Floorcloth

A floorcloth, or floor-cloth, is a household furnishing used for warmth, decoration, or to protect expensive carpets.

His recipe for the liquid coating included resin, tar, Spanish brown, beeswax and linseed oil.

He set up a factory in Knightsbridge, in London, where the waxed cloth was manufactured and painted, initially freehand or with stencils, but later with wallpaper printing blocks.

[1] Floorcloths served several purposes: they protected floors, decorated a room, and also helped to insulate a space.

[1]: 14 Initially used by the wealthy, the designs and patterns mimicked a range of other substances, including parquet flooring, tile, and marble.

One floorcloth at the Melrose Plantation in Natchez Mississippi mimicked an intensively patterned Brussels carpet.

New materials and processes began to provide some competition for oil cloths, although they did continue to be produced through the early 20th century.