ON THE WALL: William Morris: Still Fresh After All These Years

Sep. 02

ON THE WALL: William Morris: Still Fresh After All These Years

By Lynn Byrne. As an interior designer, by far the most frequent question I am asked is what to do with the walls. People are paralyzed over paint color choice and can pass out at the mention of wallpaper! Periodically, “On the Wall” will look at wall décor choices, whether it be showcasing rooms in a particular hue, focusing on wallpaper sources, discussing how a wall treatment is executed, (say for example, venetian plaster or stripes) or developing whole room palettes. Hopefully these posts will help calm the beast when it comes to what to put “On the Wall.”

Now that everyone has decided that wallpaper is back and is no longer too “granny”, I thought today I would focus on a grandfather when it comes to wallpaper design: William Morris. Many of his designs have been in continuous production for over 100 years. And, yes, as these pictures prove, they are still fresh.

Another great thing about William Morris’ designs is usually there is a matching or coordinating fabric—more help for homeowners. There are several online sources for these patterns, including at Charles Rupert.

This dramatic but budget friendly look (only one panel of wallpaper), in the Morris pattern Compton, shows how well the fabrics and wallpaper can work together.
Love the Morris Daisy wallpaper in this contemporary family space.
Here Morris’ Cray pattern is executed as a line drawing. This makes the wallpaper almost look handpainted. Colorful Cray fabric in the bed hangings really sets things off.
In this shot, Morris’ Bird and Anemone fabric (could just as easily been wallpaper) on the closet doors creates a surprising focal point under the stairs.
A charming, cozy workspace highlighted by Morris’ honeysuckle pattern wallpaper.