This wallpaper is absolutely gorgeous and I'm not sure what other reviewers we talking about it is indeed embossed and textured in the main pattern and the background. I bought the gold and cream color and it looks very rich and regal. That was the good now for the bad as other reviewers mentioned it was incredibly difficult to cut this wallpaper once the paste was applied and the paper backing was wet. The answer was to upgrade my razor blades for my box cutter (I was using the blades that came with my generic box cutter). Generic blades will not cut it (no pun intended) for this paper I upgraded to the Dewalt blades (HD five blades for $5) and had much better results.