According to Melissa Macron, on HGTV's website, wallpaper is back! Of course it never completely left, after all it's been around for hundreds of years. The ancient Chinese invented paper and began gluing rice paper to their walls as early as 200 B.C. Soon after the introduction of paper making to Europe in the late 15th Century, Europeans began commissioning artists to create hand-painted papers for their walls.
Jean-Michael Papillon a french engraver, credited with the invention of wallpaper, started making block designs on paper in matching continuous patterns in 1675.
Now with the invention of computers, the Internet and digital imaging you can design wallpaper murals from your own photos in the comfort of your own home. The designs and patterns that are produced by wallcovering manufacturers is endless.
And I do prefer to use the term "wallcovering" instead of wallpaper, since it really does describe the product much better today, since there are so many materials adhered to walls as wallcovering. One of my Interior Design teachers from Russia said she likes to suggest to folks who rent and want wallcovering to apply a lightweight textile fabric they like to walls using corn starch. When you are ready to move just pull it off roll it up and you can take it with you, and you wont damage the walls.
I haven't tried this myself, but it sounds like a great idea.
