Powder Room Wallpaper: How to Choose a Pattern for a Small Room

The powder room is the smallest room in most homes, and the one where wallpaper does the most. Guests spend only a few minutes there, and the door is usually closed. So you can choose a pattern you would hesitate to put in a living room, and it becomes the room people remember. There is no shower and no steam, and only a few panels cover the walls, so it is also the easiest place to begin.

Choosing for such a small space follows slightly different rules. Here is what we have learned.

Go bigger than you think

The usual advice is that a small room needs a small print. In practice, the opposite often works better. A tiny, busy pattern repeats so many times on a short wall that it starts to look restless. A large motif gives the eye somewhere to rest, and the room feels considered rather than crowded.

Our Bauhaus Geometric is a good example. The circles and half-moons are large and calm, and on a cream background the room stays light.

Do not be afraid of dark

A deep background makes the corners seem to disappear, so a windowless room feels intimate instead of cramped. Dark walls also flatter brass, warm wood and soft evening light, which is when most guests will see the room.

If a fully dark room feels like too much, paper only above a painted or wooden panel. Woven Plaid in dark chocolate works this way: rich at eye level, grounded below.

Make it lush

Leaves and flowers soften the hard surfaces of a powder room: tile, stone and porcelain. In a room without a window, they bring life to the walls, and a dense pattern makes the space feel lush rather than small.

Tropical Jungle is drawn as a close canopy of leaves, spotted lilies and orchids, so the wall seems to disappear into greenery. In purple or cobalt blue it is dramatic and enveloping; in rose mauve or pink it is softer, but just as rich.

Add a little wit

A powder room is a private moment, which makes it the perfect place for a pattern with a sense of humor. Guests are alone with the walls for a few minutes, and a playful design gives them something to smile about and talk about afterwards.

David turns Michelangelo's statue into a bold pop art repeat. In mustard yellow, deep red or green, it is a confident nod to art history that never takes itself too seriously.

Look at it in the light it will live in

Most powder rooms have little or no daylight. A pattern that looks fresh by a sunny window can turn grey under a warm bulb, and a dark one can lose its detail. Tape a sample to the wall and look at it in the evening with the lights on, the way your guests will see it.

Paper all four walls

In a powder room, go all the way. When every wall is covered, the pattern wraps around you and the room becomes a jewel box. A single accent wall works in a living room, but in a space this small it tends to look unfinished, as if the job stopped halfway. And because the room is small, papering all four walls takes only a few more panels.

Consider the ceiling

In a small room, the ceiling is more visible than you might expect. Wallpaper there completes the jewel-box effect, and there are a few ways to approach it. Use the same pattern on the walls and ceiling, and the room wraps around you completely. Paper only the ceiling and paint the walls, a good choice if a bold print on every wall feels like too much. Or keep the pattern on the walls and paint the ceiling in its background color, so the room feels finished without extra paper.

For a ceiling, choose a pattern without a clear top and bottom. Butterfly Wings works well here: the abstract wings look right from every side of the room, and overhead they feel like a quiet flutter above you. A design with stems growing upward will look upside down from one side. Hanging paper overhead is harder than on a wall, so plan for two people or a professional. Peel and stick is lighter and needs no paste, which makes it the easier choice.

A few practical notes

• Peel and stick and prepasted are the easiest choices if you rent. Traditional gives a classic finish that lasts for years.
• Measure each wall and use the calculator on the product page. We sell by the panel, so you order what the room needs and nothing is left over.
• Order a sample first and live with it for a few days.

See every pattern that suits a small room in our Powder Room collection.