Monday, August 26, 2013

Changes in the Parlor

This is what the corner of my parlor used to look like...


until I sold my big old Upright Piano, 
so everything got moved over to the other corner in order to get the piano out of the room...


and then I had an empty corner to redecorate! So that's always fun! I love empty spaces, that means I can fill it again! So in the process of moving everything around, I decided to sell the gold upholstered chairs and the white lusters that were on the piano. (See the first photo). I want older luster's, those were more 1930's or so.
My dream for this corner is to have one of these beauties sitting there...
                      Victorian Walnut Etagere
                              Source: Internet

So until I find just the right etegere at just the right price, 
this is how the corner is going to look...


The chairs are Renaissance Revival with Egyptian influence. I bought them at auction several years ago and they had been upholstered in blue denim material, I know weird right, if you would like to see them and read about that click here.
I had them reupholstered and I did the restoration of the ebonized and gilted areas myself.


I like the bronze plaque of the pharoah looking guy on the crest of the chair...


Below is the parlor table, I got it at an auction before I bought the chairs. I really like the turtle top on it, I think it is pretty. Please ignore the stain on the carpet, the piano covered it before but now I will have to really work on getting that out! Yuck!


Here is my shadow box with an 1800's bridal head piece in it. The orange blossoms are made of wax, around the edge is the bride's veil, and even her earrings and the groom's corsage are in there! And their wedding photo, how sweet!
                         

Below is a 1907 lithograph print of the Saint Cecilia. Here is a little biography on her...she lived during the 16th century. She married, but maintained a life of Virginity. She convinced her husband to be baptized. He was then executed for burying the many Christians slain each day during a great persecution. Cecilia continued to preach, and converted hour hundred people. In time she too was arrested and sentenced to death.  St. Cecilia is the patron saint of musicians.


The cherubs in this print go along with the cherubs on my ceiling...


This pretty little gal got moved over here in front of the window...


and you get a little glimpse of the other corner of the parlor...


and all of its Victorian detail... 

the carved grapes on the sofa with the hand painted flowers on the jardiniere 
peeking out from amongst the fern,


the needlepoint roses and the fluffy thistle on the gold velvet pillow...


the fringe on the lampshade and the detail of the lamp post...


the detail on the frame...


and the pretty little beaded footstools...


And with that I will leave you with a view of the whole area...


Thank you so much for taking the time to visit. Have a great week!

I want to thank Sandi over at ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE for featuring my Historic Illinois Town as the most viewed post at her HOME party.

I am linking up to the following parties, please come and join us.
A DELIGHTSOME LIFE  with Kathy at A RETURN TO LOVELINESS (oops, I got that backwards!)
WHAT'S IT WEDNESDAY with Paula at IVY AND ELEPHANTS
HOME with Sandi at ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE
HOME AND GARDEN THURSDAY with Kathy at A DELIGHTSOME LIFE
TREASURE HUNT THURSDAY with Pamela at FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS
HOME SWEET HOME with Sherry at THE CHARM OF HOME
PINK SATURDAY with Beverly at HOW SWEET THE SOUND
AMAZE ME MONDAY with Cindy at DWELLINGS



Thursday, August 15, 2013

Victorian Dollhouse Makeover

Well it happened! I drug the dollhouse out from the back of my daughter's closet so I could show it on my Victorian Girls Room post and now I'm hooked! As I said in that post, I was going to take out the divider wall and take out the bathroom so I could have the parlor take up that whole floor. Who needs a bathroom anyway right? :-)
So here is the before shot...

                                     

and this is what it looked like after I removed the divider wall, the wall paper and the carpet...


As with any makeover job, one thing leads to another. So with the wall gone that meant I needed new wallpaper and a bigger piece of carpet. Luckily I had extra of the same material I had used for the previous carpet! So after I got the carpet and wallpaper installed I decided the windows needed some trim and curtains!
So here is a photo of that step...


Close up of wall paper, window trim and the lace curtains. I made the little curtain rods using a little dowel rod and I slid the rod through little bitty eye hook screws that I screwed into the trim and then I glued gold beads on each end of the rod to keep the rod from sliding out of the eye screws.


And once that was done, it was time to fill her up!! And boy did I have fun doing that! I have to admit I got a little carried away. Actually A LOT carried away!
I made LOTS of trips to Hobby Lobby, each time using a 40% off coupon.

