The Victorians loved their wallpaper. If I was a millionairre, I would be shopping at Bradbury & Bradbury for my wallcoverings. But that’s not in the budget right now (or ever!), so we’ve got to improvise.

I’ve never been a big fan of faux-finishes, cause for the most part they look, well, fake. But it struck me this morning that a damask look could probably be done with a stencil. A quick google search brought up tons of results. This is the effect I’m imagining:

(Click for larger image)

A subtle pearlized effect looks especially cool and really makes the pattern pop. I love this pattern, available online from StencilEase. Epoch Designs specializes in Victorian stencils and has some nice border designs.

We’re going to paint the dining room soon, but it already has wainscoting. Is a damask print going to be too much when set against the wainscoting? I think it might be. Check out these photoshopped samples and see what you think…

Damask	Plain
(click for larger images)