Fluorescent wallpaper with 3D effect: volume and glow in the interior

Thanks to the intensive development of the industry of goods for construction and repair, recently specialized stores are increasingly delighting us with a variety of assortments and interesting new products. The fact is that even today a significant number of people are lovers of established traditions and classical approaches, including to carrying out repair and finishing work.

Glowing wallpaper will bring a lot of joy to kids

Many people still do not realize that, in addition to traditional paper-based canvases, the following types of wallpaper have long been developed and are widely used:

• vinyl;
• non-woven;
• fabric (textile);
• liquid and many others.

Among the latest new products presented on the market and gaining increasing popularity, I would like to mention fluorescent wallpaper with a 3D effect. Their distinctive feature is their glow in the dark. What are they and what are their features? Let's figure it out.

Detailed characteristics

It would seem, how do manufacturers manage to achieve such an impressive effect? In fact, everything is not so difficult. The fact is that the glow becomes possible thanks to the use of a special composition on the surface of the wallpaper. It is applied to individual sections of the wallpaper sheet. It turns out that such canvases can glow in a dark room, provided that light from specially designed ultraviolet lamps falls on their surface. It is worth mentioning such an interesting solution in interior design as three-dimensional fluorescent wallpaper. It’s interesting that in a normal environment in natural sunlight, or just daylight, you won’t even understand what it is and how much the surface of the wallpaper changes with the onset of darkness. However, when you turn on a special lamp in the evening or at night (these devices are also known as BLB lamps or “black light lamps”), you will witness how a three-dimensional 3D image begins to appear on the walls! These lamps can be distinguished from their usual fluorescent counterparts by such a characteristic feature as black ultraviolet coating on the inner surface. While simply black when inactive, they change dramatically when turned on and emit a slight bluish glow.

These lamps create a glowing effect

Surely many of us have been to nightclubs or to concerts of pop stars. There you should have noticed a similar effect: a bright, usually bluish glow from white clothing. In addition, almost every one of us has probably been to a currency exchange office at least once in our lives. So, if you noticed, the device that checks the authenticity of banknotes, the detector, also acts with a similar effect when conducting a check. It is these lamps that help create a three-dimensional image on the surface of the walls that seems three-dimensional. As for their use in the room, you have two options to choose from:

1. Completely cover the entire surface of the walls, using them essentially as a substitute for regular wallpaper (during the day you will not notice any difference).
2. Set aside some part of the room for 3D wallpaper.

Despite the fact that during the day you will perceive the wallpaper as usual for the walls, with the onset of darkness and when special lamps are turned on, they will turn from ordinary into unusual and begin to glow brightly. By the way, you can easily find a website or store where you can buy fluorescent wallpaper with a 3D effect in Moscow, both for a child’s room and for any other room in the apartment.

An interesting effect in any room

It should be noted that this original type of decoration is finding more and more adherents living in different cities of Russia and the CIS countries. At the same time, most people will not have problems purchasing this original coating, since today 3D wallpaper is available almost everywhere, from St. Petersburg to Rostov, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg and Samara. They are also sold in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other CIS countries. The main thing is to set a goal and find the appropriate construction supermarket or specialized online store offering similar products. By the way, it is thanks to online trading that it becomes possible to purchase such products not only in large cities, but also in fairly remote settlements. Maybe not all, but at least some online platforms offer the sale of such products with delivery. Of course, you will have to pay extra for this, which will slightly increase the final cost. And, nevertheless, true lovers of an unusual approach to interior design will not stand for the high price.

How to use it correctly?

When purchasing fluorescent canvases, you must choose a Wood lamp for illumination, taking into account the size of the illuminated space. Usually, for 3 m² of surface, 1 lamp is enough; when using devices with a reflector, their number can be reduced. Place the black light source no closer than 1 m from the wall surface. If the ceiling is decorated with fluorescent wallpaper, the lighting is installed behind the ceiling plinth or in wall niches. The lamps are placed around the perimeter of the decor or use point mounting, the main thing is that the ultraviolet waves are directed at the reflective pigment.

