Rouge from the Vintage Floral collection features dahlias in rich crimson adding drama to your most intimate of spaces.
Botanical wallpaper is having a moment right now thanks to the huge surge in popularity of biophilic design. As we all seek to bring the great outdoors into our homes with all its associated benefits for our mental health and physical wellbeing botanical wallpaper is a relatively cheap and easy way to invite nature in.
North & Nether is the creation of Yorkshire-based Mara Nieuwsma who has used her background in fine arts and graphic design to launch a collection of statement botanical wallpaper that bridges the gap between home decor and art.
Paradise from the Folklore collection features a vivid pattern of birds that pairs beautifully with antique furniture for an eclectic mix.
The British-manufactured luxury wallpapers are digitally printed in the UK, supporting local manufacturing whilst also being more sustainable. Digital printing also means that North & Nether can launch new designs more regularly and can easily create bespoke designs for clients.
Mori from the Japandi collection is named for the chrysanthemum.
North & Nether launched earlier this year with five collections: Midnight Garden, Tropic, Folklore, Japandi, and Vintage Floral. Each luxury collection has four unique designs which are available in a single colourway. This brings the total to 20 luxury papers with another 10 planned for launch before the end of the year.
I wanted to design collections that would make a real statement on your walls – not blend into the background. The repurposing of found illustrations and objects, coupled with the inspiration of bygone eras and faraway lands, is at the heart of North & Nether designs.
Mara Nieuwsma, Managing Director, North & Nether
Robin from the Vintage Floral collection brings big, bold blooms in vibrant colours to your walls
The Midnight Garden collection was Nieuwsma’s original inspiration.
I wanted to pair elements together to create quirky designs that are a bit unexpected – such as Midnight Garden Thistle that has snakes twisting around the flower stems. Many of our designs lean towards darker colour palettes, which help to convey the theme of the collection.”
Mara Nieuwsma, Managing Director, North & Nether
Nightshade from the Midnight Garden collection has a lush bed of twisting vines and flowers being feasted on by beetles.
Now let’s be clear, these luxury botanical wallpapers make quite a statement. They are not for the faint-hearted or for lovers of the simplicity of minimalist interiors. These wallcoverings are for the bold and the brave. People who want to inject some personality into their home and let the walls make the biggest statement in the room.
Opium from the Midnight Garden collection partners a grid of poppy species with honeybees.
They would be perfect for the 2022 trend of Joyous Maximalism that I wrote about late last year. This trend is an all-out explosion of colour, pattern and shape, particularly if it is playful and unexpected. Sounds like a perfect way to describe the botanical wallpaper by North & Nether.
Palm from the Tropic collection showcases highly patterned butterflies against a linear palm print.
So if you are looking to spruce up your home and want to stand out from the crowd, consider choosing the wallpaper collections from North & Nether to add some Joyous Maximalism to the walls. If you’re not feeling brave enough to go all-in there is always the Japandi collection which is a little more understated and monochrome than the others.
Or alternatively, these beautiful botanical wallpapers would look fantastic framed in large antique frames hung on a wall painted in a colour of the same tonal hue as the paper. This would be a great option if you are renting and can’t personalise your space as much as you’d like. If you can’t even hang pictures, get a huge frame and stand it on the floor propped against the wall for added eclecticism.
So what do you think of the botanical wallpaper from North & Nether? Would you be keen to decorate with these unique statement wallpapers? Let me know in the comments below.
Textured wall tiles have been creeping into interiors at a steady pace over the past few years. I don’t think they have quite become mainstream in residential interiors yet as they can be quite a bold statement that requires at least a bit of bravery to embrace. But we have certainly been seeing them in commercial spaces for a while now.
There are a number of reasons why we might be seeing more texture creeping into our interiors. Firstly, the rise of biophilic design has helped us to invite nature indoors, so texture has started to play a much greater role in our interiors. We are incorporating natural textures into our homes as we have now realised how beneficial it is for our mental health and wellbeing to surround ourselves with nature.
Secondly, I think that the global pandemic massively increased our need for physical touch. We went through months of being told to avoid touching anything for fear of catching the virus and our sense of touch was sorely neglected, particularly as everything went digital. As human beings, we need these haptic experiences to help us understand the world around us. As a consequence, our homes have become more tactile in order to enable us to reconnect to our senses and ultimately to what makes us human.
So I would like to share with you some of the best examples of textured wall tiles that I have come across recently. Every single one of these would have my hand reaching out to run my fingers across them.
Textured Wall Tiles from European Heritage
European Heritage was founded by husband and wife team, Peter and Helen Hutchinson, in 1989 and they believe that choosing tiles should be fun and that the tiles that you do choose should complement your personality and uniqueness.
