Wallpaper
In the 1750s, the Countess of Suffolk spent £42 wallpapering one room when the average cost of a house at that time was £12. For anyone who has ever stared at a sheet of exquisitely hand-printed wallpaper (and I am in that queue) it seems almost understandable, if certifiable.
I am currently fixated on a design by Soane called Palampore Blossom, which would cost me £520 a roll – or not. Decorating, or dreaming of decorating, is the final leg of any renovation; when interior designers start creating ‘mood boards’, little inspirational snapshots.
Wallpaper is very ‘now’, but when Rock House was built it would have been very ‘not now’ due to the punishing wallpaper tax that wasn’t repealed until two years after the house was built. It’s unlikely that any of the rooms in Rock House would have been papered – instead the walls and woodwork would have been painted the same colour. For Doc Martin fans, the sitting room would have looked rather like his green consulting room.
Purists have implored me to follow a similar scheme, but there are drawbacks. The colour palate is limited and then there are the possible dangers. In the pursuit of authenticity, for instance, the artists Gilbert and George painted the drawing room in their Queen Anne house in London’s Fournier Street with a green pigment mixed with linseed oil and lead – not for them the bother of health and safety. In fact, they say they like the smell the paint continues to give out.
Once the wallpaper tax was abandoned, however, I suspect that like all other aspirational Victorians, the occupants of my house would have rushed headlong towards the fashionable paper designers of the time – although there is no sign of it now. However, from my window I can see a huge 20-room arts and crafts house that dominates the East Hill. It belongs to Tim and Deirdre. Like all houses, it is something of a responsibility, not least as they can boast some original William Morris wallpaper. Although unlike the Countess of Suffolk, who apparently invited the whole of society to admire her lavish decor, Deirdre has a ‘sticky fingers off ’ attitude to the public. Still, diehard fans might like to know that you can get archive samples at Morris & Co.
Next week: On the floor.
I am currently fixated on a design by Soane called Palampore Blossom, which would cost me £520 a roll – or not. Decorating, or dreaming of decorating, is the final leg of any renovation; when interior designers start creating ‘mood boards’, little inspirational snapshots.
Wallpaper is very ‘now’, but when Rock House was built it would have been very ‘not now’ due to the punishing wallpaper tax that wasn’t repealed until two years after the house was built. It’s unlikely that any of the rooms in Rock House would have been papered – instead the walls and woodwork would have been painted the same colour. For Doc Martin fans, the sitting room would have looked rather like his green consulting room.
Purists have implored me to follow a similar scheme, but there are drawbacks. The colour palate is limited and then there are the possible dangers. In the pursuit of authenticity, for instance, the artists Gilbert and George painted the drawing room in their Queen Anne house in London’s Fournier Street with a green pigment mixed with linseed oil and lead – not for them the bother of health and safety. In fact, they say they like the smell the paint continues to give out.
Next week: On the floor.