Botanical Wallpaper Is Taking Over Restaurant Dining Rooms

In restaurants from Leo’s Oyster Bar to Hello Sailor, designers are bringing plants to the walls — and to an Instagram feed near you

by Monica Burton May 30, 2018, 9:12am EDT

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Monica Burton is the deputy editor of Eater.com.

Plants are trending. Succulents crowd social media feeds and greenery dominates open-plan offices. The obsession with flora extends to America’s restaurant designers, who display plants not just in pots, but on the walls too.

The designers behind some the country’s most beautiful restaurants are using botanical wallpaper to transform their dining rooms. At these restaurants, bright tropical greenery, soft blooms, and, yes, succulents give wallpaper a good name. According to designers, plant-covered walls can make a bold statement, as in Hello Sailor’s cactus-filled entryway, or create transportive oases, as with ’50s-themed Leo’s Oyster Bar or Frenchie’s floral atrium.

Here are six restaurants across the country making good on the botanical wallpaper trend — and what to buy to bring the look home.

Bellecour, Wayzata, Minnesota

The “garden room” with floral wallpaper at Bellecour — The “garden room” at Bellecour

The focal point of one of the dining rooms at Bellecour, Gavin Kaysen’s Wayzata, Minnesota, restaurant, is a watercolor mural of brightly colored flowers, climbing vines, and birds. But it’s not as difficult to come by as the seemingly hand-painted design might suggest — it’s actually wallpaper that anyone can buy at Anthropologie.

Linda Kaysen, who led the design at the French-inspired restaurant and is also married to its chef, refers to the room as the “garden room” and says the wallpaper provided the perfect accent. “Our intention was to make the room feel like an extension to the patio,” she explains. “We love the whimsical feel of the wall panel and wanted to bring a sense of fun into the space.”

Shop it: Flora and fauna

Melika Mural

$228

Prices taken at time of publishing.

“We call the room the garden room and the climbing vines and florals with wild animals are the perfect touch,” says Linda Kaysen. The exact mural she used is no longer available, but Anthropologie still has some similar options.

$228 at Anthropologie

Classic Bird of Nature Wallpaper Roll

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$4 at Joss & Main

WallPops! NuWallpaper Woods Peel & Stick Wallpaper in Grey

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$40 at Bed Bath & Beyond

Jungle Wallpaper Mural

$175

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$175 at Lulu and Georgia

Hello Sailor, Cornelius, North Carolina

The entryway at Hello Sailor: a plant, couch, chair, and backdrop of cactus wallpaper — The entryway at Hello Sailor

Katy Kindred, one half of the husband-and-wife team behind Hello Sailor, said she was going for a “desert vibe” at the fish-focused Cornelius, North Carolina, restaurant she designed. “I went out looking for cactus paper, specifically,” she says. “I like how the watercolor is bold and punchy but still grown up.” The prickly-pear print Kindred ended up finding on Etsy covers an accent wall at the front of the restaurant. “I also really wanted to make a bold statement the moment you walk in the door. I think it stirs up a fun ‘That was unexpected’ thing out the gate,” Kindred adds.

Shop it: Cacti

Cactus Mural

$419

Prices taken at time of publishing.

According to Kindred, “when the first impression is bold and arresting it is easier to forget what you were thinking about/worrying about and get dialed into the experience.”

$419 at Anewall Decor, Etsy

Green Watercolor Cactus Temporary Wallpaper

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$94 at Wallflora, Etsy

Green Cactus Wallpaper

$145

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$145 at ColorRay, Etsy

Cactus Wallpaper

$366

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$366 at WatercolourWorkshop, Etsy

Frenchie, Boston

Frenchie owner Sandrine Rossi wanted to create a peaceful atmosphere in the Boston wine bar’s dining room. Designer Cécile Thieulin, from Paris architecture firm Descombes & Thieulin, selected a dark floral wallpaper from Amsterdam-based Ellie Cashman Design for the back wall of the main dining room, which leads into an atrium overlooking a garden. The idea was “to make this room a blooming glass bubble overlooking the backyard,” Rossi says. “We wanted to attract our guests’ eyes to this urban green oasis, and the natural light of the atrium.”

