Monday, February 1, 2016

Wallpapering

Below is an excerpt from "Painting and Decorating" ©1889 I've included the first few sentences that give the company and location in Brooklyn, NY as well as a description of the type of house and the various wallpapers used in the different rooms.

THE Robert Graves Co. are building a new wallpaper factory in South Brooklyn, and are removing thereto their plant from their old factory in Fulton Street. The latest improvements in machinery and the most economical methods of production will be employed, and the faétory building will be sufficiently spacious for every requirement of their large business. Its length is three hundred feet, and it is five stories in height. They will make all grades of paper, from white blanks to flocks and leather papers. Their Brooklyn wallpaper store does a. large business in interior decoration in that city. The manager reports that he has lately decorated the Queen Anne house of Mrs. M. A. Pray at 1208 Dean Street. The front parlor is in whitefand-gold effects. The side walls are covered with a fine hand-made pressed paper of modern Renaissance design, with gold figure shaded with blue on a white ground. There is a wide frieze of similar design to match, with heavy white-and-gold ornamental picture moulding. The ceiling is frescoed to match the walls. The woodwork is decorated in white and gold.
The back parlor has a hand-made pressed paper having a French blue, copper and gold figure on a chocolate ground. There is a wide frieze in simultaneous contrast, and picture moulding to match. The ceiling is frescoed to harmonize with the walls, and the woodwork is of antique oak. The dining-room has a paper of Persian design on a blue-green ground, and the ceilingis tinted a pale yellow. The second-story front alcove-roam has a paper of Indian ornament, with flitter and gold on terra-cotta ground. The second-floor back room has a hand-made paper with fleur'de-lys pattern on a shrimp-pink ground; the woodwork is cherry. The third-floor front room has a damask paper of conventional floral design on a blue ground. The tbird~floor back room has a paper with Italian lace pattern in pink and cream on a red ground. All these rooms have friezes to match and the ceilings tinted various colors. The hall has imported Japanese leather paper, dado and frieze. The woodwork is of antique oak. The bath-room has varnished tile papers.

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