WALLS AND PAPERS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 267, 1 February 1928, Page 7

WALLS AND PAPERS

SOME ATTRACTIVE EFFECTS Present-day walls are not merely papered, they are decorated. This is probably due to the fact that fewer pictures are hung in modern homes, and furniture, in many cases, is less massive. Consequently, the walls, being more exposed, naturally play a leading part in the decorative scheme. Rooms have sometimes even been furnished to “fit in” with the wall-paper colour scheme and design. The most frequent designs are floral, showing portions of herbaceous borders, or small flowering trees, and in nearly every case they are applied to papers of a neutral shade, or to one which tones with a certain colour in the applied decoration. Two exceptions to the rule of floral designs are a cut border designed from an old Chinese document, painted in shades of gold, and applied to a light buff-coloured paper, and a Chinese landscape design applied at intervals to a neutral-coloured paper, giving a clever effect of looking at a far horizon and therefore adding a feeling of space to the room. There is a lot of metal used in the making of modern wallpapers, and by this means a pretty lustre effect is achieved. A very attractive border used largely in panelling effects is composed of a hand-coloured lustre butterfly design. The modern system of panelling in wallpaper is very simple. A border is placed along the top and the base of the wall, and the panels are formed by placing strips of the border vertically at frequent intervals. A pretty effect is achieved by applying a cut-out floral design to the top corner of the panels. The English-made wallpapers differ very much from the French. The former are softer in colour and less bold in design. A pretty scheme for a drawing room consists of painted walls picked out with panels in silver. The walls are first painted with a bright colour, and a second coat of paint in a lighter shade is then stippled on to the first coat. The applied decorations are particularly effective on a staircase. The smaller designs are used for bordering the wall of the sairs, and a large design of a tree or group of flowers is placed on the stair-landing or in a recess.