16 August 2011

Toile de Jouy

Our entrance hallway and ‘west wing’ are wallpapered in the classic French toile de jouy, usually known simply as ‘toile’. It is a specific decorating pattern, used mostly for soft furnishings but also wallpaper. The distinctive pattern consists of a white or off-white background on which is a repeated pattern in a single colour, most often black, dark red, or blue. It shows a fairly complex scene, often with a pastoral theme.
As you can see ours is blue with a boy fishing, a woman being wooed by a young musician, two women gossiping over laundry while minding sheep, young lovers under a tree etc. At the moment it’s still on the walls while we concentrate on other renovations, but unfortunately it isn’t in good enough condition to keep. Nice to have in the meantime, however the hallway will look much brighter  - and less frenetic with contrasting patterns – without it. 

No comments:

Post a Comment