IDEAS IN WALLPAPERS

Shannon News, 11 September 1928, Page 1

IDEAS IN WALLPAPERS

DECORATIVE EFFECT. Writing in the “Australian Home Beautiful,” G. Adams tells of the newest ideas in wallpapers. There has been quite, a flush of new ideas in recent months "in the decorating world. The ordinary panelling is still holding its own, and consists of either decorative, plain, or tapestriea The usual plan; is to cover the wails with the groundwork, neither plain or decorative —and then impose the border that constitutes the panels, and ie generally 101 or 7 inches wide, according to the size and proportions of the room. The top of the panel, of course runs up to the picture rail, and the bottom buts the skirting . board. The character of tha panel ground work is a matter for individual choice and most of the firms that deal in wall papers have a trained staff whose advice is quite sound. Where the house owner is a lover of good pictures, he of she, is of course, largely guided in the choice of wallpapers by the character and number of pictures that will be hung in any one room. But there has been a noticeable tendency in recent years, to reduce the number of pictures hung on the walls, and many people now rely on the wallpaper alone for decorative effect. Many modern bedrooms are quite bare of pictures. Naturally, where there are many pictures in a room, the best paper is either quite plain or an embossed one with a matte effect rather than a figured or tapestry design.

Perhaps the most radical innovation of recent months has been* the development of what are known as the “growth These had. their origin in the cut-out borders which have been in vogue for some years, and they have now grown to such proportions that nof merely flowers and branches, but trees and actual landscape scenes are cut out and applied.

In the less ambitious but sometimes very beautiful schemes of panelling there are what are known as “downward growths" and “upward growths' which consist of a cut-out border that is placed, round the room, and from which the" pendants are attached, or shrubs “planted," as the case may be. These can be had in many colourings, and both machine and hand painted. Among the new motifs we note “The Whitehall" —a charming form of panelling decoration, consisting of two motifs intended to bemused in conjunction with styling border —and “The Prospect," a fine effect in six colours. In England the use of landscape papers has been carried forward to a remarkable degree, wall paper designers having taken advantage of the love of open air expressed in the increase of motoring. We read that the latest form of wall deco,ration is a paper which shows a panorama of distant hills with lakes embedded in them and trees in the foreground, all tinted in soft atmospheric blues and greens that make the picture recede, so that, despite the boldness of the design, the effect is to increase the apparent size of a room. When the sunshine falling through a window lights in patches on thi: lovely countryside the impression ol realism is enhanced, and those whose dining room is hung with this paper fight imagine themselves having all eir meals out of doors without the accompanying discomfort. The paper is also however, used for ballrooms, drawingrooms and halls. . The tall foreground trees are “cutouts" quite separate from the panoramic background, and can be moved to different positions in the landscape with artistic freedom. Another new wallpaper on the same lines shows a familiar scene in Kew Gardens with an interesting variety of trees. Chinese wallpapefs have, of course, been designed to harmonise with the vogue of the Oriental rug, and those may be obtained in a fair range of pat. terns at moderate prices. Papers, however, painted in the traditional Chinese manner by a Chinese artist are increasingly used, though they are too costly to become general. They arc done in panels and about £250 is paid for a set of 19.

The artist follows his fancy, painting the design in a bold freehand manner, so that no two panels are exactly alike, though all show the tree of life spreading its rose-flowered branches, amid which flutter exotic birds.

Japanese grass paper is another costly and beautiful form of wall-covering which is continuously imported to this country. It is entirely hand-made by peasants of the bark peeled off the Japanese honeysuckle, the cost of the material alone for covering the walls of an average-sized room amounting to £BO, apart from the labour.