Blue Wallpaper

Sixty-nine blue wallpapers, from a washed sky with swallows to a near-black navy full of protea heads. Blue and white china is one thread, cobalt chrysanthemums and mirrored peonies on cream. Indigo is another, dashes and circles and patchwork. A run of cream-ground Morris leaves and slate-blue florals sits between the two.

Choosing blue wallpaper

Where it works

Pale blues open a room up. Sky Swallows, with its banked white clouds, and Wildflower Sky, small sprigs widely spaced on slate blue, both suit a bedroom or a landing that needs air. Mid blues on a cream ground, Cobalt Blossom and Porcelain Bouquet, belong in a kitchen or dining room with china on show, because they are drawn like it. The navy grounds, Teal Protea, Navy Acorns and Apple Songbird, want a room with its own light: a dining room at night, a study, a downstairs cloakroom.

Picking between the designs

Start with what the blue is doing. In Willow Leaves and the Morris Willow Bough Blue it is the leaves, cobalt and sky on cream, and the wall stays light. In Denim Dash, Indigo Circles and Painted Squares it is the mark itself, indigo strokes on off-white, which suits a modern room better than a floral does. In Creamy Dogwood and Slate Bloom the blue is the ground, dusty and slate, with cream blossoms on top. Two-colour designs like Cobalt Blossom and Leaping Hares are the easiest to match paint to, since only one blue is in play.

Related

The darkest of these are also in navy wallpaper, the greener ones in teal wallpaper, and the scenic blue and white drawings in toile wallpaper. We picked ten favourites in Best blue wallpaper.