I found some fun things just by browsing through Hobby Lobby and Michael's with an open mind and a little imagination you can find lots of things you can make work for a dollhouse. For example, at Michael's I found a hot pink picture frame and by painting it gold and adding a mirror I had an over the mantle mirror! And only for $2.99!
I wanted a bird dome, so I got the yellow and red birds at Treasure Hill, the orange bird and the glass dome (was on the pink lady piece but I took it off to use for the bird dome) from Suzanne's shop. I made the little branch with a twisty tie and glued green glass beads to the base and there's my bird dome complete.
Also from Suzanne's I got the idea to make my own shadow box pieces. I bought the oval pieces in the jewelry section at Hobby Lobby, removed the contents and added a little piece of my hair for a hair wreath (even though it looks like scissors!) and added some tiny seashells to the other one for an ocean/seashell shadow box. I was happy with the way they turned out.



Before I reveal the interior let me show you the outside of this old place. It needs some making over of its own, don't you think? New paint job for sure.


The front door did get some door knobs put on and now the house has it's own number. I gave it the number of what year I'm pretending it was built. Which is 1867.


So let's open those doors and see what she looks like now, shall we?


Below is the Dining Room, looks about the same except for different rug, new cabinet and cherub mirror. Keep in mind, I will still be looking for pieces to add to it.


The kitchen has a work table now (for more stuff!), the Cuckoo Clock is a Hobby Lobby purchase and then the other new items I showed you in an earlier photo. The pie safe and icebox are full of stuff too.


Below is a shelving unit I assembled and use as the pantry. More shelves mean MORE stuff! And I've got empty spaces there! :-)


Moving on up to the 2nd floor is the newly remodeled parlor, shown first is the left side...


and then the right side...


and another right side shot with all of the over the mantle mirror showing and the new wall sconces I added.


Moving on up to the 3rd floor, on the right side is the master bedroom. Nothing too different here, I did add a ceiling light to both bedrooms. Some day I would like to have a Victorian bed in here instead of this 4 poster bed.


And finally, on the right side, is the children's bedroom. I sold the bunk bed and dresser that I used to have in there to put something a little older looking in there. Like the sleigh bed. And I added that lady picture.


So there you have it, my dollhouse makeover. It will never really be done because I will constantly be adding to it I'm sure. I hope you enjoyed my dollhouse and thank you for visiting! Have a great week!

I am joining the following parties...
HOME SWEET HOME with Sherry at THE CHARM OF HOME
SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY with Cindy at MY ROMANTIC HOME
PINK SATURDAY with Beverly at HOW SWEET THE SOUND
AMAZE ME MONDAY with Cindy at DWELLINGS
TEATIME TUESDAY with Sandi at ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE
WHAT'S IT WEDNESDAY with Patti at IVY AND ELEPHANTS
HOME with Sandi at ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE
HOME AND GARDEN THURSDAY with Kathy at A DELIGHTSOME LIFE

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Summertime Finds!

Oh my goodness! I don't think I'll ever be able to top my last post that I did on an Historic Illinois Town! It was a record breaker for me! I have had almost 800 people view it and have 41 comments so far!! Now that's exciting for me and my little ol' blog for we have never had that many of either!
And it helped that it was featured on 2 blog parties too!

I want to thank Cindy over at DWELLINGS for featuring it on her AMAZE ME MONDAY party.
And thank you also to Sherry at THE CHARM OF HOME for featuring it on her HOME SWEET HOME party!

And now for this post...
I have saved all my Summertime finds for this one post. Nothing major, just little things I bought from here and there. So I hope you enjoy the vignettes I created for these finds of mine.

I like to collect vintage souvenirs of places I have been. A very Victorian thing you know, to have souvenirs of your many travels in the parlor. The places I have been are not very extravagant though but oh well, it's still fun.
Pictured below is a seaside vacation postcard (the shell lifts up to reveal a small photo of the town) but what's funny is that there is no beach in Mason City, Illinois and I have not been there but I have been to a beach.
The three little dishes to the left of the postcard are St. Louis Zoo souvenirs. All 3 made in Japan. The tiny little giraffe plate is the size of a half dollar, so cute!
The floral cup and saucer is a souvenir of Meramac Caverns here in Missouri. I thought the teacup was such a pretty little thing with its elegant gold handle and hand painted flowers.  I got the embroidered hand towel at the same mall but from a different dealer and look how good they look together!
The salt and pepper shakers are from Disney Land in California. I am not sure how old they are, but I do know the park opened in 1955. Pictured on the front is Snow White's Castle and on back are a Victorian looking man on one and a Victorian lady on the other. And behind those is a little Washington D.C. plate.


