Plaid & Tartan Wallpaper: Styles, Ideas & How to Make It Yours
The Warmth of a Woven Check
There's a reason plaid and tartan feel so comforting on a wall. Woven checks carry a sense of warmth, heritage and cosy, country ease — the pattern of a favourite blanket, a panelled study, an autumn afternoon indoors. As a wallpaper, tartan brings a room instant character and a settled, timeless charm, and it's enjoying a real moment as homes lean back into warmth, texture and traditional comfort.
At Claret & Key, every plaid and tartan design is drawn by our own designers and printed to order in your chosen colour way, so the version on your wall is the one you chose — your scale, your shade, made especially for you in our Cheshire studio.
Plaid, tartan, houndstooth and more
The woven-check family is a broad one. A classic tartan brings crisscrossing lines in traditional, heritage colours. A plaid is its relaxed cousin, warm and casual. Houndstooth is sharper and more graphic, with a smart, tailored edge. And an equestrian or country plaid leans into that handsome, rural charm. Whichever you're drawn to, the scale can be dialled from a fine, subtle check to a bold, characterful statement.
Choosing your colour
Because our designs are printed to order, the colour is yours. Warm reds, greens and browns give the classic, cosy heritage look. Softer neutrals and tonal checks feel calm and understated. And a fresh blue or a deeper, moodier palette brings a more contemporary edge. Whatever you choose, it's printed in your shade rather than pulled from a fixed range.
Where plaid and tartan wallpaper works
Tartan suits rooms you want to feel warm and gathered. A study or snug in a rich plaid becomes wonderfully cosy. A hallway or boot room gains handsome, country character. And a cloakroom is the perfect place to be bold with a check. Tartan also layers beautifully with a floral or a stripe, for that collected, characterful look of a room that's come together over time.
Your tartan, your way
Every design comes in three finishes. Traditional (150gsm, super-matte) is the refined, paste-the-wall classic. Heavy-Grade (300gsm, with a subtle sand texture) stands up to hallways and busy rooms. And Removable peel-and-stick (180gsm) gives you the same design with none of the commitment — ideal for renters, or a room you like to restyle. All are printed to order on FSC-approved, PVC- and VOC-free paper, so they're kinder to the planet and safe for every room in the house.
Woven checks read differently by daylight and lamplight, so order a sample and see your colour way in the room first.
Frequently Asked Questions About Plaid & Tartan Wallpaper
What is the difference between plaid and tartan?
Tartan is a specific woven-check pattern with a repeating, criss-crossing sett, traditionally in heritage colours. Plaid is the broader, more relaxed term for a check-patterned design. In practice the two are often used interchangeably for that warm, woven-check look.
Is tartan wallpaper still in fashion?
Very much — woven checks are having a real resurgence as homes lean into warmth, texture and traditional comfort. Tartan and plaid feel both nostalgic and current, which is a large part of their appeal.
What rooms suit plaid and tartan wallpaper?
Studies and snugs feel wonderfully cosy in a rich plaid, hallways and boot rooms gain handsome country character, and a cloakroom is a great place to be bold with a check. Tartan also layers beautifully with florals and stripes.
What colours does tartan wallpaper come in?
Because we print to order, the colour is yours — warm reds, greens and browns for a classic heritage look, soft neutrals for something calm, or a fresh blue for a more contemporary edge.
Can I get plaid and tartan wallpaper in a custom colour?
Yes — every design is drawn in-house and printed to order in your chosen colour way and scale, from a fine subtle check to a bold statement, made especially for you.
This wallpaper is just gorgeous! I used the one that requires glue and it was super easy to i stall. One roll was enough for a 6’ wide laundry closet with 7’5” ceilings. Even on our orange peel walls it set beautifully. I did this behind our new washer dryer set up in our laundry closet with white oak cabinets and it’s perfect! Highly recommend!
Truly love this wallpaper. Looks amazing in both our bathroom (the original project) and as an accent in the back of a cabinet (what we did with the extra). Everyone who sees it comments on how classy and beautiful it is. For these reasons five stars!
However I do want to call out two concerns:
1. The online "calculator" on the site recommend nine roles, which seemed excessive for our less than 100 sq ft bathroom. I even reached out to support to double check and they said to go by the calculator. I'm glad I didn't because I ended up ordering five roles and only needing 4. I will say returning the 5th role was a pretty smooth process, so kudus to Claret and Key for that.
2. Strangely the "autumn" color with pale nutmeg background reads more green than brown in certain light. With bright overhead light it comes across as the soft brown we intended, but in natural light it reads much more green. Not anything to terrible just unexpected.
Beautiful paper! Our decorator commented on its quality and how nice and easy it was to work with compared to other wallpaper he had used in the past. Thank you.
So in love with this wallpaper. We wanted a cosy cottage bedroom vibe so we chose the Eloise. It’s such a pretty design that completely transformed the space. The wallpaper is such great quality .We have very uneven walls but didn’t have any issues. Hanging it was a joy. Highly recommend.
We used Blanche to paper some built in wardrobes that double up as room dividers. It was brilliant to be able to sample several background colour options and we are delighted with the finished result
Thank you. Fabulous Wallpaper.
Great quality paper and easy to hang.
The design is so rich in colour and adds such decadence to my dressing area. Now for the finishing touches.
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!
