Material · Hand-painted and hand-printed
Chinoiserie, scenic panels, block-printed and hand-screened papers, installed to the instructions each studio publishes. Every panel unique. One cut each, planned on paper first. Installation-only, headquartered in Park City.
What hand-painted is
Hand-painted wallcoverings are painted by artists onto silk or paper, panel by panel, to a commission for one room. Hand-printed papers are block-printed or screen-printed by hand, with the paint texture and slight variation that a press cannot produce. In both cases every panel is unique.
There is no reorder and no second attempt at the wall. A panel hung a quarter inch high breaks the branch on both sides of it, and there is no offcut to repair it with. The material asks for a different kind of installation: slower, drawn on paper first, and checked at every step.
Hand-painted and hand-printed papers are specified by designers across Park City, Deer Valley, and the Heber Valley for the rooms where the wall is the design, and they are installed by the same crews that carry our silk and mural work.
Three ways to the wall
A hand-painted panel carries the design once. The studio paints it for a numbered position on a specific wall, and the panel beside it continues the branch. A hand-printed paper carries a repeat, but the paint sits proud of the surface and the repeat drifts a little from sheet to sheet, because a person pressed it. A machine-printed roll is identical every time.
The installation follows the material. Machine-printed paper forgives a mistake with a fresh roll. Hand-printed paper forgives less: the sheets must be matched by eye and hung in the order they were printed. Hand-painted panels forgive nothing, so nothing is left to the wall. Every cut is drawn before the blade moves.
Guide
Hand-painted and hand-printed cover very different things. Each one asks something different of the wall and the crew.
| Type | How it is made | Ground | Seam handling | Best rooms | At the wall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinoiserie on silk | Painted by hand on silk panels | Silk, often with metallic wash | Designed away: the branch continues across | Dining rooms, primary suites | Level 5 wall. Gloves. One cut per panel. |
| Chinoiserie on paper | Painted by hand on paper panels | Paper, tea-stained or coloured | Designed away | Dining rooms, powder rooms, entries | Paste at the wall. Panels sequenced on the floor with the designer. |
| Scenic panoramic, painted | Continuous landscape across numbered panels | Paper or silk | Registration held across the run | Entries, stair halls, dining rooms | Measured to the panel before the order. Start point at the focal wall. |
| Woodblock panoramic | Printed from carved blocks, hundreds per scene | Heavy paper | Matched by eye; slight drift is authentic | Stair halls, formal rooms | Sheets hung in printed order. Never rolled hard. |
| Gilded and metallic grounds | Gold, silver, or mica leaf laid under the painting | Leafed paper or silk | Leaf direction kept consistent | Powder rooms, bars, dining rooms | Never wetted. Handled in gloves. Light read at the measurement. |
| Block-printed paper | Carved block pressed by hand, one colour per pass | Paper, paint-based inks | Double-cut on a straightedge | Bedrooms, libraries, halls | Trimmed by the crew. Paste at the wall. Booked before hanging. |
| Hand-screened paper | Screen pulled by hand, one colour per screen | Paper | Double-cut; matched by eye | Bedrooms, dressing rooms, dining rooms | Sheets hung in print order. Never rolled hard. |
| Custom painted panels | Commissioned from an artist or studio to the room | Paper, canvas, or silk | Per the studio's instruction | Feature walls, ceilings, children's rooms | Studio's instructions read before the order. Layout signed by the designer. |
Where it performs
What it demands at the wall
The material is correct more often than the installation. These are the steps that close the gap.
Panels are unpacked, inspected, photographed, and laid out in sequence on the floor before the wall is touched. The designer is present.
The surface beneath a painted panel is read through it. The wall is skimmed, sanded, checked under a flat light, and primed before the first panel.
No moisture reaches the face at any stage. Adhesive goes on the wall, matched to the backing, and the panel is set from the top down in gloves.
Doors, outlets, switches, and corners are resolved on the drawing first. The blade follows the drawing.
From crate to wall, the panel is covered. Fully insured and bonded is not a footnote on this material.
The layout
The studio numbers the panels, and the numbers are a sequence, not a position. Where the sequence starts on the wall is the crew's decision, and it is the decision that makes or breaks the room. The start point is moved until no seam falls on a bird or a bloom, until the corners land on quiet ground, and until the door and the outlets fall where a cut costs nothing.
