42 
HOW TO BUY WALL 
House & Garden 
PAPERS 
The Relation of the Wall Covering to the Rest of Decoration—New Designs 
and Processes of Manufacture—Hand Blocked Papers 
T HE atmosphere of the home, its individ¬ 
uality, is so largely dependent upon the 
interior decoration, and the walls play so im¬ 
portant a part in the scheme that wall treat¬ 
ment is a subject of more than ordinary inter¬ 
est and importance. 
We all know that some of the homes we 
visit have a pleasant personal quality that re¬ 
flects the character of the home-maker, while 
other houses are lacking in this respect. 
With a desire to give this quality to her 
rooms, to make them contribute as much as 
possible to the happiness of her family and 
friends, many a woman struggles with the 
problem of selecting suitable wall papers. She 
feels that if her home is to be really hers she 
must put much of herself into the decorating. 
She is confronted by many unfamiliar consid¬ 
erations and by a bewildering variety of wall 
papers from which she must choose. 
Since the conditions that influence the choice 
of a wall paper are never quite the same in 
any two rooms, general recommendations are 
of little value excepting to illustrate points. It 
is well to get down to the simple basic prin¬ 
ciples and work out each problem specifically 
on its own merits. 
Decorative Considerations 
If the woodwork is in the Georgian, Eliza¬ 
bethan, Adam or any other historic period style 
the wall paper design should be of the same 
period or of an allied period, in order not only 
to avoid anachronism, but to secure harmony 
of character. Heavy woodwork with rich 
moldings or ornament calls for a wall paper 
of equal dignity and richness. The delicate 
detail of Adam woodwork requires a wall 
F. J. Emmerich Co. 
A Poile de Jouy design, suitable for 
the large^Jiall of a country house or 
for a room in 18 th Century English 
EUGENE CLUTE 
F. J. Emmerich Co. 
Clear, bright colors on Below. An all-over 
a gray ground. A pattern of soft gray, 
French design suitable printed in a single 
for breakfast rooms color without shading 
Robert Graves Co. 
A green design on white ground, 
reproducing an historic period pat¬ 
tern. The design is in flat tones 
paper that presents the slender festoons, the 
delicate cameo-like medallions or other motifs 
characteristic of the period. With rich Geor¬ 
gian architectural detail a fine scenic wall 
paper showing a landscape that extends from 
the paneled base to the comice is often the 
best choice. If the woodwork is of a simple 
Colonial type a reproduction of an old-time 
pattern with small landscape vistas, floral or 
foliage motifs is in character. Where the 
woodwork is simple and without period char¬ 
acter there is a wide range of choice for only 
the color and general style of the woodwork 
need be considered. 
The size of the room must be taken into 
account. A large pattern is likely to prove 
overpowering in a small room while a small 
pattern will look weak and insignificant on a 
large wall. It is well to note that a pattern 
looks larger in the sample than on the wall. 
This often leads to the choice of a design that 
is too small in scale for the room it is eventu¬ 
ally to decorate. 
That the wall treatment affects the apparent 
relations of length, breadth and height in a 
room should be kept in mind. As is well 
known, dividing a wall into longitudinal sec¬ 
tions by means of a dado and frieze decreases 
its apparent height while vertical lines extend¬ 
ing from the floor to the ceiling make the 
walls seem higher. 
Exposure and Furniture 
The point of the compass from which the 
room receives all or most of its light should be 
noted. A room that has a northerly aspect 
receives only the cold light reflected from the 
sky and requires a paper that will make up 
Thomas Strahan eo. 
Reproduction of an old Colonial 
paper. Flowers in dull rose and pur¬ 
ple. Brown stems with black outline 
