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maude80

Part 2 of my victorian quest

Maude80
9 years ago

Hi everyone,

Most of you will probably not remember the last post that I made as it was over a year ago. Here is a link to it

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/decor/msg1017002213422.html?15

I had been working on a room in my home that I was trying to decorate in victorian style. My goal was to give it a creepy haunted house look. Don't ask me why, but I've always been fascinated by this type of thing ever since I was a kid.

Well, you all had some fabulous suggestions that I employed over the time of a year. First, I removed almost all white from the room, ceiling, crown moulding. I then painted the room a darker burgundy and stenciled over it with a lighter red. I stenciled the two drop down sections of the ceiling as well as the white ceiling itself in a star motif.

If anyone has more suggestions as to what could be done to give it even more of a haunted house look, I'd love to hear it. Something along the lines of a room that has been sealed off for the last century. Here are the pics of how it looks currently. I had a bit of a hard time getting a good photograph of the red on burgundy stencil on the walls though.

{{gwi:2141656}}

Without a flash
{{gwi:2141657}}

{{gwi:2141658}}

{{gwi:2141659}}

{{gwi:2141660}}

{{gwi:2141661}}

Comments (41)

  • roarah
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What an amazing job you have done with your stenciling! The damask tone on tone looks perfectly like wall paper! I appreciate your commitment to creating your victorian parlor. The hammer really is the only really scary decorating accessory I notice:).

  • palimpsest
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I agree the stenciling is great.

    I think to continue on the theme you should get rid of the white lace accents and replace them with something darker.

    Also put some blackout fabric behind the swag so the light doesn't shine through it at the top.

    When I lit a room that was 19th c. style I had multiple lamps with darker shades and dim bulbs so it was evenly dimly lit. It appears that you get a lot of glare from the central fixture which isn't spooky or Victorian. You could also add some plug in uplighting in the corners (with low wattage bulbs) to light the room in a more discreet way that would also highlight the stenciling.

    Here is a link that might be useful: uplighting.

  • Rudebekia
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think old parlor organs--preferably with dust/cobwebs--are exceptionally creepy. Remember the old movie The Ghost and Mr. Chicken? I'm reminded of that in looking at your room.

  • palimpsest
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I darkened some things: darker pillows, lace and black candles

  • voila
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A third "Wow" on the stenciled walls. It plays with the light beautifully. Nice touch, Pal, on going to the dark side. To take it a step further, you could have a tray on the coffee table with melba toast or half eaten biscuits, as if the person left in a hurry. Must be a way to make it look spooky instead of messy. Fake food?

  • ingeorgia
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    around Halloween you can find fake cobwebs. Put some in a corner or two. Maybe put a red bulb in the overhead light, if you have a Big Lots near you they had some of the new long lasting in red. If you could change the light upholstery on the chairs and the other tablecloth that would help too. You have done a fabulous job !

  • mama goose_gw zn6OH
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The stenciling is very well done, and the 'funeral parlor' drapes are perfect.

    The print of the bright red barn seems out of place--maybe something in this style:

    {{gwi:2141662}}

  • lookintomyeyes83
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Yay! A (dare I say it) 'gothic' parlor!

    If you can, pick up some of the flickering-style lightbulbs, they'll cast an awesome glow!

  • kittymoonbeam
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    if you can find a lacy look crochet throw for the chair or sofa and perhaps some statues of children or animals that could look good. The best thing to find would be a big mirror in an ornate frame. Also the Victorians were mad for palm trees. A silk palm in the corner would be nice to complete the look. Big urns of silk flowers or old feathers would add to the creepy feeling.

  • yayagal
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You've accomplished your goal and I commend you. It's quite fabulous.

  • scarlett2001
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    An old book of Edgar Allen Poe works on the table.

    Some Victorian "funerary" objects like brooches or photos with the hair of the deceased and a crystal ball on the table.

    Would you go so far as to have a vase of dead flowers or a bloodstain on the carpet?

  • selcier
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow! What a transformation - the new colors on the walls and ceiling look fantastic. The light blue is perfect.

  • Rudebekia
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Also, human hair ornaments, preferably hair from deceased loved ones. Now there's a creepy Victorian practice that will give your room the perfect final touch!

