Wallpaper Samples

The Complete Guide to Ordering Wallpaper Samples

Choosing wallpaper is one of the most impactful design decisions you can make for any room, and ordering samples is the essential first step toward getting it right. At The WorkRoom, we offer wallpaper samples from the world's most prestigious manufacturers—including Schumacher, Phillip Jeffries, York Wallcoverings, Thibaut, and many more—so you can evaluate color, pattern, texture, and quality in your own space before committing to full rolls. Whether you're a homeowner exploring options or an interior designer finalizing a client presentation, wallpaper samples eliminate guesswork and ensure confidence in your selection.

Why Order Wallpaper Samples?

Wallpaper looks dramatically different in person than it does on a screen. Digital images cannot accurately reproduce the nuance of color, the depth of texture, or the scale of a pattern as it will appear on your walls. A grasscloth that looks muted and subtle on your monitor may reveal rich dimensional warmth when you hold it in your hand. A floral print that seems delicate online might feel bold and commanding at full scale. Ordering samples bridges this gap between digital impression and physical reality.

Lighting is perhaps the most important variable that samples help you evaluate. The same wallpaper can appear entirely different under warm incandescent light versus cool LED fixtures, in a north-facing room versus a sun-drenched southern exposure. Samples let you tape or hold the wallpaper against your wall at different times of day, observing how morning light, afternoon sun, and evening illumination transform the color and character of the design. This simple test has saved countless homeowners and designers from costly mistakes.

Samples also reveal how a wallpaper interacts with your existing decor. Hold the sample against your furniture fabrics, flooring, cabinetry, and trim to evaluate whether the colors harmonize or clash. Place it next to your curtains, your throw pillows, your countertops. These physical comparisons are impossible to make accurately from photographs alone, and they're the key to achieving a cohesive, intentional design.

What You Receive When You Order a Sample

Wallpaper samples vary by manufacturer, but most samples are generous enough to evaluate color, pattern repeat, texture, and material quality. Typical sample sizes range from 8" x 10" memo cuts to larger 12" x 18" or 18" x 24" pieces, depending on the brand and pattern. Some manufacturers provide full-width samples that show the complete pattern width, which is particularly helpful for understanding large-scale or mural-style designs.

When you receive your sample, you'll be able to assess several critical qualities that photographs simply cannot convey: the weight and hand-feel of the material, the sheen or matte finish under real lighting, the precision of the printed or woven pattern, and—for textured wallpapers like grasscloth—the tactile dimensionality that makes these wallcoverings so special. Many designers describe the moment of touching a Phillip Jeffries grasscloth or a Schumacher hand-printed design as the moment the wallpaper truly comes alive.

How to Use Your Wallpaper Samples

Evaluate in Your Actual Space

The most important thing you can do with a wallpaper sample is evaluate it in the room where it will be installed. Tape the sample to the wall—or lean it against the wall on a shelf or piece of furniture—in the exact location where the wallpaper will go. Leave it there for at least 24 hours, observing how it looks at different times of day as natural and artificial lighting changes. What looks perfect at noon may feel too dark at 8 PM, or a sample that seems overwhelming in bright sunlight may settle into sophisticated beauty under softer evening light.

Compare Multiple Options

We strongly recommend ordering samples of your top three to five choices. Seeing options side by side in your actual space makes the decision much clearer than comparing them individually or from memory. Arrange your samples on the wall together and live with them for a few days. You'll quickly develop a strong preference, and that confidence translates into satisfaction with the final installation.

Coordinate with Other Materials

Bring your wallpaper samples to your kitchen showroom, tile shop, or fabric store—or bring swatches of those materials home to compare alongside the wallpaper. Professional designers routinely build material boards combining wallpaper samples with paint swatches, fabric cuttings, tile pieces, and hardware finishes. This holistic approach ensures every element of your room works together beautifully.

Assess Pattern Scale

One of the most common wallpaper selection mistakes is misjudging pattern scale. A pattern that looks perfectly proportioned on a small screen may feel overwhelming on a full wall, or a design that seems bold in a catalog may get lost in a large room. Use your sample to estimate how the pattern will repeat across your wall. Count the repeats and try to visualize the full wall coverage. For large-scale patterns and murals, ask about larger sample options or digital room visualizations.

Wallpaper Samples by Style

Floral and Botanical Samples

Floral wallpaper and botanical designs are among our most frequently sampled categories. The incredible variety within these categories—from delicate chintz to bold tropical prints, from watercolor gardens to graphic modern botanicals—makes sampling particularly important. Scale, color intensity, and background tone can all shift significantly from screen to sample, so ordering physical swatches is essential.

Textured and Grasscloth Samples

Samples are arguably most important for textured wallpaper and grasscloth designs, where the tactile quality is the entire point. No photograph can capture the natural variation in jute, sisal, seagrass, or raffia fibers, the warmth of hand-applied metallic backing, or the dimensional richness of woven patterns. Grasscloth samples often reveal natural color variations between production runs, making pre-purchase sampling not just helpful but essential for large installations.

