Parchment Treatment for Walls

Parchment Complement

• In a home with important architectural details, faux parchment walls bring out the beauty of vintage features. With an embossed copper ceiling, golden tobacco parchment walls reflect glints of red-orange and contrast gently with the verdigris greens, grays and blues that come with age. White walls would be too stark with such a stand-out ceiling. Wallpaper would compete with the copper and a darker color of solid paint could make the room seem claustrophobic or gloomy. By using a golden tone and adding the element of parchment finish, the walls hold their own against the ceiling but work with it to make an inviting room.

Sand Dune Walls

• Soft parchment-painted walls in a beach house look like sand drifts against white wainscoting that might be bleached seashells. The muted visual of the parchment treatment adds the illusion of texture to a plain wall without being fussy. A living room or dining room with sand-colored parchment walls could be elegant or casual, depending on furnishings. A bedroom might be draped in plain muslins with bamboo accessories, or enriched with Dupioni silk drapes in watery ocean or beach colors.

Library Endpapers

• A brown-tinted parchment finish on library walls sets off wood shelves and book spines with a papery antique vibe. The parchment paint looks like old paper applied to the walls, as if the endpapers of vintage books were used as wallpaper. A slightly darker parchment gives a rich, clubby feel to a home library and blends well with leather furniture and hand-loomed, patterned carpet. Lighting is particularly important in a room with many textured surfaces – use soft lighting for the ambiance and brighter task lighting for reading and writing areas.

Parchment Panels

• Exaggerated parchment, with high-contrast glazes, is a theatrical look on inset wall panels. Parchment panels are as important as paintings when they are framed with faux metallic trim, stained wood or distressed painted trim. The faux-treated panels are perfect in a music room where a piano and the wood of string instruments are strong design elements. Parchment panels turn a cookie-cutter dining room into a formal salon for elegant meals taken around an antique wood table. Panels finished in parchment are powerful and could overwhelm a delicate décor so use them to set the stage in a room with a dynamic character.