Birds Wallpaper

Seventy-six bird wallpapers, from barn swallows cutting across a washed blue sky to heart-faced owls among lily of the valley. Thrushes on Morris's Strawberry Thief, gold finches on near-black teal, songbirds in a parchment woodland, a parrot among oversized blooms.

Choosing bird wallpaper

Where it works

Birds give a wall something to look at, which makes them right for rooms where people linger close: a nursery, a bathroom, a hallway, the wall a desk faces. Woodland Songbird, drawn in faded ink on parchment, and Speckled Sparrow, three birds hidden among ivory blooms, reward that closeness. Sky Swallows does the opposite and opens a room out, its clouds built with real depth, so it suits a bedroom or a landing. The dark ones, Gold Finches on near-black teal and Pomegranate Perch on solid black, come into their own after dark, in a study or over a dining table.

Picking between the designs

Decide how visible the bird should be. In Speckled Sparrow, Apple Songbird and Peony Thicket the birds share the palette of the flowers and only surface on a second look. In Sky Swallows, Barn Owls and Black Parrot the bird is the subject and everything else is setting. Then the ground: cream in Woodland Songbird and Raspberry Thicket, slate blue in Barn Owls, grey in Peony Songbird, deep teal in Pomegranate Branch, black in Pomegranate Perch. Morris's Strawberry Thief, thrushes carrying strawberries, is the one that fits a period room without looking like a nursery.

Related

The birds among pagodas and peonies are also in chinoiserie wallpaper; the owls and finches in woodland wallpaper; the wider menagerie in animal wallpaper. For the designer whose thrushes started it, read Who is William Morris.