The Linea textured wall tiles that they stock is a lineal representation of texture in beautiful pastel shades. These tiles are perfect for wall applications in bathrooms, kitchens or even commercial hospitality settings.
We are noticing a tangible desire to create relief with texture in our customers projects of all shapes, sizes and styles. This is not a new phenomenon as ceramicists and tile manufacturers have been creating ‘relief’ tiles for centuries. Now we are seeing beautiful textural interpretations in all manner of colours & tones which makes designing spaces all the more fun.
Connor Dow, Sales Consultant, European Heritage
Textured Wall Tiles from Raven
Raven is the European Japanese tile specialist and curates tiles from Japan’s master ceramicists. They only sell tiles made in Japan and only select the best that Japan has to offer. Many of the tiles embody the traditional Japanese aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi, which celebrates the beauty of imperfection.
Raven has a beautiful selection of textured wall tiles, many of which have extremely tactile surfaces. They are the ideal option if you are looking to embrace the trend for Japandi interiors at the moment.
The simplistic beauty combined with the quality of the tile is plain to see.
Mutina is one of my favourite tile brands as they always seem to be raising the bar when it comes to innovation and design. Whenever I see something slightly unconventional or particularly inspiring, it doesn’t surprise me to discover it is from Mutina.
Mutina works with some big-name designers who bring their creativity to the table to create ceramic coverings with new and unexpected outcomes. From Patricia Urquiola, Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Tokujin Yoshioka and Inga Sempé to Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius amongst others, Mutina has an unrivalled roster of creative talent at its disposal.
Mutina’s products often challenge the rules of ceramics in terms of scale, composition and, most notably, texture. Here we can see some of my favourite textured wall tiles from Mutina.
Finally, we have this stunning collection of textured wall tiles from Harmony. Part of the Peronda Group, Harmony aims to inspire with trendsetting new visions and designs.
From then super contemporary and geometric lines of Lins and Beat to the artisanal charm and handcrafted appearance of Pasadena, these textured wall tiles all have tactile appeal.
We are set to see some very exciting wallpaper trends in 2022 as wallcoverings take centre stage in our homes. I’ve had a long love affair with wallpaper due to its transformational power to completely change the look and feel of a space. Whether you decide to opt for a feature wall, wall-to-wall paper, a wall mural, or something more quirky like a papered ceiling or wallpaper panelling, there is no denying that wallpaper is a great way to add style and personality to a room. And it’s making a comeback with new and exciting designs and uses coming to the fore.
Wallpaper took a bit of a back seat over the past few years as new wall finishes emerged and interiors trends became more minimal. Because of this, wallpaper companies had to have a rethink. The result is a fresh new range of wallpaper finishes that once again deserve our attention. I recommend looking beyond the feature wall and instead focusing on the layer of texture, warmth and attitude that a carefully chosen wallpaper can add to a room. Many wallpapers are now more than a series of repeat patterns and act as a full theatrical backdrop to a carefully curated scene.
It’s certainly true that we are seeing wallpaper less as a subtle and unobtrusive way to add a backdrop to a room and more as a large design statement that not only stands out but sets the scene in a room.
So let’s take a look at the 7 exciting wallpaper trends you need to embrace in 2022.
Nature-Inspired Wallpaper
Biophilic design is definitely having a moment right now and Pinterest has predicted it to be a major trend in 2022 whilst Google has seen a 900% increase in search queries for the meaning of biophilia in the past 12 months.
Wallpaper that features plants, trees, leaves, animals or the organic shapes and patterns found in nature will be one of the most popular wallpaper trends this year. We are now well aware of the benefits of bringing the outdoors inside and the positive effects that this can have on our mental health and wellbeing.
We can also expect to see lots of green this year being the ultimate colour of nature. So green wallpaper will be popular, whether that’s darker emerald green shades or more muted sage greens.
We will see a big shift towards nature inspired murals in particular, as they have the ability to blur the lines between indoors and out. As many of our working environments have changed and the focus has shifted to working from home, wallpaper is an easy and effective way to make a space feel refreshed and give it a new lease of life.
Along the same lines as the nature-inspired wallpaper is bold floral wallpaper which is definitely enjoying a moment in the spotlight right now and is set to be one of the biggest wallpaper trends in 2022. Whether it’s vintage, classic or contemporary, big blooms are in! Floral designs are timelessly elegant so it’s easy to see why they would be popular as they just don’t date.
The great thing about floral wallpaper designs is that they can be adapted to suit any space by playing with the scale of the motifs. If you’re feeling particularly brave and your room can take it, choose a large scale design to really make a bold, maximalist statement. If you have a smaller room and want a more understated feel, opt for smaller, more intricate designs that are more subtle.
