Which Wallpaper Should You Choose for Sunny Rooms?

For sunny rooms choose a wallpaper whose label shows a full sun or a sun with a plus sign, in other words good light fastness or better. This symbol tells you how well the colours stand up to daylight.

How to read the sun symbols

• Half sun: moderate; enough for rooms with little daylight.
• Full sun: good; the minimum for rooms and living rooms with windows.
• Sun with a plus, or two suns: very good; the right choice for south- and west-facing rooms.

Choosing colour and surface

Fading is most noticeable on dark, saturated colours: on a navy, burgundy or dark green wall the area behind a picture can stay darker after a few years. On light and mid tones the difference is hard to see. Matt surfaces do not glare in the sun, while metallic and glossy papers can dazzle at midday.

Ways to protect the paper from the sun

Keeping sheer curtains or blinds closed around midday slows fading noticeably. On large glazed fronts a heat- and UV-reducing window film helps too. Moving furniture and pictures from time to time stops any difference in tone from building up in one place.

Does light fastness matter in a room without sun?

In north-facing rooms without direct sun a half-sun symbol is enough. There you can choose by colour and washability rather than by light fastness.

When choosing a design for a sunny room, ask about its light fastness; on the products at ithalduvarkagit.com and in the catalogues in our Erdeco showroom this information is printed on the label.