De Gournay Hand-Painted Silk Wallpaper Installation

The Challenge

The de Gournay panels were supplied as unique, matched hand-painted silk pieces with no tolerance for error — any misalignment, adhesive contamination, or surface imperfection behind the silk would show immediately through the translucent backing. The existing lime plaster walls were slightly uneven, with hairline cracks at the cornicing and around the window reveals. The room's original proportions meant the drop heights exceeded three metres, requiring perfectly straight vertical alignment to be maintained from ceiling to skirting over the full height.

Our Approach

We lined the walls with two layers of heavyweight lining paper — a horizontal cross-line layer first, then a vertical layer — to create a perfectly flat, dimensionally stable substrate. All cracks and imperfections in the underlying plaster were filled and sanded before lining commenced. The de Gournay specialist installed each panel in sequence from the chimney breast outward, using a conservation-grade methyl cellulose adhesive that allows repositioning without risk of adhesive bleeding through the silk. Each seam was carefully hand-rolled with a bone folder to ensure invisible joins. The room was maintained at constant temperature and humidity throughout to prevent the silk panels from expanding or contracting during installation.

The Result

The completed bedroom is one of the most extraordinary interiors we have had the privilege to work on. The Chinese garden scene unfolds seamlessly around the room, with no visible seams and no imperfections in the silk surface. The client and her interior designer from The Interior Council expressed particular satisfaction with the invisible joins at the chimney breast corners — the most technically demanding element of the installation.