Setting the Scene in a British Parlour

In a period property, the parlour has always been a room with a sense of occasion. It is where the best china is kept, where a tiered stand of scones and clotted cream is arranged at four o'clock, and where the wallpaper does as much to set the mood as the silver teapot. Choosing the right paper is not simply a matter of picking a pretty pattern. It is about reading the proportions, the light and the surviving original features of a room, then finding a design that lets all three sing together.

Read the Room Before You Choose

Before you fall for a sample, spend an afternoon in the room with a notebook. Note the ceiling height, the width of the chimney breast, the depth of the skirting and whether the cornice is deep and ornate or plain and shallow. These details tell you what the room can carry.

• Measure the ceiling height. Anything under 2.4 metres calls for restraint in scale; tall Georgian rooms can take a bolder repeat.
• Study the original palette. Look inside cupboards, behind radiators and under layers of paint for traces of the colours the room once wore.
• Track the light. Watch how sunlight moves across the walls from morning to late afternoon, and note where shadows pool.

Scale and Pattern: Getting the Proportions Right

Scale is where most period schemes succeed or fail. A large, sprawling floral in a small Victorian terrace parlour will overwhelm the space and make the ceiling feel lower than it is. Equally, a tiny dense sprig on a generous drawing room wall can look mean and lost. As a rule, the larger the room and the higher the ceiling, the larger the motif it will happily accommodate.

• Low ceilings and compact rooms: choose small to medium motifs, fine stripes or delicate sprigs that lead the eye upwards.
• Generous rooms with high ceilings: damasks, trailing florals and block-printed repeats with real presence.
• Hallways and stairwells: a slightly larger scale works well here, as the paper is seen in passing and from a distance.
• Dado and picture rails: if you have them, use them. Paper above the dado and paint below, or paper the whole wall if the rail is purely decorative.

Colour, Natural Light and the Tea-Time Glow

British light is famously soft, and it changes through the day. North-facing rooms tend to feel cool and slightly blue, so warm papers — soft terracotta, ochre, faded rose — bring a welcome glow. South-facing rooms can take cooler tones: sage, powder blue, dove grey and deeper greens that would look gloomy elsewhere.

Think about when the room is most used. If afternoon tea is a daily ritual, the light at four o'clock matters more than the light at noon. Late afternoon sun is warmer and lower, and it will flatter papers with a subtle sheen or a hand-blocked texture. Matt finishes suit small, cosy parlours; lightly glazed or washable papers can work beautifully in a hall or morning room where the light is brighter.

Matching Wallpaper to Original Features

The best period schemes feel as though the paper has always been there. Original cornicing, ceiling roses, deep skirting and handsome fireplaces are the room's jewellery, and the wallpaper should be the dress that sets them off rather than a rival.

• Ornate cornices and ceiling roses: keep the paper calmer so the plasterwork reads clearly.
• Original panelling or dado: leave painted woodwork plain, or paper only the upper wall to preserve the architecture.
• Large sash windows: choose a paper that echoes the proportions of the glazing bars — vertical stripes work particularly well.
• Inglenook or tiled fireplaces: pick up one of the tile colours in the paper for a quietly co-ordinated look.

Practical Matters: Lining, Paste and Longevity

Older walls are rarely straight, and they are often cold. A good quality lining paper is not an extravagance; it smooths minor imperfections and gives the decorative paper a sound surface to sit on. Use a breathable paste and avoid sealed vinyl papers in solid-walled period properties, where walls need to release moisture. Allow the paper to acclimatise in the room for a day or two before hanging, and always order a little extra for future repairs — dye lots vary, and a patch in ten years' time will thank you.

Above all, hang a paper you genuinely love. A parlour is a room for lingering over a second cup of tea and a slice of fruit cake, and the walls should feel as welcoming as the welcome itself.