Knowing Too Much about history except it's just minute familiarity with Morris wallpapers

[cimorene]

I love William Morris's patterns so I'm happy that Morris wallpapers have increased in popularity in recent years and I'm spotting them everywhere. A local shop even carries them here in Pargas, a town of less than 20,000 people.

But on the other hand they are kind of a problem in historical 19th century production design, because it was a period when nearly everything was wallpapered (except for wooden panelling), and not all the wallpaper looked quite like Morris & Co, importantly because even then it was unusually pricey, and yet it is disastrously overrepresented in set design representing interiors of the period on film, even interiors representing this period in other countries, where the likelihood of Morris & Co wallpaper appearing at the time were probably quite low.

It's like if historical films set in the 1900s costumed 75% of the characters in recognizable iconic couture pieces. (In filmmakers' defense, filming on location increases the likelihood that the historic building you've chosen comes with Morris & Co preinstalled, and in that case there's not really anything they could have done.)

Wax and I put a great deal of research into renovating our house, which is a wooden house built in 1950. It had to be completely replumbed and rewired before we could move in and the walls of all the rooms had to consequently be resurfaced, and in the course of a million hours of research I bookmarked several domestic/regional stores specializing in renovation materials for historical houses: Rakennusapteekki, Domus Classica, Sekelskifte, and a bunch of wallpaper shops that carry paper wallpapers. And in all of these Morris wallpapers are front and center - usually they are one of only two or three brands carried by the shop, although in point of fact there are a large number of manufacturers that make a few paper wallpapers alongside their normal ("non woven" and vinyl) selections (Seinäruusu has a large selection). (William Morris's designs are my favorite wallpapers EVER, but they are minimum forty years too old for our house, and in completely the wrong style - our house is a minimalist, strongly functionalist-influenced, humble traditional cottage. So I would never have considered them anyway, but they are also at least twice as expensive as the most expensive wallpaper we bought.)

Comments

[barbaratp]

Acho que já vi os papéis de parede desse senhor enquanto navegava na internet, uma época estava a fazer uma capa de fic e tenho certeza que achei um site cheio de amostras de papéis de parede, em patterns e brushes que baixei e usei com louvor na arte que fiz e infelizmente acho que não favoritei o site em questão na época (deve ter algo no meu PC daquela época). Então eu acho lindo esses desenhos maravilhosos, mas entendo como eles jamais casariam com a sua casa, fosse pela época ou pelo estilo. Aqui papéis de parede não são muito comum, agora que o pessoal começou a usar isso com um pouco mais de frequência, no entanto em um ambiente tropical onde às vezes as pobres casas de alvenaria se modificam conforme a umidade do ambiente, papéis de parede são lindo, mas nada práticos.

[cimorene]

Agreed! Actually one of the worst things that the former owner of this house did was wallpapering over cement walls where the chimney is ... it is difficult to put paper on the cement in the first place but the much worse thing is how is nearly impossible to remove it: it takes ten times as long and in some cases won't come off without damaging the cement. So when the paper gets damaged, from bubbles, tears, and peeling, there is no way to fix it anymore. If you put new paper over the top it will have visible flaws and will be prone to tear and come off above the same spot. We still have two rooms in our house with walls like this where we have never finished restoring the original paint over the cement because we couldn't get the paper off, and so I will have to put new plaster on top of the old paper if I want to fix the wall, but I have never used wall plaster before!

[barbaratp]

Vocês já tentaram lixar o cimento? Desculpa perguntar é que aqui quando se vai colocar algo sobre as paredes mas elas não estão lisas ou com algo velho grudado se lixa, depois algumas pessoas fazem o acabamento com gesso ou coisa do tipo. Por fim com tudo lisinho pintamos. Isso quando a pessoa quer pintar. Meu tio trabalha com reforma e tem gente que pede para fazer acabamento com produtos que imitam a porcelana (fica parecendo mármore, mas é só tinta); ou os que imitam algum tipo de pedra. É muito legal o trabalho dele.

[cimorene]

We tried a lot of methods to roughen the paper to let water and steam penetrate it before scraping, including minor sanding. But not properly sanding with an electric sander. Maybe that would make the plaster unnecessary, or at least easier.

[barbaratp]

Às vezes a opção mais simples é a melhor. Eu sempre penso primeiro como meus tios fariam a reforma e o primeiro passo seria a limpeza, lixando tudo, arrancando o que não fosse necessário. Espero que tudo tenha ficado melhor no cenário papel de parede e paredes de cimento

[cimorene]

🧡 Thank you!

[cimorene]

Also, I know a little about those techniques that imitate marble and stone and other plaster effects, from books and pictures. That's so cool!

[barbaratp]

Sim eu acho incrível isso. Tenho um primo que nada de certo na vida faz além de ser um ótimo prestador de serviços no quesito paredes marmorizadas...

[cimorene]

😂 There are worse recommendations!

I would love to do things like this - it's usually in restoration of old houses and furniture here and most often on wood, but it's the closest profession. But I'm afraid around here the only way to do this is as and independent contractor, which requires a lot of skills for organization that I couldn't manage myself. I'm pretty sad about it actually. Maybe I can't find a way to do things like that part of the time only and have some other more regular job as well.

[barbaratp]

Sempre achei legal demais esse trabalho. Restaurar, reformar ou construir casas e móveis é tão único u.u espero de coração que você consiga fazer o que desejar nem que seja como hobby

[cimorene]

Me too. I love old houses and old buildings and furniture and art and objects🧡

[princessofgeeks]

Funny how once something is antique it might be fifty years old or a hundred and fifty for all people really care.

Very jarring for people who have studied these time periods.

[cimorene]

That's probably exactly what's happening, they just "look old" and they're pretty and available, so people are choosing them over more accurate ones! 😩

[laurajv]

I reeeally want to wallpaper above the chair rail in our living room with WM wallpaper, but we have to fix the second floor bathroooms and repair the plaster before that's even a possibility. at least our house is the right age for it, though (built 1901)!

I feel like WM wallpaper turned into fabric is the general way I get him into my life. :)

[cimorene]

Yes, and actually many of his designs were upholstery fabric designs originally too. I only have two shirts currently but I still certainly get more in the future.

Your house is the right age and if I were you I'd be very tempted! It is very expensive though.

[laurajv]

It will remain on The List but it's way down in priority -- I care about aesthetics but money, she does not grow on the trees.