Glowing wallpaper in the bedroom interior

Glowing wallpaper in the bedroom

Please note that the coating with small images glows dimly, reflecting the ultraviolet waves of the black light lamp. If you install a large-scale panoramic canvas in the bedroom interior, the power of the glow can interfere with a comfortable sleep.

The finishing material is easy to use and maintain, lasts a long time, does not deform and does not lose color. The photosensitive layer of the image is treated with a protective coating, but delicate care of the canvas is still required without the use of aggressive compounds. High-quality finishing is an environmentally friendly material and does not cause allergic reactions. To eliminate the risk of purchasing products of dubious origin, choose luminous wallpaper among offers from trusted manufacturers.

Wallpaper with glowing dots

Wallpaper with glowing stars

Glowing wallpaper in the interior of a children's room

One of the most common places in an apartment or house where voluminous fluorescent wallpaper with a 3D effect is used is children's rooms. If parents want to create a truly unforgettable and extraordinary environment in their baby’s room, such a solution can turn out to be a very worthy alternative to other design delights. Such canvases can be glued both to the wall and to the ceiling. Characters from favorite cartoons and fairy tales are usually chosen as subjects. For a girl’s room, images of nature and animals, cats, squirrels, deer, and princesses would be quite appropriate. For boys, pictures of courageous heroes, pirates, cars, ships and airplanes are more relevant.

Will delight both boys and girls

Fluorescent wallpaper for the nursery decorates not only this room, but the entire apartment. As for the ceiling, the flickering “starry sky” will look fascinating on it.

Be careful! Do not get too carried away with the colorful colors of voluminous luminous wallpaper, as this can make the child overly irritable. It is advisable that the number of colors used does not exceed five.

As for such a parameter as the price of children's fluorescent wallpaper, it certainly exceeds the cost of traditional analogues. On the other hand, if you really want to please your baby, then it makes sense to save on some other architectural sophistication and instead purchase 3D glow-in-the-dark wallpaper for the children’s room.

Types of luminous wallpaper

• Roll luminous wallpaper. Suitable for decorating one wall surface. It is recommended to leave the design of the remaining walls in the room neutral, covered with ordinary wallpaper. Often, roll wallpaper is used as a panel, and the allocated area is framed with a baguette. This zones the space well, and the repeating luminous ornament will add sophistication to the room;
• story paintings. A composition is created from individual fragments of the selected topic. Canvases with narrative wallpaper decorate the walls of spacious rooms or high ceilings. Outer space and fantasy images look fascinating;
• panoramic wallpaper with 3D effect. Panoramic wallpaper is best used in large rooms, then the image will seem deeper and more real. In small rooms you can use part of the ceiling. To achieve a 3D effect, it is important to think about not only the appearance of the wallpaper, but also the place where the ultraviolet light sources will be located.

Wallpaper is also divided into two more types based on glow technology:

• luminescent wallpaper. Covered with phosphor paint. Phosphorus, in its composition, is responsible for the accumulation of light radiation during the day, and not a bright glow at night. The color of the radiation varies from green and blue to orange and yellow. Manufacturers assure that this paint is safe for human health.
• fluorescent wallpaper. The image is formed using dyes and fluorescent powder. Such wallpapers glow due to ultraviolet rays hitting the canvas, so they are mounted together with BLB lamps (black light lamps). The downside is that they are afraid of direct sunlight.

Are fluorescent wallpapers harmful?

Based on the fact that fluorescent wallpaper with a 3D effect is most often used in the interiors of rooms such as bedrooms and children's rooms, many people have a natural question: are they dangerous to health? Many of those who are not particularly knowledgeable about the issue and are prone to hearing rumors and speculation, as well as manifestations of panic, think that some harmful substances are applied to the surface of such paintings, including phosphorus and almost radioactive chemical elements. I would like to reassure them and reassure them: there are no substances harmful or dangerous to human health. Special dyes that are applied to the surface of materials are made from natural minerals, also called phosphors. The wallpaper itself is made on the basis of non-woven material. High-quality printing, creating the illusion of a three-dimensional image, has the highest resolution. If you still have doubts, we recommend that before purchasing you ask the seller to present the appropriate certificate guaranteeing complete safety and the absence of harmful raw materials in the product. After this, you can finally be convinced of the harmlessness of 3D canvases, and you will finally decide to glue fluorescent 3D wallpaper in the children's room.