  • sapphire6917
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Killer stenciling! (pun intended)

    The one recommendation I have would be to replace the small print of Grandma with one of those huge portraits where the eyes look like they are following you around the room.

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    A Wardian case with taxidermy (like parakeets) inside it.
    And one of these, as suggested above:
    {{gwi:2141663}}
    Casey

  • mtnrdredux_gw
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think maybe it could use a bookcase filled with dark bound tomes, maybe a little dusty.

  • peegee
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    ...Books about poison, taxidermy, ghosts, seances, etc.
    I would change out the ceiling fixture to something that looked light a gas lamp, or something with fringe?

  • kittymoonbeam
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I asked a friend from our Civil War group to look at your room. He suggests that if you are going toward Victorian but not obviously a Haunted House Halloween over the top look to think about these suggestions

    Most Victorian rooms might use one table in the center and put objects and plants on columns or pedestals against the walls.Most rooms that size didn't have that many different tables.

    A large bookcase or musical instrument would be appropriate.

    Pictures on walls were popular and most rooms had them on every wall and several on each wall was not uncommon.

    He suggests a large boars head or other carnivore (not a deer) for a more spooky room.

    He says yes enthusiastically to my mirror idea

    We both love your stencilling on the wall

    He suggests more fancy structure on the ceiling to add to the crown decoration you already have

    Another suggestion from me is a fancy bell pull so your staff can bring your guests refreshments on a silver tray while you entertain in your parlour.

    This post was edited by kittymoonbeam on Wed, Dec 10, 14 at 23:34

  • lilylore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The stenciling is fantastic, it looks like fancy wall paper.

    I want to note that the photos are a little dark and out of focus, so please bear with me if I call a metal object 'fabric' or a sculpture a sconce, etc. I'll call it as I see it, and hope we can keep in mind the design principle.

    White accents in this room may be your enemy. You can have doilies, but tea stain them (soak in espresso or dark coffee). No, not, never, white lace trim on pillows or tablecloths. Instead, replace white lace with black lace preferably or even red lace. I think that pink might be a better accent for this room than white or cream. Pinks also tend to have a dirty or faded look. Taupe and milk chocolate brown can also be mixed in. Other accessory or accent colors to consider are dusty baby blue and dull mint green. ocher or dull yellows, like for the candlesticks, could also work.

    I might want to replace the open armed chairs with upholstered side chairs, but not in white. In fact the fauteuils should be reupholstered in a darker color.

    The wall with the three molded squares bothers me for several reasons. First, I don't believe that the gold doodads are helping anything. And I am having a hard time reconciling them in any way. They lack authenticity, because I don't see them being used in this way in an original Victorian room. They are too try-hard and come off as tacky. I would remove them completely. These are the kind of thing I might attach to a plain Unpainted Furniture piece, or a Halloween casket prop, not a wall.

    But if they must stay, they should not be shoved toward the top of the molded squares. They are not "works of art" but architectural detail. Either leave them spaced the way they are but move the arrangement to the center of the rectangles, or leave the top crescent where it is, place the bottom one the same distance from the bottom molding and center the medallion. These should be painted either the same color as the wall or the same as the molding, not gold. Or All of the molding throughout the room should be painted gold.

    That wall could be arranged as a tableau on it's own, designed frontally, rather than with a push-something-into-every-corner scheme. Place the ornate pier-table in the center of that wall, centered on the middle rectangle. I like the height and scale of the candelabra, on this table, but having two tall vases next to it robs the candelabra of it's thunder. Better nothing on the sides or low bowls or vases, or even short sculptures. And I agree that dark candles would be dramatic. On either side of the table can be side chairs or the two fauteuils can go on either side with their backs against the wall. I think that small works of art would be nice hung within the molded area as well, but more on wall art later. That's another reason to ditch the doodads, so you can hang art on that wall, the art doesn't need to fit inside of the trim-work, in fact it might be better in some cases if it didn't. I would look for a large ornate framed mirror to hang above the peir table and that would reflect the candelabra. I sometimes see nice ornate frames at the thrift shops, or even at Sam's Club, that have cheap or tacky prints. Remove the prints and have the hardware store cut you a piece of mirror to fit the frame and, voila, you have an inexpensive, yet fancy mirror.

