The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1885-06-27
MODERN WALL DECORATIONS.
They Sometimes Cost More fian the
Houses High Art at a Discount.

MODehN WALL QUOTATIONS
they Sometimes Cost More tf,an the
Houses High Art at a Discount.
Within the last five years wall decers,
ton has advanced with rapid strides.
and enormous prices are now paid fol-
the interior decoration of houses. In
fact, the interior decoration of a mod
ern house sometimes exceeds in cost
the building and material OF the house
itself.
A gentleman who has one of the
finest houses in Jersey City went to
first-class interior decoration house in
this city short time ago His house
was a new one. and he desired to have
the walls and ceilings treated in the
latest styles. He was shown into
handsomely furnished room, and re-
quested to seat himself on an en-
broidered plush upholstered chair made
OF antique or bog oak, and valued at
six hundred dollars. After few ques-
tons concerning the house, tie size of
the rooms, the light, and so on, the
gentlemanly clerk said he would show
him a few styles of parlor decorations,
carefully adjusting a rack meantime,
in order that the right amount of light
should fall on it A delicate paper, in
which the pattern, wrought in har-
monious colors. stood on background
family threaded with gilt, was placed
on the rack. Another roll of the same
pattern was placed beside it, in order
to give a larger surface. A frieze to
match and a deep gilt molding be.
tween the frieze and paper, to break the
menotony, completed the wall decora-
ton. Then came a colored wood mold
ing above the frieze, to show in what
color the base of the cornice was to be
painted.
.The other parts of the cornice will
have to be treated differently, so as to
tone with the ceiling decorations" said
the clerk. Now will show you some
styles of frescoed ceilings to go with
this side-wall decoration"
Several cards, with elaborate and
beautiful paintings of ceilings, were
now shown.
THAT is very pretty one, said the
customer, selecting one.
Yes, it will harmonic well with the
paper, also"
1T seems to me the whole thing is
perfect" said the Jerseyman, delighted
at his success in finding what he wanted,
and certain that his parlors would be
the envy Of his friends.
''Well, l am glad you like it, re-
sponded the clerk. ''As have now an
idea of your taste, can easily fix the
other rooms. Perhaps, however, before
we go any further, we had better say
how much you are willing to spend on
the house. When / know that | will go
over and see your house and make
measurements, and will then show you
the styles for each room that we can
give you at your price"
fS'1 have two paper-hangers over in
Jersey City whom / had thought of let
ting do the work. began the gentle
man. doubtingly.
.'Oh, no; that won't do" replied the
clerk. at requires an artist to hang
that paper so that it won't show the
seams, and we would have to fresco the
ceiling anyhow. All the work will be
figured In with the cost of the job. 1t
will only cost you the price of the
board of the workmen extra. That
will be about three dollars per day for
each one"
The Jerseyman's face fell little.
But he felt that he was in tor it, and
might as well see it through. He had
been willing to pay $1,000 for the sake
of eclipsing his neighbors. He would
double that amount now.
"Well," he said to the clerk, who
was carelessly twirling diamond ring
on his finger, :" l am willing to be lib
eral in this matter. See what you can
do for $1,000"
The clerk looked dumfounded. For
moment he seemed paralyzed; then
going to the rack he threw the mold
ings on the floor, and, taking out roll
of paper, he said, coldly:
al guess you have not got very
good idea OF the cost of decoration.
That ceiling you looked at would cost
you $1,000 alone. This paper is
handmade French print, and is worth
$l2 roll. 1t would take thirty rolls to
the .ordinary-sized parlors. 1t would
take about 200 feet of this molding at
rs cents foot. Without charging for
anything else. your parlors would cost
you $4,000 alone. You had better
think it over and call again"
In former days the cost of decorating
a parlor was greater than any other
room, and often amounted to as much
as all the other rooms together But a
modern dining-reom is finished in the
most expensive of hard woods, and such
decoration as is used is of the most
costly kind. The halls of fine house
or tod xr-{+
painted Lincrusta-Walton or some kind
of bronzed plaster work. which is even
more expensive. Either dining-room
or hall would cost as much as the par
lor.
The foremost interior decoration firms
in this city vie with each other in OBJ
tanning new and elegant effects. They
employ artists of all kinds. at enormous
salaries, to assist them in this. With
several of these firms. where the en-
ployes have shown themselves indis-
pensable to the success of the business,
they have been given partnership in
consequence. Such firms receive as high
as $50, for decorating single house.
A fair price is $4,000, and they seldom
go below $4,000.
But while these firms receive small
fortunes for single jobs, the intelligent
buyer of wall paper often gets very
pretty effect for small price. The
sale of wall papers and of interior deco
rations has come to be two distinct
branches of business, and it is in the
stores of wallpaper dealers and manu-
facturers that the bargains are general
ly to be obtained. An odd lot of paper
and small quantity of frieze are often
sold for trifling sums. Occasionally tho
same bargains may be had in fine dec
Grafton store. As an instance of this,
salesman of one of the best-known
houses in the city showed to reporter
twenty rolls of a paper he had sold that
day
This paper" he said, ''cost us 49, 80
per roll We sold some of it to ex-Sec-
rotary of State Frelinghuysen for his
private Office in Washington little
over year ago. 1t cost him a. roll.
A gentleman came in to-day who want
ed twenty rolls, and as we had just that
amount Of this on hand we sold him tho
remnant for 50. 1t is a French en-
bossed bronze and very fine office
paper"
The Hoffman House is one of the
most finely decorated hotels in tho
country. In the reading room there is
an English paper on the walls which
probably cost 81 per roll A short time
pnn whi1o in n couptrv tonu IN Cc,