In 2023, Corey Davey is proving that wallpaper is not dead.
Wallpaper was the interior design staple for much of the 20th century.
Davey points to Blanche’s bedroom in the show Golden Girls as a quintessential example of the pasted paper’s popularity. Large banana leaf wallpaper fans out over Blanche’s bed in the show — one of the many things Davey describes as “fabulous” — and one of the more fashionable examples of the paper’s uses for the time.
But by the end of the 20th century, wallpaper was almost obsolete. Cheesy floral patterns became outdated, and designers traded out paper for paint and paneling.
The Winnetka Heights resident may now have a bathroom completely covered in pink Santa wallpaper (with a shower curtain to match), and he may be ordering rolls of wallpaper at a time to decorate dentists offices across Dallas; however, while studying interior design at Texas State University, the idea of decorating with wallpaper was laughable.
“I never thought wallpaper would be a thing; you painted everything. It’s just what you did,” Davey says.
But over the last few years, Davey began to hear the rumblings of wrapping.
A partner with the design firm Curate Studios, Davey specializes in health care office design. Medical offices offer more room for creativity than people usually assume, but even five years ago, he was still “having to shove (wallpaper) down their throats.”
It was last September, at the third annual Dallas Kips Bay Decorator Show — an internationally recognized showcase that is well established in New York City and Palm Beach — where Davey saw the wallpaper floodgates open.
“Everyone was doing wallpaper,” and Davey says he trusts what is shown at Kips Bay more than he trusts his own gut.
But this wallpaper was different from what Davey grew up seeing in the homes of his parents’ generation. Gone were tacky florals and repetitive geometric patterns; this paper had been rebranded as “wallcovering,” was often themed and was completely customizable.
Simply put, it was fabulous.
The new wallcovering movement embraces bold patterns that tell stories about the people who decorate with it, Davey says. It’s an escape from the minimalist fashions that dominated design for much of the last 10 years.
“I could live and dream in wallcovering,” Davey says.
Davey loves wallcovering brands like Spoonflower and WallSnobs, which give people “better options than just flowers on a wall.” The “fabulous” brands offer any print of wallpaper you can imagine, from colorful mermaids sharing a drink to dark and moody mushroom patterns.
After the last few years of people being stuck at home, Davey thinks they are embracing designs that make their homes reflect themselves.
“People are gravitating towards what makes them happy, not what makes their guests happy,” Davey says.
Last year, Davey covered his bathroom in pink Santa wallpaper for the Winnetka Heights holiday home tour. It’ll stay for “as long as it stays up.”
While it was his first foray into papering his own home, it certainly will not be his last. Next up is his dining room, although he doesn’t yet have a plan for the wallcovering’s theme or pattern.
All he knows is that it will be “something fabulous.”
