Designed by Philip Webb and completed in 1894 as a summer house for the Beale family, Standen is probably the most intact Arts & Crafts dwelling in the United Kingdom and one of the most popular National Trust sites. The original owners lavished the walls with Morris & Co. papers , including areas normally only seen by servants; notably, ‘Mallow’, a Kate Faulkner design from 1879, was hung along the servants’ staircase.
Over the years, the ‘Mallow’ paper—once pale cornflower blue—had yellowed to a soft green. In need of a replacement, the trustees asked today’s Morris & Co. to reproduce new paper for the light-damaged areas. A section of the wall, original paper intact, was removed and shipped to the Anstey factory for color matching.
“There were actually two slightly different shades of the same colorway on the wall, so the question was which color to match to,” says Alison Keane, PR manager for Sanderson Design Group , the official home for six British wallpaper and fabric brands, including Morris & Co. “To have matched to either one of these would have changed history, as we knew they had faded. So we matched back to the color in the production log books.” The re-creation is faithful to the color of the paper as it was installed in the 1890s.
The Morris & Co. ‘Mallow’ design of 1879 was re-created digitally, with the use of samples of the original wallpaper and careful comparison of colors to the original production log books.
Courtesy of Morris & Co.
Although ‘Mallow’ was originally a block print, this time the paper was digitally reproduced. New separations were produced at the factory and colors carefully matched. Two small areas of faded wallpaper remain.
Resources
wall coverings / custom
Adelphi Paper Hangings adelphipaperhangings.com Block-printed histo-rical wallpapers
Bolling & Co. bollingco.com Original vintage papers, custom digital reproduction
Bradbury & Bradbury Art Wallpapers bradbury.com Silkscreen & digital restoration
Burt Wallpapers burtwallpapers.com Custom silkscreen reproductions from samples &photos; period-inspired designs
Mason & Wolf mason-wolf.com Arts & Crafts, Aesthetic, late-Victorian papers
Red Disk Studio reddiskstudio.com Silkscreened papers, including early-20-century Charles E Burchfield designs for Birge
Trustworth Studios trustworth.com Specialist in Voysey designs; digital wallpaper re-creation
Related Resources
Finest Wallpaper finestwallpaper.com Morris & Co., scenic & other British wallpapers, shipped free to the U.S.
Morris & Co. morrisandco.sandersondesigngroup.com William Morris wallpapers from the historic archives
Thomas Strahan thomasstrahan.com Period wallpapers since 1866
Wallpaper Direct wallpaperdirect.com Papers, murals; embossed Anaglypta, Lincrusta
Waterhouse Wallhangings waterhousewallhangings.com Authentic reproductions of papers 1700– 1895
plaster prep Abatron abatron.com Nu-Wal and Krate Kote plaster restoration & crack repair kits
Big Wally’s Plaster Magic plastermagic.com Repair adhesive for cracked plaster walls
Brewster Home Fashions brewsterwallcovering.com Wall liners, wall patch past, tools
Larsen Products larsenproducts.com Plaster Weld bonding agent
Master of Plaster masterofplaster.com Lime plaster finishing system
Modern Masters modernmasters.com Venetian plasters & coatings
Paper-Hangings paper-hangings.com Acid-free lining paper, blankstock, paperhanger’s canvas, wallpaper tools
Roman Adhesives romandecoratingproducts.com Wallpaper adhesives, primers, wallpaper removal products
Specification Chemical nu-wal.com Nu-Wal elastomeric wall repair preparation kits