Mahone’s Wallpaper Shop | Wallpaper Designs and Fabric Online

  Coastal and nautical wallpaper both borrow from the sea, so it's easy to treat them as one thing. They aren't, and the wrong pick can leave a room feeling off. One look is relaxed and breezy. The other is crisp and bold. Here's how to tell them apart, and how to choose for your bathroom, your beach house, or your living room. If you'd like to browse as you read, our coastal wallpaper collection is a good place to start. Relaxed or Bold? What Sets Coastal Wallpaper Apart From Nautical Wallpaper Start with the feeling. Coastal themed wallpaper is relaxed. Think soft blues, sandy neutrals, and gentle patterns like waves, leaves, and watercolor. It's the look of a quiet morning by the water. If you want wallpaper coastal in feel, this is the look. Nautical theme wallpaper is bolder. It leans on navy and white, often with a touch of red, and uses stripes, anchors, rope, sailboats, and maps. It feels crisp and a little traditional. Here's an easy way to remember i...

  Plaid, tartan, gingham. They all look like lines crossing, so it's easy to mix them up. But the one you pick changes how a room feels. One can make a den feel like a cozy cabin. Another can make a kitchen feel like a picnic. This guide shows you how to tell them apart, and which one fits your walls and your furniture. If you'd like to browse as you read, our plaid wallpaper collection is a good place to start. What Is Plaid Fabric, and How Is It Different From Tartan and Gingham Let's start with the basics. Here is the plain plaid fabric definition: plaid is a pattern of stripes that cross each other, in different widths and colors. It's a pattern, not a type of cloth. So plaid material fabric can be woven or printed, in cotton, wool, or a blend. Black and white plaid fabric types and materials go from light cotton to thick wool. The word itself comes from an old Gaelic word for blanket. Tartan is a plaid with rules. It follows a set order of colored bands, called a...

  Paisley is one of the most recognizable patterns in the world, and one of the least understood. Ask someone what paisley pattern actually is and most people describe a color, a flower, or just "that swirly print." It's none of those. Here's what is paisley, really, where it came from, and what to look for when you buy it. Our paisley wallpaper collection and paisley fabric collection both carry real examples of everything below.   Is Paisley a Flower, a Color, or Something Else Entirely What is a paisley pattern? It's a specific teardrop-shaped motif with a curved tip, technically called a boteh or buta. What color is paisley is a common question, but paisley isn't a color at all, it's a shape, and it shows up in nearly every color you can name. Is paisley a color or a pattern comes down to this: it's entirely a pattern, one that can be printed in blue, red, green, black, or dozens of other combinations. Is paisley a flower is the other question peo...

  Search "wood wallpaper" and you'll find two very different things. Some rolls have a flat, printed pattern that reads as fake from across the room. Others use raised ink to actually mimic the ridges of real grain, and hold up under a hand run across the wall. The difference isn't obvious from a small product photo, so here's what to check before you buy. Our wood wallpaper collection has both types, once you know which to look for.   What Makes Wood Wallpaper Look Real (or Fake) Wood wallpaper and wood wallpapers are made one of two ways. The cheaper method prints a wood grain pattern flat onto vinyl or paper, no texture, just color and shading. It can look convincing in a photo, but up close it reads as a picture of wood, not wood. The better method uses embossing or raised ink to build actual texture into the surface, so the grain lines you feel match the ones you see. This is what separates real hardwood wallpaper from a flat imitation, and it's the d...

  Most people assume ikat fabric is just a busy print, blurred edges, bold colors, done. It isn't. What is ikat, really? It's a technique: the yarn is dyed before the fabric is ever woven, not printed onto finished cloth afterward. That's what is an ikat pattern actually is, and it's also why a real ikat has that slightly soft, blurred edge a print can't fake. Once you know what does ikat mean, buying it well gets a lot easier. Our ikat fabric collection is a good place to start once you know what to look for. What Is an Ikat Pattern, and What Does Ikat Mean What is ikat, in the simplest terms? It's a resist-dye weaving technique. Before a single thread is woven, sections of the yarn are bound and dyed, then bound again for a second color if the design calls for it, then finally woven into cloth. What is an ikat pattern comes entirely from how precisely, or imprecisely, those bound sections line up once woven, which is why the motif always has a touch of softne...

  Search "damask wallpaper" and the results show gold fleur-de-lis prints, blue florals, and ornate medallions, all labeled the same way, even though only some of them are technically damask. Here's the actual rule: damask is a wallpaper pattern made in a single color. The design shows up through a change in sheen or texture, not a second color. That is the whole definition. Once you know this one rule, you can tell real damask apart from patterns that only look similar, and pick a color, a style, and a finish that fits your room. Our damask wallpaper collection has the full range once you know what you're looking for. The One Technical Detail That Separates Real Damask From a Floral Print Damask is traditionally a single-color pattern, with the design showing up through contrast in texture or sheen, a matte background with a satin-woven or embossed design, rather than a second color doing the work. A gold-on-gold fleur-de-lis print is a classic example of this. Mod...