What Are the Best Wallpaper Brands?
Rifle Paper Co. and Hygge and West lead on design. Brewster and York are the mid-tier standards — $23 to $83 a double roll for Brewster, $119 to $187 a roll for York — but they are two labels of one company, York Design Group, so they are one choice and not two; Graham and Brown, at $52 to $220 a roll, is the independent mid-tier alternative. Chasing Paper and Tempaper are the best peel-and-stick options. Wallpaper quality varies significantly by brand — print quality, paper weight, and adhesive performance all differ.
Best Design Quality: Specialty and Designer Brands
Rifle Paper Co. (in collaboration with York Wallcoverings): botanical prints with a charming, hand-illustrated quality, recognized for their distinctive illustrative style and cheerful palettes. Hygge and West: nature-inspired and abstract patterns in muted, sophisticated palettes, strong peel-and-stick and paste-up options. Schumacher (F. Schumacher and Co.): the leading luxury wallcovering house in the US, available to the trade through interior designers, with a heritage of design going back to 1889. Cole and Son: British luxury wallpaper brand with classic pattern archives and contemporary reinterpretations. Graham and Brown: a mid-tier European brand with strong design at accessible price points, available at retail in the US. (For more on this, see Wallpaper Trends: Patterns and Styles Homeowners Love.)
Best Mid-Tier Reliability: York Design Group and Graham and Brown
Brewster Home Fashions and York Wallcoverings: the two largest mid-tier wallpaper labels in the US residential market, and since 2021 two labels of a single company. York Design Group’s own account is that Brewster was acquired by the private equity firm Industrial Opportunity Partners in 2021, that York Wallcoverings was acquired next, and that the combined business adopted the York Design Group name; the English mill Fine Decor sits under the same roof. Treat them as one supplier with several catalogs rather than as two independent options, and if you are cross-shopping to spread your risk, cross-shop outside the group. Both catalogs offer a wide range of patterns, consistent print quality, and reasonable durability. Brewster double rolls, about 56 sq ft, run $23 to $83 at Home Depot; York’s rolls at the same retailer run $119 to $187. York distributes the licensed collections of many premium brands (including Rifle Paper Co. and Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines) at retail price points. Graham and Brown is the independent mid-tier alternative: a British family firm founded in 1946 that has made wallpaper in Blackburn, Lancashire ever since, with rolls of about 56 sq ft listed at $52 to $220 at Home Depot. All of these are available at home improvement stores and wallpaper retailers.
Best Peel-and-Stick: Chasing Paper and Tempaper
Chasing Paper: the most consistently well-reviewed peel-and-stick wallpaper brand. Strong adhesion, clean removal from painted drywall, and a distinctive design range with modern and bohemian aesthetics. Available in single-roll quantities ideal for accent walls. Tempaper: the original peel-and-stick wallpaper brand, consistent quality, wide design range, and the best performance in humid environments among peel-and-stick options. Society6: a broad design marketplace that produces affordable peel-and-stick options with an enormous design range, though quality is less consistent than Chasing Paper or Tempaper. (For more on this, see What Makes Wallpaper Cost More (or Less)?.)
Working With a Contractor on This Project
Getting the right outcome on any home services project starts before the work begins. A few consistent practices make the difference between a smooth project and a frustrating one.
Get at least two or three quotes. A single quote gives you no basis for comparison. Two or three quotes reveal the market rate for the work, expose scope differences between bidders, and let you assess contractor communication quality before any commitment is made. The lowest bid is not automatically the best value if the scope is thin or the materials are underspecified.
Ask for licenses and insurance before work starts. Verify current general liability insurance and, for any work involving workers on your property, workers compensation coverage. Licensing requirements vary by state and trade; confirm the specific requirements in your jurisdiction. A licensed contractor who carries appropriate insurance protects both parties if something goes wrong during the project.
Get the scope in writing. A written proposal that specifies materials, labor scope, timeline, what is included (permits, cleanup, disposal), and warranty terms is the foundation of a professional engagement. Verbal agreements on any of these points invite misunderstanding. For any project over $500, written scope is non-negotiable.
Clarify the payment schedule upfront. A reasonable payment schedule ties major payments to project milestones: a deposit at signing, a payment at material delivery or project start, and a final payment at completion after a walkthrough confirms satisfaction. A contractor who requires full payment upfront before work begins is a red flag in any trade.