Marble Effect Wallpaper
Marble effect wallpaper has been doing the rounds for a few years now but the choice that is available is now a lot more varied. We’re seeing many more colourways and designs that are much more intricate. To add extra luxury to your room, why not choose a marble effect wallpaper that has beautiful gold veining.
Papers that are white or incorporate pastel colours will keep your room feeling fresh and bright, whereas opting for darker shades such as brown or black will make a room feel more opulent and lavish.
Scenic Wall Murals
The global pandemic kept us all housebound for an extended period, unable to take holidays or go on adventures to unknown places. So it’s no wonder that scenic wall murals have become popular. In a split second, they can fire up our imaginations and transport us to another world. Scenic wall murals add an element of escapism to our homes that we have all been badly craving over the past few years.
They are also great for playing with the dimensions in a space. Archways, doorways and long corridors can completely add a new perspective to a space making it seem larger or longer than it really is and creating the illusion that there is more than meets the eye.
Scenic landscape wall murals are a HUGE trend for 2022. They create an atmosphere of their own with the power to completely transform a space and evoke your imagination by adding another dimension.
Another of the most exciting wallpaper trends for 2022 is Chinoiserie. The east meets west fusion imitates the art of China, Japan and other Asian countries and gives it a modern European style. The decorative oriental designs often depict scenes featuring ornate trees, flowers and birds.
Chinoiserie wallpaper brings an exuberant and exotic flair to a room. It often has a distinctly feminine and delicate feel to it making it perfect for bedrooms or dressing rooms.
Textured Wallpaper
Advances in printing technology mean that faux surfaces are a lot more realistic these days. For this reason, textured wallpaper is another exciting wallpaper trend to watch in 2022. If you’ve always dreamed of having a real stone wall in your living room or you love the texture of real wood or tree bark, then these wallpapers will help transform your home into your dream space.
Adding a whole new tactile element to wall surfaces, these wallpapers are crying out to be touched and explored. They are also a great way to invite nature indoors.
Painterly Abstract Wallpaper
Lastly on our list of exciting wallpaper trends for 2022 is painterly abstract wallpapers. These have a lovely handcrafted feel to them as they feature freeform, imperfect shapes, gentle curves, organic textures and painterly marks.
They look like they have been painted onto the wall by an artist and add a lovely softness to the room. It helps that many of them are in neutral or pastel colours.
If you are looking to refresh your home, consider embracing some of these exciting wallpaper trends in 2022. Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments.
Textured walls are an easy and painless way to invite nature into your home. This has been a growing trend in interiors for quite some time now and with the rising popularity of biophilic design, texture has taken centre stage in our homes. The pandemic robbed us of tactile experiences as we were strongly advised, if not legally prohibited, from touching other human beings and most surfaces. This gave us a renewed need for texture inside our homes, especially for those of us who had limited access to nature during the lockdowns.
One of the most impactful ways to invite nature into our homes is with textured walls. Walls are such a large expanse, so using them to add texture to your room is a really effective way of making a biophilic design statement. When you think of bringing nature into your home, I’m sure your thoughts immediately jump to plants. And when we talk about the walls, I guess you are imagining botanical wallpaper?
But textured walls can be so much more exciting than that. In today’s post, I would like to share with you 5 exciting ways to invite nature into your home using textured walls. So let’s take a look at the options.
1. Choose Anaglypta Textured Wallpaper Inspired by Nature
Anaglypta is one of the best known and oldest wallpaper brands and has been around since 1887. The brand is synonymous with paintable wallpaper but stocks a huge range of styles from vintage through to contemporary. The wallpaper is available in a wide range of materials such as embossed paper, luxury textured vinyls and textile reinforced papers.
In recent times, Anagylpta had earned itself a rather bad rep, landing itself on the undesirable list along with artex ceilings and woodchip ceilings. Many homeowners would remove textured wallpaper from their rooms in favour of more trendy wallcoverings.
However, in the last few years, Anaglypta has made somewhat of a comeback as consumers and homeowners have sought to bring more texture into their homes. We have seen a rise in popularity of the heritage collection, but I predict that the trend for biophilic design will see a new fervour for nature-inspired textured walls and some of the Anaglypta papers will work perfectly for bringing natural textures into the home. Classic papers like Bark, Coral, Willow Bough, Hurtswood and Surf all work perfectly well for introducing nature into our homes with textured walls.
Plus, the great thing about Anaglypta is that the textured wallpaper is paintable. So to further bring in the feeling of nature, simply choose a nature-inspired paint shade and paint the wallpaper.
