By Lynn Byrne. Those shots above showing a nice dining and living room with some interesting wallpaper are not from a decorating magazine, but rather the ABC hit television show, Extreme Makeover.  Do you know the show?  It is a feel good program where needy families are given a brand new house, designed just for them and built by volunteers in one week.  Everything is donated, from the nails to the furniture.  lf you don’t smile (or even get a little weepy) when you watch the  program something is the matter with you.

David Berman, head of Trustworth Studios, was honored when ABC called and asked him to donate the wallpaper for the home above, built during the November 6 episode.   Plus, one of his long-time favorite designers was finally getting a chance in the spotlight.

The original designer of the wallpaper featured is C.F.A. Voysey.  Trustworth calls the pattern Whoot and this closeup better shows the owls that inspired the name.  

Voysey is from the English Arts and Crafts period and tends to play second fiddle to the better known, William Morris.  He certainly deserves at least equal billing and maybe after his exposure on Extreme Makeover he will start to get it.  Voysey was an architect, but he designed wallpaper, textiles and rugs throughout his career to help pay the bills in between architectural commissions.  I first mentioned Voysey in my October 25 post on the International Fine Art  and Antique Dealers show where I featured a rug that the dealer said was possibly by Voysey.  Click on Archives and scroll down for a picture.

I find his wallpaper and textile designs to be enchanting.  I just love their pictorial quality.  They really tell a story.  Trustworth Studios offers quite a few of  Voysey’s wallpaper designs and its sister company, Wellsprings Textiles offers some of the same designs as fabric.

In fact, the Voysey pattern Stag available from J. R. Burrows & Co. and shown below hanging in David Berman’s own home is also right on trend.

Photo by Chris Tubb for the book William Morris and The Arts and Crafts Home.

Just yesterday, the Style section of the New York Times reported that an “antiquarian aesthetic” has made its “deepest inroads in interior design and men’s fashion”.  The article notes that the famous NYC restaurant, The Spotted Pig, has embraced the aesthetic.  I learned from the folks at Trustworth that they have supplied the Voysey pattern Fin and Tentacle, featured below, to the A-list restaurant.  Now I plan to go not for the food but to see the wallpaper (I will post my snappy).

The NYT article also describes a popular restaurant named Freemans that is decorated with animal heads.  The Stag wallpaper would fit right in.  And the paper published the following photo of the man dressed up in tweeds, rifle and riding boots.  It  is not from the turn of the last century or meant to be a costume, but rather  shows the “new” style for men’s wear.  Those clothes are the latest look available at Barney’s, Bergdorf Goodman Men and Club Monaco, among other retailers.  I can just see that guy walking down David’s hall.

Photo by David Sokosh  for the November 12, 2009 Style Section of the New York Times.

As the Extreme Makeover show illustrates, however, period wallpaper absolutely does not need to be limited to period homes or homes furnished with period antiques.  I think the designs are timeless and can be mixed with anything.

Here are some Voysey highlights:

The Alice in Wonderland pattern was designed by Voysey late in his career in about 1930.  (Voysey died in 1941).  It is available both as a wallpaper and as fabric.  I think it would be fantastic as roman shades or drapery in a children’s playroom.  

An earlier Voysey pattern, this one designed c. 1904, called Hey Diddle Diddle, would be darling as an accent wall behind a crib in a nursery.  So much for baby to look at.

Voysey’s patterns are not just suitable for children’s rooms.  Fin and Tentacle, also designed later in his career, screams to be applied to the walls of a beach house bathroom (this is also the one that I am told is somewhere in The Spotted Pig).  

Trustworth’s website says that Voysey’s pattern entitled, The Demon and designed c. 1889, has recently found its way into many of today’s home theaters because of The Demon’s resemblance to the dramatic masks of classical theater.  

Finally, I like the idea of the Angelic Forest pattern for a guest room, either on the walls or as drapery.  How nice to give your guests the company of angels and fairies while they rest in your home.  

It appears as if Voysey’s time has finally come.

Wallpaper photos from Trustworth Studios.