    A table like the three legged one should never be punished by making it sit in the corner. It needs to be at the arm of the sofa. It would be better to have nothing in the corner, actually. Your scheme might do well, and the room look taller, if some space was allowed to breath from floor to ceiling, uninterrupted by furniture, or perhaps with small wall art, if anything.

    The elephant in the room is the height. These are very, very low ceilings, I am guessing a basement. The wall art is working against the height. In a room that has an enormously tall ceiling, you will usually see an enormous about of bare space at the top of the walls. In order to make a short room look taller, you need it to look like there is plenty of bare space at the top. The most common way to do this is with low furnishings. But there are other tricks. Low hung artwork is another. So pushing the molded pieces toward the top of the wall, and hanging the sconces high on the wall works against you. The wall sconces, (birds?) above the lamp should be lower to allow blank wall space above.

    Along the sofa wall, it seems that what you have is two windows on either side with a heat register below each. I do like the register covers and I think that pulling the curtain open to it is interesting, but it looks unresolved because of the accessorising, more on that later. I am not feeling the bulkhead/curtain arrangement and I'm not sure how I would resolve it, if any differently. I would probably have made that bulk head into a faux valance, even if that meant having to let the 'valance' stop and start where the other bulkhead/beam traverses it. I would probably just do some sort of hand made wonky cut out valance piece to staple under the traversing beam. With a valance hanging over the bulkhead, the curtain rod could be hidden behind it. Having a curtain that goes from floor to ceiling is another way to 'raise the roof' or give the illusion of height to a short room, as it is, that bulkhead cuts off the curtains and makes a low ceiling look even lower. I honestly don't mind the traversing bulkhead, the one I call a beam, and I like how you painted and detailed it. I don't mind it because it is what it is, and in this instance there was no way to make it go away, visually, so making it stand out seems more appropriate than ignoring it. Kudos for that.

    The thing with the register covers (RCs) is that they too are architectural. And I need to pause for a second because I am about to go into what might seem like contradictory design advice, so please try to bear with me on this. The RCs should be dealt with as architectural detail, not as furniture, so much, more like a plate-rail or shallow mantel. I like the wood, but I would have the grate in a fabric or color that was close to the curtain material, rather than the beige. They should disappear a little more, and be thought of as background and layer. The Victorians loved to layer their interiors. For instance, it was okay for them to hang a large painting, put a screen in front of it that partially blocked it, put a fernstand in front of the screen and then a footstool in front of the fernstand. Does that make sense. To get the look you want, I think that layering anywhere in the room will be your friend. Rather than spacing everything neatly about like one of those rotating scenes in the Flintstones where they are running in place and the background moves and every few seconds the same painting on the wall goes by.

    To that end, I suggest you hang rather large works of art just above the RCs so that the parted curtains would cover much of the sides of the art. Look for museum poster prints of lounging nudes, the kind of painting that they used to hang in the saloons in the old westerns, and cut the poster down to retrofit thrift shop frames (ignore the art when thrift shopping for frames but look for the size you need and good matting you can reuse). The Victorians often hung nudes or what we might call erotica, behind a curtain, that could be parted to show the men folk, but then hidden when the room had mixed company. This looks like the perfect spot to play homage to that. And no, it won't matter that you have a large table and lamp layered in front of the naughty painting.

    There is something effete about the way these RCs are styled right now. The scale of the tiny sculpture seems to be off. The thing is that the narrow shelf doesn't allow for many taller items, another reason to hang artwork partially behind the curtain would help to give a bit of height to that styling. A mirror would also work very well there. Another option would be a bas-relief, I have seen copper relief plates (like of ships, or colonial life), the type that were big in the 1950s, at the thrift shops for a steal. A collection of those would make a nice layering above the RCs.

    Having three dissimilar items spaced evenly on the RC ledge is irritating. I would rather see one item, like the sculpture, with something else layered behind it.

    A second option for me would be too many items, which create an uninterrupted 'visual' line-up. The shelf might be more entertaining if it was crowed with a collection, or just completely crowded with little pictures and stuff. The Victorians loved little collections and invented furniture to display their collections (whatnot, étagère). I could see a collection of brass, or even blue and white porcelain, plates, vases and cups w/dried flowers. Maybe you just collect some interesting shaped vases, little sculptures, etc, and spray paint them all very mat/flat black, like black Basalt Wedgwood, the finish could be imitated by taking fine (000) steel wool to it after the paint dries.

