Seasonal Wallpaper, Summer Wall Decor

Seasonal Wallpaper, Summer Wall Decor

The walls are our first consideration in seasonal decorating. If the wallpaper is in good condition, it may need only a thorough wiping down with a clean cloth and with dry bread around the squares where the pictures have been removed. In case the wallpaper is faded but still intact on the walls, it may be covered with a coat of wash tint. This comes under many trade names and in very good shades, and leaves a smooth, clean, fresh surface, and is the most economical means of renovating.

If the walls are to be re-wallpapered, choose a cool summer color, such as gray or a soft tan. Striped wallpaper are excellent for this use; they come in a great variety of stripes and tones and at reasonable prices. Narrow black stripes on a gray or buff background make a charming and cool sidewall. When care is taken to select a stripe that is in proportion to the size of the room, a striking but not bizarre effect is attained.

Old English pattern wallpaper showing blackbirds and flowers on a white background is one of the most interesting of the figured line. Granted that the woodwork is white, the moldings of the door and window casings may be striped in black. The greatest care should be taken that this treatment is not overdone; it would require the judgment of a decorator to get just the proper proportion of black and white. The entire door trim may be painted black, but this, I believe, would be less successful than the striping.

Among other cool suggestions there comes for the dining room blue and buff striped wallpaper, and for bedrooms, lavender and gray. Chintz wallpaper are always suggestive of summer rooms. Used in conjunction with a plain white wainscot, chintz wallpaper are at their best, especially when the hangings and upholstery are confined to one or two tones.

An interesting summer bedroom can be done in a light lavender wall and woodwork of lemon color, the tones, of course, being delicate. To this add one or two notes of deeper lavender to keep the scheme from becoming insipid. In such a room one would use wicker furniture dyed lavender with vari-flowered chintz coverings repeating the tones of the walls and woodwork. Another cool color scheme is gray and white, and, to offset it, mulberry here and there. With black and white may also be used a very little vivid orange and a very little blue-green.

Next Page: Summer Rugs.