Say what you will about the Victorian era, but no one can deny they mastered the art of pattern play. For the elite, “it wasn’t enough to use a single wallpaper in a room,” says Washington, D.C.-based interior designer and author Annie Elliott. Instead, Victorians “routinely installed one paper on the lower portion of a wall, or the dado; another above it; and a wallpaper border just under the crown molding.” Bonus points were earned for wallpapering the ceiling, too.

This, of course, eventually led to wallpaper fatigue—and, in extreme cases, death. “Much of the wallpaper at that time—fabric, too—was made with arsenic,” explains Elliott. “There are worse ways to go, I suppose.”

Bury me in wallpaper, design pros now say, proving what’s old is new again.

“Today’s wallpaper is less about uniformity and more about artistry,” says Houston-based interior designer Paloma Contreras. “Using multiple wallpapers allows you to create dimension and nuance in a way that a single pattern often cannot.”

In a recent West Texas project, Contreras paired a soft and traditional chinoiserie in the dining room with a graphic and structured paper in the entry to lend contrast without feeling disconnected. A shared color family and similar level of formality ensure the patterns feel related rather than competing.

“Architectural transitions, like doorways or millwork, are ideal places to introduce a second pattern because they naturally frame the shift,” she says. “In the ’80s and ’90s, wallpaper combinations were often more rigidly divided, like with chair rails, and the contrasts could feel quite pronounced. Today, instead of creating a strong break, we’re looking to create a gentle transition that feels organic.”

In an Oyster Bay guest room, New York-based interior designer Ariel Okin used two different Schuyler Samperton wallpapers to make the space feel “cozy, layered, and eclectically bohemian without screaming with loud patterns or hues,” she says.

Similarly, fellow New York-based interior designer Ali Milch paired a tightly woven grasscloth paper on the shaker fronts of the built-in cabinetry in a client’s nursery with a chinoiserie-inspired backdrop on the walls. The subtle contrast in both texture and scales brings “depth and dimension to the room without overwhelming it,” she says.

A dining room by House Seven Design’s Anissa Zajac features a scenic wallpaper on the ceiling that helps highlight the texture of the neutral wallpaper on the walls instead of the design. In a bedroom, she paired a block-printed floral with a contrasting stripe of a similar scale. “They balance each other,” says Zajac.

And Richmond, Virginia-based interior designer Jenny Holladay used Soane Britain’s Scrolling Fern wallpaper on a kitchen’s walls as a “fresh approach to a stripe,” then applied a small-scale paper (Archway House by Hamilton Weston) on the island’s recessed panels. Matching Scrolling Fern cabinet fronts and striped fabric shades help soften the space. “It’s all about balance, even in maximalism,” says Holladay.

In her own home, Holladay installed Farrow & Ball’s Block Print Stripe on the walls of the stairwell, then printed oversize Iksel wallpaper panels on canvas and hung them as art atop the stripe. “This has been a decorator’s trick for years and is one I go back to time and time again,” she says.

Another savvy move? Engage the Mario Buatta-dubbed fifth wall. “Sometimes wallpapering only the walls makes the ceiling look like dead space,” says Chicago-based interior designer Kim Scodro, who paired a blooming floral Thibaut wallpaper on the walls of a guest suite with a bamboo lattice paper in a complementary pink hue on the ceiling.

In her own guest room, Austin-based interior design influencer Jenna Hopkins paired an oversize block print wallpaper on the walls with a more delicate, vintage-inspired floral paper in a coordinating shade on the ceiling. She grounded the rest of the space in natural tones to complement the Earthy palette of both papers and added antique furnishings to enhance the character of the wallcoverings.

“Organic patterns tend to work better on ceilings because they don’t have a distinct top or bottom,” says Chicago-based interior designer Summer Thornton, who used two disparate wallpapers in a client’s foyer. With very few fabrics in the space, “the wallcovering needed to create the energy and interest in the room,” she says. Here, the designer used stripes on the walls to draw the eye up to a floral on the ceiling.

New York-based interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins also paired “diametrically opposite” floral and geometric patterns in a dining room design. “It’s exactly why they work together.”

Above the wainscoting, he installed a scenic floral mural by Schumacher, which “unfurls and then transforms” into a bold, pixelated geometric on the ceiling. The wallpapers are anchored by a contemporary Baccarat chandelier. His tips? Build in places for the eye to rest. “The last thing you want is to give someone vertigo in their own home.” And solids, whether neutral or bold, are “great foils” for heavy patterns.

“One wallcovering tells a single chapter, but two in deliberate conversation compose an entire narrative arc, adding dimension and the kind of intentionality that signals a truly designed space,” says the designer. “The key is assigning a hierarchy where one pattern leads and the other supports. The moment a room feels restless rather than dynamic, you've gone one beat too far. Be fearless in your creativity but judicious in your execution.”

Consider those words to live—or possibly, die—by.