Blue Wallpaper

Blue wallpapers, from a washed sky with swallows to a near-black navy full of protea heads. We sort them in our heads by what's on the shelf: blue and white plates go with the cobalt chrysanthemums and mirrored peonies, and denim and old quilts go with the indigo dashes and patchwork. The Morris leaves on cream fit with either.

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. Cobalt Blossom and Porcelain Bouquet put mid blue on cream and are drawn like painted china, so we'd hang them where the plates are on show. Teal Protea, Navy Acorns and Apple Songbird sit on navy. Give them a room you mostly use under lamps, like a study or 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.