Damage caused

In wallpaper that simply glows due to the light energy accumulated during the day, paints containing a small amount of phosphorus are used. This is indicated on the roll label. Until recently, compounds containing phosphorus were considered harmful enough to be used in everyday life. However, technology does not stand still and now, all products with such dyes are not dangerous, which is confirmed by many studies and certificates.

In addition, only the phosphorus contained in pigments can cause harm, and its amount in paints is negligible. Therefore, the answer to the question: are such “phosphorus” wallpapers harmful can be answered in the negative. If you want to make sure of this, ask the seller to show you the certificate of conformity that any legally sold product has.

Coatings with fluorescent patterns look much more interesting in appearance than simple luminescent ones. Here, the glow will appear only when the lamp is turned on, and the drawings do not look monochromatic, but with different shades and intensity of the glow. This makes them more attractive. But it is much more important to understand whether such fluorescent wallpaper is harmful.

To do this, you will have to understand what kind of substance causes the paint to glow. This is a special type of phosphor used not only in the production of paints, but even in medicine. This effect is widely used in studies of cancer cells - a phosphor is introduced into the body and the affected cells become visible under a special microscope.

In principle, this can already remove the question of the harmfulness of the material, but there is another confirmation of the safety of such compositions - every day you come into contact with exactly this type of phosphor, applied in an invisible pattern on banknotes. When checking, the money is placed in a device that emits ultraviolet radiation and the design appears. Therefore, such compounds do not cause harm directly by their presence.

There is a slightly different aspect of this problem - the glow can cause not only positive emotions, but even irritation or worsening mood. When something is constantly glowing around you, it can become an irritating factor. Therefore, such solutions should be used in children's rooms with caution.

Most psychologists argue that bright or too intense colors when decorating are harmful to a child, and most images painted with such dyes have bright orange, green or light green tones. Therefore, you should choose a design very carefully, taking into account the place where such a finish will be used.

In which rooms is it best to use?

Despite the presence of numerous advantages, the scope of use of 3D canvases is quite limited. They can only be used in darkened rooms or at night. Please also note that they are not suitable for rooms with a small area, since the three-dimensional effect can only fully please you if you are at a certain distance from the wall. If the room is small, but you still want to enjoy such attractive images, we recommend using them only fragmentarily, in the form of stickers or drawings located on separate sections of the walls of the room. In addition to apartments and country houses, such images will look very attractive in rooms such as:

• Bars, cafes and restaurants.
• Nightclubs and discos.
• Casinos, karaoke halls and other entertainment venues.

Current areas of application

Spectacular decoration with glowing stars in the galaxy or an impressive view of earthly nature is used in the design of premises for various purposes:

• in the bedroom - they decorate the ceiling space, the wall above the bed or the surface opposite to enjoy the fantastic beauty of the glow before bed;
• in the nursery - a fabulous three-dimensional composition with small reflective fragments or a canvas with a starry galaxy will organically fit into interiors with an atmosphere of carefree childhood;
• in the living room - a luxurious image with a luminous effect is an original accent of the interior; the main thing is to choose the right place for the decor. By decorating a ceiling or wall with a 3D photoluminescent coating, they solve two problems at once: it is a respectable interior decoration and an additional source of diffused light;
• entrance area - the ceiling in the corridor is often decorated with stylish narrative canvases with a fluorescent coating.

Three-dimensional luminous wallpaper, despite the fact that it is sold in an expensive segment, is popular in the design of urban interiors and houses outside the city. This is a bright note in home design, which in daylight delights with images with realistic volumes, and in a darkened space fascinates with its fantastic radiance.

What is the best way to glue on walls and ceilings?

Children's fluorescent wallpaper for walls, just like their counterparts for other rooms, is usually classified as “heavy”. Therefore, it is advisable to select the same glue for them as for vinyl and non-woven fabrics. It is also possible to use PVA glue. As for the gluing process itself, it is, in general, no different from how standard analogues are glued.

