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Fast-forward and you'll find more wall decorations during Egyptian, Greek and Roman times. These were more sophisticated and detailed, pictorial and patterned. All were applied directly to the walls. No hint of "wallpaper" appeared until 200 BC in China.

History contains no other record of wallpaper until the eighth century, when the Arabs introduced papermaking to Europe. Even then, paper's use as a wallcovering was not all immediate success, Wealthy Europeans preferred to hang woven materials and leather on their walls, both for esthetic and practical reasons: leather and fabrics were better insulators than paper against the damp and cold that prevailed in their poorly heated homes.

Tapestries, leather, wood panels and ceramic tiles continued to line the walls of the wealthy throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, although there is evidence that some hand-decorated wallpaper was used sparingly at this time. It was the plentiful supply of commercially suitable paper, however, that broadened the availability of wallpapering, and as the 17th century emerged, so did the wallpapering industry. The printing of wallpaper by machine first took place in 1839 on the site occupied by Imperial Home Decor Group, LTD in the United Kingdom. Production of wallcoverings has been continuous on this site since that time.

Not surprisingly, the earliest mass-produced patterns imitated fabrics, the process often resulting in "flocked" paper as a substitute for rich Italian brocades and velvets. A century later, pictorial scenic panels appeared in France, replicating original art painted on wood-paneled walls, but affordable only to the aristocracy. Some of the designs were so complicated, they required as many as 3,000 wood blocks to produce the landscapes, town views, classical ruins and mythological scenes popular at the time. Printed on durable linen rag paper, a few have survived even to this day.

The wallpaper industry changed radically in the mid-1800s with the introduction of machine printing on paper -a faster and cheaper method that saw the price of wallpaper drop so considerably, it became available to the masses. The industry increased production, but design standards dropped; no longer were the beautiful patterns and fine details of hand-blocked papers for sale.

It was not until the early 2Oth century that an industry dedicated to producing well-executed innovative wallpapers revived. The silk-screening process popular in the 1930s made it all possible. Today's modern technology, driven by computers and fueled by advancements in pigments and materials, has taken wall coverings to new heights of excellence in design and manufacturing standards, improving both the quality of wall coverings and ease of handling.