By the way, remembering our not-so-recent past, we can make sure that at critical moments in the history of the newspaper, the wallpaper could completely replace itself, and even worthless paper bills could fit in instead of them: when the country is in ruin, people lose the desire to take care of their homes, their a small country, its own little world.
But for people of the distant past, walls covered with skins and skins, papyrus and parchment, wood and straw, carpets and trellises, and even gold and silver looked much more familiar.
In ancient Assyria and Babylonia, the chambers were divided by carpets, which at the same time played the role of walls and wallpaper, and in ancient Rome silk upholstery was in great honor. Then silk as a wallpaper became very popular with the Spanish Moors, and only in the XI century the fashion for silk "paintings", and even with biblical themes, again covered the whole of Europe.
And in the XV century, the Dutch artist Van Eyck began to paint on upholstery fabrics, and this was an innovation, because before, silk intended for upholstery was immediately made with a printed pattern.
Along with silk, there were more durable leather wallpapers of different colors, sometimes trimmed with gold and silver embossing.
The homeland of paper wallpaper is China. In the X century, a way was found here to get paper. Here she began to be brightly painted and pasted over the walls. And already in the XIII century, "patterned" paper appeared in Russia. Around the sixteenth century, paper wallpapers came from China to Europe, but lazy and inexperienced European inhabitants called them Indian, because they could not clearly imagine where India and where China, but rightly believed that both countries were very exotic ... At that time, only rich Europeans could afford paper “Indian” wallpapers.
In Europe, the “wallpaper business” became the master painter. In winter, he painted sheets of paper for the future for the template, and in the summer he could only tirelessly fulfill orders. Later, the process itself became akin to engraving or making popular prints. The manufacture of wallpaper could no longer do without an artist making a sketch and a woodcarver who cut out printing forms — models that were commonly called manners in Russia. Since each paint had its own model, the wallpaper was printed in several steps, and if the sketch was complex and multicolored, then up to several hundred printing forms could be required. Of course, such wallpapers were still expensive. And only at the turn of the XVIII - XIX centuries.the process was mechanized: at the beginning it was decided to make paper in rolls, and later to drive it into the printing press.
In the first half of the XIX century. in fashion there were picture wallpapers that copied the canvases of famous artists or made according to their sketches, and such familiar to us wallpapers with a repeating rhythmic pattern became widespread only in the second half of the 19th century. Millions of consumers have discovered their cheapness and even some magical power: visually expand the space, raise the ceiling, etc.
The production of paper wallpaper fell into flux, but silk wallpaper was still valued. The few preserved examples of them still delight our eyes in the old estates of Moscow, St. Petersburg, other cities and suburbs.
The luxurious silk of the Petrodvorets, barbarously destroyed during the war by the Nazis, was again restored by the painstaking labor of restorers, and the tiny restoration workshop in Moscow to this day is working on the restoration of ancient designs, preserving the technology that has been tested for centuries. According to the latest press reports, things in the workshop are declining — there is no money. It’s a paradox, but for some reason, when the country is reborn (as all the same media assure us), people have a desire to cherish their world, but the desire to cherish the country disappears ...
And in the interiors of our houses, more and more ordinary wallpapers are being replaced by fashionable foam paper, silk-screened prints, self-adhesive and washable wallpapers - European-quality repair, European standard ...
But, you must admit, living in a standard housing, with standard wallpaper, with standard the furnitureBy dressing as standard, we kill the ability to express ourselves creatively in ourselves. Meanwhile, there are many ways to make the walls of your home original with minimal material costs.
Where to begin?
The so-called photowall-paper has been in fashion for several years now, and it’s not difficult to imitate their resemblance at home. If you have accumulated a variety of wall calendars with vivid pictures, they can be used to create stylish collages. In this work, color illustrations from old magazines, postcards and other illustrative material will not be superfluous. Perhaps these collages will seem to you too bold for a city apartment, but then you can start transforming in the country, and if you like this idea, develop it in "winter apartments".
