Nature everywhere, art in France: what six countries put on their walls

France is the only country where art comes first

In every other country, nature is the biggest group. In France it is art. Abstract, contemporary and graphic designs appear in 35% of French orders, compared with 28% in the other five countries. Nature drops to 32%, the lowest of the six.

The graphic side is the most distinctive part. Designs built from lines, shapes and drawn marks appear in about one in eight French orders, compared with about one in twelve elsewhere. That is roughly one and a half times as common.

We read this as a wall treated as a picture in its own right. A botanical mural brings the outdoors into the room. A graphic or abstract design is closer to hanging a large painting, and French orders lean towards that second idea more than anyone else's in the study.

France also keeps to classic paper. Only about one in sixteen French orders includes Peel & Stick, the lowest share of the six, and around two thirds are for Premium, our paste-the-wall paper.

Americans choose walls they can change

The strongest difference in the whole study comes from the United States, and it is about the paper rather than the picture. About one in five American orders includes Peel & Stick, our self-adhesive wallpaper. Across the other five countries together it is fewer than one in ten, and none of them goes above about one in eight. That makes Peel & Stick more than twice as common in the US.

Our data cannot tell us who rents and who owns. What it does show is a decorating culture where a removable wall has become an ordinary choice rather than a niche one. The picture itself can be just as large and just as permanent looking. Only the way it is put up is different.

American walls also go into the woods a little more often. Forest scenes appear in about one in eight US orders, compared with about one in ten elsewhere, and that lead holds even without the single most ordered forest design.

Italy is picking up texture and pattern

Italian orders show the clearest change in recent taste. A third of them include Premium Textured, our paper with a lightly textured surface, the highest share of the six countries. Italian orders are also about one and a half times as likely to include a repeating pattern as orders elsewhere, at around 7% compared with 5%.

Both differences come mostly from the past year rather than the year before. Together they point to a taste for surface and repetition, the qualities of classic wallpaper more than of a single large picture.

The UK, Germany and the Netherlands stay close to the middle

Not every country needs a headline. The UK and Germany are the closest of the six to the shared average. Germany has the highest share of nature designs, at 39%, but most of that small lead comes from a single leafy design rather than a broad national leaning. The UK sits just as close to the centre in what people choose to show. Its one difference is in the paper, where British orders pick classic Premium more often and Premium Textured less often than the others.

The Netherlands has one modest accent. Florals appear in 15% of Dutch orders, the highest share of the six, compared with 13% elsewhere. It is a gentle lean rather than a strong one.

Close to home

One small pattern repeats in every country. Designs named after the customer's own country or its cities, such as maps and skylines of London or Paris, are rare everywhere. They appear in around one in a hundred British and French orders at most. Yet they are several times more common at home than abroad. A British order is about eight times as likely to include a design named after a British place as an order from the other five countries.

Most people decorate with nature, art and open landscapes that would look at home anywhere. A few bring their own city onto the wall.