The Purnon Papers wallpaper collection Farrow & Ball

The Purnon Papers wallpaper by Farrow & Ball: flat patterns in two colours

The Purnon Papers wallpaper brings together five patterns that all work in the same way: a flat motif in two colours, without shadow or depth, repeating across the wall. Within that simplicity, the visual language varies widely. You'll find flower bouquets in a symmetrical grid, irregular blotch shapes scattered freely across the ground and small crosses in a strict check pattern. In the images, the colours remain muted: sage green with cream, grey-blue on light pink-beige, light green on dark blue. This allows Farrow & Ball wallpaper from this range to combine well with painted woodwork, panelling or a plain wall.

Patterns in The Purnon Papers wallpaper collection

Barace wallpaper places cream flower bouquets and curled leaf shapes in a small, symmetrical repeat on a sage green ground, with dark green outlines holding the grid together. Above grey-green painted panelling, this comes into its own. Adelaide wallpaper is larger in scale: branching, irregular shapes in two shades of grey-blue, partly outlined with dots and with small flowers inside, lie freely scattered on light pink-beige. Achard wallpaper goes the other way, with tiny cross and star shapes in a check grid, light green-beige on dark blue. From a distance, this reads almost like a texture. Auguste wallpaper revolves around small, playful flowers in a delicate pattern. In Purnon wallpaper, a heron takes centre stage among foliage. The original design was discovered on a folding screen in the eighteenth century.

Choosing colour and scale in The Purnon Papers by Farrow & Ball

If you want calm on a large wall, a small repeat like Achard or Barace works well: up close you see the motif, from further away it merges into a whole. Adelaide, by contrast, needs space, so the free forms can spread out. With The Purnon Papers wallpaper above panelling, as with Barace, you divide a tall wall and paint the lower section in a matching shade.