12 Designer-Approved Powder Room Wallpapers That Make a Statement-Transform your smallest room into the chicest one.

2026.03.12

The powder room is where design rules go out the window—or rather, where they get plastered onto the walls. It's often the smallest room in the house, which means it's also the one where you can take the biggest risks. Unlike a primary bathroom where you might play it safe, the powder room is your laboratory for bold patterns, moody florals, and prints you'd never consider putting in a living room. It's also delightfully low-commitment—if you tire of that peacock-print moment in two years, you're only re-papering a closet-sized space. Designers know this trick well, which is why they sometimes like to push clients toward statement-making wallpaper in the powder room. The results are tiny jewel boxes that guests remember. Below, we rounded up some of our favorite designer-approved powder room wallpaper ideas from the ELLE Decor archives to inspire your next mini makeover.

1

GRAPHIC HONEYCOMB PATTERN

“We wanted this jewel box of a space to feel dark and moody,” says designer Lucy Doswell of this patterned half bath in an Upper East Side apartment. A graphic honeycomb patterned wallpaper from Robert Kime gives the small space plenty of charm.

2

ITALIAN-CHIC

In this Italian-inspired New York apartment designed by ELLE Decor A-Lister David Netto, the powder room features a straw marquetry wallcovering by Nobilis.

3

GUCCI HERONS

For the powder room of a Chicago pre-war apartment, ELLE Decor A-List designer Summer Thornton opted for a Gucci wallcovering depicting herons. “I’m always right on the line of good taste—or a few steps over,” she says.

4

FLORA AND FAUNA

ELLE Decor A-List Titan Sheila Bridges kept with a flora and fauna theme throughout this Vermont home. In the powder room, Bridges used John Derian Chimney Swallows wallpaper to continue the outdoorsy theme.

5

SEXY CHERRY

In Andy Cohen’s former New York duplex, the powder room by the front door is wrapped with Flavor Paper’s Cherry Forever mylar wallpaper, and a red lacquered antechamber that holds a shrine to what Cohen calls his “lady idols”: a Bob Mackie sketch of Tina Turner, a Debbie Harry poster, and a photo Cohen took of Madonna licking George Clooney’s Academy Award.

6

VINTAGE-INSPIRED

This contemporary Atlanta Home, designed by Laura W. Jenkins, is filled with vintage treasures. Zak+Fox’s Sarasa wallpaper, inspired by 19th century Indian patterns, clads the powder room.

7

GO BOLD

Another Human founder Leah Ring often embraces saturated wall colors, and in this Midwestern family home, she chose a bold wallcovering by Gretta Johnson for Walnut Wallpaper.

8

PLAYFUL ELEGANCE

A half bath off the entry of this Nicholas Obeid-designed Tribeca loft is both playful and elegant, with its hand-painted Porter Teleo floral wallpaper and a coordinating ink-blue ceiling.

9

MATCH THE OUTSIDE

In this Texas house, the small poolside powder room is covered in a custom patterned wallpaper, which helped dictate the cactus landscaping of the courtyard, the architect, Vicki Yuan says.

10

BOTANICAL

Make the powder room pop with a lovely botanical wall covering, like design studio Powell & Glenn did with this powder room in a 19th-century Australian house.

11

GRAPHIC PATTERN

In her reimagining of a classic brownstone in Harlem, ELLE Decor A-List designer Delia Kenza deftly mixes color and pattern, including in this graphic powder room.

12

MIRROR ILLUSION

The walls in the powder room of this Nashville home designed by Lily Dierkes are covered in Raphael Green by Sanderson Wallpaper, and the mirror is from RT Facts, creating a kaleidoscope-like illusion.