How to Use This Guide
Finding the right contractor is the most important decision in any home services project. The criteria in this article reflect what distinguishes contractors who deliver excellent work from those who do not, based on the specific quality factors that matter for this type of work.
Use the criteria here as a screening framework, not a checklist to be completed mechanically. A contractor who scores well on the criteria that matter most for your specific project, home, and concerns is a better match than one who technically checks every box but does not communicate clearly or does not have local experience with your type of home.
The right contractor is one who provides a clear, written proposal with specific materials and scope, is licensed and insured, has verifiable local references from similar work, and backs their installation with a meaningful warranty. When you are ready to compare your options, use the button below to connect with qualified local professionals in your area.
Wallpaper Cost at a Glance
Wallpaper material: $25 to $50 per double roll (budget); $50 to $100 per double roll (mid-range residential); $100 to $300+ per double roll (designer or specialty). A double roll covers about 56 sq ft on the bolt, roughly 50 sq ft after pattern repeat waste; a single roll covers 28 to 30 sq ft. Professional installation labor: $3 to $8 per sq ft of wall surface. Total installed cost: $4 to $10 per sq ft for mid-range wallpaper. Accent wall (100 sq ft): $400 to $1,000 installed. Powder room (80 to 120 sq ft, all four walls): $500 to $1,800 installed. Standard bedroom (400 sq ft of wall surface): $1,600 to $4,000 fully installed. (For more on this, see How Much Does Wallpaper Installation Cost?.)
Old wallpaper removal: $1 to $4 per sq ft additional before new installation. Peel-and-stick wallpaper: $1 to $6 per sq ft in material, DIY-installable, less durable than paste-up. Always order one extra roll from the same dye lot as the calculated quantity for future repairs.
Cost figures on this page were checked against published pricing on September 2, 2026. How we source cost data.
Frequently Asked Questions
For design quality and longevity: Schumacher (luxury, trade-only), Cole and Son (luxury, trade and retail), and Rifle Paper Co. via York (widely available mid-luxury). For reliable mid-tier residential: York Wallcoverings and Brewster Home Fashions -- but note that these have been two labels of one company, York Design Group, since 2021, so choosing between them is not a real second opinion. For an independent mid-tier supplier: Graham and Brown, a British family firm making wallpaper in Blackburn since 1946 and sold at US retail. For peel-and-stick: Chasing Paper and Tempaper.
Specialty wallpaper retailers (wallpaper showrooms): the best selection, knowledgeable staff, and access to trade brands. Interior designers have access to trade-only lines (Schumacher, Phillip Jeffries, Elitis) not available at retail. Online retailers (Wallpaper Direct, Burke Decor, Lulu and Georgia): wide selection with sample ordering available before buying full rolls. Home improvement stores (Home Depot, Lowes): limited selection but accessible mid-tier brands. Always order samples before purchasing full rolls.
Yes -- always order at least one sample roll (or a large sample swatch) before purchasing the full quantity. The pattern scale, color, and texture all look different at full scale and in your room's actual light conditions than they do on a website or in a small printed swatch. Most wallpaper retailers offer samples for $2 to $10 per sample; many offer free samples. The cost of a sample is trivial relative to the cost of ordering the wrong wallpaper in quantity.
A dye lot is a production run of wallpaper printed at the same time with the same ink mix. Color can vary slightly between different dye lots of the same pattern. Order all the rolls needed for a room from the same dye lot (same lot number printed on the roll label). If ordering additional rolls later: the new rolls may be from a different dye lot and may not match perfectly. Always order extra (one additional roll beyond the calculated quantity) from the same dye lot and store it for repairs.
For a contained application (a powder room, a single accent wall): yes. Premium wallpaper at $100 to $200 per roll in a powder room requiring 4 to 5 rolls: $400 to $1,000 in material. The visual impact per dollar is very high in a contained space. For a large room requiring 15 to 20 rolls: the cost of luxury wallpaper ($1,500 to $4,000 in material alone) is harder to justify unless the design is the primary goal of the space. Mid-tier wallpaper at $50 to $100 per roll: provides excellent design options at a more accessible cost for larger spaces.
