A Timeless Classic, Wallpaper

(ARA) - There are more home owners than ever before in the United States due to a long period of low interest rates. With incentives such as low down payments and manageable monthly payments, singles and families alike are opting for their own piece of the American dream. Every homeowner, naturally, wants to create a warm and inviting home, a personalized space. This can be a daunting task with so many walls to decorate.

An alternative that many new homeowners are overlooking is the increasingly popular option to wallpaper. Do-it-yourself books and television programs extol the virtues of faux finishes, but these wall treatments are messy, time consuming, and frankly, often don’t look as good as the demonstration. Many consumers look at the completed job and opt to just paint over it. A more successful solution is to hang a wallpaper faux finish, painted by an experienced artist. Today’s paper is pre-cut, pre-pasted and easier than ever to hang and remove. A good way to begin is with a border. In less than an hour, a plain room can be transformed into an attractive, decorated space.

At one time it was unheard of to leave your walls bare. Patterned walls were the favored method of décor in the home. As far back as 17,000 years, man has wanted to beautify his surroundings with art. Essayist Georges Bataille called the famous cave paintings of Lascaux, France, “the passage from the work world to the play world.” In his view, these paintings marked the beginning of man’s humanity.

In the 18th century, it was discovered that tacking strips of printed paper, instead of woven fabric, to a wall, then covering the seams with a border, would allow the middle class the same heightened sense of fashion as the nobility. Women often would cut elements from a design to embellish the area, continue the theme to another room, or cover a fault. The idea of papering a wall quickly caught on with builders and homeowners because it would quickly cover any errors of design or careless construction.

Wallpaper went out of vogue in the late 20th century, after World War II, because the country needed to simplify and stark “modernism” was embraced. Walls were adorned with large expanses of glass or left bare. Focus was on the clean lines of the furniture. Complex design and individualism were shunned in favor of sleek, tailored and sparse conformity. Interior designers, too, would play upon the insecurity of the modern consumer in the use of color and design.

Today, individualism is again in vogue and people are rediscovering a basic instrument of home décor, the use of wallcoverings. We are seeing a rebirth of “stylish surfacing.” Proof of this is shown in Hollywood production sets with damask walls and kitchens bright with fruit and ivy. Movies and television have captured that need to go back to timeless classics in recent productions. Commercial buildings such as offices and hotels have continued, through the years, to surface their walls with wallpaper. Architects and commercial designers know that there is nothing as easy, durable and economical as wallpaper. Paint just doesn’t hold up.

The new millennium, with its many challenges, has cast a new role for our homes. We look to our homes as a haven that provides us with a sense of shelter from the harsh realities of life, evoking a simpler time. This sense of a personal refuge calls us back each day, to a place where we can just relax and enjoy our surroundings.

Designer Eric Cohler states that “Wallpaper is the soul of the room, providing texture, pattern and color. It sets the tone and everything else plays ‘follow the leader.’” Consumers want to make each room special, providing a theme. With so many patterns from which to choose, there is a pattern for every taste. Whether baby animals in pastels are needed or primitive prints in darker hues, there is wallpaper out there.

Unfortunately, for the consumer, there are fewer “mom and pop” wallpaper stores today. Neighborhood stores provided clients with individual attention, but have been displaced by large home improvement stores, such as Lowes and Home Depot. These stores do provide a large variety of sample books, but it helps to know where to begin.

The idea of spending hours poring over sample books isn’t always appealing, but there are plenty of Web sites to inspect, such as www.cheswall.com. and www.wallpaperguide.com. These sites categorize patterns, styles and recent wallpaper sample books. In some cases, you can even print a sample and bring it to the store with you. Make notes on possible choices, then go to the dealer and look at the sample books. There are designs for every décor, every style and every theme. Even if a specific paper is no longer produced, chances are a similar one can be found.

Traditional, folk and primitive art are perennial favorites in home décor, again, bringing us back to what is familiar. Look for Chesapeake Wallcoverings’ new collection, Grace and Goodness, a new series of down-home, folk and primitive country designs. Other great country, traditional wallcovering collections to look for are Peace and Plenty, Homespun America, and Home and Heritage. Decorating walls is not a daunting task; homeowners have been doing it for centuries. The timeless classic of wallpaper can bring warmth and texture to any space.

To view Chesapeake’s wallpaper selections, visit the company’s Web site at www.cheswall.com.

Courtesy of ARA Content