How Does Wallpaper Work?

Wallpaper or Wallpapers?

Wallpaper remains a favorite domestic decorative tool five centuries after it was first used in homes. Early wallpaper was better described as wallpapers--large or small sheets of paper, parading the printer's artistry, either hung like expensive cloth tapestries or pasted to walls. Wallpaper from each century reflects the changing technology of printing. The first wallpapers were wood-block prints and grew popular both as a way to decorate interior spaces and make them slightly less drafty.

19th Century Wallpaper

Wallpaper progressed from small sheets to larger ones as printing technology progressed. From wood-block prints to sharply detailed lithographed and engraved papers, from small hand presses to large mechanized ones, wallpaper remained a source of pride to printers and designers. By the 19th century, large-scale production attracted some of the best artists of the day. David Ruskin and William Morris applied the same Pre-Raphaelite aims to wallpaper as to all kinds of home furnishings.
Their efforts to "lighten" Victorian houses, both visually and physically, still produced houses full of furniture and decorated surfaces. Wallpapers reflected both exotic and natural life forms, story-telling tableaux and decorative elements such as Indian paisley forms.

Wallpaper Today

Modern wallpaper comes in an enormous number of prints, solids, textures, reflective qualities, and colors. Like its ancestors, it is affixed to walls with paste. Papers can be purchased pre-pasted, which can make application easier. Papers also come in a variety of water-resistant and even water-proof materials. The beautiful designs of modern wallpaper still reflect the best and newest values of the printing trade. While they no longer function mostly to keep out drafts, they lend another kind of warmth and beauty to our homes.