The complete illusion of a real starry sky

In addition to pasting walls, a fairly popular idea is to use 3D wallpaper to decorate the ceiling. Various subjects of volumetric luminous drawings will decorate the interior of not only a child’s room, but also a bedroom or living room. Night stars and the moon will not only look beautiful, but at the same time they can serve as a night lamp.

Types of wallpaper

Glowing wallpaper comes in several types:

• luminescent;
• fluorescent;
• LED;
• neon.

Luminescent glowing wallpaper

They are made using phosphor paint containing a phosphorus component. Phosphorus particles accumulate sunlight during the day and emit it in the dark. Such wallpapers can shine in different colors: blue, blue, green, yellow, orange.

If you don’t like the wallpaper design offered in the store, you can try making it yourself. To do this, a pattern is applied to the non-woven base using phosphor paint through a stencil. A little imagination, and a unique art object is ready!

Fluorescent wallpaper

They are made from polyester fabric. Paint with fluorescent powder is applied to it through multi-printing. This substance is safe, so fluorescent wallpaper with a 3D effect can be safely used to decorate a child’s room.

During the day they look like ordinary wallpaper, but as soon as you turn on special UV lamps in the dark, a 3D pattern appears. Drawings made with fluorescent paint shimmer pleasantly, creating a fabulous atmosphere. Without ultraviolet light, it will not be possible to achieve the desired effect - the wallpaper will not look so beautiful.

LED wallpaper

For a long time, LEDs were used only in outdoor advertising, but 13 years ago experimental samples of wallpaper with this material appeared. The idea is to implant LED chips into the canvas, which begin to glow when the chandelier is turned off. This drawing looks very realistic. Using LEDs in this way is a new word in design, which not everyone is ready for yet. LED products are very expensive, so they are rarely used and are made to order not in rolls, but in sheets.

Neon wallpaper

In the dark, bright three-dimensional designs become visible on them, which look bold and are not suitable for all interiors. This is rather a wallpaper for a boy's bedroom or a techno-style living room, as well as for clubs and restaurants. The color of the reflective element is too aggressive - it tires the eyes too quickly, so this option is not suitable for everyone.

Main advantages of the material

The rise in popularity of these products is not accidental. Here is a list of the main advantages of using 3d wallpaper:

• Environmental safety and absence of allergens in the raw materials.
• Large assortment of subjects and drawings.
• Long service life, reaching 5–10 years. This becomes possible thanks to the use of special wear-resistant materials.
• Wide possibilities for use in almost any interior, both residential and non-residential premises.
• Ease of gluing and large size of the canvases themselves.
• Washable, similar to standard washable wallpaper.

Useful video:

Non-woven wallpaper

Non-woven wallpaper for the ceiling is made from cellulose fibers, with the addition of other ingredients that help improve quality.
They consist of 70 percent natural ingredients, thanks to which non-woven wallpaper acquires maximum safety and becomes vapor permeable. Finishing will not cause any trouble and helps hide minor defects, is highly durable, and facilitates repairs. Sellers offer non-woven wallpaper or only wallpaper based on it. Non-woven wallpaper can have different patterns, including bamboo, luminous or even with clouds. Take a look at the photo below:

Wallpaper with a 3D effect for walls: in which rooms should you glue fluorescent wallpaper with a 3D effect?

Glowing 3D wallpaper for walls can be used to decorate a variety of interiors. Here it is very important to choose the right theme of the drawings and color shades of the finishing material. For example, in a bedroom it is advisable to use calm scenes of images; a view of an autumn forest or the sea would be appropriate.

The dining room, provided it is large, can be decorated with large images of fruits, vegetables or flowers. A beautiful culinary theme can increase appetite, but soft and warm colors promote digestion.

In a pool or bathroom, marine themes with colorful fish, waves or sailing ships are more appropriate. But it is recommended to design 3D wallpaper for the wall of an office or living room with images of scenes from a hunt, a burning fireplace, or with regular geometric patterns.