Textured wall tiles are a great way to bring texture into bathrooms, laundry rooms and utility rooms. These rooms often lack texture as there are minimal soft furnishings in these rooms to add tactile experiences. Adding textured wall tiles is the most obvious way to add texture to these more utilitarian rooms.
Nature isn’t all smooth and glossy so opt for tiles that are reminiscent of natural textures. Think wavy sand dunes, old stone walls, pebbles, or even a beehive.
Wall murals are a really effective way to give the illusion of textured walls. With today’s technology and advances in printing quality, wall murals can look extremely realistic. In fact, these textured-effect wall murals are crying out to be touched just to double-check that they aren’t in fact textured. It’s just so convincing.
These stone effect wall murals not only bring in the illusion of natural materials but also add a natural and earthy colour palette to the room.
Paint is definitely one of the cheapest and simplest ways to decorate your home on a budget. I have to admit that when I was researching this post, paint wasn’t really on my radar for creating textured walls. But then I stumbled across these images from Annie Sloan and realised that you can indeed use paint to get the look.
This rough and luxurious wall has been given depth and interest by using five different Chalk Paint® colours. It may look like it would be quite a complex process to achieve this look, it is in fact a lot simpler than you would think. Firstly, paint the wall in your chosen base colour, then apply the other four colours by scraping the paint across the wall with a cardboard applicator using varying pressure.
Once you have done this you can sand the surface of the wall if necessary, use an electric buffer to make the wall shine and finish off with a coat of Clear Chalk Paint® Wax to protect it. I think this looks beautiful and reminds me of the turbulence of the sea on a windy day.
Tanya Vacarda is a decorative plaster artist who creates original plaster-on-canvas murals, wall coverings and artworks. Textured walls can be created using plaster if you know what you are doing. If not definitely get the professionals in. Tanya’s interior finishes are carefully handcrafted with authentic Italian plaster on a pure cotton base. This makes them easy to use and remove just like wallpaper, in a few easy steps.
What is lovely about these textured plaster finishes is the familiarity of the organic patterns. The patterns are random and unpredictable and encourage us to pause and take a moment to observe. They work extremely well in natural colour palettes but can also be customised to meet your needs.
So what do you think about these 5 exciting ways to invite nature into your home using textured walls? Which option is your favourite? Any that you would like to try yourself? And equally, are there any you don’t feel brave enough to try? As always let me know in the comments.
Find out how I created a DIY painted arch accent wall in my girls’ bedroom
How many of you have been watching the new series of Changing Rooms on Channel 4? When I heard that this was coming back after almost 20 years, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Back in the day, I was a big fan of changing rooms as my interest in interiors had been sparked, but it wasn’t yet my career.
I loved seeing the transformations that were possible and how a room could end up looking unrecognisable with some simple but often imaginative and somewhat unconventional changes. Seeing friends and neighbours let loose on each other’s homes under the guidance of designers left the audience on the edge of their seats waiting to find out if the homeowners would love it or loathe it.
In the new series, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is once again back at it, this time up against Jordan and Russell of 2LG Studio. The transformations we’ve seen so far have been surprising, unexpected and unpredictable, but that’s what makes Changing Rooms what it is. And not much has changed since it last aired.
So when I was approached by Dulux, who are sponsoring the show, asking if I would be interested in undertaking my own Changing Rooms transformation, I was definitely game. And after the initial panic over what I would do, I actually felt really quite excited about this project and realised that I had been preparing for it for months already by saving inspiring images of painted feature walls over on my Pinterest Account.
Paint is such a flexible and versatile way to transform a room and it’s also an affordable way to create a completely new look with minimal effort. You don’t have to go quite as bold and brave as they do on Changing Rooms, if that’s not your cup of tea. Instead, you can use paint in a more subtle way by choosing colours that work for you and adding in smaller pops of brighter and bolder accent colours.
Here are some images from Dulux that show how you can use paint in a slightly more subtle way to create a real statement in your home just in case you’re not up for the full Changing Rooms experience.
After a bit of back and forth and negotiating with my two little girls, we came up with a plan to redecorate their bedroom, which was badly in need of a makeover. One of their walls is an external wall and we’ve had a problem with the paint on that wall for a while now.
A few months ago we found out that our building doesn’t have cavity wall insulation. Now we have had that done and it seems to have fixed the problem. Finally, we can transform their bedroom and make it into a lovely space fit for two growing girls.
So I’d like to take you step-by-step through the transformation of the girls’ bedroom and show you exactly how we created our DIY painted arch accent wall.
