When it comes to choosing the right wallpaper, some people are willing to make money no object in their instructions to a wallpaper specialist and the result is a wallpaper that costs more than many houses.

A recent example of this is the Albert H Beach House, valued at over £1.5m after a £2.36m renovation, which included the use of period-appropriate recreated wallpaper at a cost of over £315,000.

The reason for this was the extensive use of Bradbury & Bradbury room sets, which can cost over £150 per roll and at least 26 of these patterns were used in the living room alone, such is the desire for period-perfect attention to detail.

Some may see such a home and assume that it has the most expensive wallpaper in the world, with wallpaper alone that costs more than many houses.

However, according to Guinness World Records, the most expensive wallpaper in the world would cost over £430 per square metre, but adjusted for inflation would cost over £40,000 for a complete set.

The wallpaper is by the French woodblock wallpaper company Zuber and is entitled La Guerre De L’indépendance Américaine, depicting a lavish panorama of the American War of Independence of 1776.

Originally designed in 1852 using 2300 antique woodblocks, the same technique has been used for over 170 years to replicate what is effectively a panoramic work of art.

Woodblock panorama wallpaper is a lost art, with Zuber the last company in the world with the machinery and heritage manufacturing skill to do so, and it similarly requires somewhat specialist techniques to fit and apply correctly.

Exactly which is more expensive is a matter of debate. Whilst Zuber’s panorama is by far the more expensive measuring like-for-like, the Albert H Beach House’s wallpaper is far more expensive overall.  

You do not need to pay nearly that much to find luxurious results with wallpaper, however.