7 points that help the ‘paint or wallpaper?’ debate

1. Ease of Application
Paint: Investment of two to three days will suffice for a paint job for a standard room, even though the task is weather dependant and can take longer in humid months. Painted walls are also very accommodating to incoming, newer coats of paint of the same hue. For painting a different hue, an extra day is required to strip off old paint. That is especially true when you want to paint an erstwhile dark wall in a lighter hue. In case of textures, the wall finish takes longer and will need an expert in most cases. In the west, most homeowners would undertake a painting job themselves.

Wallpaper: Wallpaper application, by contrast, is a job best tackled by an expert. The process requires precision along with time and patience. Same holds true for stripping old wallpaper as well. A new layer of wallpaper cannot be applied on top of an existing one. Advances in technology have allowed the latest versions to be stripped off in bigger chunks, but it remains a tedious affair nonetheless.

2. Durability
Paint: Good quality paint on walls, in the right finish, can last you up to 5 years. That said, it is not uncommon to see paint chipping off or fading prematurely in areas of high usage and traffic or those exposed to sunlight. Hence, it may need retouching three years or so — lesser for paints in lighter colours.

Wallpaper: Wallpaper, on the other hand, will be your long term partner. A one-time application can last for around 15 years and beyond. Wallpaper, however, is not resilient to tearing. Any such mishap will mean that you may need to go through the whole process of stripping and pasting all over again, which is more tedious than re-painting.

3. Expense
Paint: Paint is a widely available resource. The skill of labour necessary is relatively less, along with the effort and time required. All these factors mean that the overall cost incurred, in each round of paint job will be relatively lower than that of wallpapering.

Wallpaper: Wallpaper is an expensive, but a one-time investment. As it lasts much longer, it actually proves cheaper in the longer run.

Wallpaper and paint, each has its own set of benefits and shortcomings. A middle ground would be to employ both. For instance, while this room is largely painted, the feature wall is papered. This also gives you better control over budget spends.

4. Area of the House
Paint: Too much heat can affect the life of paint, not in a positive way, but still offering more resilience than wallpaper. Wallpaper: It doesn't fare too well in areas with moisture and heat like kitchen and bathroom.

5. Aesthetics
Paint: There's a plethora of colours, paint textures, decals and stencils available out there today. Wallpaper: Whatever the options in paint, in terms of intricacy of pattern and seamless repeats, wallpapers still remain unmatched. Add to that the option of

6. Variety
Paint: It definitely triumphs when you account for the diversity of colours available. However, textures and stencils are limited. Wallpaper: This scores where patterns are concerned.

Good quality paint on walls, in the right finish, can last you up to 5 years. The skill of labour necessary is relatively less, along with the effort and time required.

7. Maintenance
Paint: Regular paint can only be dusted, cleaned by a vacuum cleaner, or wiped with a dry cloth for day to day maintenance. Waterproof paints can however, be wiped clean with a wet cloth or even washed.

Wallpaper: In the wallpaper world, a similar care-instruction divide exist for uncoated wallpapers and those with a vinyl protective coat. The latter can be wiped clean with wet cloth.

Conclusion: So what will it be – paint or wallpaper? If you are still unsure the best way to go is to get them both in different areas of the house — the perfect solution that gives you the best of both worlds. But which areas should be painted and which should have wallpaper should be completely dependent on the above considerations.