Manhattan patterns, Queens flowers: New York's wallpaper tastes

Manhattan has a taste for rhythm

Repeating wallpaper patterns are roughly twice as prominent in our Manhattan mix as in Queens. They also take about 1.5 times the share they do in the rest of the US. Among Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, this is the borough most drawn to repeat and rhythm.

That gives our Manhattan portrait a composed, architectural feel. A branch, stripe or check becomes a structure that runs through the room. The pleasure is in the repetition: small details gathering into a bigger design, with a clear rhythm from one stretch of wall to the next.

Brooklyn's garden has a graphic edge

Nature accounts for about 39% of our Brooklyn wallpaper mix. Within it, flowers and foliage sit almost level. Leaves have nearly as much presence as blooms, giving this borough a broader botanical character than the more flower-led Queens.

We read that balance as a garden brought indoors, with stems, branches and flowers sharing the scene. Leaves hold their own, adding shape and movement alongside the color of the blooms.

Then comes the graphic counterpoint. Geometric designs take about 1.7 times the share they do in the rest of the US. That combination of greenery and geometry is the interesting Brooklyn detail: organic shapes alongside something more orderly, a leafy room with a sharper line running through it.

Queens gives flowers the leading role

Flowers account for about 19% of our Queens mix, compared with 12% in Manhattan. Within Queens itself, florals are more than twice as prominent as foliage. Where Brooklyn shares its botanical attention between leaves and flowers, Queens gives the blooms the lead.

Classic designs also have more presence than in the rest of the US, at about 1.3 times the share. Together, those choices give our Queens portrait a more traditional note, with familiar subjects and ornament holding their own.

The Bronx brings an abstract streak

Nature leads our Bronx mix too, at about a third. Abstract designs account for close to a quarter, giving the portrait a second, more expressive strand. Greenery shares the wall with painted color, loose gestures and shapes that leave more to the imagination.

The result is a more expressive side to the city's taste. Abstract color can bring energy without fixing the wall to a single recognizable scene. In this part of the portrait, the appeal is in the paint, the movement and the room left for imagination.

Staten Island carries a familiar palette across the water

Across the water, our Staten Island mix has more in common with the Bronx than the different settings might suggest. Nature accounts for about a third and abstraction about a fifth. The subjects carry across the city even as the streets change.

That likeness is part of the city's portrait too. Two boroughs can have very different streets and still share an interest in greenery and abstract art. Across the harbor, the same broad subjects find another setting. New York's variety comes through in the way those subjects are drawn, colored and given a place on the wall.