Case Study
Pacific Heights Residence
San Francisco, California · MMXXIV
A late-Victorian dining room in Pacific Heights, restored to its original proportions and finished with a botanical scene printed on deep ink ground — luminous under candlelight.
The Room
A note on how it came together.
The room had lost its cornice in a mid-century renovation. Before any paper was ordered, the client's cabinetmaker rebuilt the moulding to its 1892 profile. Only then did we measure.
The paper is printed to repeat on a 27-inch drop, which meant the pattern had to be dropped from the cornice line, not the ceiling. We reset the datum, marked every drop, and installed against a plumb line rather than the wall itself.
Under candlelight the ink ground reads almost black; in daylight it opens into deep botanical greens. The pattern is quiet in the morning, theatrical at dinner.
Specification
The particulars.
- House
- House of Hackney, London
- Design
- Palmeral, midnight/emerald
- Substrate
- Original plaster, patched and sized
- Preparation
- Cornice reinstated, walls skimmed to 5mm tolerance
- Team
- Two installers, one project lead
- Scope
- Formal dining room · single feature wall · repeat pattern
- Duration
- Two days on site
Next
Broadway Terrace
Marin County, California · MMXXV
