Modern technology is great, right? Unfortunately, it does tend to fall a little short in the home decor world.
Check out our main reasons why we recommend wallpaper samples below.
The image you see on a computer screen is just a rendering of the actual colors.
Images can vary both between different monitors and between monitors and smart phone screens. Want to see this in action? Pull up this blog on your home or office computer. Now, on your smart phone, navigate to this post as well.
Hold your smart phone next to your computer screen, and compare the following image:
How do the image colors vary between your screens?
It’s difficult to see if a pattern, color, or texture will work in your space as a whole without a physical sample.
Screens really don’t work well in getting a complete understanding of how wallpaper can pull a room together. Does this pattern work well with the others in the room? Are the textures and colors complimentary?
Images on a screen are typically small, and there’s no guarantee that the image that you’re seeing is a 100% accurate representation - colors could vary, like we saw above, or patterns can appear larger or smaller, for example. Smaller details in patterns can even be missed all together!
You can’t feel texture on a screen.
Sometimes, you can see that there might be texture on a computer image. Other times, the image will look completely flat, and you’ll have no idea a wallpaper is textured until you see it in real life. It’s best to be able to physically feel a wallpaper sample to determine texture.
Wallpaper looks different in different rooms.
We all have that favorite room in our home that gets flooded with natural light and is our happy place, while another always seems to be dark and dreary. Natural light varies in rooms, so it’s important to have a sample in hand in the room the wallpaper will be installed. What looks great on a screen may be too dark or washed out for your own space, and the final appearance of your wallpaper is heavily dependent on the lighting in your room.
Wallpaper looks different at different times of day.
Speaking from personal experience, I’ve loved the way a certain wallpaper has looked in the morning sunshine, but come afternoon, I wasn’t a huge fan. You’ll hear us say to “order a sample and live with it for a while.” Tape the sample up and be sure to observe how the colors and overall appearance change throughout the day. Be sure to look at it with artificial lighting, too!
Samples are movable.
Some folks know they want wallpaper, but they don’t know where to put it! We recommend ordering a sample so you can move it from wall to wall and see how it looks.