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World Book Day 2025 – Colours Inspired by Authors

World Book Day 2025 – Colours Inspired by Authors

March 3rd, 2025

Little Greene

This World Book Day, we’re guiding you through our palette to discover beautiful colours and wallpapers that have been inspired by authors – from celebrated playwrights to beloved children’s illustrators.

Learn about the fascinating history behind some of our most-loved paints and wallpapers, including rich greens like Hopper, Ambleside and Puck. And explore the wallpapers in our new ‘Storybook Papers’ collection that feature the enchanting unpublished sketches of Beatrix Potter…

Colours inspired by George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright active during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is known for having written plays such as Pygmalion (1913), and went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925.

The Little Greene paint colours inspired by George Bernard Shaw originate from his residence in Hertfordshire, which is now fondly named ‘Shaw’s Corner’ and cared for by the National Trust. Originally used on the exterior woodwork of this property, our bold green, Hopper, wonderfully captures Shaw’s vibrant personality. Consider this impactful shade – or the reduced version, Garden – to evoke the freshness and positivity of the outdoors within your living space.

A green with a softer, more soothing quality, Hidey Hole was the paint shade that George Bernard Shaw chose for his writing hut. Secluded amongst the trees at Shaw’s Corner, this relaxing, sun-drenched space was mischievously named ‘London’, so that visitors could be told the playwright was away from home ‘visiting the capital’. Draw inspiration from its original setting by introducing Hidey Hole in rooms that look out onto natural greenery, or to instil a calming atmosphere within a bedroom, study or nursery space.

Explore the colours

Colours inspired by Beatrix Potter

Beatrix Potter is one of the most beloved children’s authors, whose rich and unmatched portfolio includes The Tale of Peter Rabbit and The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck. As well as being a prolific writer and illustrator, she owned 4,000 acres of farming land in the Lake District countryside, which she bequeathed to the National Trust upon her death in 1943.

There are two characterful paint colours in our palette inspired by Beatrix Potter’s charming cottage, Hill Top Farm, situated near Lake Windemere. Now in the care of the National Trust, this 17th century house was purchased by Beatrix in 1905, and beautifully furnished to reflect her love of the surrounding English countryside. She used the attractive dark green, Ambleside, to complement a William Morris wallpaper in the bedroom. For a more contemporary scheme, combine with Aquamarine in an inviting tonal pairing.

A fantastic accent shade, Sage & Onions is a lively, vibrant and energising green that is the original paint colour of Beatrix Potter’s garden gate at Hill Top. The name refers to a scene in The Tale of Jemima Puddle Duck, when Jemima is made to gather ingredients for the stuffing in Gentleman Fox’s meal of roast duck. In a recent restoration project, the National Trust reinstated the gate to its former glory using Little Greene paint in this shade.

Wallpapers inspired by Beatrix Potter

Our new wallpaper collection ‘Storybook Papers’ features two designs inspired by the artworks of Beatrix Potter. Nip & Lassie pays homage to Beatrix’s award-winning flock of Herdwick Sheep, and contains her original sketches of her two working collies. While Potter’s Woodland beautifully depicts the way she was inspired by wildlife and nature. This enchanting mural design is filled with charming birds, animals, trees and flowers, including many elements that have been redrawn from her unpublished sketchbooks.

Learn more about how we created these wallpapers using Beatrix Potter’s original sketches.

Wallpaper: Nip & Lassie – Celestial Blue, Ceiling: Celestial Blue, Bedside Table: Silt

Wallpaper: Potter’s Woodland – Spring, Ceiling: Clay - Pale, Round Table: Light Gold, Skirting: Clay - Pale, Table: Sunlight, Chair: Dorchester Pink, Bed: Boxington

Explore the colours and wallpapers…

More colours and wallpapers inspired by authors

Explore a variety of other paint colours and wallpapers that have been inspired by well-known authors, illustrators and writers. Discover shades found in National Trust properties that were once the home of famous authors, as well as patterns originally drawn by children’s illustrators as nursery wallpapers…

Puck – This confident deep green takes its name from a character in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1600). Puck is a wonderful colour for an impactful, colour-drenched living room, or for exterior schemes.
Lute – This comforting warm neutral was discovered in the Gatehouse Tower at Knole, the family home of writer and music critic, Edward Sackville-West. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group, which included famous contemporary authors like Virginia Woolf and E.M. Forster.
Goblin – This rich and captivating green is an original National Trust colour from Snowshill Manor – the eclectic Cotswolds home of architect, artist and poet, Mr Charles Paget Wade, which was filled with artefacts he had collected and loved to show other authors.

Briar Rose – The children’s book illustrator, Walter Crane, was the designer of this inviting Arts & Crafts wallpaper. The original design was called ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and included characters from the fairytale. Reproduced in six contemporary colourways, it brings beautiful texture and pattern to living rooms, kitchens and bedrooms.
Mandalay – The world-famous author of The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling lived with his family at Bateman’s – a Jacobean mansion in East Sussex that is now conserved by the National Trust. This tree of life design has been redrawn from leather wallcoverings found in their dining room. The mural provides an inspiring backdrop for a bedroom scheme, a fabulous choice to provide a focal point behind the bed.