Making a Georgian-style print room

[JoceAndChris]

Many thanks to Gareth for this lovely idea. Some modern Print Rooms:
http://www.hollymooreinteriors.com/printRooms.htm

This is taken from an American website:

"The English Print Room found it's origins in Great Britain around 1750 and was popular until about 1800.

Beginning as an amateur past time, ladies would gather together for tea and instead of picking up needlework, they would pick up their scissors and cut out paper frames and decorative embellishments such as bows, chains and ribbons in order to frame out and construct a Print Room. However, some ladies personal ambitions for a Print Room were outweighed by their time or expertise in constructing their own design at which point professional artisans such as royal cabinetmaker, Benjamin Goodison, or famed cabinetmaker, Thomas Chippendale would have been called in to "Put Up" a Print Room for some of the great home of the day. Only a handful of original Print Rooms survive today but there were many others recorded and others simply lost over the years."

As far as I'm aware there's no company in this country to install one for you, not that I could afford one anyway. I'm also struggling to find many examples in this country.

After the fire at Uppark they reconstructed a Print Room, personally I think it's a bit busy:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-uppark/w-uppark-photo_gallery.htm

Apparently there's also one in Bristol's Red Lodge (I can't find any images online); has anyone seen it?

Anyway a few quick questions -
1) anyone know of any free software I can use to plot the dimensions of the walls and the groupings?
2) What should I use as glaze to paint over the top of the images?
3)Joss' book of decorative borders has been wonderful , but there aren't any of the decorative hanging sections. Anyone know where I can get them, short of having them sent from America? Like these ones: http://printrooms.estoreadvanced.biz/index.php?p=product&id=49&parent=8

 

[AMc]

1) anyone know of any free software I can use to plot the dimensions of the walls and the groupings?

If you want to work in 3D and build a 3D room, then take a look at Google Sketchup which is very powerful but if you follow a couple of tutorials will allow you to make basic accurate 'rooms'. You don't need a particularly powerful computer either. You basically draw the floor plan then pull the walls up to height with the mouse - then cut windows and doors out. You can bring in external images to apply to surfaces though you may have to be creative to get multiple images at the right size on the walls. I also had problems getting sensible effects for wall coverings and colours and gave up in the end.
http://sketchup.google.com/

If you only want to work in 2D and plan each wall, then I would either look at Adobe Photoshop elements which is good, but costs and requires decent computing power or a free equivalent called GIMP. The advantage of GIMP software is pretty self evident, the disadvantage can be that the help and tutorials may be harder to follow. http://www.gimp.org/screenshots/

If you do the 2D thing then you could probably reuse the images in 3D - you could also print them out and make an actual model with cardboard, scissors etc.

I built a 3D model of my house using Sketchup based on the plans for our conversion which was really helpful in making decisions about layout, less so about the interior design.

You could also do it with paper and cutouts then take digital pictures

 

[Nigel Watts]

Interesting pictures of Uppark. My only visit there was before the fire. I agree that the print room is rather fussy.

You could varnish over the prints but I am not sure what it would look like or what it would do to the wall colour. Perhaps you should do a trial first on a piece of board. Any varnish you use should be a high quality, ultra clear one eg Craig & Rose. Whether matt or satin would look best I am not sure. Gloss is probably best avoided. Even matt varnish has a sheen of sorts.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

No need to varnish the prints. Joce, do you mean that you want a motif of chains that hang pictures--- see if you can find that thread where I gave you the name of the print room borders.-- sorry ,bit of a hurry this evening hope you can find it

 

[Nigel Watts]

The quality of the paper on which the prints are printed is something you may need to think about. Cheap paper normally has a high acid content and is prone to yellowing if exposed to air and light.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks everyone -that's very helpful. I'll try to figure out Google Sketchup.

Joss- I went back to that PM and found one more book that I don't yet have, so I'll try that one- thanks! I have the borders, but need pieces to
"embellish the design with delicately cut out decorative pieces such as garlands, bows and rings. The groupings are connected with ribbons, chains and ropes."

It's the ropes I particularly want.

The glaze, or varnish, apparently stops the prints lifting off the wall. I didn't think I'd paint the entire wall with varnish, just very carefully to go over the prints and decorative sections once they're up.

Thanks for the tips about the paper Nigel.

