Historic Floorcloth Recreated for Hay House

The dining room at Hay House with its new floorcloth

Gracewood Design,  our brilliant Associates based in Portland, Oregon, just completed a monumental project as part of the restoration of historic Hay House, The Palace of the South, in Macon, Georgia:  a custom floorcloth of over 1,300 square feet, recreating the original 1870 floorcloth. 

Painted floorcloths were a popular and fashionable floor covering choice in English and early American interiors, prior to the invention of linoleum in the late 19th century.

Original Hay House remnant and new reproduction by Gracewood Design

Remnants of the original Hay House floorcloth were found  under cabinetry that was being removed as part of the dining room renovation. The complex pattern required six stencils to create.  To obtain the textured look of the original, an extra pattern of stenciled thin lines was added, in a slightly different hue than their red and black backgrounds.

One of five 10 x 30' floorcloth panels in production

The new floorcloth was painted in long canvas panels, using many layers of paint, topcoat, and hand-finished with wax. The finished canvases were installed wall to wall, as was the original.  
The result is absolutely thrilling and beautiful surface as you can see in the above photo.  

 
Read more about floorcloths and the Hay House floorcloth, with step by step progress photos at the Gracewood Design website.
Congratulations to our members Gwen Jones and Ken Forcier and the entire Gracewood team on this outstanding project!