A wallpaper sample is a small printed piece of a design you are considering. It gives you something to put beside your sofa, hold against your floor and look at in the light of your own room. Used well, it can settle the questions that a product image leaves open.
The useful part is knowing what you want each sample to help you decide.
Give each design a reason to be on your shortlist
Before ordering, finish this sentence for each option: “I like this one because...” You might like its blue background, the loose brushwork or the way the flowers are drawn. If two designs appeal for the same reason, compare them directly. If they appeal for different reasons, work out which matters more to the room.
Across 80,668 Wallism sample orders in our latest year of data, the median order contained two designs. That is a useful reference for a shortlist, although your own choice might take one sample or several.
Try to avoid ordering every wallpaper you have saved. A smaller selection is easier to compare when you can name the decision you are making.
Look at the sample where the wallpaper will go
Hold each sample upright against the wall. Wallpaper viewed flat on a table receives light differently, so the kitchen counter is a poor place to make the final call for a bedroom.
Look once in daylight and again with the lamps you normally use. Pay attention to the colors you will see most of. A blue flower might be what attracted you online, but a cream background can account for much more of the finished wall.
Compare that background with something that will stay in the room. Put it beside the sofa fabric or close to the floor. Does the pale color look warm, cool or slightly pink beside it? You are looking for a combination you like. An exact match is only necessary if that is the effect you want.
Feel the paper, then check the whole image separately
Our samples are printed on premium non-woven paper. You can feel the sample's surface and see the printed colors. They do not have a self-adhesive backing, so they cannot test how Peel & Stick will adhere to your wall.
A mural sample shows a reduced version of the design. It will not show how large a flower or tree becomes across your full wall. For that, enter your wall dimensions in the preview on the product page and look at the composition you would order.
Keep the complete image open while you compare the paper. A design with a few dark details can have a very different effect from one with a large dark background, even when the two samples share similar colors.
