18th century bedroom, West Yorkshire

For this room the reinstatement of just one element was all that was needed as a hook to recreate a whole historic interior. 20 years ago, exquisite 18th century hand-painted Chinese wallpaper was discovered, fully intact, in an outbuilding on the estate. Research revealed that the rolls formed a complete scheme that had been installed by Chippendale?s workers in 1769. The decision was taken to re-install the wallpaper in the room below its original location which, unlike the this room, which had been redecorated in the Victorian era, did not already feature a historic scheme, and moreover was already on the public route at the house. The new scheme happily includes a suite of green and gold furniture and a Chinese-style mirror, fully conserved and on show to the public in some cases for the first time, which were designed for the original room by Chippendale. New wall and bed hangings were created using the 1795 inventory as the historical basis.