Wallpapers

[Pford75]

Looking for suggestions on wallpaper for the Dining Room. It's South facing and lovely and light and we'd like to keep it that way....not looking for dark colours. We were considering something along the Chinoiserie lines, but can't decide if we could tolerate an entire room like that.

Current favourites are:-

http://www.tangletree-interiors.co....ood/paper-jewellery/paper-jewellery-86-11040/
http://www.tangletree-interiors.co.uk/wallpaper/cole-and-son/a-collection-of-flowers/egerton/
http://www.tangletree-interiors.co.uk/wallpaper/gp-j-baker/emperors-garden/chinese-bridges/
http://www.tangletree-interiors.co.uk/wallpaper/gp-j-baker/emperors-garden/oriental-tree/

Comments welcome (polite ones preferred :wink: )

Any other recommendations of good online wallpaper sources also welcome

 

[ilona73]

i posted this site last night as it offers great discounts on wonderful wallcoverings they have everything from little green to cole &son to zoffany, jane churchill and too many to mention, i have to admit to using them a lot in my line of work as their customer service i have found second to none.
I will have a look a little later when i ahve time and see if i can find a few other alternatives for you.


www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk

 

[ilona73]

i posted this site last night as it offers great discounts on wonderful wallcoverings they have everything from little green to cole &son to zoffany, jane churchill and too many to mention, i have to admit to using them a lot in my line of work as their customer service i have found second to none.
I will have a look a little later when i ahve time and see if i can find a few other alternatives for you.


http://www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk

okay off the top of my head how about Paul montgomery designs???

http://www.paulmontgomery.com/WallpaperCollections/ChinoiserieCollection/ChinoiserieCollectionGallery/tabid/69/Default.aspx

chinese wallpaper company

http://www.chinese-wallpaper.com/chinese-wallpaper/english/products_show/products_show.html

 

[Pford75]

Thanks Ilona - Most grateful

Any thoughts from your educated eye on the samples we currently have shortlisted?

 

[JoceAndChris]

I love your taste Pford. They're all lovely, but my favourite is the third with the bridges. I'd combine it with flashes of dark, terracotta orange in things like lampshades and curtains for warmth.

ilona, those chinoiserie examples are superb. But I have not found how the panelling that borders them is achieved, other than by a)commissioning a joiner b) plasticy mouldings companies.

 

[ilona73]

Thanks Ilona - Most grateful

Any thoughts from your educated eye on the samples we currently have shortlisted?

hehe

the first one you posted just comes up with a vast array of kids dinosaurs and such so i guess that was not intended?

The first one cole and son to me looks a little flat and something you could get almost anywhere ( not to belittle it in any way but i am sure you knw what i am talking about... its not too dissimilar to something you could get at say next monsoon or laura ashley etc.. and for the price of it i am not too sure it would be a good investment )not as striking at the emperors garden collection/ bridges by gp and j baker.
Oriental tree one again is lovely ... but if you are doing it all around the room could tend to cast an overcast light and make the room dark on a cloudy day no matter how much light you have and how well it rebounds the light around the room due to its silk effect. this will be due to the brown undertones in the minkyness of the paper. would work well if combined with a plainer paper/paint and just used as a feature wall or couple of walls alcoves etc?
But so far my vote goes for the oriental bridges... its lovely... light and has a lighter undertone so will only accentuate the natural light in the room and could be used all around it with no problems.
hope this helps a little...
basically ... if you are going for anything with a pinky brown undertone think carefully about how it will affect your light situation in the room if you are going to use it all around.. if unsure go for a lighter tone on tone paper which will accentuate the light available .
Shimmering papers only tend to work to their full potential when they are a lighter shade to begin with... on a dull day although they still shimmer they can cast darker tones around the room which will close in around you!

