Wallcovering

Wallpaper on Coffered Ceiling

Wallpaper can be traced back to 200BC when the Chinese, inventors of paper itself, pasted rice paper on their walls. Modern-style wallpaper, with block designs in continuous patterns, was developed in 1675 by the French engraver, Jean Papillon.

Wallpaper gained popularity in Renaissance Europe amongst the emerging gentry. The elite of society were accustomed to hanging large tapestries on the walls of their homes, a tradition from the Middle Ages. These tapestries added colour to the room as well as providing an insulating layer between the stone walls and the room, thus retaining heat in the room. However, tapestries were extremely expensive and so only the very rich could afford them. Less well-off members of the elite, unable to buy tapestries due either to prices or wars preventing international trade, turned to wallpaper to brighten up their rooms. Early wallpaper featured scenes similar to those depicted on tapestries, and large sheets of the paper were hung loose on the walls, in the style of tapestries. Wallpaper became very popular in England following Henry VIII's excommunication from the Catholic Church. Unable to import tapestries and without any tapestry manufacturers in England, English gentry and aristocracy alike turned to wallpaper. By the mid-eighteenth century, Britain was the leading wallpaper manufacturer in Europe, exporting vast quantities to Europe in addition to selling on the middle-class British market.

Textured Wallcovering In The Kitchen

The development of steam-powered printing presses in Britain in 1813 allowed manufacturers to mass-produce wallpaper, reducing its price and so making it affordable to working-class people. Wallpaper enjoyed a huge boom in popularity in the nineteenth century, seen as a cheap and very effective way of brightening up cramped and dark rooms in working-class areas. By the early twentieth century, wallpaper had established itself as one of the most popular household items across the Western world.

At ENV Enterprises each of our installers is trained to remove or install the wallcovering right at the first time.