Interior decoration and
interior design of the Victorian era are noted for orderliness and ornamentation. A house from this period was idealistically divided in rooms, with public and private space carefully separated. A bare room was considered to be in poor taste, so every surface was filled with objects that reflected the owner's interests and aspirations. The parlour was the most important room in a home and was the showcase for the homeowners where guests were entertained. The dining room was the second-most important room in the house. The
sideboard was most often the focal point, which attracts visitor’s eyes immediately when they go into a room or space, of the dining room and very ornately decorated.
Old interiors Preserved interiors, private spaces Preserved interiors, public spaces Walls and ceilings The choice of paint color on the walls in Victorian homes was said to be based on the use of the room. Hallways that were in the entry hall and the stair halls were painted a somber gray so as not to compete with the surrounding rooms. Most people marbleized the walls or the woodwork. Also on walls it was common to score into wet plaster to make it resemble blocks of stone. Finishes that were either
marbleized or grained were frequently found on doors and woodwork. "Graining" was meant to imitate woods of higher quality that were more difficult to work. There were specific rules for interior color choice and placement. The theory of "harmony by analogy" was to use the colors that lay next to each other on the
color wheel. And the second was the "harmony by contrast" that was to use the colors that were opposite of one another on the color wheel. There was a favored
tripartite wall that included a
dado or
wainscoting at the bottom, a field in the middle and a
frieze or
cornice at the top. This was popular into the 20th century.
Frederick Walton who created linoleum in 1863 created the process for embossing semi-liquid linseed oil, backed with waterproofed paper or canvas. It was called
Lincrusta and was applied much like wallpaper. This process made it easy to then go over the oil and make it resemble wood or different types of leather. On the ceilings that were 8–14 feet the color was tinted three shades lighter than the color that was on the walls and usually had a high quality of ornamentation because decorated ceilings were favored.
Wallpaper Wallpaper and wallcoverings became accessible for increasing numbers of householders with their wide range of designs and varying costs. This was due to the introduction of mass production techniques and, in England, the repeal in 1836 of the
Wallpaper tax introduced in 1712.
Wallpaper was often made in elaborate floral patterns with
primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) in the backgrounds and overprinted with colours of cream and tan. This was followed by
Gothic art inspired papers in earth tones with stylized leaf and floral patterns.
William Morris was one of the most influential designers of wallpaper and fabrics during the latter half of the Victorian period. Morris was inspired and used
Medieval and Gothic
tapestries in his work. Embossed paper were used on ceilings and friezes.
Furniture There was not one dominant style of furniture in the Victorian period. Designers rather used and modified many styles taken from various time periods in history like
Gothic,
Tudor,
Elizabethan, English
Rococo,
Neoclassical and others. The Gothic and Rococo revival style were the most common styles to be seen in furniture during this time in history. == Oscar Wilde's aesthetic of Victorian decoration ==