Designer Wallpaper at Rafael Interiors

There's a moment in every design project — residential or trade — when the walls stop being background and become the room. That shift almost always starts with wallpaper. Not the peel-and-stick kind sold in checkout aisles, but the carefully engraved, hand-printed, heritage-mill papers that define high-end interiors from the Upper East Side to Bridgehampton.

At Rafael Interiors, wallpaper isn't a side category. It's a specialty. We carry collections from the most respected names in decorative wallcoverings — Cole & Son, Kravet, Lee Jofa, Scalamandré, Brunschwig & Fils, GP & J Baker, Mulberry Home, Clarke & Clarke, and Gaston y Daniela — and we back every order with something you won't find at a discount wallpaper warehouse: actual design expertise, custom ordering support, and the ability to coordinate wallcoverings with fabric and trim from the same house.

Whether you're a homeowner tackling a powder room or a designer specifying wallcoverings for a 12-room project, this page is meant to help you navigate the landscape.

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What Makes a Wallpaper "Designer Grade"

The term "designer wallpaper" gets thrown around loosely online. Here's what it actually means — and why it matters for your project.

Designer-grade wallcoverings are produced by heritage mills and design houses with decades (sometimes centuries) of archive material. Cole & Son, for example, has been printing wallpaper in England since 1875 and still operates original surface-printing blocks that no modern factory can replicate. Scalamandré's archive — built over 95 years — is drawn on by museums, historic restorations, and private collectors alike.

What separates these papers from mass-market alternatives comes down to three things. First, print quality: most designer papers use surface printing, gravure, or digital techniques at a resolution and color depth that big-box products simply don't match. Second, material: you'll find papers on real clay-coated grounds, mica, grasscloth, and silk substrates — not just vinyl film. Third, design continuity: the patterns are part of coordinated collections that include matching or companion fabrics, allowing a designer to carry a motif from the wall to the drapery to the upholstery without it feeling forced.

In our experience outfitting apartments in Manhattan and homes in the Hamptons, it's this coordination — not just the pattern itself — that makes designer wallpaper worth the investment.

The Brands We Carry (and Why They Matter)

Not every luxury wallpaper brand does the same thing. Here's an honest look at what each house brings to the table, and how our clients and trade partners typically use them.

Cole & Son

The go-to for iconic, statement-making pattern. Their Fornasetti collection (including the famous Nuvolette cloud motif) is probably the single most-requested designer wallpaper in our showroom. Beyond Fornasetti, their Botanical, Geometric, and Contemporary Restyled lines range from whimsical to restrained. Designers often choose Cole & Son when the wallpaper needs to be the focal point of the room.

Kravet

One of the broadest catalogs in the industry, which makes Kravet particularly useful for large-scale residential projects. Their wallcoverings lean toward livable sophistication — textured neutrals, refined geometrics, updated damasks. If you're specifying wallpaper for multiple rooms and need range without sacrificing quality, Kravet wallpaper is often where the project starts.

Lee Jofa

A Kravet sister brand, but with a distinctly more English, decorative sensibility. The Woodland Paper and other scenic designs from Lee Jofa are favorites for libraries, dining rooms, and spaces that call for narrative depth. Lee Jofa Modern, also available through us, takes the archive in a cleaner direction for contemporary interiors.

Brunschwig & Fils

Another member of the Kravet family, Brunschwig brings a Franco-American design heritage that's hard to find elsewhere. Their toile, chinoiserie, and documentary print wallpapers carry an authenticity that decorators working on traditional and transitional homes rely on. When a client wants a dining room that feels collected — not decorated — Brunschwig is frequently in the conversation.

Scalamandré

Known for bold, maximalist patterns and rich colorways. Scalamandré wallcoverings often end up in entry foyers, powder rooms, and accent walls where the goal is to make an immediate impression. Their Zebras print alone has become a design-world icon. We also carry Old World Weavers, a Scalamandré brand focused on historical reproduction and artisan techniques.

GP & J Baker

A British house with particular strength in botanicals, chintzes, and nature-inspired motifs. GP & J Baker wallpapers like Medlar show up frequently in bedrooms, garden rooms, and spaces where the palette draws from the natural world. Baker Lifestyle, their more accessible line, is also available and ideal for relaxed country or coastal interiors.

Mulberry Home

Part of the GP & J Baker family but with a sporting, English-country personality all its own. The Grand Flying Ducks and Game Birds patterns are exactly what they sound like — and they work beautifully in studies, dens, and homes where the aesthetic leans British heritage without taking itself too seriously.

Clarke & Clarke

The most design-forward, contemporary-leaning brand in our wallpaper lineup. Clarke & Clarke is where we steer clients who want something current — abstract geometrics, soft watercolor effects, and muted palettes that pair well with modern furniture.

Gaston y Daniela

A Spanish house with a Mediterranean warmth that's distinct from the British and American brands above. Gaston y Daniela wallpapers add texture and color in ways that feel organic and sun-drenched. Designers working on Mediterranean, rustic, or globally inspired interiors find this brand uniquely useful.

Choosing Wallpaper by Room: Where Our Clients Use It Most

Rather than approaching wallpaper as a generic "wall treatment," it helps to think about it room by room — because the functional demands and the design intent shift considerably.

Entry Foyers and Hallways

First impressions happen here, and wallpaper handles the job better than paint ever could. In our experience, bold patterns from Scalamandré or Cole & Son work exceptionally well because the space is transitional — you're never lingering long enough for a strong pattern to overwhelm. A foyer is the one place in the home where maximalism is almost always the right call.

