The tropical look is bound up with one of the twentieth century's great fantasies: the glamorous escape to somewhere hot. It found its most famous expression in the mid-century, in the exuberant leafy prints of the great resort hotels and the poolside glamour immortalised in a thousand sun-drenched photographs, all bright colour, dappled shade and languid ease. The tropical print promises leisure, warmth and a life with the volume of everyday worries turned right down.
What lifts a tropical wallpaper above a simple leaf print is that heat and colour, the sense of a place where the living is easy and the light is always golden. Here is where the look comes from, and the designs on the site that carry it.
"Tropical wallpaper promises leisure, warmth and a life with the worries turned down."
The Glamour of Somewhere Warmer
The designs closest to that fantasy are the ones that treat the palm as ornament rather than botany. Leopardo in Antique and Noir, from Clarke & Clarke's Exotica 2, is the most theatrical of the six: fronds and leopards worked in antique gold over near-black, the sort of paper that belongs in a first-class lounge somewhere between Marseille and Mombasa. Palmette in Sage Green, from 1838 Wallcoverings, comes at the same idea from the archive rather than the resort: it belongs to their V&A Decorative Papers III, drawn from the museum's own holdings, and it is a fine sage leaf print with the composure of something copied from a very old sheet of paper.
Leopardo, Antique / Noir by Clarke & Clarke
Palmette, Sage Green by 1838 Wallcoverings
Colour, and Permission to Be Bold
Tropical designs sit right at the heart of the return of colour and maximalist joy to our homes. After years of careful neutrals there is a real appetite for the bold, the warm and the uplifting, and few looks deliver it as immediately. Country House Garden in Green, by Joules, is the cheerful one, a busy little world of fan palms, follies and leaping animals that rewards standing close to it. Pineapple Garden in Yellow, from 1838 Wallcoverings, is the one that commits completely: pineapples, that old emblem of welcome, set among blue and magenta blooms on a hot yellow ground, and photographed here above a wall of shocking pink panelling. It is also, like the Palmette above, drawn from the V&A archive, which is a reminder that boldness is not a modern invention.
Country House Garden, Green by Joules
Pineapple Garden, Yellow by 1838 Wallcoverings
It is the decorating equivalent of a holiday you never have to come home from, and there is a lovely, mood-lifting defiance to it in the depths of a grey winter.
"A tropical print is a burst of endless summer, especially welcome in a grey winter."
How and Where to Use It
A bold tropical print is spectacular on a feature wall, in a bathroom, or around a small, brave cloakroom where you can commit completely. A softer, leafier one does the opposite job and does it beautifully, bringing a fresh, sunny calm to a bedroom or a sitting room. Bali in Sage and Gold, from Boutique's Sanctuary, is exactly that: palms and blossom in sage and old gold on cream, warm rather than loud, and its collection is aptly named. Luxe Palmetta in Putty, by Next, goes quieter still, a tonal putty palm frond that behaves almost like a texture and lets a room feel warm without ever raising its voice.
Bali, Sage and Gold by Boutique
Luxe Palmetta, Putty by Next
Tropical is a natural for a room that opens onto a garden, blurring the line between inside and out, and a guaranteed spirit-lifter in a space that lacks natural light. Keep the surroundings simple and let the greenery lead, pairing it with rattan, natural textures and plenty of real plants. Look to Clarke & Clarke, Boutique and 1838 Wallcoverings for tropical designs from the elegant to the exuberant, and order a sample first to see those colours truly in your own light.
Adele in Yellow, from Sandberg's Familjen, is the last word on that: fine pink palms over warm ochre, a whole room the colour of late afternoon.
Summer always ends too soon. Tropical wallpaper is the one way to keep a little of it, all year round.
Ready to Keep the Summer?
Browse the full Tropical collection, or follow the greenery into Palm Trees & Leaves and Jungle. If you are not sure how a colour will read in your own light, our Sample Service lets you order a swatch of any design before you commit to a full roll.
Adele, Yellow by Sandberg
