Regency Wallpaper

What Regency Wallpaper Is and Why It Works

Regency wallpaper is a wall covering drawn from British design of the early 1800s. Think fine stripes, small repeating motifs, damask and classical detail. It reads elegant and orderly, never fussy.

Giffywalls prints every design to the exact size of your wall. We have shipped these papers to dining rooms, halls and formal living rooms. It is the range people come to when a room feels plain but they do not want anything modern.

The Main Regency Looks

Fine Stripes

The signature of the period. Narrow stripes, often in two close tones. They add height to a room and calm to a busy one. Our striped wallpaper designs cover the full range of widths.

Small Repeating Motifs

Tiny sprigs, stars, bees, laurels and dots set in neat rows. Quiet from across the room and lovely up close. This is the easiest option for a whole room.

Damask and Classical Detail

Urns, swags, scrolls and formal leaf shapes. Richer and more formal. Browse the damask wallpaper range for the deeper end of this look.

The Colors of the Period

The palette is warmer than most people expect. Soft ochre, dusty pink, sage, stone, pale blue and deep red all belong. Cream and putty run right through it.

The trick is to keep the tones a little muted. A bright, clean color breaks the spell at once. Look for shades that seem slightly aged, as though the sun has been on them for years. Gold detail suits the style, but keep it sparing. A little gilding reads elegant. A lot reads like a stage set. Deep red and bottle green suit a dining room used at night, while sage and stone are easier to live with all day.

Where It Works Best

Halls and stairways are the natural home for this style. A fine stripe follows a staircase beautifully and makes the space feel taller than it is.

In a dining room, a damask on a deep ground looks wonderful by candlelight. In a formal living room, a small motif gives the walls interest without noise. In a bedroom, keep to a stripe or a sprig. In a study it makes a fine backdrop for framed prints, because the pattern sits quietly behind them rather than competing.

How to Make It Feel Current

This is worth thinking about. Done badly, the look can feel like a museum room. Done well, it feels timeless.

The fix is contrast. Put a modern light fitting in the room. Use plain, simple furniture rather than reproduction pieces. Keep the floor bare or nearly so. One old-fashioned wall in an otherwise current room looks confident. A whole room of period detail looks like a set. Our wider classic wallpaper range works the same way.

Working With Panels and Moldings

This style suits a room with detail. Picture rails, dado rails, deep baseboards and cornices all frame it well. A common approach is paper above the dado rail and paint below. It gives you the period look at half the pattern.

No moldings? A fine stripe supplies the same order on its own. For the softest version of this style, our chinoiserie wallpaper designs share the same era and mood.

Sizing, Finish and Fitting

Send us the width and height of your wall. We scale the design so a stripe or a motif meets the corners cleanly. A word on stripes in an old house. Walls are rarely true, so hang the first drop to a plumb line rather than the corner. Choose peel and stick if you want the option to change later. Choose paste the wall for a room that is staying as it is. Panels arrive numbered, with hanging notes in the box. Shipping is free on every order.