I’ve been working on a super secret writing project, like some of the other Fillies, and the research has been so fun.
In one scene in my story, I wanted to have a character paint a room pink. Before I whipped out the paintbrush in the story, I decided I better do some research about the colors available at that time (hint: my story is historical!).
I Googled “paint colors 1890s” and one of the websites that popped up had images of old color samples. For a visual person, this was a treasure trove of detail!
But one of those samples really caught my attention. 
It was from the Alabastine Company. Since the color I was searching for was this exact shade of pink, I did a search for Alabastine paint.
What I discovered was that they promoted their company as offering “Sanitary Wall Covering.”
What, now?
Alabastine claimed their product would “keep the walls sweet, fresh, pure, and healthful, — as pure as the natural rock from which Alabastine has its origin.” The health benefits touted for their “sanitary wall finish” included resisting problems associated with contagious diseases such as scarlet fever and typhoid because germs and insects would have anywhere to “set up housekeeping” on their superior finishes.
Melvin B. Church founded the Alabastine Company in New York in 1879. Something of an inventor, he tinkered with a new way to paint walls and formulated Alabastine.
The product was derived from gypsum that was mined from shale beds around Alabaster, Michigan. The paint was a base of calcined gypsum which took the place of the widely used calimine in wall coatings and finish.
During the early years of the 1900s, paint and stencils were a colorful and popular way to decorate the walls of a home. Alabastine capitalized on the trend. One of the company slogans was, “Alabastine Your Walls and Combine Healthfulness With Beauty.”
The product was a powder that was mixed with water and applied, rather like Plaster of Paris. The durable surface it created was reportedly easy to maintain and touch up. It could be applied over painted walls – or even wallpaper. One article said it could be modeled into tiles and sealed with varnish to use in kitchens and bathrooms.
The company produced a number of colorful advertisements in various magazines that included some of the most popular of the day like the Ladies Home Journal, the Delineator, and House Beautiful.
They also produced small booklets of stencil designs that were distributed to painters and decorates. Postcards with varied color schemes were printed by the thousands and distributed. The company even maintained a staff of artists to help with color schemes and design. If you really want to see more of what they produce, an antique booklet is available at Abe Books for $75!
Sadly, the company went out of business in 1948 due to “mismanagement.”
At any rate, I thought it was neat to learn about this unique type of wall tint that I had no idea existed!
When it comes to decorating your home, do you like to paint?
Hate to paint? Fall somewhere in the middle?
Do you have a favorite room in your home?
After spending her formative years on a farm in Eastern Oregon, hopeless romantic Shanna Hatfield turns her rural experiences into sweet historical and contemporary romances filled with sarcasm, humor, and hunky western heroes.
When this USA Today bestselling author isn’t writing or covertly hiding decadent chocolate from the other occupants of her home, Shanna hangs out with her beloved husband, Captain Cavedweller.
I do enjoy painting wall, pictures, not so much. I had no idea those shades of colors were available so early on. You could write a book on this, someone operating an early paint store and then falling in love with one of the customers. I love historical fiction with a different than usual plot. Thank you for such an interesting post today.
That would be such a fun story, Deanne! Thanks for that idea, and for popping in today!
It would be a fun read. You’re welcome. Thank you for posting today.
I like painted walls, but my painter, aka husband, isn’t the best with accomplishment.
The Alabastine product sounded interesting.
It’s nice you have a painter to help with it! I am the painter at our house and don’t enjoy it at all, but I do like the results!
Have a fabulous day, Denise!
Wow Shanna, you’ve given us an amazing history lesson. This was very interesting. I do not like to paint, Rob he is so good at it. I can look at a can of paint and I’ll be covered, he can paint all day and never get a drop on him. I have a bedroom down in our basement, I just love to go down there and look around. My Granny made all
My curtains, pillows in a black and white toile (not sure I spelled that right)
I have all my great grandparents, grandparents and my mom and dad pictures when they were little kids on my walls. It truly is a calming room for me. I can’t wait to read your new mystery project. Love and hugs my sweet friend.
I am like you – paint everywhere. So awesome Rob is good at it and can do it without making a mess. And I think that room full of sweet reminders of your family sounds amazing! Love and hugs to you, Tonya!
LIve in an apartment so the walls are white. Can’t paint them but I do put up wall hangings with pics from the 1950’s and a few with scene’s from europe countries.
The artwork on your walls sounds amazing, Kim! Have a beautiful day!
I’m such a cruddy painter, but I like trying. Really interesting article. Loved the artwork in the ads!
I am a horrible painter, but I like the look of a room when it is finished, so I keep trying! Thanks for stopping in, Heather! Have a lovely day!
Absolutely loved this, Shanna!! I can totally see the appeal of those pastel colors and stencils. I remember when stencils were popular a couple of decades ago. I had stenciled ivy in my bathroom. I loved it, and I was really sad to cover it up with the greige that is so popular now.
My husband is the painter. My job is taping around the windows, etc. There’s something about a freshly-painted room that is so inspiring!
Keeping this blog for reference. Loved it!
Oh, I remember those stencils. My mom had some, but she never did get around to painting them on anything. So nice your hubby is the painter at your house. Love it!
I have been painting walls or stripping furniture of pain since 1974!! I find this very interesting!
Thanks for stopping in, Teresa. I was fascinated with this product and their ads!