 

[FamilyWiggs]

You can get acid free paper for mounting/conserving things - presumably this could be printed onto? Likewise you'll need to be careful about the printing ink Joce - cheap stuff fades quickly (but I guess everything fades in time)

 

[Penners]

anyone know of any free software I can use to plot the dimensions of the walls and the groupings?

Joce - in view of the steep learning curve for 3D drawing programmes, I suggest working in 2D.

Here's a straightforward vector drawing programme for free: http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/software/drawplus/

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Penners I look forward to exploring that.

The main thing about the paper is that it should be substantial. What's acid free paper like?

Back then they had ink which lasted much better I believe.

Well - anyway - if I like it but it all disintegrates after a couple of years I can recreate it. The main cost is on things like curtains, wallpaper, paint - the actual images will probably only cost me £30 - a tenner for Vitruvius Britannicus and then the cost of photocopying.

I'd happily have spent more on the images and bought high quality prints but it proved too difficult, as the wall size dictates their size if that makes sense - and you can't just use a random collection of sizes, it's all got to be carefully worked out with very precise measurements. Add to that I need around 50 images that match eachother, not a hotchpotch if different subjects.

 

[JoceAndChris]

At last it's work in progress, so some pics.

There was no way to find out how it would look short of doing it and seeing. I tried with Google sketch up, but it didn't look nice on the computer screen with those stylised graphics so I quickly gave up. At least I have some idea of how to use that for other things though, so thanks for the tip.

The images are a mixture of photocopies I've made at home on good quality paper and proper antique prints off Ebay. The theme is all architectural, but I'm wildly tempted to break out into animals next to the bathroom, which is sort of a separate room.

I'd have been lost in this project without our wonderful Gareth Hughes.BTW, was there really a windmill near Stamford in 1812?

 

[Gareth Hughes]

BTW, was there really a windmill near Stamford in 1812?

Base is still there, converted into a garage, on Windmill Way, off Empingham Road.

And, aw, shucks, I'm blushing now

 

[thornlea]

That looks stunning! I love the way that the black and white prints contrast with the lovely deep colour of the walls. The colour is very similar to that of our sitting room - Beavais cream by craig and rose. Your pics make me want to tear up our horrible red carpet in the hall and get some prints up on the walls.

Jon

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Jon, that's sweet of you. Local prints in the hall is always a winner.
But is your red carpet so bad? I need a red carpet.

BTW, was there really a windmill near Stamford in 1812?

Base is still there, converted into a garage, on Windmill Way, off Empingham Road.

And, aw, shucks, I'm blushing now

You look lovely blushing! Thanks for telling me about the windmill, I'll look at the base next time I'm there. Somehow I never noticed it as a teenager, probably because the crule housemistresses kept me locked in the boarding house next to the Welland, a long way from Empingham Road.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. Well done, it looks as though it's always been there.

 

[Moo]

And so say all of us!



Will you come and stay and do one for me?

 

[Flyfisher]

That looks wonderful Joce. Oh how I long for the day when we can start decorating instead of constantly repairing things. I'll know where to go for some inspiration.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks everyone. It's not finished yet, still needs a lot of tweaking, and I might pull it all down, repaint, and start again, as it's not as nice as the ones in my book. But your comments are very kind. xxxxxx

 

[Flyfisher]

Well, if that's an example of something you're not too happy with then you'd be most welcome to use our place as a blank canvas to practice a bit more. :wink:

 

[JoceAndChris]

:lol: I'd love to get some wax into those floorboards of yours, imagine how they'd look! And your Georgian drawing room.... oh....

But going back to your earlier point of how you wish you could be decorating and not repairing, there's a very diffent scale between your house and mine! You made the brave decision to rescue an important house from the brink of ruin, whereas the previous owner here has to take the credit for rescuing this little cottage from near-dereliction. I can't compare my pootlings about in the world of decorating period properties to what you're doing. And there is structural work to be done here, but we've both decided we hate doing it, so will just pay tradesmen as and when. Fortunately it won't affect the interior ground floor, with any luck.

Your house is amazing just the way it is anyhow.

 

[Schoolmarm]

:mrgreen: You have a wonderful eye for colour and design. I think you may have missed your true calling as an interior designer. :mrgreen: