Wallpaper: 18 alternatives to plain white walls

The Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am in his personal studio’s drum booth, there is a sliding glass door and walls upholstered in raised velvet from Diamond Foam and Fabric. “It’s a high-end version of flocked wallpaper,” says designer Liana Reid.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s a bordello look,” Reid says of the guest powder room of will.i.am’s Los Feliz studio complex. “Pimped-out, but elegantly.” Flocked wallpaper from Astek gives the tiny room a sense of grandeur, as does the gilded Arts and Crafts style mirror, a gift from Reid.   (Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times)

Wallpaper designer Alix Soubiran paints her designs by hand, then scans them into a computer, on which she adjust colors and scale. The designs are made by Astek and Advanced Screen Graphics.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Soubiran papered the ceiling of one hallway for a different look.   (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

This red wallpaper is a Nina Campbell design called Fleur de Lys Court.   (Ringo H.W. Chiu / For The Times)

Architect Barbara Bestor talks with architect Steven Shortridge, center, and restoration specialist George Mimnaugh in a room of her home that features a print by artist Geoff McFetridge.   (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Before the remodel of the Purdy-Devis house, the upper floor had three bedrooms and a bath. The architects reconfigured the space as a master bedroom with walk-in closet and larger bathroom, plus an office/guest room. Here in the master, Step wallpaper from Walnut adds graphic punch.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

In the Hancock Park kitchen of Johnson Hartig, co-designer of clothing line Libertine, Hartig taped up damask wrapping paper from Soolip in the glass-front cabinets. Under-cabinet lighting shows off Hartig’s diverse collection of ceramics.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

In Hartig’s bathroom, white cabinets and marble counter tops are set off by bold wallpaper from Walnut in Los Angeles. Hartig’s whimsical flourishes include antique scale-model schooners under glass, a trio of Staffordshire dogs and a Champagne bottle in the shower.   (Ricardo DeAratanha / Los Angeles Times)

In modern L.A., artist Lisa Borgnes Giramonti is dedicated to old England. “I’ve always wanted to go back to England, but it’s not going to happen, so this is how I’m re-creating that,” she says. Here, the stairwell is lined with Flowering Quince wallpaper by Clarence House.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Borgnes Giramonti wanted more bookshelves in the dining room, but she worried they might crowd her parents’ midcentury Danish table. Her solution? Wallpaper with a bookshelf design made by London-based Deborah Bowness. A horseshoe bench completes the space.   (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

In the Eagle Rock home of Mark and Melinda Fay, sturdy sliding barn doors for son Boon’s room were covered with striped vinyl wallpaper by Marimekko. “I wouldn’t put anything fancy in my kid’s room,” Melinda Fay said. “I wanted something that I can wipe down.”   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Scott Flora, on a Fatboy beanbag chair, lifts daughter Aja in the living room of his Venice home. The Heart Breakout decal above them was conceived by Hybrid Design and produced by Flora’s company, Blik. David Bray’s decal, I Never Saw the Sign, hangs atop a dresser used as a sideboard.   (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)