The Historic Carpet and Rugs Blog is an informal journal of my work as the historic floor-coverings consultant for The English Wilton Company of Portland, Maine. The firm's owner, Kathleen Blake, and I have well over 40 year's of combined experience providing Wilton, Brussels and Axminster carpets to museums, state capitols, governor's mansions and private homes. We utilize archives that contain thousands of authentic patterns dating from 1790 through the present, which include the Regency/Federal, Neo-Classical, Victorian, Edwardian and Arts & Crafts styles. English Wilton is renown as the most trusted resource for delivering reasonably-priced reproduction historic carpets and rugs in a prompt and timely manner.
Rural Georgia: It would have taken two day's hard riding by horse to reach this estate outside of Atlanta; something my rental car accomplished in a mere hour. The house's owners, connoisseurs of late 18th and early 19th century decorative arts, had summoned me yet again to assist them in selecting carpeting for their estate; this time it was to be for two adjacent guest rooms on the second floor. As we poured over archival patterns dating from 1800-1820 (A period known as Regency in England, and Federal here in the States), they became enchanted with a point-paper (the original watercolor rendering on graph paper) from the Grosvenor Wilton Company of Kidderminster, England. The design's delicate flared arabesques and three-dimensional blossoms hinted of the Egyptian Revival, as well as the delicate Neo-Classicism of these decades.
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There would need to be a slight adjustment to the carpet's palette; color analysis revealed the rooms to have been painted a Federal-era blue, and the textiles were a bold combination of Empire reds and golds; thus, our art department converted the green and orange to more compatible hues. The owners approved the artwork and samples, and it was off to the looms. The 27" wide bales of carpet was shipped to the installer in Cincinnati, who created blankets (sewing as much of the goods together in advance) and then drove to the site and installed them, much to the delight of the satisfied owners, who told me that they couldn't be happier.