 

[ilona73]

Joce panelling borders can normally be bought from places like the big B &Q superstores.. you will find them in the door mouldings section generally in B and Q i think they are made by Paul Burridge and tend to be pine but i think you might also be able to pick them up on ebay..... generally around £20 for 4.
My borther in law generally does anything like that for me so i guess i am very lucky to have him! he just costs me a fortune in bacon sandwiches!

 

[Pford75]

Thanks to both of you...I agree with the comments on the Cole & Son paper being a little bland. Mrs F prefers the Bridges and I prefer the Oriental Tree one. We might look to paper one wall in something like these and then choose something more muted or perhaps even limewash the remaining walls?

Any thoughts on this and what colours would go with either the blueish Bridges or the taupe/gold Oriental tree?

 

[ilona73]

http://www.beauchampinteriors.com/sp_chinoiserie.htm
http://www.degournay.com/
http://www.sarahhardaker.co.uk/wallcoverings_2.htm

 

[ilona73]

Thanks to both of you...I agree with the comments on the Cole & Son paper being a little bland. Mrs F prefers the Bridges and I prefer the Oriental Tree one. We might look to paper one wall in something like these and then choose something more muted or perhaps even limewash the remaining walls?

Any thoughts on this and what colours would go with either the blueish Bridges or the taupe/gold Oriental tree?

the best advice i can give you when starting out to do a room is to create your very own mood board..

take samples of everything you have in the room already that is staying via photograph stick them all onto a pin board alongside your wallpaper sample... when adding them to your board start from the floor up...
so at the bottom of your board is the floor colour... then add in your wall paper and then to the side any other pictures of furniture and fabric for curtains etc.. it helps to build up a picture of your room that you can always relate back to and refer to .From whatever paper you decide to chose... pick out two or three colours from it and use those as your contrast... Try to steer away from over complicating your design with more colours.... a well planned design generally has no more than 4 colours to the entire room in differing shades/tones

Hope this helps you a little and i can't wait to see what you come up with... in the meantime i have added a couple more sites of chinoiserie just to give you food for thought and maybe a little inspiration?

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Pford, My preference would be Chinese Bridges, more suited to a dining room I think. Are you going to paper the whole room or just the chimney breast?

I tend to think that this latest fashion for wall paper is quite tricky, it can 'close a room' in and detract from furniture and pictures.

 

[ilona73]

Pford, My preference would be Chinese Bridges, more suited to a dining room I think. Are you going to paper the whole room or just the chimney breast?

I tend to think that this latest fashion for wall paper is quite tricky, it can 'close a room' in and detract from furniture and pictures.

Patterned wallpapers now matter how large a room if done on all walls can close a room in around you which was why i said the same paper as you for the reasons you stated too great minds eh Jocelyn.... fancy doing my job for me for a bit ?? i could do with 6 months off !!

 

[Pford75]

Thanks again. We've done the mood board thing for other rooms...this is a little more challenging since we are starting with nothing (no furniture, no lights, no curtains). Will keep you updated on progress and post some pics as things take shape.

 

[Nigel Watts]

chinese wallpaper company

http://www.chinese-wallpaper.com/chines ... _show.html

These are heavenly. Personally I like this full-on chinoisere look best. What fun one could have imitating a room from somewhere like the Bighton Pavillion!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Ilona, Interior Finishes for Period Properties formed my post teaching career!!


I'll swop, your part of the world probably has some really interesting houses to work on!!! Round here has changed considerably with agressive advertising by the well known stores in and around MK. Every time I open Estate Agents details I see the same kit form style in houses from Period to Modern grrrrrrrrr.

Also, during our 5 year absence from Mid Beds, two shops have opened in our little Market Town, one is very good, revolving around pattern matching, wooden floors etc and paint colours. I think that they have tuned into the local homeowners quite well. The second shop is very exclusive, and, I am told, very standoffish, offering Cole and Son, Watts of Westminster etc and adding a huge commission to the goodies.!!

I have also noticed a distinct disregard for authentic refurbishment of our main street Grade 11 listed buildings, and trying to break down that barrier means working with, and through, a sympathetic Developer --- unheard of around here.