Step 1 – Choose your Dulux Colours
The first step in creating your DIY painted arch accent wall is to choose your paint colours. My current colour obsession is green, pink and yellow. This combo just makes me so happy. We have it in the living room and we all love these colours together. So it made sense to use a variation of this in the girls’ bedroom. One of my daughters loves pink, the other not so much. So I wanted to find a compromise that they could both live with and enjoy.
We went for Blush Pink to use as a base coat. I wanted something to brighten up the room and give it a fresh feel. We then chose to use Pressed Petal, which is a slightly deeper and warmer pink as one of the accent colours. Along with this, we opted for Golden Sands, a rich, warm shade of yellow and Everglade Forest, a delicious dark green.
Step 2 – Prepare the Walls
As the paint was flaking off the wall, we had to do a bit of preparation before we could repaint. As we started to scrape and sand the flaking paint off, the whole lot came off, right back to the bare plaster. So we had to seal the wall using some watered down adhesive first. This was painted over the whole wall and then left to dry.
Next, we taped off the skirting boards and we were ready to start creating our DIY painted arch accent wall.
Step 3 – Apply the Base Coat
The paint that I used for this project is the Dulux: Simply Refresh range. This range allows you to freshen up your walls in one coat and features 30 core colour options and 15 additional colours in the feature wall collection. Just one 2.5L tin will cover four walls of an average-sized room. Now the Blush Pink that I used as the base coat went on beautifully. It’s a really thick and creamy paint and the coverage is brilliant.
However, I did need to do a second coat in this colour, purely due to the fact that I was painting onto a bare wall. I think the wall absorbed some of the first coat so it needed a quick second coat. But as the paint goes on so easily, this took no time at all.
Step 4 – Measure Out Your Design
Having drawn out the design for my DIY painted arch accent wall on a piece of paper, I then had to transfer this design onto the wall. I based this on where the girls new bed will go when it arrives and worked from there. I simply used a tape measure, long ruler, spirit level and a pencil to do this.
Step 5 – Draw out the Design
Once I had measured out the design by drawing little marks all over the wall, I then had to join them up so that I could see what I was going to paint. My youngest daughter is pretty keen on rainbows. She loves lots of colour and sparkles. My eldest daughter however, is much more subdued and prefers a more sophisticated colour palette and design. So we decided to go for some on-trend arches (as a nod to a rainbow) with a few geometric additions to add some extra interest and colour to the room.
Now, arches aren’t the easiest things to draw out on a wall. I wanted this to be as easy as possible and I didn’t really want to have to freehand any of the curved lines. So instead, I looked around my home to find things I could draw around. That way I would know they would be neat and tidy.
For the outside curve of the arch, I drew around the lid of my coffee table which just so happened to be the perfect size. Then for the inner curve, I drew around a large tray. I was super happy with how easy this was. I then found a small plate to use for the circle inside the arch.
This is definitely a top tip of mine. Scour your home for objects you can draw around to make a project like this much easier.
Step 6 – Tape Up Your Design
Next, I used tape to mark out where I was going to paint the design of our DIY painted arch accent wall. This makes it so much easier and quicker to get the paint on the wall in the right place. I taped just outside the pencil marks so that they would be painted over and wouldn’t be visible once the tape was removed.
When it came to the curved lines of the arches and circles, I ripped small bits of tape off and overlapped them all the way around the curve. This way I was able to follow the line of the curve exactly and keep the tape flat against the wall whilst I went. It makes it slightly harder to remove but the finish is much crisper.
Step 7 – Paint Your Shapes
The next step in the process of creating your DIY painted arch accent wall is to paint the shapes that you have just taped up. Take it slowly, making sure you get really good coverage along the tape edge and try to make sure your brush strokes go in the same direction.
Step 8 – Carefully Remove the Tape
Once you have painted your shapes and you’re sure that you’ve not left any areas a bit patchy, it’s time to remove the tape. Do not wait for the paint to dry completely. It helps to get a crisper finish if you remove the tape when the paint is still wet. But this does mean you need to make sure you have good coverage before taking it off as it will be trickier to repaint once the tape has been removed.
And there you have it. Once the tape has been removed you can stand back and admire your handiwork. Using the Dulux Simply Refresh Range you can give your room a whole new look in a matter of hours. In fact, the painting was the quickest and easiest part of this project. I’d not used the Simply Refresh Range before this project, but I would definitely use it again as the coverage was just so good and made the job super speedy. I’m now wondering what other rooms I can spruce up Changing Rooms style.
[embedded content]
What about you? Has the new series of Changing Rooms got you excited about transforming a room in your home? I’d love to hear your plans so drop me a comment below.
Don’t forget to pin this post for later when you do your own Changing Rooms transformation.
