What our samples are, where to put one and when to look at it, and why a week on the wall beats an afternoon in your hand
Order the sample in the colourway you are actually considering, tape it to the wall you intend to paper, and look at it in morning light, afternoon light and under lamps at night before you decide. A week with a sample on the wall prevents almost every wallpaper regret there is.
What our samples are
A3 size, big enough to show the design properly rather than a fragment of it.
Printed in the colourway you select, not a standard version.
Free for trade account holders, and charged for retail orders.
Ordered from the product page. There are two sample buttons, one below the wallpaper types and one below the add-to-cart button.
Final sale. Samples cannot be returned or refunded.
How to test one properly
Tape it to the wall you intend to paper. Not held in your hand, not flat on a table, because colour behaves differently on a vertical surface with the room's light falling across it.
Put it at eye level, where you will actually see the paper.
Look at it in the morning.
Look at it in the afternoon. In a west-facing room these two can be startlingly different.
Look at it at night under your own lamps. Most rooms are used in the evening, and warm bulbs shift colour considerably.
Move it to another wall in the same room, and to the wall opposite the window.
Hold it against the floor, the sofa, the woodwork and anything else you are not changing.
Leave it up for a week. First impressions are about novelty; the seventh day tells you whether you want to live with it.
Order more than one
Two or three samples side by side tell you more than one sample on its own, because colour is comparative. A green that looks perfect alone can look grey next to a warmer green, and that comparison is the information you need.
It is also worth sampling the same design in two colourways if you are undecided. The drawing is the same, and seeing the two on the wall settles it quickly.
Sample the paper you intend to buy
The three papers have different finishes: traditional and removable are super-matte and smooth, heavy-grade is matte with a fine sand texture. The same colourway reads slightly differently on each, so sample the one you are actually going to hang.
Why a screen is not enough
Every monitor and phone renders colour differently, and none is calibrated to your room.
Screens are backlit. Paper is not, because it reflects the light that falls on it.
A matte surface cannot be represented on a glossy screen.
Scale reads differently on a phone than on a wall.
Where a sample also helps
Judging scale at the height it will sit, particularly above panelling, where a design is cropped.
In a hallway, held at the distance you actually stand from the wall.
In a kitchen, against the units rather than on a clear wall.
Choosing paint for woodwork, a ceiling or the panelling below.
Then use the sample again
Once you have decided, the sample is still useful. Take it with you when you choose paint, and keep it while the job is on, because it is a reference for the colour you are expecting when the rolls arrive.
How big are your wallpaper samples?
A3, printed in the colourway you choose.
Are samples free?
They are free for trade account holders and charged for retail orders. Samples are final sale and cannot be returned.
How do I order one?
From the product page. There are sample buttons below the wallpaper types and below the add-to-cart button.
How long should I keep a sample up?
A week, and look at it at different times of day.
Should I order more than one?
Yes. Colour is easier to judge comparatively than in isolation.
Can I judge a wallpaper from the website images?
For scale and design, largely. For colour, no, because screens are backlit and uncalibrated, and a matte paper cannot be represented accurately on one.
Poor customer service - rolls are only available as one off 10m runs, so if you need 11m.. unfortunately you’ll be paying double for a second roll! Unless your walls are 8m or less, I’d avoid. Wrongly assumed Claret & Key would be slightly more compassionate about the situation and even help with a slightly discounted second roll, considering we only needed 1m. How wrong we were!
Store owner replied:
Hi Emily,
I'm sorry to hear that you are disappointed with the service.
We sell our wallpaper by the roll, and we are unable to manufacture shorter rolls. This will be the same for most manufacturers as 10m rolls are standard, and most rooms require more than 1 roll to complete the job.
Thanks,
Claret & Key
I really loved this paper and thought it would look nice in my attic space. Delighted with the end result. Great service, excellent quality of paper and it really transforms the room. The eves are very low so the space was not utilised so making a feature with the wallpaper has created a cosy space to relax in. Thank you. M
Love this wallpaper. It’s just enough to show a statement but not so loud that it overpowers the space. Being able to pick the color is such a great thing also. You’re not stuck with 5 options so it can match your style and colors of your space. Would recommend to anyone looking for wallpaper. Very happy and my installer said its super easy to install this pattern.
This wallpaper is thick and sturdy. It’s very easy to work with and easy to apply. It was my first time hanging wallpaper and this paper was very forgiving. Great product!
I love how everything turned out and the price point was great. It was a bit challenging to piece together. Being from the USA, it was kind of a challenge to convert all the measurements to figure out how many rolls I needed and then where to cut the rolls to line up the images based on the design repetition. Luckily, I had plenty of wallpaper to work with on the roll.
Absolutely beautiful design and texture. Got the heavy duty wallpaper and put it up without any previous wallpaper experience and it went up very easily and beautifully. Definitely recommend.
Extremely helpful and supportive when I needed advice on measurements, with fast delivery too. The quality of the wallpaper is excellent, and I’m really pleased with the overall service. Highly recommended!
Gorgeous wallpaper, but the measuring option on the website left us short by 1 roll. Had to order another one but when it came the colour match was perfect. Thankfully I wasn’t paying for a decorator, otherwise would have been disappointed in having to pay for them to return. Otherwise great quality wallpaper and design compared to other similar products available.
First purchase from claret and key and truly impressed. Beautiful quality wallpaper. Pretty yet not too fussy. Easy to hang, cut and match. Would work in any room
Good tracking and delivery service too.
Definitely recommend and would reuse for future projects.
Everything went really good. Apart from the quality of the wallpaper which is fantastic, the staff were exemplary in their communications, friendliness and professionalism. They really did go the extra mile to help me.
A great experience all round.
Thank you.
Patrick
Lovely pattern and paper quality.
However, I wish that I had paid more attention to the roll width measurement.
For some strange reason your paper is narrower than a standard roll. This caused me a great deal of problems when papering my lobby, a small area but that made it more difficult because I was left with a narrow space to fill on 3 walls with a very long drop.
Although I love the paper I probably wouldn't use it again just for this reason.
Why you would produce paper not of a standard width is for you to know and me to wonder but it has made my small project very difficult.
Used this paper to make a dark study cosier. Absolutely loved the colour - the background is a perfect match to our existing panelling painted in Farrow and Ball Old White. First time using paste the wall and it was a revelation so easy and much less mess. Quality of the paper is great but noted the rolls are slightly narrower than most wallpapers. Loved the pattern match which meant little waste what we had left we used to recover some old box files which was easy. I thoroughly recommend.