Sorry if I sound cynical, but that seems to be the way things are going and I dont' think I have the energy to 'go convert' .!

 

[ilona73]

Ilona, Interior Finishes for Period Properties formed my post teaching career!!


I'll swop, your part of the world probably has some really interesting houses to work on!!! Round here has changed considerably with agressive advertising by the well known stores in and around MK. Every time I open Estate Agents details I see the same kit form style in houses from Period to Modern grrrrrrrrr.

Also, during our 5 year absence from Mid Beds, two shops have opened in our little Market Town, one is very good, revolving around pattern matching, wooden floors etc and paint colours. I think that they have tuned into the local homeowners quite well. The second shop is very exclusive, and, I am told, very standoffish, offering Cole and Son, Watts of Westminster etc and adding a huge commission to the goodies.!!

I have also noticed a distinct disregard for authentic refurbishment of our main street Grade 11 listed buildings, and trying to break down that barrier means working with, and through, a sympathetic Developer --- unheard of around here.

Sorry if I sound cynical, but that seems to be the way things are going and I dont' think I have the energy to 'go convert' .!

I have to tend to agree with you even the people i visit living in period properties most of them are sheep and just want the latest trend and look at me like i have two heads when i suggest taking a step back and going to "period" decor instead... ohh no its browns creams and straight clean lines that have no interest in my opinion the even funnier thing is i find most people don't even have a clue of what they even like let alone anything else!
I do some consultancy work as a sideline for a few companies as well as taking on private commissions myself when i have time ..I just wish people would find their own style instead of following a current trend... if they did that i know i might be out of a job etc but heck i am sure we would more interesting surroundings to admire instead of everyones homes looking the same inside and out... thats sterile uber clean lines with everything made from bloody mdf and no real wood or what i call decent furniture to be seen!

Grrrrrrrrr

Rant over!!

 

[jocelyn plummer]

You are right, the key is 'to follow your own style'. !!

 

[JoceAndChris]

most of them are sheep

Mmm. People are very nervous about colour, about wallpaper, about getting it wrong. A bland, muted interior saves making hard choices. And yet, when you look at our ancestors, there was a riot of colour and exuberant style- so what happened?

Is it that, in having more and more freedom over the bigger aspects of our lives since the cultural revolution of the 60s we seek restraint and confinement in choices of style? Or is it that female education, which used to focus so usefully on the decorative (embroidery, watercolour painting), now has poor young things languishing over the periodic table or economic models and leaving school without any awareness of colour or composition?

 

[Flyfisher]

so what happened?

TV makeover programmes?

 

[ilona73]

so what happened?

TV makeover programmes?

anne Maurice has a lot to answer for i call her the californian bleached bimbo... because essentially she wants you to bleach your home into neutral palettes! bleach out the colour, bleach out your personality...!!
In fact don't breath because you will make the house look untidy!!

Seriously though i think partially its because at schools more emphasis is put on hard academic subjects and not so much on the the artistic side. Art is just not as popular so children arent taught colour, contrast, tone, hint, shade etc,.... so this leads them to be socially unaware and bambboozled when they eventually hit the big world and god forbid have their own place to live they just feel swamped and so follow what everyone else has without even stopping to think if they actually like it or not. The amount of people i see , one of the first things i ask is .. what are your favourite colours... normally i get a "i am not too sure a few i quite like but i dont know if i have a favourite" people are just too wary of looking silly if they get it wrong .. but there really is no right and wrong its purely subjective getting them to take a leap is another matter lol.
Generally when i come up with a few ideas they will really love at least one of them..... even if i have chosen colours they haven't necessarily thought about which i always do.. i do one in a favourite colour if they have one using everything they say they like but dont know how to put together , one similar but using my own intuition on my impression of their home and them and then what i call a wild card which is something a little different and normally bolder than they would dare to go.... ironically most people love the one they thought they would hate!
Very amusing!