Without a border, it was once considered that the wallpapering was unfinished. In Sweden, however, it was usually enough to have just a single border under the cornice, while in rich environments abroad you could also see borders along the edges of the breast panel and floor plinth, and sometimes even around door and window frames. Before the 20th century, the borders were not the same color as the wallpaper; on the contrary, the aim was for them to stand out and thus provide a clear border to the wallpaper. Thus, a blue border for a blue wallpaper was only allowed if it was a much darker or much lighter blue than the wallpaper’s own color. But ideally, the border of a blue wallpaper should be yellow, that of a pink one should be green, and so on. This rule about different colors of wallpaper borders has always applied to the common people. Therefore, the peasants usually had a different brush-painted line to finish their splash wallpaper; black line against light gray wallpaper, dark blue line against light blue and so on – or if they could afford it – a pre-printed paper border in vibrant colors and in completely different patterns. Contrast was the goal.Gysinge’s “Salsbården” comes from the Nästgårds show house in Gysinge and dates back to the 1880s. The interesting thing about the border is not only the color scheme, it has probably been printed in many more color variants than we have found, but the motif with a bell string, a very common decorative element in painting, woodcarving and in the intarsia of veneer furniture during the Gustavian era. The bell string is one of those 18th century patterns that has never gone out of fashion. So, without fear of breaking the style, you can use the bell string for all the wallpapers in this catalog, even the plain ones. And the more the border breaks against the wallpaper, the more genuine the feeling becomes.

During the late Gustavian period, i.e. the latter part of the 18th century and the early 19th century, it was fashionable to paint the walls in a single color and break it up with a lavish border. The border “Råcksta” is from this time with a typical pattern of a winding plant vine in several shades of gray. Compare Gysinge’s stencil pattern …. which is on the same theme. The borders at this time were usually set up after the ceiling, or used to frame the walls in wall fields.
“Råcksta” gives a special contemporary impression to the matte linseed oil paint colors Blue Grey, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Terra and Pompeian Red. The Råcksta border is magical, because as soon as you choose the carpentry 15% green umber, the border “marries” the carpentry and can thus be combined with any matte wall color, no matter what color it is.

Baguette moldings were very common in fine rooms from the late 1800s to the 1920s.

Often they were attached between the wallpaper border and the cornice, or the white ceiling color was painted a bit down the wall and the baguette strip had to mark the border between wallpaper and ceiling. Also very useful as a replacement for wallpaper border. Nailed with brass nails. Can be taken down and put up again when redecorating.

Available for purchase in our stores.