So the wall is drawn before anything is unrolled. The panels are laid out on the floor in the drawn order with the designer present, the start point is checked against every painted element, and the designer signs the layout. Every cut around an obstacle exists on that drawing before it exists on the panel.
From crate to wall
A hand-painted commission arrives months after it was ordered and cannot be reordered in weeks. So the question is not whether a panel could be damaged, but where any damage is found and documented. The answer is: at the crate, on the floor, and at the wall, and never afterwards.
Every panel is inspected and photographed before the crate leaves the room. The sequence and the registration are checked on the floor with the designer. Each panel is checked at the wall before the next one is set. Coverage follows the panel through all three, which is what fully insured and bonded means on this material.
Hand-printed papers
A block-printed or hand-screened paper looks like a roll of wallpaper and behaves like something else. The paint sits proud of the surface by a hair, which is the texture the designer chose it for. The repeat drifts slightly from sheet to sheet, because a person pressed it. The edges are rarely true, because the mill did not trim them.
So the crew trims the edges, matches the repeat by eye at every seam, double-cuts the join on a straightedge, and never rolls it hard, because a roller flattens the paint ridge and leaves a shiny stripe where the seam is. Paste goes on the wall, never the paper, because a wet hand-printed sheet stretches and the repeat walks.
Living with it
A painting on the wall, treated as one.
Dust dry with a soft brush or a feather duster. No water, no cleaners, no damp cloth: paint-based work marks on contact with moisture. A mark is referred to the studio's guidance, never treated at home.
Pigments soften under direct, sustained sun, and metallics hold while the ground around them fades. Walls that take the sun are identified at the measurement, and the specification follows the room.
In a room with normal humidity and no steam, painted and printed papers are stable for decades. Baths with a shower, laundry rooms, and kitchens are declined at the measurement.
Not a scrubbable surface. Chair backs are kept off the wall, and in a dining room the panels sit above a chair rail or the chairs are placed accordingly.
Installed on a Level 5 wall and kept out of the sun, hand-painted work serves for generations. Panels are routinely removed and re-hung when a house changes hands, which is its own testimony.
Because the layout drawing and the start point are kept, a damaged panel can be repainted by the studio and set back into its place years later. Keep any surplus flat, dry, and dark.
Why Mancini
Drawn on paper first. One cut per panel. Checked at every seam.
A hand-painted wall shows the hand that set it. The standard is measured in what you do not see: no break in the branch, no seam on a bloom, no cut that was not planned.
Installed to the instructions each studio publishes, panel by panel.
Every studio and every heritage house writes an installation instruction for its work. We read it before the order and follow it at the wall: the primer, the paste, the handling, the seam. No shortcuts, no substitutions.
Four active crews. Twelve trained installers. Scheduling measured in weeks.
Multi-crew capacity means a commission is installed when the panels arrive, on the designer's timeline, with the room held for the crew alone.
Hand-painted and hand-printed, installed
Hand-painted and hand-printed papers are installed by the same crews that carry Mancini's silk and mural work across the Wasatch Back: four crews, twelve trained installers, fully insured and bonded, with 70+ five-star reviews.
The houses
Each studio paints or prints differently and publishes its own instructions. These are the ones we install most, and what each asks for.
Hand-painted chinoiserie and scenics from London and Shanghai, delivered as numbered panels painted for the room. The studio's handling and hanging instructions govern every step from the crate to the wall.
Installation notesHand-painted and hand-embroidered silks from London. Embroidered grounds are never rolled; the studio's instructions set the seam method and the paste.
Installation notesNew York since 1898. Hand-painted chinoiserie on silk and paper, sequenced by panel number and registered across every seam to the studio's layout.
Installation notesRixheim since 1797. Woodblock-printed panoramics from the original blocks, hung in printed order and matched by eye, never rolled hard.
Installation notesKansas City. Contemporary hand-painted papers, each panel unique, installed to the studio's per-commission instruction.
Installation notesDorset. Papers printed with the house's own paint, so the pattern sits proud of the surface. Trimmed by the crew, double-cut, never rolled hard.
Installation notesLondon since 1875. Hand-screened and block-printed heritage papers alongside its printed lines, each with its own instruction for trimming and seams.
Installation notesSend the sample or the commission drawings and the room. If it is painted or printed by hand, we have installed something made the same way, and we read the studio's instructions before the order.