    And that brings up another point, nothing says Miss Havisham like dried flowers and I see you grow beautiful roses. Dry some hanging upside down then arrange them in vases with Pampas grass. Another way to dry them is to wire them before hanging them to dry. Stem wires make them easier to arrange; wire the bloom to a stem wire with brown florist tape, also to the stem you wire on silk leaves that can be stripped from dollar store silk flowers or purchased leaves from the craft store. Then hang the bloom upside down to dry. Any way, I believe the look you are going for might better be described as 'Miss Havisham on a rainy day'. To that effect, you might consider using black tulle ruffles instead of lace and large silk scarves instead of doilies.

    When I look at the first two photos, it looks like the furniture is having a party and all the tables are hiding in the corner like a stag line. Another point is that the Windsor chair seems out of place. If it isn't an antique, I would consider painting it black with chalk-paint.

    I wanted to write about Victorian gallery hanging. Today, folks tend to hang art pretty much like they do in Art galleries. All in a horizontal line, evenly spaced all along a wall. And seeing some of your wall hangings it seems like you are trying to spread the pieces out to cover up as much wall space as possible as if there are all kinds of dents in the plaster you are trying to hide.

    First of all, I believe your wall art would be much more handsome if it was grouped closely together, even if that meant there were wide spaces of wall with no art. As I stated, having spaces like that can make a room look much bigger or even taller. The carefully chosen void or negative space actually accents the objects around it and it gives the eye a place to rest, as they say.

    The Victorians often crowded their walls with art, and like I said, would even layer furniture, lamps, etc, in front of the art. They tended to arrange the art vertically rather than horizontally. Doing that in your room will also add visual height. For instance, an oil painting can be hung just a few inches above a low side board, then a second painting or wall art hung just a few inches above that painting leaving a foot or more of blank space above to the ceiling. Then yes, you can layer in front of the painting to some extent with one of those little lamps, a dish, vase to one side, little easel with art, dome, etc.

    Today we would tend to have a long horizontal artwork and then on either side, have a pair of matching smaller prints. The Victorians might do this, but not so much what I think of when I imagine a Victorian parlor. So, in a Victorian parlor you can hang that long painting and the two matching works are hung one over the other and either to the left of right of the long one, this whole arrangement is centered over a piece of case furniture. That somewhat asymmetrical balance will also help give a creepy vibe to the room. Another way to hang that threesome vertically, is to have the long painting on the bottom an the two prints centered above it.

    See: {{gwi:2141653}}

    The Frith painting of an art opening shows how paintings were hung one over the other (vertically) they also wallpapered the walls with art next to art. I do advocate giving wall art a little more elbow room, though. One thing you will note in this installation is the absence of wide mats, I also believe that narrow mats, or Fillets, will work better for a Miss Havisham room.

    See:
    Scottish Flair Gallery
    , this modern gallery gives the work more elbow room but still hangs art in the Victorian method, vertically or painting over painting as opposed to painting beside painting.

    I think that having all (or most all) gold frames would also benefit your room. I'll tell you how I like to make cheap, thrift shop frames gold. First I spray the frame (with out glass or artwork in it, of course) with a metallic paint in a light gold color. Do not use what is called 'antique' gold or bronze. You want the lightest, most yellow gold to start with. Either metallic brush-on or spray paint. Then, after the paint has completely dried, you antique the gold with a brown artist oil paint (burnt sienna) thinned with turpentine or linseed oil or other artist's oil thinner, you don't need much -just a little dab'll do ya. To antique you paint it on thinly, then quickly wipe it away with a clean lint free rag, allowing the brown paint to streak and settle into the crevices. Let it dry a couple days between applications till you get it the way you want. If you start with an 'antique' gold or bronze, the finished color will be way too dark. You can finish with any kind of varnish or Krylon spray varnish.

    You might also consider some more Persian rugs, like to go under or in front of the pier table. The Victorians weren't against having several throw rugs in a room. I might shy away from rugs with any white in them, going for light blue or grey instead. I don't' mind your one rug with white or light background, it is a good counterpoint to the dark walls and other dark furnishings and it draws your eye down (which also is a trick to make a room look taller -busy floor pattern) So maybe more rugs like the one you have, with a light background would help?

    I do agree with pimpltits that you could use accent lighting in many places in this room. Either with antique floor lamps (look for shorter 'smoking/reading' lamps) or those cute little stained glass lamps that were all the rage a decade ago (search: figural stained glass lamp; or: stained glass accent lamp) I see them at garage sales and thrift shops all the time now and plenty at online auctions.

    A few other things that fit into the Miss Havisham style. Taxidermy as mentioned by many, especially birds, but butterflies and bugs are also nice. Dirty old porcelain dolls. There are a lot of these at the thrift stores now too. You tea stain the dresses, rat up the hair and dirty the hands and faces. One missing shoe doesn't hurt. 3 or 5 of these piled onto a rocking chair is creepy enough. Objects under a glass dome. Put something under the dome that nobody knows what it is or why, like a dirty paint rag draped on a bird perch, or a dried apple head made like a shrunken head. Bronze baby shoes can also be creepy. This is a room you can have a lot of fun with.

    This post was edited by Lilylore on Thu, Dec 11, 14 at 13:46

  • sombreuil_mongrel
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lilylore:
    "I do agree with pimpltits"
    WTF? ROTFLMAO
    Casey :)
    p.s. Thanks for seconding my Wardian case suggestion. Taxidermy is a must for a creepy theme.

  • Swentastic Swenson
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    HA! This is great! I love the stenciling too - well done!

    The Victorians had a creepy habit of taking pics of dead people - maybe you could incorporate a few of those?

    Here is a link that might be useful: Victorian Death Photos

  • bbstx
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I owned an 1875 Italianate Victorian once. We had photographs of the interior in its heyday. The library had a tiger rug complete with snarling head similar to this one
    {{gwi:2141664}}
    This is a stock photo, not my house If I remember correctly, the tiger rug in the photos of my house was finished with a velvet ruffle outlining the skin. As has been said about Victorian decorating, "too much is never enough."

    It also had the previously-mentioned palm trees.

    Wish I had the photos to share with you, but when we sold the house, naturally, we gave the photos to the new owners.

  • Bunny
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    "I do agree with pimpltits"

    I love that so much.

    Swen, I was thinking there could be a loved one in a casket for viewing, but thought, nah, too difficult. But your photos could definitely sub for one.

  • patriceny
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Who the heck is pimpletits?

    That struck me as so funny I'm still giggling. Perhaps the best typo ever.

  • Bunny
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I guffaw every time I read it.

  • beesneeds
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wow, that stenciling is fantastic! Having done some serious wall stenciling myself, I understand just how much time that took, my hats off to you!

    You have a lot of burgundy tone in the room, almost to the point of monochrome.

    Instead of black accents, I would suggest you go with chocolate brown- the brown tone goes with burgundy better, and is mellower than black. Chocolate brown can also tie in your gold accents better than black can.

    The three panels you have with the gold accents on them- I would pull out the burgundy and replace it with either a brown watermarked silk or wood. To help offset the monochrome and to make those gold accents really pop. Even better would be to remove the burgundy and gold bits and replace with a three panel painting of scenery, like a woodland landscape. It could be a night scene to fit in with your darker theme.

    Pull the velvet? swags from the curtains and replace with chocolate velvet. Add in gold detailing to the curtains. Tassels and cords are popular detailing. A knife pleat valance would be nice too, done in either gold or chocolate. Right now the curtains are beautiful, but kind of all blends into one big thing- break it up with your details and accents into a more layered look.

    Lilylore's whole post is excellent advice!

  • kittymoonbeam
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    The photos of the dearly departed were usually kept in albums. Post mortem photography wasn't featured on the wall. A leather bound album on your table would be great.

  • Maude80
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Dear lord, I did not expect this many great replies to my post.

    To start, I'm so glad now that I did the stenciling even though it was more tedious than I could have imagined. One of the common things that I have seen in every photo of a victorian parlor is wallpaper on the walls and ceiling. I had done several years of research and looked at thousands of photos of victorian era and victorian style homes but I couldn't make up my mind. Finally, I came across a website called ourvictorianhouse.com. I was in awe of the photos of the finished parlor that these people created. I would have loved to use Bradbury & Bradbury wallpaper in this room, but the cost made it out of the question. I suppose I could have bit the bullet and bought the wallpaper, but there was no way that I could hang it myself. I have never worked with wallpaper in my life, and at 90 dollars a roll, I was not willing to learn with this stuff. So, I figured that stencil could come pretty close to approximating this look while still being something that I could actually do without hiring a pro.

