Page:Cyclopedia of Painting-Armstrong, George D (1908).djvu/295

Rh living room should present. A bedroom should always be papered with a cheerful design, and geometrical figures be avoided as far as possible.

In choosing a paper for a hall or staircase, or any room or apartment which is somewhat bare in appearance or devoid of furniture, it is always well to select a hanging of bold design and somewhat vivid coloring. Conversely a room full of furniture, especially if small and with many pictures on the walls, would be wholly spoilt by a bold design. During the last few years there has been a distinct tendency toward employing papers with little or no pattern at all, ingrains are much in vogue. These papers are dyed in the process of manufacturing instead of being grounded or treated with the distemper color on the surface, as is usual with ordinary wall papers. An excellent effect is produced in decorating a room with such a plain ingrain, especially if a good bold frieze is employed to form a finish, and take away from the bare effect. The objections to ingrains, however, is that they are very apt to lose their color, and also that they are very difficult to hang, as they are almost like blotting paper in texture, and they rapidly absorb the moisture from the paste. For many purposes an ingrain paper or its equivalent, having printed upon it a very small set design, produces good results. In selecting papers it should be remembered that it is not necessary to pay a high price in order to get good designs.

Having made a selection of the paper, the next thing to be done is to cut off one or more of the margins. This is readily done by means of scissors or a trimmer. In some wall-paper shops will be found a machine by which the selvedge or margins may be rapidly removed, and in some cases the paper may be purchased already trimmed, which, of course, saves a good deal of trouble. It must be remembered, however, that the wall-paper manufacturer left the selvedge on for a definite purpose, to protect the body of the paper, and that without it there is a likelihood of the