Powder Rooms

The small guest bathroom has become the single most popular room for designer wallpaper, and for good reason: the square footage is minimal (so cost stays reasonable), guests notice it, and you can take risks you'd never take in a living room. We've installed everything from Fornasetti clouds to Scalamandré's animal prints in powder rooms throughout the city.

Dining Rooms

Wallpaper in a dining room creates atmosphere that paint alone can't achieve. Scenic and toile papers from Lee Jofa and Brunschwig & Fils are especially effective here — they give the room a sense of story and occasion. For more modern dining spaces, a textured grasscloth or a large-scale geometric from Kravet sets a sophisticated tone without competing with tableware and centerpieces.

Bedrooms

The priority here is almost always serenity, which means softer patterns, muted colorways, and materials that feel warm rather than cool. GP & J Baker's botanical papers and Clarke & Clarke's watercolor-inspired designs tend to be where our bedroom projects land. An accent wall behind the headboard is the classic approach, but full-room installation with coordinating bedding creates a truly cohesive result.

Libraries and Studies

Darker, richer papers come alive in these rooms. Mulberry Home's sporting prints and Lee Jofa's scenic designs feel natural paired with wood paneling, leather, and warm lighting. This is also where grasscloth wallcoverings from brands like Winfield Thybony add a handcrafted texture that digital prints can't replicate.

Working With a Designer vs. Ordering Directly

One of the questions we hear most often: do I need a designer to order wallpaper, or can I do this myself?

The honest answer is that it depends on the complexity of your project. For a single accent wall or powder room, many of our clients order directly through us — we'll help with pattern selection, calculate the number of rolls you need (including waste for pattern matching), and make sure your dye lots are consistent. For multi-room installations, rooms with unusual architecture (dormers, high ceilings, alcoves), or projects where you're coordinating wallpaper with fabric and trim, working with a designer is genuinely worth it.

Either way, Rafael Interiors functions as both a retail and trade resource. If you're a designer, you can access our full catalog at trade pricing. If you're a homeowner, you get the same product access with guidance from our team.

Contact us for trade pricing or project support →

How to Order Designer Wallpaper Through Rafael Interiors

We've structured the ordering process to be straightforward regardless of whether you're in our NYC showroom or shopping remotely.

Sampling

Almost every wallpaper we carry is available as a memo sample. We strongly recommend ordering samples before committing to a full order. Digital screens don't accurately represent the texture, sheen, or true color of a designer wallcovering, and what looks perfect on a monitor can read very differently on your wall in natural light.

Calculating Quantity

Wallpaper is sold by the roll, and the roll size varies by brand and pattern. We calculate the number of rolls you need based on your wall dimensions, pattern repeat, and the specific roll dimensions of your chosen paper. Over-ordering by one roll is standard practice — it ensures you have material from the same dye lot in case of installation errors or future repairs.

Custom and Made-to-Order

Many of the brands we carry offer custom colorways, scale adjustments, or specialized substrates for commercial applications. If you have a specific vision that an off-the-shelf pattern doesn't quite meet, our custom services team can facilitate the conversation with the mill directly.

White Glove Delivery

For large orders and fragile or oversized rolls, we offer white glove shipping to ensure your wallpaper arrives in flawless condition.

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Wallpaper and Fabric: Coordinating Across a Room

This is where buying from a source like Rafael Interiors — rather than a single-category retailer — makes a real difference.

Most of the wallpaper brands we carry produce coordinating fabrics. Cole & Son's Fornasetti collection includes companion fabrics. Kravet, Lee Jofa, and Brunschwig & Fils all produce fabric and wallpaper under the same collections, with colorways designed to layer together. GP & J Baker and Mulberry Home do the same.

The practical advantage: when you're sourcing wallpaper, drapery fabric, and decorative trim from us, we can pull everything from the same collection — or deliberately mix across collections — and make sure the color relationships hold. That's something you can't do effectively when you're buying wallpaper from one source and fabric from another.

For projects that involve custom window treatments, we can coordinate from selection through fabrication, so the wallpaper-to-drapery relationship is considered from the start.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does designer wallpaper cost?

Pricing varies significantly by brand, pattern, and material. In our collection, wallpaper samples start around $7.00, while full rolls of premium papers typically range from $150 to $400+ per roll depending on the house and substrate. Handmade and specialty papers (grasscloth, hand-blocked prints) can run higher. We're always transparent about pricing and happy to help you find options within a specific budget.

How do I know how many rolls I need?

This depends on your wall dimensions and the wallpaper's pattern repeat. A paper with a large repeat (like a scenic from Lee Jofa) generates more waste during installation than a small geometric from Clarke & Clarke. Contact us with your room measurements and we'll calculate the exact quantity.

Can I return wallpaper?

Because designer wallpaper is typically cut-to-order or ordered in matched dye lots, most wallpaper sales are final. This is industry standard across all luxury wallcovering retailers. It's also why we emphasize sampling before ordering.

Do you ship outside of New York?

Yes. We ship wallpaper nationwide with standard and white glove options. Most of our wallpaper clients are actually outside the city — the showroom is here, but the service extends everywhere.

What's the difference between trade and retail ordering?

Designers and trade professionals receive preferential pricing on all wallpaper orders. If you're a designer who hasn't set up a trade account with us yet, reach out to schedule an appointment — the process is quick and opens access to our full catalog at trade rates.

Can I see wallpaper in person before ordering?

Absolutely. Our NYC showroom has physical samples and memo books from all the brands we carry. Visiting in person is the best way to evaluate texture, weight, and true color. Make an appointment so we can have the right materials ready for you.