WALL COVERINGS The materials commonly used for wall coverings are chiefly of three sorts, paper, cloth, and paint, or washes applied direct to the walls. The last method is much more gen erally used than formerly. Wall pa pers are cheaper but less durable than cloth. Suitable tints and stains in water colors and calcimine are cheaper than either, and also more durable.
Wall Papers.—Perhaps the com monest wall coverings are the wall papers of various grades, from the ordinary wood-pulp paper costing but a few cents a roll, to the highest grades of cartridge, ingrain, or duplex papers, imitations of leather, and other specialties.
Wall papers are very cheap, and anyone can readily learn how to hang them. Hence there is no reason why rooms should not be repapered as often as is necessary to keep them fresh and clean.
Wall papers are especially suitable to walls that are rough or uneven, and to walls of houses that are not suffi ciently well built. By suitable treat ment paper can be hung on almost any wall, and it assists in keeping the rooms tight and warm.
Colors and Patterns. — The plain cartridge, ingrain, or duplex papers in solid colors are the most approved and among the most satisfactory wall pa pers, especially for living rooms in general use. The absence of any pat tern or design brings out in full relief the pictures upon the walls and other ornaments, and helps to give a quiet air of luxury to the apartment. But these are somewhat more expensive than ordinary wall papers, and require a smoother wall surface and better care in hanging. The edges must be trimmed on both sides and " butted," or brought together side by side, tight enough not to show the wall between them, instead of being overlapped, as with ordinary papers. Otherwise the thickness of the paper would make a ridge which, on account of the solid color, would be plainly visible. This requires some skill, but with a little practice can be done by anyone. The edge should be trimmed with a sharp knife by means of a straightedge rather than with shears.
Next to the ingrain papers, the two toned or double-toned papers, having a subdued pattern in another shade or tint of the same color as the ground work, are preferred for the living room.
Good taste demands the selection of a paper having a comparatively small and simple design, and without large figures or striking and glaring con trasts of color. Large-figured papers deprive pictures and other ornaments of all artistic effect and make the wall, which should be merely a background, stand out obtrusively.
How to Choose Wall Paper.—The effect of wall papers cannot be well judged from small samples. Hence when possible choose from the stock itself and have two or three widths unrolled side by side to get the gen eral effect. Remember that vertical stripes make a room seem higher than it is, that large figures and dark col ors make it seem smaller, and that a simple design in natural outlines, as a landscape or flowers and foliage, has perspective and tends to give an effect of greater width. Hence it may be suitable for halls or narrow apart ments.
Figured papers in dainty patterns, as poppies, roses, or other natural blossoms, are more suitable for bed rooms than for living rooms. They can be selected to suit almost any kind of color scheme. Solid colors seem to make the walls retire; hence they give the effect of broadening and enlarging the apartment. This is especially true of the lighter shades. Mother Goose and other figured papers in suitable designs may be had for children's rooms and nurseries, imitation leather for dining rooms and halls, and water proof oilcloth papers for bathrooms, kitchens, etc.
Ceilings.—Various desirable effects may be produced in wall coverings by the treatment of the ceiling. Low rooms may be given an effect of great er height by the use of a two-toned paper in narrow, vertical stripes, car ried clear to the ceiling without a border, and by fastening the picture molding as close to the ceiling as it will go. On the other hand, rooms that are too narrow in proportion to other dimensions may be given a bet ter effect by lowering the picture molding one to two feet or more and papering up to the molding, but not above, the upper part Of the wall be ing whitewashed or calcimined in the same materials as the ceiling.