Shop it: Dark, dramatic florals

Dark Floral Wallpaper

$185

Prices taken at time of publishing.

“Our main goal was to create a peaceful atmosphere so our guests feel out of time,” says Rossi.

$185 at Ellie Cashman Design

Tea Rose Wallpaper

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$62 at Anthropologie

Roses Flower Watercolor Dark

$242

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$242 at Tapet Show, Etsy

Still Life Floral Mural

$419

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$419 at Anewall Decor, Etsy

Leo’s Oyster Bar, San Francisco

Tropical wallpaper in the dining room at Leo’s Oyster Bar — The dining room at Leo’s Oyster Bar

Tropical plants may not seem like the most natural pairing for oysters. But, according to Big Night Restaurant Group co-owner and managing partner Anna Weinberg, tropical wallpaper was the perfect choice for creating Leo’s Oyster Bar’s “Mad Men-meets-vintage, 1950s, Hawaiian design aesthetic.”

Big Night’s former creative director, Jake Mogelson, designed the custom wallpaper, which features large green palm fronds and bright pink flowers. Leo’s intends to eventually sell the design to diners who want to achieve that same retro-tropical vibe at home. “We designed Leo’s Oyster Bar to be transporting, there’s no question about it,” Weinberg says. “As soon as [they] walk into the bright, fern-filled entryway, we want guests to feel like they’ve stepped into an oasis from another era.”

Shop it: Tropical vibes

Jake Mogelson’s Wallpaper for Leo’s Oyster Bar

Check the Leo’s Oyster Bar website for updates on when the wallpaper will be available for sale.

Leo’s Oyster Bar

Expressive Palms Removable Wallpaper

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$39 at Urban Outfitters

Tropical Pattern Wallpaper

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$94 at Wallflora, Etsy

Nathan Turner Pacifico Palm Wallpaper

$109

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$109 at One King’s Lane

Tropical Leaves Wallpaper

$175

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$175 at Lulu and Georgia

Grey Gardens, Toronto

Toronto restaurateur Jen Agg opted for a botanical mural at Grey Gardens to evoke the “elegant decay of the OG Grey Gardens while still feeling like a modern restaurant.” For the mural, artist Danielle Worrall painted palm fronds in gray, pale green, and sea-foam onto a nearly 40-foot wall that runs the length of the wine bar and restaurant. Agg collaborates frequently with Worrall and used her freehand mural as the starting point for the restaurant’s entire design. “The room just kinda grew from there, if you’ll forgive the awful pun,” Agg says.

Shop it: Pale, pastel foliage

Meadowlark Winifred Japanese Peony Wallpaper Roll

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$1 at Birch Lane

York Wallpaper Olive Branch

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$68 at Inside Stores

Watercolor Green Leaves Removable Wallpaper

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$92 at Floral Apartments, Etsy

Iris Wallpaper

$102

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$102 at Anthropologie

Angel Face, Portland, Oregon

A hand-painted floral mural is also the focal point of the design at Angel Face. Giovanna Parolari, who opened the Portland cocktail bar with husband John Taboada, told interior design publication Remodelista that she intended for it to be a “a feminine counterbalance” to their essential Portland restaurant Navarre. The pink walls with hand-painted blue and turquoise flowers by artist Michael Paulus repeat in a near-symmetrical pattern to create a jewel box-like space.

Shop it: Graphic florals

Jaipur Asara Flower Wallpaper Roll

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$4 at Wayfair

Poppy Wallpaper by Nathan Turner

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$58 at Lulu and Georgia

Astoria Wallpaper

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$98 at Serena & Lily

Love Mae Collection by Milton & King

$172

Prices taken at time of publishing.

$172 at Burke Decor

Monica Burton is Eater’s associate restaurant editor.
Editor: Hillary Dixler Canavan
Special thanks to Emily Heller

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