Wallpaper can work in Calangute, but only in the right room. The sea is close enough that outer walls take in salt and moisture, and paper put on them lifts at the joins. Keep it to inner walls, on an anti-fungal primer, and use vinyl-coated paper throughout. In guest rooms the wall behind the bed is the place for it: nobody drags a suitcase along that wall, and it is the one guests see in the photographs. Avoid corridors and the wall beside the luggage rack. Choose a design that will not look dated after a few seasons and keep a spare roll, because a let room will need a patch sooner or later.
- Guest-house bedrooms: a vinyl feature wall behind the headboard, from a design ordered with an extra roll for repairs.
- Holiday apartments: one papered inner wall in the living room, with the plaster checked first for any sign of salt bloom.
- Reception and restaurant walls near the open front: PVC panels, not paper, because damp sea air reaches them every day.
Calangute is the largest and busiest beach town in North Goa. From the church at the top of the village a road runs down to the beach through shops, hotels and restaurants, and the lanes on either side are filled with guest houses, holiday apartments and family homes.
A large share of property in Calangute earns its living from visitors: hotels of every size, guest houses, and flats let by the night or the month. Furnishing is bought in quantity and replaced often, so it must be hard-wearing and easy to match later.
The whole town is within reach of sea air. Salt, humidity and sand are constant, and the main roads are noisy and dusty in season.
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.
