An attractive backdrop for early American antiques, 18th-and-early-19th century Chinese wallpaper has been used in 20th-21st century interiors at historic hotels and in grand spaces such as Winterthur's Chinese Parlor.

Contrary to today's usage, Chinese wallpapers were an expensive luxury item designated for small, intimate rooms during the Colonial period, as Margaret Pritchard, Colonial Williamsburg’s curator of prints, maps, and wallpaper, tells interior designer Thomas Jayne.