So, according to all known recipes, we cook starch paste. The wall over which you have to "witchcraft", free from scraps of old wallpaper, if necessary - a little clean up the skin. We analyze all available illustrated material by topic.
So that when the image does not warp when dried, you need to immediately take a number of measures. Firstly, the paste must be applied evenly over the entire area of the glued picture, and, applying it to the wall, thoroughly smooth it with a soft cloth, removing excess glue so that they do not bubble. Secondly, during all work and drying, you can not open the windows, so as not to cause a draft, otherwise all the beauties can literally slide into a tube and fall off before your eyes.
African jungle game
Numerous calendars with floral arrangements look very colorful. With their help, you can create a complete imitation of the African jungle or a fabulous arbor of the botanical garden. To do this, cut the top of the pictures along the outline of the flowers. We start gluing from the top of the wall in rows, gradually dropping down. The top of each new row should be slightly located on the bottom of the previous one, then you will get a solid "flower field". In some places it can be slightly “revived” by adding to the resulting drawing the fierce faces of tigers, leopards, panthers, images of parrots, exotic butterflies, which can easily be found in the binder of old magazines such as “Young Naturalist”, “Around the World”, etc. d.
The rigor of architectural forms
The riot of colors and forms of African flora and fauna can be balanced by the rigor of another wall: architecture and tourism lovers can create their own “masterpiece”, the components of which will be the greatest buildings in the world.Views of the Moscow Kremlin and the Coliseum, the Taj Mahal and Notre Dame Cathedral can be adjacent to one wall ... And not only calendars, but also tourist brochures and booklets will be used.
Corner of Russia
Fans of native history can limit themselves to the views of old Russian cities, and then it is very harmoniously possible to supplement them with images of handicrafts, views of our nature. And you can devote your collage exclusively to crafts and crafts or nature. On the eve of the holiday, it’s not difficult to “ward off” the composition for the 850th anniversary of the capital, gathering its various landscapes on one wall, you can “patch up” the local historian to glorify any other city of ours, fortunately, we have thousands of them and each is beautiful in its own way. Using Aeroflot calendars and booklets, it makes sense to create an “ode” to our aviation ...
For lovers of female beauty
Fans and collectors of calendars with images of film stars and oriental beauties, sticking them on the wall, can diversify this “flower garden" by placing flowers cut along the contour at the joints of the pictures, even if only from postcards. And if you “sculpt” a wall where beach beauties in a bikini dominate, it is appropriate to supplement it with carved fish, corals, shells, also glued to the joints of pictures. Such details will be, as it were, the connecting links of the whole composition.
Volumetric details may originally look in such a composition - “put on” real beauties earrings, sunglasses, “tie” light scarves or bows.
If you are a restorer at heart ...
If you do not want to completely abandon the traditional wallpaper and if you like those that have been decorating the walls for more than a year, but you would like to only slightly renovate them, you can try to mask unsightly places. To do this, glue them with pictures selected to your taste. The roll of wallpaper lying around in the pantry will now come in handy: we cut out several fragments from it (flower inflorescences, twigs, leaves) and stick them at the joints of the “patch” pictures. Now both wallpapers and pictures will look like a single composition.
Almost like in the Tretyakov Gallery
Wallpaper with a simple pattern can be "ennobled" in a very unusual way. Now on sale you can find calendars with pictures of paintings in rich old frames, often such masterpieces are printed on the pages of magazines. Cut the paintings along the contour of the frames and paste them into the scatter on the dull wallpaper. For the same purpose, you can use simply reproductions of your favorite paintings, and create and cut the frames yourself from suitable paper.
Masonry Charm
For decades, the fashion for wallpaper "under the brick" has survived. In the past, when it was not easy to get them, there were originals that “erected the masonry” by hand: row after row of paper with plain plain rectangles glued onto the wallpaper with an abstract nondescript pattern. Of course, this work requires a lot of patience; it is nevertheless easier than labor to make real brickwork.