    So, I ordered a bunch of samples from bradbury & bradbury and tried to find something that would be just right for this room. I decided that the walls should be something similar to a damask and not too loud. I ended up using a flat dark burgundy and then a lighter satin red stencil on top of that. To note, the lighter red that I used was the color that I had painted the room in my original post (I believe it's called heritage red).

    Since this is indeed a basement room, I am stuck with two drop down areas on the ceiling. They were the most difficult part to figure out how to deal with. Since I am stuck with the drop downs, I figured that if I stenciled them in an ornate way, maybe they would kind of look like they belong there. I knew that I couldn't stencil them with the same damask pattern that I used on the wall because the stencil was pretty large and would not fit there. This was when I decided to copy the star wallpaper that I was so impressed with on the website that I mentioned. I used the same flat burgundy that was on the walls and then I stenciled over that with metallic gold paint in a star pattern.

    Finding the right type of star stencil was a total pain because none of the major stencil companies seemed to have it. Finally, I ordered one that I saw on ebay and I got lucky because it turned out to be just right. I guess you never know.

    The color of the ceiling was also inspired by the victorian website that I found. I took a sample of the bradbury wallpaper to the paint store and had them match the blue color. I made a gallon of it in flat and used that as the base cooat. I then made a star stencil from one of the bradbury samples. Since the stars on the ceiling were kind of spread out, I didn't have to worry about being as precise with the pattern which was nice.

    For those considering stenciling in their homes, I would highly reccomend that they use cream paint. I used a brand called Delta stencil creme paint and it really is great. It has a consistency similar to eye shadow. I made the mistake of using regular paint on the walls for the red on burgundy and it was absolutely gross. The cream paint is soooooo much neater and easier to control as well as not mucking up the stencil.

    Anyway, I can't think of anything else to say about the stenciling except that all of your compliments were so sweet and appreciated. So, I will be posting more on the room soon:)

  • kittymoonbeam
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I know you're going to enjoy this room. Imagine it dressed for the holidays!

  • colleenoz
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think "pimpltits" must be "palimpsest".

  • Maude80
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi everyone,

    Now that I have a little time to compose a good reply, I'd like to address some of the individual things that everyone said. First and foremost I want to say thank you to everyone for their kind and sweet compliments. It is greatly appreciated and so gratifying to know that you all like my work...

    Palimpsest- The lighting in this room has been something I have been giving alot of consideration to. The two fixtures that I purchased were kind of gotten in a hurry when the major construction was almost finished. I had actually found something on ebay that I thought was beautiful and very victorian, but the problem was that I needed a pair. Finding two that are flush mount due to the low ceiling is a bit tricky (though I do keep an eye on ebay).. I love the look of the darker pillows in your simulation too, although I'm not sure about the black candles. I don't know if they would be too gimicky and rosemary's baby like...

    Marita40- An old parlor organ is a very good idea. I'm just not sure if I would be able to get it into the room as it is behind a bookcase.. Yes, it's a secret room... I know, a bit eccentric but I've always wanted one...lol..

    Voila- You think the same way that I do. I actually thought about having an ancient looking tea party there with a cobweb covered tea service and dusty remains.. I'm so glad someone else mentioned it though as it makes me feel a bit less nuts....lol..

    Ingeorgia- It's funny that you mention cobwebs. When I was a child, I purchased a bag of artificial cobwebs (might have been at Caldor around halloween time).. I covered our dining room chandelier with them. It looked incredibly cool until it came time for my parents to remove it. They still talk about how many hours it took them and how each individual crystal was an entangled disaster.. I still maintain that it was a really cool look:)

    Mamagoose- I read your post many times because I couldn't understand what red barn you were talking about.. Finally, I figured out that you meant in the painting...lol.. Honestly, I never really paid so much attention to the painting, but more the frame. The frame had an old dark look that was nice against the dark walls. Am I the only one who looks more at frames than the painting??

    Naween-- that's a good thought. I never considered a flickering bulb..

