The peeling, iridescent wallpaper that adorned a grandmother's kitchen or the western-themed border in her bathroom may have turned many of us off to this decorating concept, but wallpaper is back, and it's nothing like your grandmother's staid, kitschy stuff...

Wallpaper World's Sue Wittig said when her grandmother decided to paper her own kitchen, the hanger came to her home with the same pattern in three colors.  Today, many stores carry over a thousand designs incorporating simpler design needs, as well as complex patterns incorporating grass cloth, reeds, sand, cork, fake fur, beads, and even glass into their wall coverings.  Designer Anne Collin, based in Salisbury, CT, said people either love wallpaper or hate it, but those who love it are willing to try anything.  "You can be so creative with it.  As designers, we use strange things with wallpaper.  I did a light-filled hallway and staircase in brown paper and polyurethane that brought out the light and dark of the sepia tones in the paper.  It was really dramatic."

Textured papers, which were once available only in high-end shops, are now sold by home-improvement chains like Lowe's and Home Depot, and promoted by television design shows.  Textures are making an important contribution to the renewed wallpaper industry, providing patterns and colors not available in paint.  Even neutrals are complex, with layers of color or tone-on-tone effects.  Floral and other traditional patterns have been updated with more popular hues that reflect the growing attraction to elements and colors from nature.

"Design has expanded enormously.  Unfortunately, some people are painfully aware of how many choices they have and give up," Wittig said.  "Most people don't have time to sit for hours to browse through hundreds of books, so we do it for them."

Wittig is now closing her Town of Ulster shop mainly for that reason; her customers get overwhelmed and so she has decided to provide them exclusively with in-home shopping.  For no extra charge, Wittig now goes to the customer's home with samples based on an initial phone consultation and works from there.

Wallpaper fell by the wayside in the mid-1980s when designers, both amateur and professional, started opting for the clean, minimalist look of paint.  According to the Wall Covering Association, the downward spiral continued as the more subtle style of the 1990s moved in with neutral colors like beige and taupe.  Then, faux finishing became the rage.  The wallpaper industry thought this trend would mean more disaster for sales; however, a lot of people who tried to achieve the look with paint were unsuccessful, Wittig said.  Manufacturers incorporated the faux craze into paper designs and after several years, faux finish wallpaper is now still the most popular and enduring trend in wall coverings.

"People found they can do it easier, quicker, and more intricately using wallpaper.  It's a great example of what technology can do."

Brands available through stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, like Paper Illusion Faux Finish, are the cheapest in price, costing about $8 to $14 for about 55 square feet, and come in nature-inspired colors like stone, granite and Tuscan Red.

Paintable Textures, a newer concept, is ideal for older homes because they can hide paneling or damaged surfaces.  Ranging in price from $11 to $20 for about 55 square feet, they come in textured white made to resemble walls, plain or ornate, and can be painted over just like a real wall.  Even wall murals, which Wittig said are making a big comeback, are no longer limited to the tropical beach scene found in the background of 1970s porn films.  Replicas of murals found in some of the great homes on the Hudson, like Washington crossing the Delaware, are available.  A Parisian street scene can decorate a kitchen.  Look over the Aegean Sea or the New York skyline from your office.

Some Local Choices - Wallpaper World designer Sue Wittig, (845) 336-6122 for home service. - Sun Wallpaper & Paint, Poughkeepsie, (845) 471-2880 for showroom and in-home service. - Designer Anne Collin, Salisbury, (860) 435-0212 for in-home service. - Marilyn Vena, Kingston Home Depot, (845) 336-4575. - Herzog's Home Decorating Center, Kingston, (845) 338-6300. Some Unusual Choices - Carnegie Fabrics offers a "loofah sponge" wall covering from $33 per yard, available at carnegiefabrics.com. - "Stream" Sculpted Wall Surface by Modular Arts is made of gypsum rocks ground into powder, and costs $119 per 32-inch square panel.  Available at www.modulararts.com. - "Bedazzled" glass beaded wall surface from Maya Romanoff costs $200 per linear yard and is available at www.mayaromanoff.com.

Gregory Herringshaw, assistant curator of the wall coverings department at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, said wallpaper is coming back because the trend of neutral walls is ending and leaning toward handmade products that provide a more personalized look.

"They're going back to the traditions of block printing, hand painting, cutting and pasting, and made to order," he said.

Although the average wallpaper may cost between $20 to $30 per roll, "couture" wall coverings can cost more than $200 a yard.  Many of these looks, however, are being knocked off and sold at much lower prices.

According to the Wall Coverings Association, wallpaper has a life of seven to ten years.  Pre-pasted vinyl is the easiest to hang, but Pat Boyle of Sun Wallpaper and Paint in Poughkeepsie said all walls should be sized, which means pre-treating the wall with sizing paste to protect the wall.  Vinyl or vinyl-coated paper is easily scrubbable and strippable, and can be more resistant to grease and moisture than plain paper.  Coated fabric paper is considered more "breathable," which makes it best for low moisture rooms, like living areas; paper-backed vinyl or solid vinyl is the most durable.

When shopping for wallpaper, bring along an accent from that room you would like to complement or draw attention to, like a pillow or upholstery sample, a detailed floor plan of your room noting windows, doors and other permanent fixtures in the room such as fireplaces.  Include wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling measurements.  Many stores will allow you to check out a book overnight for a refundable fee.  Once you've chosen a sample, take it home and put it against the wall to see how the light affects the paper at different times of day.  Village Home, available at Lowes or at www.villagehome.com puts out sample books of complementing colors with enticing names like broccoli rabe, country pickins', soy latte, and cannoli.

Marilyn Vena, a design consultant at Home Depot, recommends getting tips from professionals if doing the job yourself.  While most papers come pre-pasted, this can cause the ends to flip up.  Booking is a technique to prevent this.  Folding the section of paper you're about to apply in half for 15 minutes will activate the glue and prevent this problem, Vena said.  Matching is also important and requires a little preparation of lining up the paper sections like a puzzle so the pattern flows properly.

Businesses are also getting on the wallpaper bandwagon, Wittig said.  Much of her current business comes from doctor's offices, who are using it to provide their patients with a more relaxed atmosphere.  The right wallpaper can create a feeling of comfort, she said.  Wittig recently papered Kingston Diagnostics and re-designed Kingston Hospital's maternity ward, replacing what she called "that ugly green paint that used to be so popular."  Wallpaper inhibits the growth of microbes and retards bacteria, Wittig explained, and in large homes or businesses, it can help save heating and cooling costs by adding an extra layer of insulation.