Modern and Geometric Samples

Modern wallpaper with geometric patterns benefits from sampling because the precision of line work, the depth of metallic inks, and the interaction between pattern and background color are all qualities best evaluated in person. Geometric patterns are also particularly sensitive to lighting angle, with some designs revealing hidden dimensionality or subtle sheen that photographs miss entirely.

Sampling for Different Rooms

The room where you plan to install wallpaper should influence how you evaluate your samples. In living rooms and dining rooms, consider how the wallpaper looks against your furniture and in both natural daylight and the evening lighting you use for entertaining. In bedrooms, evaluate samples under the soft, warm lighting typical of sleeping spaces. For bathrooms, test how the sample handles humidity by leaving it in your bathroom for several days—quality bathroom-appropriate wallpapers will maintain their integrity.

Entryways and hallways present unique sampling considerations because these transitional spaces are often viewed quickly and from multiple angles. A sample that looks beautiful when studied up close may lack the visual impact needed to make a strong first impression in a foyer. Consider viewing your entryway samples from across the room and while walking past them, not just standing directly in front of them.

Understanding Wallpaper Specifications

When you receive your samples, take time to review the specification information that accompanies them. Key details to note include the pattern repeat (both vertical and horizontal), which affects how much wallpaper you'll need to order and the complexity of installation. Match types—random, straight, drop, or half-drop—determine how adjacent strips align and influence both material waste and installation difficulty.

Material composition matters for both performance and maintenance. Vinyl and vinyl-coated wallpapers offer the greatest durability and are washable, making them ideal for high-traffic areas and kitchens. Non-woven substrates provide excellent stability and easy installation. Natural fiber wallcoverings like grasscloth require more careful handling but deliver unmatched organic beauty. Your sample gives you the opportunity to assess these material qualities firsthand.

How Much Wallpaper to Order

Once you've selected your wallpaper from your samples, calculating the right quantity is crucial. Measure your walls carefully—height times width for each wall, minus windows and doors. Factor in the pattern repeat: larger repeats mean more waste per strip, so you'll need additional material. Most wallpaper rolls cover approximately 28 to 30 square feet of usable area for standard patterns, but this decreases for large-repeat designs.

We always recommend ordering at least 10-15% more wallpaper than your calculated need. This overage accounts for pattern matching waste, installation mishaps, and future repairs. Because wallpaper is produced in dye lots (called "runs" or "batches"), colors can vary slightly between production runs. Ordering enough from the same lot ensures color consistency across your entire installation. Our team at The WorkRoom is always happy to help with quantity calculations—just provide your room measurements and we'll recommend the right order quantity.

Sample Ordering Tips

When browsing our wallpaper collections, you'll find sample options available for most patterns. Here are our top tips for making the most of the sampling process. First, order samples from your top color choices within each pattern—a wallpaper design often comes in multiple colorways, and seeing two or three variations side by side makes the decision much easier. Second, if you're comparing wallpapers from different manufacturers, order all your samples at once so you can evaluate them simultaneously. Third, keep a design journal or take photos of your samples on the wall with notes about lighting conditions and your impressions at different times of day.

Don't rush the sampling process. The small investment of time and money in ordering and evaluating samples pays enormous dividends in satisfaction with the final result. A wallpaper installation is a significant commitment—it transforms a room and lives with you for years. Taking the time to sample ensures that transformation is everything you envisioned.

Frequently Asked Questions About Wallpaper Samples

How much do wallpaper samples cost?

Sample pricing varies by manufacturer and size. Most memo samples are affordably priced, representing a fraction of the cost of a full roll. Some manufacturers offer free samples for certain patterns, while premium lines may charge a modest fee. Given that wallpaper rolls typically cost $50 to $300+ per roll and a typical room requires 8 to 12 rolls, the small investment in samples is an excellent insurance policy against an expensive mistake.

How long does it take to receive samples?

Most wallpaper samples ship within 1-3 business days and arrive within a week of ordering. Some specialty or custom samples from select manufacturers may take slightly longer. If you're working with a designer timeline, order samples as early in the process as possible to allow time for evaluation and any follow-up sampling.

Can I return wallpaper samples?

Wallpaper samples are generally non-returnable because they are cut from stock specifically for your order. This is standard industry practice. We encourage customers to view sampling as a small, worthwhile investment in making a confident wallpaper decision rather than a cost to be recovered.

How do I match my sample to the full roll?

When you're ready to order full rolls after selecting from your samples, reference the exact product name, colorway number, and any pattern or SKU codes printed on your sample. This ensures you receive exactly the wallpaper you sampled. If significant time has passed between sampling and ordering, note that there may be slight dye lot variations—though reputable manufacturers maintain excellent color consistency across production runs.

Should I order samples if I'm working with a designer?

Absolutely. Even if your interior designer has extensive experience with wallpaper, sampling in your specific space under your specific lighting conditions is invaluable. Many designers consider sampling a non-negotiable step in the selection process. Samples also help facilitate communication between you and your designer—it's much easier to discuss preferences and concerns when you're both looking at physical materials rather than screen images.