In the same way, you can imitate a stone mosaic using oval pieces of colored paper for it.
By the way, now that you won’t surprise anyone with “brick” wallpapers, you can add a “plaque of antiquity” to them using calendars with images of archaeological and antique values. An antique helmet, gold and silver jewelry, dishes, beads and coins, caskets and swords, maps and plans of ancient cities, their coats of arms ...
"Window" into the world of dreams
Looks good on "brick" wallpaper, and not only on them, a false window. We take a large calendar sheet with a landscape, a view of a large tree branch or a panorama of the city, stick it on the wall, and then surround it with a semblance of a window frame, using the subtree wallpaper. If desired, you can even imitate curtains here. A good mood, which inevitably arises when seeing a landscape that is dear to your heart, is guaranteed to you!
"Grandmother's Stuff" and the tree
The followers of the folk style may like the various finishes in the patchwork mosaic technique.Rhombuses, "wells", "stars" and other favorite patchwork motifs made of colored paper or even bright prints will decorate the kitchen walls, and even all kinds of auxiliary doors and cabinets. Only if they are made of fabric, they need to be glued not on a paste, but on some more solid composition.
Recently, it has become very fashionable to wall the walls with environmentally friendly material - wood. “Lining” in the house is now an ordinary occurrence. A tree in combination with the same chintz looks much more unusual. For this, a material with a medium-sized floral pattern, the so-called "grandmother's screen", is suitable. We paste over the walls with the help of the bustilate, and then horizontally, with large gaps, we fill on the walls the boards treated with stain, preferably even with planed ends. A chintz looking into the gaps will give an unusual flavor to the whole room, add coziness. From now on driving a nail into the wall will not be difficult for you.
Freshly looked in the kitchen and the walls, decorated with rounds of wooden saw cuts. You can place them at a solid distance from each other, and if you bring them closer to each other, you get the effect of woodpile.
In the process, we note that in concrete houses where nailing is a big problem, corks made of real cork wood can be very useful. We cut them with a sharp knife into round pieces 0.5–1 cm thick and glue the “Moment” type glue on the walls. Such fixtures using pins or buttons they will hold paper, postcards, souvenir pennants, etc.
The magic of mirrors
We have all long since discovered the magical ability of a mirror to expand space. But mirrored walls can do a disservice to your guests, who are pretty sat up at the festive table, when they, finally getting ready to go home, inadvertently “rush” into the “fifth dimension”, treacherously reflected by the mirror ... And yet, in small quantities, the mirrors give a beautiful decorative the effect.
To verify this, you need to stock up on a small number of mirrors of different sizes and shapes. They can be extracted from women's cosmetic accessories already used for applying “war paint” - various boxes, cases, powder boxes, etc. All the mirrors, and they can be square, rectangular, round and oval, are lubricated on the back with reliable glue and pressed to the wall surface, at a certain distance from each other. Square mirrors can be glued obliquely, giving them the shape of diamonds.
In general, “mirror spots” on the wall can create some kind of symmetrical pattern, or they can simply be scattered randomly. But in any case, they will create an unusual effect, repeatedly reflecting reality, and the sun's rays will literally "swim" in your apartment. This decoration also looks good in the bathroom, but only the glue on which the mirrors are mounted should then be waterproof.
"Star Bouquet"
And the last advice to those who are not superstitious: if your guests nevertheless "did not fit" into the modest dimensions of the hallway and instead of a smart mirror wall you only have a pile of fragments left, create a fantastic bouquet from them.
Typically, the fragments have an acute triangular shape. For the core of the "flower", select a more or less rounded shard and stick it to the wall. Around this detail we have 7-8 sharp fragments of "petals", and our "star flower" is ready. We make its stem from small fragments, pasting them with a dashed line one after another, and the “leaves” are also from the sharpest and largest fragments. "Star bouquet" will become an additional source of light in your apartment.
We hope that our tips will awaken your desire for everyday life, and write to us about new ideas that occurred to you during this fascinating activity.