JL Studio, Interior Designer

You might not agree with me and that’s okay! Share your thoughts in comments- love to hear what you think 🤔

But there are a few classic wallpapers I’ve quietly stopped specifying for clients and here’s why:

When a pattern starts showing up in every home tour or every aspirational dining room for years on end, it kind of loses what makes wallpaper special in the first place. Instead of telling your story, it starts to feel like it’s telling everyone else’s.

Bird & Thistle is a perfect example. Classic but it’s been everywhere for so long that it reads more like a default choice than a thoughtful one.

Schumacher Hydrangea Drape in blue and white falls into a similar category. If you truly love the pattern, I’d at least consider it in a different colorway—gray or yellow feels fresher. The classic blue-and-white version has become a bit of a shortcut for “I want this to feel designed,” which ironically can have the opposite effect.

And then there are the generic chinoiserie reproductions. The originals like Gracie still feel special. But the mass-produced versions popping up in every dining room? They’ve lost that sense of uniqueness.

At the end of the day, your home should feel like YOU and not like a collection of someone else’s saved images.