To-The-Trade Episode Summary
Laurie sits down with 26-year wall covering veteran PJ Delaye to talk industry shifts, the tech behind today’s wallpaper, and why specifying wall covering is one of the smartest business moves a designer can make.
When PJ Delaye joined the wall-covering industry in 1997, his first message was a fax announcing that the largest Southeast Asian wallpaper distributor was closing its doors. For the next 15-plus years, HGTV told homeowners to rip down wallpaper, the minimalist movement wiped patterns off the map, and the entire industry fought for relevance. PJ lived through it all, spending 26 years at York Wall Coverings, the largest and oldest wallpaper manufacturer in North America, where he held roles ranging from export director to president.
In this episode of To-The-Trade, Laurie Laizure and PJ trace the full arc of wallpaper’s fall and comeback, and dig into what it means right now for working interior designers.
The Craft Beer of Wall Covering
PJ compares the current wall covering landscape to the craft beer revolution. A handful of massive manufacturers used to dominate. Now, digital printing technology has dramatically lowered the barrier to entry, and smaller studios are producing bold, personality-driven work that the big players might have considered too risky. The result is a market full of variety, from oversized mural patterns with zero repeats to playful novelty toiles featuring Bigfoot hiding in the trees.
That creative explosion happened alongside a cultural shift. After years of builder beige and monochromatic everything, consumers and designers started craving pattern and personality again. PJ recalls watching women’s fashion runways for the first sign of florals returning, knowing that the pattern on clothing would eventually signal the pattern on walls. The maximalist swing arrived, reinforced by pop-culture moments such as the wallpaper featured in The White Lotus and Only Murders in the Building, where wall covering functions almost as a character in the story.
The Business Case for Specifying Wall Covering
For designers, PJ makes a direct business case. Wall covering typically offers a 20-40 percent designer discount, translating to significantly more margin than specifying paint. Beyond the dollars, wallpaper is a portfolio builder and a referral generator. No one walks into a room and asks who picked the paint color, but a striking wallpaper pattern constantly prompts that question. Laurie reinforces this point, noting that the images that stop her scroll on Pinterest and Instagram almost always feature wallpaper.
Laurie also cites ThinkLab data showing that the North American wall-covering market is nearly $12 billion annually within a broader $369 billion US market for commercial and residential products.
Both Laurie and PJ are clear on this: designers should take a margin on the products they specify. The wallpaper decision involves pattern scale, interaction with surrounding finishes, repeat matching, coordination with connecting rooms, and installation complexity. That level of expertise has real value, and your pricing should reflect it.
Non-Woven vs. Peel-and-Stick: What Designers Should Know
The conversation gets practical around product and installation. PJ explains why non-woven backing is the gold standard for today’s designer wallpaper. Non-woven products are dimensionally stable, meaning they won’t expand or shrink when wet. Installers can paste the wall instead of the paper, the material offers enough slippage for precise seam matching, and removal is as simple as pulling full strips from the corners. Gone are the days of scrapers and tiny pieces coming off one at a time.
PJ contrasts this with peel-and-stick wallpaper, which typically requires overlapping seams, is a two-person installation job, and can split at the seams as vinyl expands and contracts with temperature changes. While peel-and-stick played an important role in reintroducing consumers to wallpaper, especially renters and commitment-wary buyers, PJ argues that the market is ready to graduate to a professional-grade product.
One practical tip both Laurie and PJ stress: always prime and size your walls before installation. Proper prep makes installation smoother and removal dramatically easier down the road. And for designer-quality wallpaper, always recommend a professional wallpaper hanger.
Why PJ Launched Veer Decor
After 26 years at York, PJ saw an opportunity in the industry’s evolution. Most manufacturers were vertically integrated, selling only what they designed and produced in-house, using their own equipment and studio talent. PJ felt there was room for a distributor that curates from a variety of mills worldwide.
Veer Decor imports and distributes wallpaper primarily from European companies, pulling from different studios and different mills to offer a broad, varied portfolio. Whether it’s a variety of colors and designs or a range of printing techniques, designers working with Veer have access to exclusive products they won’t find elsewhere. The name “Veer” itself represents a change of direction, both for PJ personally and for designers and consumers ready for something new on their walls.
The Fun Side of Wallpaper
Not everything has to be serious. PJ and Laurie both make the case for wallpaper with personality, especially in spaces like powder rooms and primary closets where the investment is small but the impact is huge. Veer’s cryptid collection features traditional toile patterns with Bigfoot hiding behind the trees. Laurie shares the story of her sister installing a “dirty toile” in her primary closet, because your home should reflect who you actually are.
As PJ puts it, no one has ever walked out of a room and said, “What a fun paint color.” But a well-chosen wallpaper pattern? That’s a conversation starter every time.
PJ’s Message to Designers
Specify wallpaper. You’ll earn more than you would by specifying paint. You’ll build a portfolio that stops the scroll. And you’ll create the kind of rooms that make clients tell their friends exactly who designed them. In PJ’s words, the floors ground a space, but the walls define it.
00:00 – Introductions and PJ’s background in the wall covering industry
01:34 – The craft beer analogy: how digital printing is reshaping wallpaper
02:42 – The dark years: HGTV, minimalism, and wallpaper’s decline
04:05 – “Once you’re in, you’re in”: the tight-knit wall covering community
04:43 – Grasscloth, murals, and what designers gravitate toward
06:09 – PJ’s first day in the industry and the fax that set the tone
07:10 – Pattern’s return: watching fashion runways for signals
08:37 – Companies like Calico and the rise of non-repeating wallpaper
09:20 – The Home Alone house and the fatigue of builder beige
10:52 – The over-the-top 80s and wallpaper’s golden era
13:06 – Gen Z, grandmacore, and the yearning for heritage
15:36 – Wallpaper as a character: White Lotus and Only Murders in the Building
16:30 – Why PJ launched Veer Decor
18:20 – Veer’s model: curating from European mills for variety
19:34 – Texture on texture: why detail shots matter to designers
22:40 – “You stare at your walls, you walk on your floors”
23:39 – Designer discounts and the profit case for wall covering
24:23 – Why designers should take margin on product
25:26 – Wall covering as a referral generator and portfolio builder
26:17 – ThinkLab data: wall covering as an $11.96 billion market
27:32 – Priming, sizing, and hiring a professional hanger
29:39 – The fun side of wallpaper: novelty toiles and the Bigfoot collection
30:23 – Peel-and-stick vs. non-woven: installation realities
33:39 – Why non-woven is Europe’s standard and North America’s best-kept secret
34:07 – How peel-and-stick helped bring wallpaper back to the mainstream
36:50 – Laurie’s printing industry background and the rise of digital wallpaper
40:14 – Graduating from peel-and-stick to professional-grade product
41:19 – The dirty toile story and wallpaper with personality
44:02 – PJ’s final message to designers: specify wallpaper for profit and impact