Wallpaper is decorative paper used to cover inside walls. Many wall coverings made of other materials–for example, burlap, linen, manufactured fibers, plastics, and thin sheets of wood–are also considered wallpaper. A special paste, which is brushed onto the undecorated side of wallpaper, makes it stick to a wall. Manufacturers sell most wallpaper in rolls of sheets that measure about 30 feet (9.1 meters) long and 21/4 feet (69 centimeters) wide.
Most people use wallpaper to make a room more attractive. Wallpaper also provides practical advantages. For example, it hides cracks, stains, and other flaws on walls. Paper made of plaster reinforced with plant fibers can be used to cover brick, concrete blocks, or rough plaster. Wallpaper made of a plastic material called vinyl can be scrubbed with a mild detergent and water. Many apartment dwellers and people who frequently redecorate use strippable wallpaper, which can be peeled off easily without damaging the wall.
Scholars believe the first wallpaper was made in England, France, or the Netherlands during the 1500’s. Artists designed patterned wallpaper as a cheaper substitute for the tapestries (woven wall hangings) that had decorated European palaces for centuries. Craftworkers painted designs on the paper by hand or printed them from carved blocks of wood. The Chinese began to make wallpaper in the early 1600’s. They painted birds, flowers, and landscapes on rectangular sheets of rice paper. In the 1700’s, the French decorated wallpaper with Chinese objects and patterns. This popular style became known as chinoiserie.
Wallpaper was first produced in the United States in Philadelphia in 1739. In 1947, vinyl-covered wallpaper was introduced. Prepasted paper, which sticks to a wall when the paper is moistened with water, was developed in the 1950’s.
