodwork that has been picked from the wallpaper is a popular move, but this bedroom proves that choosing a bolder shade for woodwork against the wallpaper can pay dividends.
Fresh Approach
Not all wallpaper is made equal, and if intricate designs feel too busy, widen your search for a larger scale design that gives your walls, and ceiling some breathing room.
Separate With Beautiful Coving
Finally, we have this gorgeous Sandberg wallpaper in a dining room that can’t be matched by paint.
The introduction of beautiful coving gives the join in wallpaper some breathing space, whilst drawing those eyes up to the ‘fifth wall’. A beautiful wallpaper design that’s not overly busy, but feels good to be around.