    Kittymoonbeam-- I actually do have a mirror in a fancy gold frame, it just wasn't hung up when I took the pictures.. I am going to include a link to a video where you can get a look at it. I do have a few miniature ferns in there too now:)

    Scarlett2001-- I love the idea of a crystal ball on the table. I certainly wouldn't mind a vase full of dead flowers but I'm not sure about the blood stain on the carpet. It's not that I'm sqeemish, I'm just not sure that the casual observer would assume it was a blood stain and not just a leaky ceiling. I suppose it could work if there was a knife next to it, but would that be too weird??

    Saphire69-- If you look at the photo above the chair, it actually is one of those photos that you speak of. Her name is Hazel and you can read about her here

    http://www.theghoulishgallery.com/portraits/hazel.htm

    Sombreuil_mongrel- That is a gorgeous piece, although I would need a smaller version for this room. And taxidermy, is indeed spooky as hell, but the animal lover in me just won't let me do it.

    Kittymoonbeam-- I know, I do have quite a few tables in the room. I guess over time I've just collected them. For the ceiling, since it is pretty low, I don't want to draw too much attention to it.

    I have a lot more of your comments that I want to address, particularly to Lilylore.. In the meantimne, I want to share this video that I made..

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du4leBotyzI

  • arcy_gw
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I only skimmed most of the comments/suggestions so sorry if anyone already said this; but I would let the candles burn down a bit, was my initial reaction.

  • mama goose_gw zn6OH
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That's so funny. I had to go back and look at the frame--I hadn't noticed it at all, because my attention was focused on the barn. But now that you mention it, neither frame is something that would have been in a Victorian parlor, and the green frame especially does not showcase the daguerreotype portrait of the older lady.

    Your lovely room deserves better frames!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Take a look at the frames in these images.

  • lilylore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Posted by mama_goose :and the green frame especially does not showcase the daguerreotype portrait of the older lady.

    The portrait is certainly not a daguerreotype and none of the photos of Dags that you link to in fact have "frames".

    Daguerreotypes were never made to the size in the OPs room. The images of dags that you linked to are mostly of 1/6th plate images (approx 2.5"x3.5") they housed in book like cases and the brass you see is the type of mat they made for the cased images.

    The OPs photo appears to be a modern enlargement of an old sepia albumen photo, but with out closer examination, I couldn't say for sure. It may be a large solar print. Looking for an old solar print in an antique frame would look better, though, even if it were a wood frame. Often these frames are chipped and go for a song at flea markets and antique shops, and the 'faded glory' theme of this room could due with chipped frames quite nicely.

    I agree that the painting frames are not of the period, and are 1970s style traditional frames. The OP could easily remove the paintings. Mask the linen mat with tape, sand the wood smooth then paint metallic gold and antique then return the painting to the frame. The same could be done for the portrait photo.

  • peegee
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hmmmm.....for a really creepy/disturbing effect how about displaying one of lilylore's unkempt dolls under a glass cloche and/or up on the wall with the taxidermy? Yikes!

  • mama goose_gw zn6OH
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I humbly bow to those more knowledgeable about early photography--I was thinking sepia and daguerreotype were the same. The google images for 'daguerreotype' in the link, (even if they aren't daguerreotypes) show very similar portraits. I agree--with the OP's DIY talent and skills, the current frames could be easily transformed.

  • Maude80
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lilylore,


    I want to say thank you for your post. It was concise, well thought out and very insightful. I don't know if you do interiors professionally, but you obviously have the head for it...

    Several days ago, I followed your advice about the doilies and I soaked them in coffee to give them an aged look. It actually worked pretty well and they now look yellowed and old. The pillows are one of the things that I've been wanting to replace for a while. I found most of the pillows at Jembro (kind of like a 5 & 10 with lots of household goods if you've never heard of it) and they were so very cheap. I would like to find something a bit older looking, but I hate to spend a lot of money on pillow cases.

    I kind of agree a bit about the wall medallions and the panel molding. You see, I had originally been going for more of a French look for the room, but obviously it evolved into something a bit different. The medallions are glued onto the wall with liquid nails, and I would not want to have to rip them off and do all of that spackling and repair work... Besides, I can't get rid of the panels either because they are actually doors (long story).

