Texture & Material
Textured Wallpaper Ideas: Grasscloth, Linen, Embossed and How to Choose
Textured wallpaper is often chosen as the safe option — the thing you hang when you want interest without commitment. That reputation is slightly misleading. Grasscloth absorbs light unevenly and shows every seam under raking light. Embossed papers pick up every imperfection in the plaster beneath them. Heavy natural textures are nearly impossible to remove without damaging the wall. Textured wallpaper isn't risk-free — it's just a different set of risks from bold pattern, and understanding them before you choose is what makes the difference between a room that reads as deliberately layered and one that looks unfinished.
Open the Wallpaper PlannerGrasscloth is beautiful but shows seams and absorbs unevenly
Grasscloth — woven natural grass fibres bonded to a paper backing — is one of the most visually rich wallpaper materials available. It also has two properties that catch people off-guard. First, the seams between strips show more than with any other paper type, because the woven edges are irregular and the colour can vary across the roll width (a property called shading). In a room with strong directional light, grasscloth seams can be visible from across the room. Second, it absorbs moisture — including grease and steam — and cannot be wiped clean. It's the wrong choice for a kitchen or a room with no ventilation.
Embossed papers require flatter walls than you might expect
Embossed wallpaper — papers with a raised surface texture (brick, stone, linen weave, Anaglypta-style) — is often marketed as a way to hide wall imperfections. The reality is more nuanced. Very heavy embossing can bridge minor undulations, but the embossed pattern itself can exaggerate medium-sized irregularities by creating a shadow line at the edge of each raised element. Applying embossed paper to genuinely uneven plaster doesn't hide the problem — it creates a different, often worse one. Size and prime the wall first; embossed paper rewards good prep, not poor prep.
Linen-effect papers offer texture with better practical properties
Printed linen-effect wallpaper — a woven texture printed onto a standard non-woven or vinyl backing — gives the visual character of grasscloth with significantly better practical properties. It can be wiped clean (if vinyl-coated), shows seams far less dramatically, and tolerates humidity better than natural fibre papers. The texture is printed rather than structural, so it doesn't have the three-dimensional depth of real grasscloth, but viewed at normal distance in a domestic room the difference is not obvious. For a kitchen, hallway, or any room where cleanability matters, a printed linen-effect paper is usually a better choice than natural grasscloth.
Natural textures are significantly harder to remove than standard paper
Grasscloth, sisal, seagrass, and other natural fibre wallpapers bond to the wall more aggressively than standard papers and are designed to last. Removing them typically requires soaking the paper backing and fibres separately, and in older properties this process often pulls the plaster skim with it. Before hanging a natural texture paper, accept that it's a long-term commitment — probably the life of the room's current decoration. If you're in a rented property or anticipate redecorating in fewer than five to eight years, a printed texture on a non-woven backing is a more practical choice.
Textured paper hides a plain roll count — the maths still applies
People sometimes assume textured paper wastes less than patterned paper because there's no visible repeat to match. This is true for random-texture papers with no formal repeat, but not for embossed or structured textures where adjacent strips need to align. Even for truly random textures, the roll count is still: wall area ÷ usable roll coverage, plus a 10% waste buffer. Natural fibre papers should use a 15% buffer to account for the irregular edges and the tendency to cut long to allow for trimming. Never order on the minimum — a texture paper from a discontinued batch is rarely re-printable in the same lot.
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What is textured wallpaper made from?
Textured wallpaper falls into three main categories: natural fibre papers (grasscloth, sisal, seagrass) woven from plant materials and backed on paper; embossed papers with a pressed or raised surface pattern on a standard paper or non-woven substrate; and printed texture papers where a woven or stone-effect appearance is printed onto a smooth vinyl or non-woven backing. The practical properties — cleanability, removability, humidity tolerance — differ significantly between these categories.
Can textured wallpaper hide wall imperfections?
Minor imperfections only — and not reliably. Very heavy embossed papers can bridge small undulations, but medium-sized wall irregularities are often made more visible by textured paper because the pattern casts shadows that highlight unevenness. The best approach is to prepare the wall properly (fill, sand, prime) before hanging any paper, rather than relying on texture to hide the problem.
Is textured wallpaper harder to hang than standard wallpaper?
Natural fibre papers (grasscloth, seagrass) are harder to hang than standard paper — they're heavier, the edges are irregular, and the seams need precise butting rather than overlapping. Embossed papers hang like standard paste-the-paper wallpaper. Printed texture on non-woven backing is among the easiest to hang — paste the wall, not the paper, and align strips from a plumb line.
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