Erin Napier's Go-To Choice For Adding Color To A Room (& It's Not Paint)

The most memorable designers are those who bring a recognizable quality to all of their designs, no matter how different each interior looks. Erin Napier is a great example, as she's renovated and restored plenty of homes on her HGTV show "Home Town" with her husband Ben, but no matter how many she tackles, her unique design approach always keeps her style consistent. While some may think this is easy if you have an eye for design, it could also be attributed to the fact that Napier has picked up scores of successful, reliable tricks throughout her years of experience. If you've been wondering how to decorate your home like HGTV's Erin Napier, it's worth noting that color tends to play a big role in her designs but not always in the form of paint — wallpaper is often her top choice when a room needs a splash of color.

Colorful wallpaper is a recurring character in Napier's work, from vibrant florals in "Home Town" dining rooms, to the playful prints she's used in her daughters' rooms at home. In an interview with Homes & Gardens, Napier discussed how she often pairs warm, cozy neutrals with colorful wallpaper prints that highlight her maximalist style, saying, "I use wallpaper with a busy pattern that allows me to tap into the whimsy I loved when I was a child. We should never lose that childlike love for color and pattern — I use it as much as I can." Her work is proof that it can pay off to explore color beyond simple paint swatches, and let wallpaper take the lead instead.

Aiming for wallpaper over paint may feel risky, but Napier's designs aren't necessarily known for playing it safe. Some people may remember Erin & Ben Napier's most controversial design choices, but whether you loved or hated them, you can't say they're afraid to take risks. Her preference for wallpaper often results in designs that have a flair of maximalism, rejecting the simple, understated looks many people may gravitate towards. That said, wallpaper doesn't need to have a busy pattern or have a large application to contribute to a room's color palette. Napier has experimented with wallpaper in plenty of ways, from small areas like a kitchen backsplash, to covering a room's every wall (and even the ceiling) with a colorful pattern. There's options for everyone, even if you prefer to stay away from bolder choices — some styles use limited color palettes to keep things simple, while others offer unique textures that refresh the quality of your walls in a way that paint can't.

This method can unlock a memorable sense of character in your home, as every wallpaper pattern has its own story and aesthetic for you to identify with. In an Instagram post where she announced her own line of wallpaper, Napier wrote, "every design is an homage to heirloom wallpaper patterns of the early 20th century in multiple modern colorways for each." This announcement nods to the importance she places on color and character when decorating with wallpaper, offering a way to embrace different palettes in your home.

If we've learned anything from Napier's popular home designs, it's that there are plenty of innovative ways to use wallpaper in any room. However, if you want to pull off your design as well as a pro like Napier, it's important to be mindful of your room's color scheme. You can look to color theory to guide your approach, using methods like the 60-30-10 rule which uses this ratio to distribute a dominant, secondary, and accent color accordingly. For instance, if you want the color of your wallpaper to lead your design, applying it on all four walls would be appropriate, but if you're merely looking to add a pop of color to a dominantly neutral design, it may be better to use it on a small accent wall or lining for an open shelf.

Before you commit to a pattern, think about how your wallpaper's color will interact with the shades that will directly surround it, and decide if you want your wallpaper to pop with contrast or softly transition for a more understated effect. In an episode of "Home Town Takeover," Napier styled a room with a soft blue-green wallpaper pattern that blended beautifully with the trim in a similar shade, while also creating a more noticeable contrast against the darker frames and stark colors of the plates she hung on the wall. While wallpaper is often a showstopper in terms of color and visual appeal, pairing it thoughtfully with other elements can offer your design even more advantages.