Georgian and Regency Wallpapers

Nicola here, and today I am talking about Georgian and Regency wallpapers. Wallpaper is a small detail when a writer is describing a setting but it can be a useful way of showing the grandeur - or otherwise - of a house and it's certainly a way of portraying character. When I saw this rather gorgeous 18th century wallpaper with parrots and apples on it I immediately started to imagine the sort of flamboyant heroine who might decorate her bedroom in this style, but of course it could equally belong to a hero who is an explorer!

A few weeks ago I visited Kirby Hall in Northamptonshire. Kirby is an intriguing
house because it is part roofed, part ruin. It was originally built in the 17^th century and looks rather like the more famous Hardwick Hall, but during the Georgian period it was refurbished and there is a fascinating restoration project ongoing to show the sort of wallpaper that decorated the library and the billiard rooms in the 18th and 19th centuries and to demonstrate how it was made and how it was hung. 

Paper Tapestries

Wallpaper was originally called “paper tapestries” and from the late sixteenth century onward was printed on small individual sheets and painted in ink using wood blocks. By the end of the 17^th century there were specialist wallpaper shops in London but wallpaper was at this stage still considered far inferior to wall hangings “fit only to make the houses of ordinary people look neat” as one social commentator said, rather snootily! Only in the 1740s did wallpaper become fashionable with the social elite, partly because it could be painted in vivid colours and with pattern repeats.

By 1750, full panelling on walls was out of favour and new houses were built with half-panelling on the lower wall and the upper walls plastered either to be painted or to take wallpaper or wall hangings. In older houses the top half of the panelling was removed and sometimes reused to provide a frame. A canvas was stretched across this to provide a flat wall face. The canvas was nailed to battens and then brushed with glue to make it shrink as it dried. This gave a taut, stiff surface. This was covered in lining paper made from linen rags, which was made in individual sheets and hung so that they overlapped. The photo, from Kirby, shows and example of how the canvases worked to provide a flat surface that could be papered over.

 

The Height of Fashion

Flock and damask wallpapers were considered the most modish. A fashionable red flock wallpaper was fitted in the Billiards Room at Kirby Hall in the mid-Georgian period. (You can see what this looked like in the photograph). The sale catalogue of 1772 lists “crimson paper hangings” in the Red Room. Flock wallpapers were made to imitate silk damask wall hangings. The grandest rooms needed large scale bold designs. This was of course before the introduction of mechanised processes and so making wallpaper was an entirely handmade process, which meant that every piece was unique. Early wallpaper was made from linen or cotton rags not from wood pulp. The cloth was pulped and pressed into moulds to make individual square sheets. These were then joined together to make a roll similar to the ones that are in use today. Flock wallpapers had a background colour printed onto the paper, then glue was applied in a pattern, sometimes using a stencil, and dyed wool sprinkled on top to simulate velvet. Flock was quite expensive, costing between 4 shillings and 13 shillings per yard in 1750.

The Library at Kirby now the most beautiful wallpaper that is a recreation of a late 18^th century style. Here it is in detail in this photograph. I loved the delicate duck egg blue background and the hand painted fleur de lys. The blue is so pale that you only get the colour effect from a distance. Close up it looks more like a cream colour.

In the later 18^th and early nineteenth centuries, designers developed new styles including chinoiserie, scenic images, papers that imitated swags of material and tassels. Some wallpaper was even political; both America and France celebrated their revolutions in wallpaper (which I think is very cool!) The imported Chinese and Indian prints were particularly expensive and highly-prized, costing from 14 shillings per yard. At this point people who could not afford the paper itself started to paint pretend wallpaper onto their walls! A house in Wales still has the remnants of a wall painting imitating an early 19^th century Chinese style wallpaper, which in itself was an imitation of the more costly hand painted version.

Mass production

The earliest machines for printing wallpaper were developed in the late 18^th and early 19^th century. The
advent of steam power meant that paper could be printed quickly and cheaply, and also in multiple colours so it became cheaper and more widely available within society. I’ve included a couple of additional examples of late 18^th and early 19^th century wallpapers from the National Trust here, just to show the sort of variety on offer. The picture on the right, featuring a very elegant peacock was one of the late Regency machine printed wallpapers. Below is a Georgian leather-embossed wallpaper, again with a bird theme and the most glorious colours.

What do you think of the Georgian and Regency patterns? Would you like a parrot print in your house or some other sort of “heritage wallpaper” as it’s called today? And do you think that the way someone decorates a room is a way for a character to express themselves? 

 

Comments

[Fiona Marsden]

Aren't they beautiful. They might overpower the ordinary suburban house but would be fabulous in a larger home.

[Lil]

I truly covet that peacock wallpaper! Since I cannot put it on my own walls, I will have to write a book in which the heroine can have it on her walls.
Now, should it be her private sitting room, to show the flamboyance and daring of her secret self? Or should it be in one of the public rooms to show her awareness of her position? The dining room, perhaps? Hmm.

[HJ]

I agree with Fiona, although one wall in lovely wallpaper with a neutral colour on the other walls could be very effective.

