Pay homage to talented craftspeople from across the centuries by decorating with beautiful wallpapers inspired by the interiors and decorative arts of the past
-
Celebrate beautiful designs from across the centuries
For thousands of years people have been adorning walls with decorative designs, from cave paintings and medieval tapestries, to Italian Renaissance frescoes and elegant French toile de Jouy wallpapers, so there’s a wealth of inspiration to draw from when decorating a period home. Whether it’s an authentic reproduction of an archive design, or a fresh interpretation for the 21st century, heritage wallpapers are a brilliant way to create statement interiors with stories to tell.
MEDIEVAL REVIVAL To mark 160 years of William Morris’ iconic design house, Morris & Co has created Owl & Willow, a beautiful wallpaper inspired by the Verdure panel of the Holy Grail tapestries at Stanmore Hall, London, originally created by Morris & Co in 1890. A testament to Morris’ deep appreciation for medieval craftsmanship, the wide-width paper, £299 per roll, features original handpainted artwork.
STATEMENT BLOOMS Left: Renowned for its floral designs, Sanderson has launched a new flower-filled fabric and wallpaper collection to mark 160 years, which brings together revived archive designs alongside new prints. First printed as a fabric in 1937, Hollyhocks is an iconic Sanderson floral that has been produced as a wallpaper for the first time. Pictured in Gold Metallic/tan, £105 per roll, the design is guaranteed to turn heads and is manufactured using a surface printing method to give it a beautiful traditional feel.
SIMPLY SCANDI Above: Take a calmer approach to decorating with a delicate Scandinavian trellis wallpaper, perfect for bringing effortless elegance to everyday spaces. Designed by Nicole De Young of Astrid & Rudolph, Selma in Mossa, £100 per roll, is part of a collection inspired by family holidays spent in Sweden at the house of her grandparents, Astrid & Rudolph. ‘Drawing on long-lost antique fragments, I created my own modern designs with patterns and colours reminiscent of sunny days spent gathering wild berries and flowers,’ says Nicole.
ROOTED IN HISTORY Left: Celebrate British heritage with a wallpaper from the new National Trust Papers II collection at Little Greene, which breathes new life into patterns discovered at period properties across the UK. Depicting a stunning tree of life design, this Mandalay paper, pictured in Ceviche, £216 per roll, has been redrawn from leather wallcoverings found at Bateman’s, a Jacobean mansion in East Sussex and the former home of Rudyard Kipling. Dating from 1712, the wallcoverings are inspired by 17th-century Indian chintzes of sinuous flowering trees.
FRENCH ELEGANCE Above: Originating in the 18th century, in the French village of Jouy-en-josas, toile de Jouy are ‘toiles’, French for ‘linen cloth’, printed with engravings of romantic pastoral scenes. To create their new Toile Baptiste wallpaper, the team at Lewis & Wood adapted famous toile designs by Jean Baptiste Huet, one of the most prestigious French engravers, by adding in the team’s initials to the rim of a drinking trough as well as their Woodchester Mill. Pictured in Marron, one of nine colourways, the wide-width paper is priced £74.35 per m.
ENGLISH ECCENTRIC Are you looking for something playful and light-hearted? Burges Snail is a charming design from Little Greene’s National Trust Papers II collection which is guaranteed to raise a smile. Attributed to the eccentric Gothic Revivalist architect and interior designer William Burges, the design was found on the walls of one of the bathrooms at Knightshayes Court in Devon, which Burges designed for the Heathcoat Amory family and was built between 1869 and 1874. Though Burges’ design, the paper is thought to have been introduced in 1878 in a later restoration, during which subsequent generations of the family tried to minimise the property’s elaborate high Victorian Gothic styling. Carefully redrawn and recoloured by Little Greene’s in-house design team, the paper, £90 per roll, is available in seven colours, including this beautiful Juniper, which co-ordinates with its popular paint shade of the same name.