Decorative Wall Panel Restyling

When the Milieu Magazine comes in the mail it’s time to stop everything and take a first look, wandering through the images and previewing the text. The 19^th century Japanese folding screen covered in painted leather in the bedroom of Didier Gomez and Jean-Pierre Tortil’s Paris apartment made my heart pound. Throughout the day and into the next, the image of the screen stayed in mind. I tore out the page and fastened it in my journal and began writing.

In a post of December 3, 2022 you may have read about the process of creating an 8 foot by 20 inch wooden panel to hang on the wall of the first landing of our stairs. While it was fascinating, the wooden panel painted with gold strokes didn’t feel right; didn’t fit in with the landscape, or the life in our home. Most of all, it generated in me a sense of unrest. I knew I would change it, but, until this photo of the leather chinoiserie screen, didn’t know how to restyle it in a way that would be beautiful to me.

Journaling helps me think through a process. As the leather screen in the photo was brown, it seemed the panel should first be painted brown. It had to be the right shade of brown! We went to Boerne and stopped in at Bakery Lorraine for an afternoon pastry and a coffee. Sitting outside at a table under the live oak trees and contemplating the shades of brown from the Sherwin Williams paint store it was remarkable that both of us liked the Van Dyke brown. It appeared to have some olive and gold color mixed in with the brown, colors similar to those found in the Texas Hill Country landscape.

Here is a photo of the panel after being painted brown. As you can see, some of the gold paint underneath is left exposed to create a sense of wearing away or aging.  The panel, originally covered in torn and glued paper, has a semblance of leather.

Next, to apply a border to the face of the wooden panel. Another close look at the magazine photo showed me there was a border around the edges of the panels of the screen. One-half inch strips of leather would replicate the look of the antique screen.  The leather strip is in a color called bourbon and was purchased online.

The materials needed are assembled. Included is my garden kneeling pad and safety glasses.

The nails are iron tacks, each one slightly different. Before beginning it’s important to decide how far apart you want to place the tacks and that you have enough length of the leather strip to go completely around the face of the wooden panel.

A vintage awl was used to mark the spot. The hole was deepened slightly using a drill. Then, it was possible to hammer in the tack straight with as few blows as possible. This preserved the screen from unnecessary impact. Before learning about this approach, it took me about twelve to fourteen swings to get the tack hammered in; a lot of noise avoided with the right method.

When the leather trim is completely tack nailed around the facing edge of the screen you can take a sponge brush and perform a bit of touch up to the outer edges of the panel.  

(fiveminutehistory.com)

In order to gain further knowledge about the pictorial elements included in chinoiserie wall panels or screens it is helpful to conduct a search. This painting includes some elements frequently seen in chinoiserie; the open air garden structure or pergola, paper hats and umbrellas, and tall, graceful leaning trees.

(chairish.com)

This black and gold four panel screen provides further information about the architecture.

(chairish.com)

These two screens have borders around each panel. This is also true for the original inspiration, the screen in the Parisian apartment.

(chairish.com)

This multiple panel screen provides an example of the landscape and mountainous regions often depicted in chinoiserie.

(www.greencoredesign.com)

This panel provides a reference for a small pagoda and boats.

(1stdibs.com)

This photo of a two-panel screen helps me envision how the design could be distributed down the length of my eight-foot wooden panel.

This image of an historical chinoiserie pattern had some interesting elements.

It helps me to enlarge specific areas of the original image to study the pattern closely and use it as a reference.

My attachment to the wall panel is growing and there is a bit of fear about adding the image. Using some of the brown paint and making some quick sketches on paper allows me to “feel” what it will be like to create the image on the panel.  

The panel is re-hung on the wall to facilitate the process of painting the image. Moving back and forth between painting the image, “erasing” parts of it with a piece of cheesecloth, and adding small brushstrokes almost wiped away to look as if there was something there that has been erased by time.

The completed panel has a presence on the wall. It complements the dark walnut floored staircase and reminds me of the leather and cedar equipale chairs on the terrace. Even though it has just been created and was not unearthed in an antique shop or bid on at auction, this wooden chinoiserie panel fills me with joy and a sense of the beauty in aging. A lesson for me is to know if I am not satisfied by my first attempt at something, in time, will come an image or an idea to make it more relevant to me.