Blue Rooms and Morris's Indigo Designs

The blue Morris look in one paragraph

The documented blue-ground look is specific. The V&A's record for Strawberry Thief (O78889) describes indigo-discharged, block-printed cotton with the pattern in brown, yellow and shades of green, blue and red on a dark blue ground. A second V&A example, O270968, is printed in eight colours with pairs of thrushes, strawberries, flowers and foliage. So a blue Morris room reads as a deep indigo field carrying detailed, naturalistic pattern, not a pale wash of blue.

Set your expectations accordingly: one design with a dark blue ground does most of the visual work, and everything around it supports it. The room-by-room approach in decorating with Morris prints follows the same principle across a whole home.

Choosing the right indigo design

Two designs give you a documented blue palette. According to the V&A, Strawberry Thief (O78889) was designed by William Morris for Morris & Co. in 1883, and Tulip and Willow (O78104) was designed by William Morris for Morris & Co. and dated 1873. Both are recorded as indigo discharge cotton, block-printed, and both were intended for domestic use rather than as pictures.

The intended uses matter for placement. The V&A records Strawberry Thief as intended for curtains, draped around walls, a form of interior decoration Morris advocated, or loose covers on furniture. Tulip and Willow is recorded as intended for curtains, wall decoration and furniture upholstery. If you are choosing between them, think first about whether the blue will sit on a window, a wall or a piece of furniture.

You can browse how these designs are offered today in the All products collection.

Why the blue matters: indigo discharge and its history

The depth of the blue is not an accident of fashion. According to the V&A, Strawberry Thief was printed by the indigo discharge method, an ancient technique used for many centuries mostly in Asia, and Morris admired its depth of colour and crispness of detail.

Getting there took Morris years. The V&A notes he first attempted indigo discharge printing in 1875, though its record cuts off before explaining when the process succeeded after 1881. Earlier, for Tulip and Willow, the V&A records that Morris had no means to print it himself and commissioned Thomas Clarkson of Bannister Hall, a leading manufacturer of printed textiles. Bannister Hall used chemical aniline dyestuffs, and Morris was unhappy with the crude effects of the bright blue used.

The V&A also records that in 1875 Morris spent time with Thomas Wardle at his print works in Leek, Staffordshire, experimenting with natural dyes, and that it is likely Tulip and Willow was attempted then. A letter from Morris to Wardle at the time complains about the blue dyes, though the surviving excerpt ends before the quoted words. This background is part of the wider story of Arts and Crafts interiors, where honest materials and dyeing methods were central concerns.

Colour and pattern balance in a blue room

Anchor the palette in what the records actually describe. Strawberry Thief's ground is dark blue, with the pattern in brown, yellow, green, blue and red. Tulip and Willow's blue comes from the indigo discharge cotton itself. Treat those colours as your fixed reference points: pull browns and warm yellows into lampshades, wood tones and soft furnishings, and keep reds and greens as accents rather than competitors.

Keep surrounding surfaces plain so the indigo reads as one clear block of colour. A dark blue ground next to patterned wallpaper or busy rugs loses its impact; next to off-white or warm neutral walls it holds the room.

If you want more than one design in the room, keep the scale contrast deliberate and the colours shared. more on mixing Morris patterns covers the pairings, and wall colours for Morris prints covers paint choices in detail rather than repeating them here.

Size, scale and placement

Start from the uses the V&A records, because they answer most placement questions. Strawberry Thief was intended for curtains, draped around walls or loose covers on furniture, and Tulip and Willow for curtains, wall decoration and upholstery. In a modern room that translates to one or two of these roles per room, not all of them at once.

Practical placements that follow the documented uses:

• Curtains on the main window, with plain walls either side, so the indigo reads as a large, calm panel.
• A framed print or panel of a blue-ground design on one wall as the room's focal point, sized so the pattern can be seen from across the room.
• Upholstery or loose covers on one piece of furniture only, letting the rest of the seating stay plain.
• In a rented home, use framed prints instead of fixed textiles so the indigo can be moved without damage.

Note on formats and sizes: the How We Print page details for this store were not available when this article was prepared, so exact print sizes and formats are not listed here. Check the product pages before ordering. The general system for placement is the same as in decorating with Morris prints.

What the sources do and do not tell us

This page is honest about its limits. No institutional source checked for this article describes blue Morris room schemes directly; the evidence covers the fabrics themselves, so the room advice here is editorial, built on the documented palettes and intended uses.

Two Morris quotations are unavailable in full. The V&A's record notes a letter from Morris to Wardle complaining about the blue dyes, but the surviving text cuts off before the quoted words, and the account of Morris's indigo work after 1881 is likewise truncated. Neither is quoted or paraphrased as a quotation here.

On dates, this page states only what a single V&A record supports: Strawberry Thief was designed by William Morris for Morris & Co. in 1883. What can be said with confidence: the V&A describes Strawberry Thief as one of Morris's best-known designs, based on thrushes that stole strawberries in the kitchen garden of Kelmscott Manor, Oxfordshire, and records that despite being one of the most expensive printed furnishings available from Morris & Co. it became a firm favourite with clients.

Example blue room schemes

These schemes are editorial suggestions built from the two verified designs and their recorded palettes. They are not documented historical rooms.

Three schemes to start from:

• Indigo study. Strawberry Thief (O78889) as curtains on one window, warm brown and yellow accents in lampshades and a throw, plain off-white walls. Palette follows the V&A record: brown, yellow, green, blue and red on a dark blue ground.
• Quiet sitting room. Tulip and Willow (O78104) as the pattern on one upholstered armchair or loose cover, everything else plain, with a framed blue print above it on the wall. Uses match the V&A's recorded purposes for the fabric: curtains, wall decoration and upholstery.
• Layered blue room. Strawberry Thief in the O270968 eight-colour version as curtains, paired with a second framed print in the same palette, keeping rugs and walls solid so the two patterned elements do not compete.

All of these designs can be found in the All products collection alongside the rest of the range.