Damask Wallpaper

Damasks, mirrored the way a damask should be: Morris's Snakeshead, paired fritillaries lifting out of sage leafwork, claret roses in a diamond drop on white, feathered acanthus scrolling around an artichoke crown on dusty pink, cream leaf medallions on deep navy. You'll spot the symmetry from the doorway.

Choosing damask wallpaper

Where it works

A damask is a formal repeat, so give it a formal room. A dining room, a front sitting room, a hallway with a dado. A bedroom with a real headboard works too. For the dining room the traditional choices are Claret Damask (claret roses on bright white) and Rose Medallion, which alternates pink roses with navy and red medallions and ties them together in gold scrollwork. Leafy Damask and Rose Fan are softer, dusky rose and ivory, gentle enough to sleep next to. Damask Bloom is the dark one. Cream leaf medallions on deep navy. We'd put it in a study, or a cloakroom you only pop into.

Picking between the designs

How much do you want the symmetry to show? In Claret Damask or Rose Fan the motifs sit in a plain diamond grid, and the repeat is the whole point (Damask Bloom too). The Morris Snakeshead, green or blue, is sneakier. Its mirrored fritillaries are half hidden in dense leafwork, so the symmetry dawns on you slowly, maybe the third time you walk past. Leafy Damask sits in between, cream acanthus scrolling outward from an artichoke in the middle. Then pick a ground. White and ivory keep the room light. Go dusty pink or navy and you've committed. Patchwork Tile and Indigo Medallion are the block-printed cousins, hand-blocked diamonds and rough-edged medallions instead of engraved scrolls, for when you want the structure but not the polish.

Related

The mirrored Victorian bouquets are over in Victorian wallpaper, and the Morris Snakesheads also hang on the William Morris designs page. The indigo tiles are in block print wallpaper. What is damask explains the word and where the pattern came from.