If you want a new look for your room, and you want more than “just painting,” consider the beauty of wallpaper. After all, if you think of wallpaper as clothing for your walls, you will soon realize that there are endless possibilities in this versatile wallcovering.
With just a short time at your local home improvement store, you will soon discover that the wallpaper options available today range in price from very low to downright outrageous. And when it comes to patterns, colors and quality, you could spend several days looking at everything out there and still not find exactly what you want, simply because the options are so varied.
But what is it about this wallcovering that has kept it going for years? For some it is the elegance it offers with just a little work, for others it is a form of work of art, and for others it is a way of combining all the colors in the room into a single focal point. With the many ways that wallpaper is used today, one has to wonder if the inventors of wallpaper had any idea that what began as a way to duplicate hand-painted walls will still exist centuries later. Consider these interesting facts about the origins of wallpaper.
- Wallpaper was first used in China in 200 BC. As the Chinese transmitted this knowledge to other cultures, the uses and methods of making paper improved with each generation and other cultures added their own keys.
- In 1841 Jean Bourdichon painted 50 rolls of paper with angels on a blue background for Louis XI of France. The paper was used to decorate their various residences. Others of the elite soon began hiring painters to create these wallpaper wall coverings for them.
- The oldest known pieces of European wallpaper still in existence date back to 1509 and were found in the rafters of the Lodge of Christ’s College in Cambridge, England.
- In 1675, Jean-Michel Papillon, began making block designs in identical and repeating patterns on rolls of paper and wallpaper as we know it today was born.
- Americans began using wallpaper in 1739, when it was introduced by the Philadelphia printer, Plunket Fleeson.
- In 1778, Louis XVI issued a decree that required the length of a roll of wallpaper to be about 34 feet.
- Wallpaper gluing machines were invented at the beginning of the 20th century.
- During the 1920s, nearly 400 million rolls of wallpaper were sold, resulting in the decade being called the Golden Age of Wallpaper.
- After World War II, the wallpaper was enhanced with plastic resins that made it more durable, washable and resistant to stains.
- The Professional Paper Changers Guild of America started in 1974.
Wallpaper has definitely come a long way since it was painted by hand. Today, technology has added to its durability, design and uses. So if you are looking for a new look for a room, grab a few to see a wallpaper.
