Faux leather on linoleum

Taking linoleum to the high end

This is a stairwell in a vintage, two-flat graystone residence in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. The embossed wallcovering that lines the stairwell beneath the wainscoting rail was a traditional motif for turn-of-the-century homes.  But it had three levels of refinement.  In high end homes, this embossed wall covering would have been rendered in leather.  In middle-class homes, it would have been rendered in copper.  Rendering a faux-leather decorative finish, we transformed this low end linoleum variation into its high end equivalent.  This project is a good example of how we integrate decorative arts finishes in period architectural context.