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walls & ceilings
Old House Journal
|Renovation Lookbook 2025
WHATEVER THE PERIOD, once you have discovered the decorated walltime-honored paint techniques and printed papers, embossed surfaces, ornamental plaster, carved wood, white walls may come to feel like the absence of finish.
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Even early interiors before 1840 used color,s including brilliant yellow and Prussian blue as well as stenciling and murals. The tripartite treatment was fashionable in the Victorian era: walls divided into dado (or wainscot) below the chair rail, fill or field section, and frieze at the top of the wall. Ceilings, too, were decorated. Just a generation later, Colonial Revival rooms featured off-whites and grey.
The spectacular re-creation of drapery, mouldings, and trompe-l'oeil papers suits a landmark Tuscan Villa built in 1855.

Dedicated to the craft of architectural millwork. Over 350 historical mouldings from 1870– 1940, including all the important house styles. (817) 332-1495

This story is from the Renovation Lookbook 2025 edition of Old House Journal.
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