Wallpaper is the one furnishing that cannot be packed away when Patnem shuts for the monsoon, so it belongs in permanent buildings only, on the right wall. Huts and seasonal structures are out. In a guest house or villa, the wall facing the beach takes spray and salt and sheds paper at the joins; choose an inner wall, look for the white bloom of salt on the plaster, and seal with an anti-fungal primer before vinyl goes up. A damp wall is a job for PVC panels instead. Papering just the wall at the bed head gives a small room the character owners want in photographs. Pick a vinyl that shrugs off luggage, and hold one roll in reserve.
- Boutique guest rooms: one vinyl feature wall at the bed head, away from the beach side, in a quiet design that outlasts fashion.
- Rooms above a family home: wallpaper on the dry partition wall only, leaving the sea-facing side painted or panelled.
- Cafes with a permanent indoor room: wipeable vinyl kept away from doorways, where sand and bags would scrape it.
Patnem is a small beach just south of Palolem, across the headland at Colomb. It is calmer and more spread out, with beach huts and cafes in season, yoga schools, and guest houses and a few villas among the trees behind.
Accommodation is mostly small: huts, rooms above a family home, and a few boutique places. Owners look for furnishing that photographs well and survives a season of guests.
Like the rest of this coast, Patnem is salty, sandy and very wet in the monsoon. Buildings close to the beach take wind-blown spray.
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.