    You are totally right about the ceiling height being so low. It is a basement room and I've given a lot of thought about the best ways to draw as little attention to that fact as possible. Also, those are actually not sconces, just little decorative shelves. As far as the bulkhead goes, I wracked my brain trying to figure out a way to hide it with curtains, but the problem is that the bulkhead sticks out about 16 inches in front of the windows. Even if I were to hang the drapes above that or come up with some sort of a valance, there is the problem of the other bulkhead that divides the room. It kind of runs directly into the one in front of the window. I know, it's confusing, but I think under the circumstances it's not too bad.

    I love your idea of hanging some sort of artwork over the radiator covers and it's something that never even crossed my mind. The things that are placed on the radiator were kind of just plopped there temporarily without much thought to composition. I like your idea of have them be crowded with objects. I read a quote in a book called Victorian Splendor that I thought was very interesting because it speaks to the Victorian tendency to layer things that you spoke of.


    'While furniture in the nursery and kitchen might be bare, she remembered every chair or sofa that stood in the parlor was robed down to the carpeting. Why, nice girls would no more show their legs than would nice chairs. Heaven forbid that people should see one's shape showing- any more than they should clearly discern the true contours of a room, window or door".


    I do grow quite a few roses at my house and I am planning on drying some this summer. The Miss Havisham look is exactly what I was going for (minus the wedding cake:). I saw the 1940's version recently and it was pretty inspiring for someone like me (maybe I should have been a set designer).

    The artwork on the walls has always been a bit tricky for me because I know that as you say, the Victorians did not space their paintings evenly and that is something that is tough for me. For some reason, my brain always tells me to position them in a symmetrical and equidistant way and I know that's not how the Victorians would have done it.

    I like the idea of making the picture frames an antique looking gold, but I have been afraid to do it because I didn't want it to be gaudy or overkill. But, I suppose that the Victorians were all about looking gaudy and rich. That's one of the reasons why practically everything in that room is woodgrained to look like mahogany.

    I have been looking for several weeks on craigslist for one of those domed Victorian displays that you mentioned. I see them in many photos of parlors and I don't understand why they don't seem to be in style anymore.

    One thing that I did do and wanted to share a photo of is a doll that I have added. She is an American Girl doll (possibly the most ridiculous money making racket ever to exist) that my 12 year old niece is no longer interested in. So, with a little bit of makeup,. I transformed her and she is now sitting on one of the chairs. I hope it's not too ridiculous, but I figured I'd give it a try:)

    {{gwi:2141665}}

  • emmarene9
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I like the doll. It looks like she may be on the furniture. I think she would be better placed out of the way. To be slowly noticed by your guests.
    I easily find those domes on line. But I call them bell jars. I am sure you could find a disturbing specimen for the jar.
    The barn picture is actually cheerful to me. It is ruining the theme of the room.
    Is this a room in your basement or the entire basement?

  • ingeorgia
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Boy that doll is wonderfully creepy ! Someone mentioned you can find dolls in the thrift stores very cheaply. Large cloches are difficult to find and expensive but you can find large vases you can substitute. You could put doll heads in one, just the heads no hair etc. All those eyes staring at you, pretty creepy.
    Old prints and frames can be found in thrifts too if you are diligent in the hunt. I realize you are dealing with a very low ceiling but if you could add a picture rail at the very top, then use cord to make it look like some of the pictures are hung from it this may help. With the mirror, maybe drape some of it with black fabric/dyed cheesecloth, see link may be helpful. Add the cobwebs too :))
    Has anyone mentioned dead plants?

    Here is a link that might be useful: draped mirror

  • lilylore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Maude, thank you for the kind words about my post. I was happy to be of service, and that you were able to find suggestions that worked.

  • lilylore
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I forgot to note on the doll. If you are going for a Miss Havisham look, you might want to be a little more subtle than that. dusty, dirty, worn, torn, ratty, tatty is all okay. Odd colors also work.

    With the bloody face, the doll is a little too spook house and cartoonish, or goth-kid and not Miss Havisham at all. Where goth has blood, Havisham has dust and decay.

    I would lose the blood on the face and the heavy circles under the eyes. Making the circles more subtle and much smaller -so you see it more as you get closer, like using brown eye shadow. Rub brown eye shadow or a very little brown shoe polish where ever a hand would touch the doll, like on the arms, the hem of the dress and dirty up the feet. For an extra subtle bit of creepy lightly draw a cryptic symbol on the sole of one foot, like an upside down anchor, then smear it a little or take fine sand paper to the mark to age it.