Sit down and take a deep breath because it’s true; textured wallpaper is making a comeback.
Galling when I think I painstakingly stripped off about nine layers of the stuff in my last house less than ten years ago but that was then. Now it’s back and before you realise you’ll all be at it.
Shall I tell you how we know this? Because firstly when the editor of Elle Decoration is tweeting pictures of her renovation and talking about her painted textured wallpaper (a sort of neon yellow since you ask) and secondly when uber cool interiors store Rockett St George starts stocking it then you might as well give in now. You know it’s coming.
The key is that this time it’s not painted magnolia but in the above mentioned neons, or moody blacks and charcoals or (tip for the next big colour) shades of navy. Or even sprayed in metallic tints like copper or silver.
Jane Rockett said: “We love this wallpaper and think Anaglypta is due a revival.”
Now that’s probably all she needs to say to make it happen, but she did expand a little: “It’s stunning paper and when painted it can bring subtle pattern, depth and warmth to a room.
“We were inspired by the BBC TV series ‘Peaky Blinders’, where we saw the pub walls adorned in gold painted anaglypta – It looked amazing. Since launching our edit of Anagylpta in November last year we have seen sales soar – the most popular is Alfred.
“As the paper comes in white you are able to personalise with your favourite paint colour, which makes it so popular with our customers. We would opt for a dark and sumptuous palettes with a matt finish to create drama; such as the Night Jewel Range from Dulux or try Stiffkey Blue by Farrow & Ball to add richness.”
Anaglypta is one of the best known and oldest wallpaper brands – now in its 126th year. It was traditionally used to reinforce walls and ceilings and crucially to disguise imperfections while allowing the walls to breathe.
It fell out of favour in recent years as I think it didn’t occur to people to paint it funky colours so it became associated with neglected houses that were in need of a refurbishment.
Andrew Simpson, the managing director of Anaglypta, said: “We are seeing a resurgence of interest in what I would loosely describe as traditional Anaglypta patterns, especially those we manufacture on traditional papers and textile reinforced papers – these products combine design heritage with integrity of material in terms of durability and sustainability.
“For years the paintable textured wallpaper market has been dominated by easy to use, generic textured ‘blown vinyl’, piled high and sold cheaply – but have little design merit or integrity in terms of durability or sustainability – products such as these are in decline.”
While we’re on the subject we might as well clear up the difference between Anaglypta and Lincrusta, both of which – to the untrained eye (mine) – seem to be the same thing. But Anaglypta is paper based, can be applied normally with paste but Lincrusta is made with flax you have to soak it before use.
The traditional application was to put Lincrusta below a dado rail – as it would get heavier abuse from hands, boots, furniture etc and Anaglypta above.
So there you have it. Anaglypta, who’d a thought it? What do you think? I love that navy blue in the image above.
