Trends, Wallpaper
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Anaglypta – It’s back in a big way

Anaglypta Alfred Black

For those of you in the know, you won’t need any convincing about Anaglypta. Yes, that wallpaper we were all moaning about having to strip off our walls back in the 80’s. Well it’s back. In a big way. But for those of you that might need a little arm twisting, here I am, happy to get physical and twist away.

Check out these images. Maybe they’ll make you see Anaglypta in a whole new light.

Derby

Now, this is probably how you remember it best. Normally white or off white. But here, paired with a concrete floor, industrial furniture, warm wood and metallics, it couldn’t look much different to the days of your nan’s front room.

Imagine your nan having this light. And styling up the writing bureau…

Egon

Anaglypta was developed by Thomas Palmer over 130 years ago. The name being taken from the Greek, for ‘raised cameo’.

Lincolnshire Brick

It’s the perfect compromise between pattered/multicolour wallpaper and painted, plastered walls. Anaglypta gives your room some dimension and depth plus the option to update your room colour easily with a pot of paint. And this is where it really comes into its own. When it’s painted.

Derby

This is the same design as the very first one with the white walls, but you’d never guess. See how versatile it is? Industrial to Luxury with the splash of some paint.

Cottage Garden

So if you’ve just bought a house and are dreading stripping the walls, maybe you don’t have to. See what colour does to those walls. That old wallpaper you’re cursing might just surprise you.

Maxwell

Absolutely love this pop of colour on this Victorian design. The perfect blend of heritage and contemporary.

Early Victorian

Another Victorian design, this time with the blush walls and clean line furniture for a more Scandi twist on the same period design.

Oh and here’s the editor of Elle Decor, Michelle Ogundehin just chilling next to Turner Tile. Michelle is a big supporter of Anaglypta and its revival, so it’s good enough for her….. am sold. Are you? Have I convinced you? The reason I ask is, it looks like i’m getting to use some in one of my projects which i’m super excited about. More on that soon enough…

Alfred

This is the design we’re eyeing up, which will be painted off-black, just like this. Can’t flippin’ wait. Normally with dark walls, you need to add a lot of detail into the space to break up the darkness, (you can read about my tips for going dark here) but with an embossed, wallpaper there’s more for the eye to see. The light hits the textured surface and bounces it around even more-so, highlighting the subtleties in your chosen paint colour. I absolutely love this look. Do you?

Would love to hear your thoughts peeps. “To Anaglypta or not Anaglypta? That is the question.”

14 Comments

  1. Stacy says

    This is music to my ears! : )

    We’re currently re-decorating our entire 1930s semi which is entombed in hideous floral magnolia anaglypta that has seen better days.

    We hate it so much, that I’m sure my husband thought I had a screw loose when I suggested re-papering a wall in our dining room with yet more of the stuff. BUT, I said, it’s a geometric pattern and we’ll paint it dark and it’ll look awesome.

    We went for this one http://bit.ly/2gMLzku – the art deco pattern being a kind of nod to the era of the house, and we painted the whole room in Little Greene Juniper Ash, a smokey navy colour.

    I love it. It adds a decorative element to that huge wall which means I don’t need to hang mirrors or art, it’s just such a lovely statement all on it’s own.

    Really looking forward to seeing how you use this kind of wallpaper in your projects!
    x

    • Karen Knox says

      Amazing! So glad you managed to convince your hubby. Sounds like you made a smashing job, perfect for a 30’s room!

  2. Absolutely love it, especially in the dark colours ….. Thought I had settled on the wallpaper for my current bedroom project but now you’ve got me!!

    • Karen Knox says

      Aaargh! There are sooo many choices aren’t there!?
      Sorry (not sorry) i’ve made your decision even harder. Good luck with your bedroom project 🙂

  3. When we moved into our house 10 years ago EVERY room was covered in magnolia anaglypta. It had been painted over so many times it appeared to cracking and peeling under the weight of it all! I think it was partially used to cover the dodgy walls beneath. Anyway long story short… we stripped the whole downstairs living spaces and replastered but we left it on the ceiling as it looked kinda interesting. The pattern on the walls was particularly dodgy. Our bedroom used to drive me crazy as it was a diamond shape and made eyes go funny whilst laying in bed and looking up. The only room it has stayed was the hallway. It was the most interesting… similar to your choice, like a fleur de lis and we painted it half grey and half white. The other reason was slightly more practical in that considering the state of the walls the hallway would possibly have collapsed if we’d removed it and created a huge re-plastering job when it really didn’t need it (not on my budget anyway!). I have grown to love it but I like to keep it free from to much wall clutter as I find the pattern and adding prints a little too much. Good luck. Can’t wait to see it. x

  4. Our recently purchased 1852 rowhouse (old for America) has late 19th century Anaglypta in the main stair hall which is in remarkable shape for it’s age (in a rather hideous color). I am looking forward to making it an asset rather than ripping it all out in the name of modernization.

  5. Michelle jones says

    I love dark paint on Anaglypta too. So we painted ours in Farrow & Ball’s Downpipe. Then I saw how the motif was highlighted with Lincrusta and absolutely loved it. So I tried it on our Anaglypta wallpaper with some metallic gold and bronze paint (bought from a craft store). As the motif on Anaglypta aren’t as deep as that on a Lincrusta I had to adapt the application method (spreading the paint thinly over a sponge and lightly gliding it over the motifs). It gives a patchy look but I love it as the unevenness gives a unique feel of age alongside the shimmer of the metallic paint. I’ve tried it on a paler backdrop and highlighting the motif in a darker shade; personally I don’t think that looks good at all. Seems to work (for me at least) as a dark background and highlighting the motifs in metallic/white.

    • Karen Knox says

      Ooh that sounds pretty cool. I will have a practice on one of the pieces left over. Thanks for the heads up Michelle!

  6. Sharon savage says

    Help! I need to purchase extra rolls of an anaglypta wallpaper and can’t find it anywhere! It has been in our hall for best part of 30 years and still looks good except one wall. Don’t want to have to change it all. Any ideas please?

    • Karen Knox says

      Take a photo of the design and contact Anaglypta directly. It could also be Lincrusta. Good luck!

  7. I love subtle Anaglypta patterns- especially on older houses, where I really do think it looks better than plain walls. It also works out cheaper because you can paint over it again if the paper hasn’t become grubby and yet modern Anaglypta peels off fairly easily when you want it to.

    But then I’m also relieved to see that people are adding an element of colour to the decor again – I hated the fashion for a series of completely ‘neutral’ (ie cardigan beige) boxes.

    So I don’t always agree with following trends and anyone calling my house an ‘old lady’s house’ can stick their opinion you know where.

  8. Lia says

    I wonder if you could help me. Our house is 61 years old. We’ve lived here for nearly 32 years. We’ve removed the anaglypta from each room over the years. The patterns we’ve removed are still available to buy but the one we’ve kept I can’t find anywhere online. We only need to replace one wall because it’s the chimney wall and needs to be re-plastered which means we need to remove some of the anaglypta from that wall. The other three walls are in perfect condition and our gas boiler was fitted on top of it so it would be difficult to remove the wallpaper on that wall. If I can’t find the design. Do you have any ideas for the wall which we need to remove the wallpaper from. Three walls remaining anaglypta and one wall decorated in another way. Or is that silly? We don’t want the upheaval of stripping all the walls. Thanking you in advance.

  9. Liz Stott says

    I too have fallen in love with anaglypta. Our house was covered in the old swirling pattern that I don’t like… I wanted paper that reflected the age of the house… about 1880. After finally rejecting William Morris I decided on Alfred anaglypta for the whole house but in different colours. It’s fab.

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