What fascinating history, Shanna. I love learning little tidbits like this. In one of my novellas, I researched exterior paints and found that the late 19th century was a very colorful time period. 🙂 Loved learning about Alabastine paint and stenciling. I usually just think of wallpaper during this time period, so it’s fun to learn something new. Strange that it was touted as being healthy. But then, if it was lead free, maybe it was. 🙂
Hi Karen! Thank you for popping in. The late 19th century was such a colorful period. I’d love to see an old house that had Alabastine walls! All that lead paint back then … oh my!
I do like to paint, though I haven’t really done a lot! After Mom passed, I knew I had to make the master bedroom and bath “mine” and decided to re-paint. A friend volunteered that she and her hubby would come and help. What she really meant was she and I would “help” and he would do the majority, which was fine with me! I painted the baseboards and bedroom and bathroom doors, she painted the closet doors and did a little of the cut in, and he did the rest! I wouldn’t mind painting more, with some more help!
That is wonderful your friend and her husband offered so much help, Trudy. It’s nice to have someone lend a hand on big projects like that! Thank you for stopping in today!
I think of wallpaper not paint for being popular for that time, I usually don’t paint, but have 1 of my daughters do the painting. Some of my rooms have special effects- one has globs of paint randomly painted over a color, another has a darker color painted over with a feather duster and the last special effects has 3 different shades of the same color smeared by hand on the wall. Loved the research you did about the alabaster paint.
The special effects paint you have sounds so neat, Karijean! How nice your daughter does the painting for you! Yes, I think for many of us wallpaper is definitely what comes to mind when we think of that era. Thanks for stopping in today!
When I grew up my mother liked to wallpaper wherever she could. Hence, I took to wallpapering myself in the 1960’s at which time there was paper wall paper as well as a much more expensive paper printed on a woven material. This type was so very durable I papered the lower half of my bathroom in it. The secret to wall papering is to match the patterns on each strip which created some waste. I used wall paper to highlight one wall and painted the others. I guess I fancied my self a decorator back in the day. Well, I did enjoy the finished project.
That’s so neat you had a talent at wallpapering, Judy! I think it’s fun to decorate our homes and enjoy the finished project for year to come. I so appreciate you stopping in today! Have a beautiful rest of the week!
The first paint I picked out as a new bride 50 years ago was avocado green! Horrible! I do not have a good eye for colors when it comes to paint. So, my husband gladly took over picking out the paint and getting the job done. I loved it when stenciling was popular. Thank you Shanna for the history lesson today. Fun to read.
Hi Kathy,
That’s awesome your husband picks out the colors and gets the job done. We all have our strengths, right? Thank you so much for stopping by today. Happy belated Valentine’s Day!
I do not like to paint. We have mostly paneling in our house, so not much need to paint.
I’m not a fan of painting either, Connie! Thank you for popping in today!
Thanks for such an interesting post. We currently have an 1898 house. Ig would have been nice to finish the walls with this. Sadly the walls were in bad shape and we had to rip out all the lathe and plaster. I don’t believe they ever used this product. All the walls had been papered many times. I am not a fan of wallpaper. We lived in military housing or rentals for many years so plain white walls were what I got used to. We did own our own home at one assignment. I pretty much stuck to white walls except in the bedrooms. In those rooms, I painted the walls pastel colors and did stenciled borders around the top of the walls much like the illustrations for this product. It wasn’t until we had to sell the house when we were transferred that I found out how much was charged for stenciling. One teddy bear like I had done in our son’s room was $15. I had over 40 of them. In our current Victorian farm house, I started with antique white. As we finished the renovation, I got a bit braver. One bedroom is a pale yellow, one is a sand, and one a seafoam green. I went outside my comfort zone and painted the Victorian parlor an Irish rose. It is such a bold color (for me), but I do love it. It makes for a warm, inviting yet a bit formal feel to the room.
Hi Patricia,
Oh, I love the colors you described in your home. I can envision the Irish rose as such a soft, beautiful color to great visitors to your parlor! And how fun you live in a Victorian house! The stencils you did sound like they were fun additions to the rooms!
Thank you so much for stopping in today!
A very interesting history. I grew up in a very old house built sometime in the early 1800’s. It had layers of wallpaper on the plaster so I don’t think there was ever any Alabastine paint on the walls. Couldn’t help but wonder if the calcimine used in paint is the same compound found in calamine lotion.
Our daughters and I are the painters in our family, inside and out. It’s the getting the walls ready to paint that takes so much time that I dislike.
How fun you grew up in an old house. It would be neat to know what was originally on the walls, wouldn’t it? So nice you and your daughters are the painters. It does take a lot of time to prep to paint, but it’s always so nice when the walls are fresh and clean with a new coat. Thank you for stopping in today!
welcome today. Such an interesting post. I have run across powders that will tint white paint. They used it during the civil war also, some of my ancestors used them. My son found some that worked well. I love to paint our house.
That is so neat you’ve come across those powders and your son found some that worked well. How fun!
I have always loved being in the kitchen. I love soft shades of blue. I am disabled, so painting is not something that I can do. Thank you so much for sharing. God bless you.
Soft shades of blue are so pretty! And so neat the kitchen is your favorite room. It is the heart of our home too. Have a beautiful day!
I love painted walls and stencils. I don’t like having to be the one to do it!
This was a fascinating, a little tidbit, thank you. I love research and am slowly going through the 1890s and early 1900s in my family history.