Salt spray reaches every building on this stretch between Morjim and Mandrem, and for months each year the rooms are shut and unventilated. Those are hard conditions for wallpaper, and it should be used sparingly. A masonry inner wall in an air-conditioned villa bedroom or resort suite, sealed with anti-fungal primer and hung with vinyl-coated paper, will hold. A wall facing the sea will not, and neither will the walls of a beach cottage left open to the weather; give those PVC wall panels, which achieve a styled finish without the risk. Look for salt bloom on the plaster before deciding, and hold back one roll for patching after the closed season.
- Private villas: a vinyl mural or textured paper on an inner bedroom wall, in a room that is kept air-conditioned.
- Boutique resort suites: one wall behind the bed, primed against fungus and looked over again when the place reopens.
- Beach cottages and restaurant walls: PVC panels as the wall finish, never wallpaper, since spray and damp reach them all season.
Ashwem is the stretch of beach between Morjim and Mandrem, known for its boutique resorts, beach clubs and fashionable restaurants. It is quieter and more exclusive than the beaches further south.
Almost everything here is boutique hospitality: small resorts, beach cottages and a few private villas. The look is carefully styled, and outdoor areas are as important as rooms.
The beach is open and windy. Salt spray and sand reach every building, and most places are closed and packed away for the monsoon.
Sea-facing homes
Sea-facing walls take in salt and moisture, and paper lifts at the seams if the wall is not sealed. Use vinyl-coated wallpaper on an anti-fungal primer, and keep it to inner walls or walls that do not face the weather. Check for salt bloom on the plaster first.
Holiday lets and guest houses
For a let property, choose a hard-wearing vinyl in a design that will not date, and use it where luggage and furniture will not scrape it: behind the bed, not in the corridor. A spare roll kept back makes later repairs possible.