Send the sampleDesign house and manufacturer names referenced on this page are the property of their respective owners. They identify materials we install and completed project history. Mancini Wallpapers holds no partnership, certification, or endorsement from any house named, and installs every product to the instructions its manufacturer publishes.
Client reviews
Where we install hand-painted work
Four crews, twelve trained installers, most projects on the calendar within weeks.
Old Town, Thaynes Canyon, Aerie, Pinebrook, Silver Springs, Trailside.
Empire Pass, Deer Crest, Bald Eagle, Silver Lake Village.
Heber City, Midway, Red Ledges, Victory Ranch, Tuhaye.
Alpine, Highland, Traverse Mountain, Cedar Hills.
Golf and mountain club residences above Kimball Junction.
Federal Heights, The Avenues, Holladay, Cottonwood Heights.
Questions
The questions homeowners and designers ask before, during, and after a hand-painted or hand-printed installation.
Mancini Wallpapers, headquartered in Park City. Hand-painted panels from de Gournay, Fromental, Gracie, and the other studios are installed by the crew to each studio's per-commission instructions, fully insured from the crate to the wall, across Summit, Wasatch, Salt Lake, and Utah counties.
Every panel is inspected and photographed on arrival, before the crate leaves the room, and the designer is present for the layout. Damage is documented at the point it is found and the studio is informed the same day. Nothing is hung until the set is confirmed complete.
Yes. Every cut is planned on the drawing before it is made, the start point is moved so the obstacles fall where a cut costs nothing, and the designer signs off the layout. The branch runs to the plate and continues beyond it.
Hand-painted work is painted by artists for one room and arrives as numbered panels with no repeat. Hand-printed paper is block-printed or screen-printed by hand: it has a repeat, but the paint sits proud of the surface and drifts slightly from sheet to sheet. Both are installed with paste on the wall and neither face is ever wetted.
Yes. Hand-painted panels are painted to the wall's height and the scenic is composed to the wall's width. James measures every wall himself before the order is placed, so the studio paints to the room and no sky is missing at the ceiling.
On a hand-painted commission the design continues across the seam, so the join is designed away. On a hand-printed paper the seam is double-cut and matched by eye, and reads as a fine line the eye passes over. Seams are placed off the centre line and away from the sightline from the door.
Dust it, dry, with a soft brush or a feather duster. No water, no cleaners, no damp cloth. A mark is referred to the studio's guidance rather than treated at home; most studios will advise on the specific pigment.
In a powder room without a shower or tub, with ventilation, yes; it is one of the rooms chinoiserie is most often specified for. In any bath with a shower or steam, no. Those rooms are declined at the measurement.
A painted panel has no texture to hide behind. A joint feathered for paint reads as a long wave under a sconce, and the panel follows it. Level 5 is a full skim coat, sanded and primed, checked with a light held flat to the wall before the first panel is unrolled.
Yes. Woodblock panoramics are hung in printed order, matched by eye because the slight drift between sheets is part of the work, and never rolled hard. The start point is set at the focal wall from the elevation drawing.
Often, yes. Commissions are routinely taken down and re-installed when a house changes hands or a room is redesigned. It is slow, careful work, and it begins with the layout drawing we keep from the original installation.
Longer than a printed paper of the same area, because every panel is inspected, laid out, checked, and set once. The room is held for the crew alone on those days: no other trades, no deliveries. The schedule is set when the panels' arrival date is confirmed.
Yes. Papers printed with paint sit proud of the surface, so they are trimmed by the crew, double-cut on a straightedge, matched by eye, and never rolled hard. Each house's instruction is read before the order.
No. Mancini is installation-only. A commission is placed by your designer with the studio, or through a showroom, and we install what arrives. Designers keep their procurement chain and their markup; we are the execution at the end of it.
With a complimentary on-site measurement, before the commission is placed. James walks the space, reads the light on every wall, and measures it himself so the studio paints to the room. A written proposal follows. Send the property address and a photo of the room to begin.
Begin your hand-painted project
Send the property address and a photo of the room. James will come back with a time to walk the space and measure it himself, so the panels can be ordered to the wall. A written proposal follows.
hello@manciniwallpapers.com · Mon–Fri 8 AM – 7 PM MT · Saturday by appointment