I had my eye on the below walnut carved corner shelf for a couple of years now and when I went in to that antique mall and saw that it had been marked down from $45 to $20 it didn't take me long to grab it!
I hung it up in my bedroom and brought up my Old Paris vase to put on it.


I was introduced to vintage wax fruit from Richard at My Old Historic Home, he had a big bowl full of it and I loved it! So by picking up a piece or two here and there I ended up with enough to fill my banana bowl and more...


And there's more fruit! These were popular back in the 1990's and are still being made but are not as pretty as these older ones. I got this bunch for a couple of dollars at a place where I volunteer, it's kind of like a thrift shop. Pictured with the fruit are two Thanksgiving postcards that I bought at a Postcard Show and Sale this Summer. I liked the berries on the cards.


At the same place I bought this little garden hut looking thing for my back flower garden. It now shares the bed with the Foxgloves (not blooming), the black eyed Susan's and the Cone flowers.


And more from the same place! You know how I love Victorian domes, well when I saw this Frenchy plastic pink one I knew I had to buy it for my daughter's room! It is from the Juicy Couture store, retail price $68 and I got it for $2! And the mirror it is reflecting in is a full body mirror that I bought at the same place because my daughter wanted it for a dance mirror. $10. The walnut stand is not a new piece and lives downstairs but came up to visit for this post!


And NOW... for my teatime finds! I went to an Estate Tag Sale and got the below partial tea set!  I paid $4 for it. It has an Austria mark on the bottom. Some of the linens pictured are from her sale also.
I bought the German tea tile from the place where I volunteer for $2. It has pretty white lilies on it.


A view without the tea tile...


and a view of the sweet little sprig that adorns the back of each piece...
Can you tell I really like this set?! My blogger tea friends are rubbing off on me! :)


I got these books from this sale too. The two with the pretty red binding are copyright 1903 and were part of a series. I only got these two, Elsie's Womanhood and Elsie's Children by Martha Finley. I like the embossed pansy bouquet on the covers. $1 each.



The Great Circus Street Parade was also $1. The seller had bought it back in the 1979 at the Circus Hall of Fame in Sarasota, FL. (I would love to see that!)
This is what the first paragraph of the Introduction in the book says...
"What was a circus street parade?
It was the greatest, most alluring form of advertising ever conceived by man-Madison Avenue included. The circuses used the parade to entice townspeople to the showgrounds whee the sights, smells and sounds of the tented city were simply too delightful to resist; they then purchased tickets."
And then the book shows all the beautiful detail and splendor of the chariots and wagons used in the circus parade during its golden age. All the gilt and gold leaf scrolls and swirlies! Beautiful!
Starting in the 1920's the first circus parade was discontinued. Circus owners complained that the traffic signals ruined their parade by breaking it into segments. The cities/towns said they could not afford to have traffic tied up by a "slow moving horse drawn pageant". and that the heavy wagons were cutting up the asphalt paving in hot weather. By the 1930's a circus parade was a thing of the past.

My mom got all these calling card, shown below, from an auction and gave them to me. I might add a few to my calling card holder and the others will go in my scrapbook.


As for the rest of my finds, you will have to wait until I do a post on my Victorian dollhouse makeover to see those items. I'm having so much fun with that house! While I was taking out the bathroom in my dollhouse to make a bigger parlor my husband was ripping the carpet out of our master bath and putting down faux marble ceramic tile. I will post about that later too!
Thanks for visiting and have a great week!

I am joining the following parties, please come join in the fun.
AMAZE ME MONDAY with Cindy at DWELLINGS
A RETURN TO LOVELINESS with Kathy at A DELIGHTSOME LIFE
WHAT'S IT WEDNESDAY with Patti at IVY AND ELEPHANTS
TREASURE HUNT THURSDAY with Pamela at FROM MY FRONT PORCH TO YOURS
HOME AND GARDEN THURSDAY with Kathy at a DELIGHTSOME LIFE
HOME SWEET HOME with Sherry at THE CHARM OF HOME
SHOW AND TELL FRIDAY with Cindy at MY ROMANTIC HOME
PINK SATURDAY with Beverly at HOW SWEET THE SOUND
TEATIME TUESDAY with Sandi at ROSE CHINTZ COTTAGE