[Isobel Carr]

This is so cool, thanks for sharing!!! I'm always looking for a new decoration scheme for rooms in my books (someone is so getting a flocked room!!!). I love the Arts and Crafts wallpapers (William Morris and Bradbury), but the walls in my bedrooms are rough orange peel texture and I don’t think wallpaper would work on them.

[Nicola Cornick]

Thanks, Fiona! Yes, I think they are gorgeous. Totally overpowering in a small space but great on a grand scale. Though I think the fleur de lys might look ok in my cottage or, as HJ suggests one papered wall and the rest plain might work!

[Nicola Cornick]

Lil, aren't the peacocks gorgeous? Yes, I think you could definitely use that paper in a story. I like the idea of a buttoned up heroine whose private sitting room is a riot of peacock wallpaper!

[Nicola Cornick]

So pleased you liked the post, Isobel. Thank you! I can't wait to read about the flocked wallpaper!

[Susan/DC]

If you asked me I would say I am not a fan of wallpaper, but that is because I'm thinking of its use in contemporary houses. In these grand homes with high ceilings, where the paper is itself a work of art, I must admit I love it. My husband and I were in Spain last month and visited the Royal Palace. There is one room in particular where the wallpaper, the fabrics, and the accessories were designed in the same theme, using the same patterns. It's a bit overwhelming but lovely. And when one thinks about the amount of labor that went into creating that wallpaper by hand, it is quite astonishing. I tip my hat to those workers and to the artist who led them.

[Nicola Cornick]

The Royal Palace sounds stunning, Susan. Yes, it must have been extraordinarily detailed and time consuming to hand paint the patterns or create those flock wallpapers by hand. I can see why they were so expensive and exclusive.

[Frances Bevan]

I suffered from growing up with 1960s wallpaper. It took William Morris to talk me round, but now I just love it and your article has introduced me to yet another era of wall hanging designs. Thank you Nicola for a fascinating post.

[Nicola Cornick]

Oh, those 1960s wallpapers! I had forgotten them until you reminded me, Frances. I wonder whether someone will one day hold them up as symbols of rare elegance?

[NancyS.Goodman]

I love grand rooms with one wall either painted a dark color, or wallpapered. These are just gorgeous!

[Nicola Cornick]

I'm so pleased you like them, Nancy! I do think dark colours can look very impressive in the right context. The rich red terracotta that was a fashionable favourite in the 17th century is still used in some cottages and houses from that era around here. It looks great!

[Louise Allen]

I want the leather one with the hoopoo! Gorgeous, thanks you, Nicola

[Michele]

I grew up in a large Victorian home. Each room was papered by my mother with the wainscoting painted a complimentary color. The front (formal) staircase had flocked wallpaper in a dove gray against a silvery background. My condo is a bit too modern for that, but it have me a love of color. I will never have white walls in any room, even if I can't have the lovely wallpapers.

[Jo Banks]

I definitely want that peacock!!I am very glad you can buy paper on a roll these days!Decorating causes enough chaos in this house as it is.At the moment I have the husband and his friend changing the doors in the hall - all seven of them whilst taking all the paint off the woodwork with a torch thing so the whole house stinks of smoke is two foot under with dust and the dog and I are considering emigrating!!

[Isobel Carr]

Many of the Bradbury & Bradbury ones are still handmade (silk screened). I seriously thought about using one of them in my dining room, but ended up going with a mural instead (helps that my BFF is an illustrator, LOL!).

[Louis]

Gorgeous, Georgeous.

I like the one with the peacock.

I,ve put up wallpaper and it isn't as easy as it sounds.

[Nicola Cornick]

The leather one with the gold hoopoo is yours, Louise!

Michele, your Victorian childhood home sounds amazing. The dove grey flocked paper on silver sounds very elegant. I remember red flock paper from my childhood but I've never seen grey.

[Nicola Cornick]

Jo, decorating is a very different matter these days, isn't it. Though still not necessarily that pleasant. Actually I hate doing it. I always tangle the wallpaper and it sticks to itself. As Louis says, it isn't easy!

[Nicola Cornick]

The Bradbury and Bradbury papers sounds gorgeous, Isobel. I love that you have a mural, though (and your own illustrator!) That must look very special and original.

[Ella Quinn]

I have scraped off so much wallpaper in my life, that I tend to avoid it in life and in my writing. Strangely, I don't even remember the wall paper in any of the old houses I toured in England. I must have block it out.

Though I must admit, I do like the Georgian and Regency patterns. I may have to re-think my bias.

[Nicola Cornick]

I think that's totally understandable, Ella. Scraping off wallpaper isn't a very nice task and is going to put you off! I could see myself as the lady of a grand house, though, wafting around whilst the servants hang the handmade paper and the admiring it. No need to get your hands dirty!

[LouisaCornell]

I love the leather-embossed bird themed paper! My house is small so I might have to use it on just one wall, but I would love to have it.

This is a fabulous post, Nicola. I love learning about the process of making and hanging wallpaper.

I make quilts and I have a huge collection of fabric. I pick up fabric on sale in fabric stores, thrift stores and even estate sales. I am seriously considering using some of it as wall coverings in my writing studio to give it a more Regency elegant feel.

[Nicola Cornick]

Thanks, Louisa! What a fabulous idea to use fabric as a wall covering in your writing studio!