Choosing geometric wallpaper

Where it works

Repeating shapes sit best where the architecture is already square: a tiled bathroom, a galley kitchen, a corridor, a desk wall. Half Moons and Stacked Blocks stay quiet enough for a bedroom or a passage. Bronze Shells, dense Deco fans on near-black, is a cloakroom or bar design. Gold Rain, bottle green under falling gold dashes, works in a dining room. Fan Rows, ginkgo leaves in fine black line on cream, is the one for a small bathroom.

Picking between the designs

Group them by shape. Blocks: Woven Blocks, Stacked Blocks, Emerald Grid, Soft Corners. Curves: Olive Ogee, Half Moons, Kiln Arch, Petal Tiles, Stepping Stones. Stars: Teal Stars, Pottery Stars, Clay Stars. Fans: Bronze Shells, Shell Fans, Fan Rows. Then the edge: Half Moons and Bronze Shells are crisp; Olive Ogee, Stepping Stones and Soft Corners are softened or hand-inked and sit more easily in an older house. Then colour count: the fans and Half Moons are two colours; Stacked Blocks and Stepping Stones bring four.

Related

Mid-century wallpaper has the 1950s versions of these shapes, abstract wallpaper the painted ones, and minimal wallpaper the sparsest. For turning a grid neatly around a corner, read How to wallpaper a corner.