Morris & Co Wallpaper

Morris & Co wallpaper began in 1862, when William Morris drew his first wallpaper design, Trellis, from the climbing roses in his own garden. That pattern is still printed today, and the firm keeps returning to the same archive of drawings.

You can pick it out from across a room. Stems curl back on themselves, flowers are pressed flat into pattern, and the color stays low and warm.

The history behind Morris & Co wallpaper

William Morris lived from 1834 to 1896 and helped found the British Arts and Crafts movement. In 1861 he set up Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. with six partners. From 1875 the business went on as Morris & Co.

The work was a deliberate answer to industrial mass production. Morris believed everything in a home should be both beautiful and useful. He drew fifty wallpaper designs in all, each printed by woodblock with a separate block for every color. It was slow work, and that was the point. After him, his assistant and later art director John Henry Dearle kept the studio drawing. Golden Lily, Blackthorn and Artichoke are his.

Materials and look of William Morris wallpaper

Nearly every pattern grows from plants native to Britain, such as daisies, willow and ivy. No exotic blooms. That is why William Morris wallpaper feels warm rather than grand. The drawing is flat and stylized. Leaves and petals are outlined, filled with color and set in rhythm, so the wall reads as pattern first and garden second.

The designs share a dense botanical fill with no plain background showing, but they differ in scale, ground and structure. Strawberry Thief wallpaper mirrors pairs of thrushes among strawberries, cream on a deep red ground. Golden Lily wallpaper flows instead, with lilies and orange tulips trailing through scrolling leaves in slate blue and ochre over cream. Pimpernel wallpaper sets large pale pink flower heads in a symmetrical frame of curling olive leaves on a dark ground.

The finish reads matte, with a velvety look close to the old block prints. Color seems to sit in the paper rather than shine off it.

Signature Morris & Co wallpaper collections

The archive gets reworked collection by collection, each with its own scale and palette. Below is a selection of the Morris & Co wallpaper collections we carry.

• Colours of Morris — flowers, branches and fruit drawn flat and stylized, running unbroken across the wall.
• The Unfinished Works — historical sketches by William Morris worked up into full designs for the wall.
• Morris & Friends — designs by J.H. Dearle, Edward Godwin, Kate Faulkner, May Morris and Kathleen Kersey.
• Bedford Park — fresh colors on familiar Morris patterns such as Pimpernel, Hyacinth and Tulip & Bird.
• Emery Walker's House — six rediscovered William Morris classics, with designs such as Bower and Emery's Willow.
• Cornubia — blackthorn, tulip, thistle and fritillary on grounds from deep navy to light cream.
• Simply Morris — existing William Morris designs such as Pimpernel and Mallow in other colorways.
• Queen Square — stylized plants from blossom branch to willow leaf, filling the wall baseboard to ceiling.

Where Morris & Co wallpaper works best

Start small. A powder room gives you four short walls and one botanical, and the pattern does the decorating. An entryway or stair landing works the same way.

In a dining room that opens onto the rest of the house, one papered wall behind the table marks the space more clearly than a rug can. Dense designs such as Pimpernel hold their own there or in a library, and under a high ceiling a large floral has room to open up. Calmer leaf patterns suit a bedroom.

You don't need a period house. A single wall of William Morris wallpaper beside crisp white walls gives a modern or Scandinavian room something to look at. To carry the pattern onto curtains or upholstery, look at the Morris & Co fabrics. Before you decide, try a design on a photo of your own wall with the Room Visualizer.

Hanging and caring for William Morris wallpaper

Many Morris & Co designs have a large pattern repeat, so one motif continues across several strips. Measure floor to ceiling at both ends of each wall and plan from the taller figure, since older rooms are rarely square. Then allow for the pattern loss that matching each strip to the next costs you.

The wallpaper calculator does the math. Our page on European rolls versus American double rolls explains why the count looks different from what you may be used to. Order the whole job at once, because a later order may come from a different print run.

Prime new drywall before you paste so the seams lie flat. With a large repeat, a professional paperhanger is worth hiring. Once it is up, the wallpaper is made to be lived with in everyday rooms.

Buy Morris & Co wallpaper at Selected Wallpapers

Selected Wallpapers is an official Morris & Co dealer. Prices for Morris & Co in the US are on request. Send us the designs you have in mind and you receive a quote in USD with shipping, duties and taxes included, so nothing is left to pay when the courier arrives. Our US shipping page explains how delivery works.

Not sure which colorway suits your light, or how two designs sit together? Our team gives personal advice and answers you directly.