Wallpaper for north facing rooms: what actually works
Choose a wallpaper with a warm ground for a north facing room, not a white one. The ground is the background colour the pattern is printed on, and in north light a white or cool ground turns grey the same way white paint does. Look for grounds in yellow, cream, red or mushroom, and don't worry too much about the size of the pattern. It's contrast that makes a room feel smaller, not scale, so a large design in two close colours can work better than a small busy one. Four I'd use are Forêt by Nina Campbell, Truffle by Sanderson, Cubby by GP & J Baker and Cynthia by Josephine Munsey.
In my last post I said the worst thing you can do to a north facing room is paint it brilliant white. This is the other route, with wallpaper. The short version of that post is that north light is grey and blue, and anything white hands it a blank canvas. Everything here builds on that.
Why does white ground wallpaper look grey in a north facing room?
For the same reason white paint does. Most wallpapers are printed on a white or off-white ground, and that ground is usually most of what you see on the wall. Put it in cold, flat north light and it reads grey by mid afternoon, and the pattern ends up floating on a dull background rather than sitting in a warm one.
So in a north facing room the ground matters more than the pattern. Look at the background colour first and the design second.
What should you look for in a wallpaper for a north facing room?
A warm ground. Yellow, cream, red, pink, mushroom, anything with warmth underneath it. That's the part doing the job of putting some sun back into the room.
Then look at contrast rather than scale. Everyone assumes a big pattern will shrink a room, but it's the contrast that does that. A large design in two colours that sit close together reads calm from across the room. A small pattern in dark on white can feel far busier.
And think about what else is in there. If you've already got pattern at the window or on the sofa, you want a paper that reads almost as a plain from a distance.
Four wallpapers I'd use in a north facing room
These are examples of the principle rather than a shopping list. Stock changes and colourways get discontinued. The warm ground rule doesn't.
Forêt by Nina Campbell, in butter yellow. A woodland scene, with trees, plants, animals and painterly leaf silhouettes. It's a big pattern. But there are really only two colours in there, the yellow and the cream. That's why it doesn't shout. And the yellow is doing exactly what I said in the paint post, putting some sun back into a room that isn't getting any. (See Forêt on the Nina Campbell site)
Truffle by Sanderson, in Rowan Berry. Complete opposite. Small, tonal, all texture. From across the room it reads almost like a plain, and you only get the pattern when you're right up against it. That's the one you want if there's already a lot going on, or you've got pattern in the curtains. Both this and the Nina Campbell come in fabric too, so you can run it through the rest of the scheme. (See Truffle on the Sanderson site)
Cubby by GP & J Baker, in Soft Red. A good option if you don't like pattern but you're bored with paint. Up close it's got an almost fabric-like look, which is a very classic way to do a wall. And that red in a north facing room is cosy and rich. I'd love to get this one on a project, so if that's your room, tell me. (See Cubby on the GP & J Baker Site)
Cynthia by Josephine Munsey, in mushroom and blue. There's blue in it, but the mushroom is carrying the weight, so it will still warm the room. I love the hand-painted look of it. This one I'd put in a downstairs loo. Somewhere small nobody's expecting anything from, so your guests get a surprise when they go to the loo. (See Cynthia on the Jospehine Munsey site)
How do you test a wallpaper sample in a north facing room?
Testing wallpaper is harder than testing paint, because you're judging the scale of the pattern as well as the colour, and a small sample tells you almost nothing about scale.
Ask for the biggest sample the supplier will send. Tape it to the darkest wall at eye level, not flat on a table.
Then look at it from the doorway rather than from arm's length. That's how you'll see the wall most of the time, and it's where a pattern either settles down or starts to shout. Truffle is a good example of why this matters: up close it's all detail, and from across the room it's almost plain.
Check it at the times you'll actually use the room, mid afternoon and again with the lamps on. The testing section in the paint post goes into this in more detail and it all applies here.
When you order, make sure every roll comes from the same batch. Wallpaper is printed in runs and the colour can shift slightly between them, which you won't spot on the roll and will definitely spot on the wall.
What does it actually cost to work with an interior designer?
I've written a guide that gives you the real numbers: what a room costs, what a whole house costs, and what you're paying for at each stage. No ranges so wide they tell you nothing.
You'll also get my Sunday letter, where I write about doing one room properly, usually whatever I'm in the middle of at home.
Common questions
What is the ground on a wallpaper? It's the background colour the pattern is printed on. On most papers it covers more of the wall than the pattern does, which is why it matters so much in a north facing room.
Can you use a large pattern wallpaper in a small north facing room? Yes, if the contrast is low. A large pattern in two close colours often sits better in a small room than a small, high contrast one, because it's contrast that makes a room feel busy and closed in, not the size of the pattern.
Is blue wallpaper a mistake in a north facing room? Not always. A paper where blue is an accent over a warm ground, like mushroom or cream, can still warm the room. What to avoid is a blue or cool grey ground, because that's the colour covering most of the wall.
If you've got a north facing room and you're at the point of ordering paper, book a free 15 minute intro call and we'll talk about working together on it.