Ever versatile, wallpaper has the ability to give rough plaster walls a fresh, smooth start and take the rawness off the inside of new houses. It can also create 'instant' paint effects, allow us to experiment with deep layered background colour and even create an illusion of space and light. Currently undergoing a design revolution, wallpapers have never offered the home decorator so much potential. Available to suit all tastes and all budgets, formal pattern repeats have given way to informal, apparently random, motifs of natural forms in a palette of fresh, soft colours, and bold metallics which, at first glance, appear to be handpainted. The most recent papers also echo the latest trends in paint effects - from gilded finishes to suede textures.