November Wrap-up...

In my quest to visit as many small, quaint, historical towns in the Midwest as possible, hubby and I went to Paris, KY over Thanksgiving. What a friendly, clean little town! I loved it there. Unlike most of America, this looks to be a very active downtown area as many of the stores were being renovated and seemed to have new owners.

Smack dab in the middle of town was this sweet little park with a fountain. It was turned off for the winter, but I imagine it's quite beautiful in the summer months.


Paris has the most unusual Doors! These are a few of my favorites...


This building was in renovation.


Wonder what the Robneel was???


And these doors were well over 15 feet tall!!


I quickly found my favorite store....





Some other interesting buildings....



I peeked in the windows of this wonderful old drugstore and OH did I fall in love with this!! All of the renovations seemed to have these tin ceilings and wonderful wood floors.


Their courthouse is beautiful. It has a copper cupola and wonderful architectural features. I don't think I'd like to climb those stairs every day for work, though.


If you love old towns like I do and are ever in the Paris, KY neighborhood, you MUST stop by this lovely little heaven on earth. I can promise you won't regret it! I think we may go back again in the summer and say "Hey" to all of the friends we made there.

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I can hardly believe it's the end of November already. Where did the year go?? We've only got the Christmas Season upon us now, being the last holiday in 2009. In celebration of that season, I'd like to share some of my favorite rooms decorated for the Holidays.

Many of you know how much I love the Victorian decorating magazines and have collected several publications for many years. When I'm thinking of decorating, I devour those for hours and have quite a stash of photos stored for future reference.

I'm sure you will enjoy some of these photos as much as I do and it may prompt you to expand your Holiday decorating as it does mine. So, starting December 1st, I will begin posting some of my favorites every day. There are almost 200 photos, so be sure to visit every day that you can during December.

Until next time..........

I WON, I WON!!

I am so blessed to have won a give away by Lorena at Rose Chic Friends! Man, when she says "a give away", she means a GIVE AWAY!!

Look what I received in the mail yesterday!!

Gosh, I feel so spoiled! I'll be proud to wear that pin on my coat during the holidays!!

Just look at this lovely with the hand made clay roses....


Lorena makes the best roses! Isn't this plaque just darling?


This ornie will look perfect on my pink tree.....rose perfection! I wish you could see the sparkle on this beauty!


She even painted one of her shabby, fluffy roses on the back side!


I am the lucky owner of several of Lorena's painted pieces which I display proudly in my Victorian home.

I certainly can make good use of the trims and Victorian ornaments during the upcoming Holidays (LOVE those birds!!). I've already got some ideas so watch to see what I do with them. Yummy scent in the shower gel and lotion, too.

These treasures thrilled me beyond words! Lest you think me selfish, YOU can have goodies like this by going to see Lorena at her etsy store, Bonanzle and eBay.

Victorian Lamp Shades

I've found a new passion...............Victorian Lamp Shades.

These beauties are very unique in that no two hand-made ones are exactly alike. Back in the day, you would employ a lampshade maker to fashion one specifically for your lamp and it would be a true work of art. There are very few lampshade makers left today as, sadly, it is another of the Victorian Arts that are rapidly passing away.

The Victorian Parlor really needed a couple of lamp shades that befitted its turn of the century demeanor. After seeing the price of having one made (WOW), I decided to try my hand at it. Well........

.....here is the result.


This particular shade has eight petals and eight of those diamond shaped inserts. I chose the same damask fabric that covers the footstool and side table for the petals, but they seemed too bright so I put a silk chiffon over four of the petals to soften them a bit. The diamonds are lined with black silk and covered in lace rosettes.

Side view.........


Can you see the rosettes? This is finished off with yards and yards of gimp and some glass beaded fringe. Here it is lit up. It really matches the wall color quite well, even when lighted.


This table lamp shade was my first attempt. It is made from the bodice of a vintage bridal gown and is a hand embroidered and beaded ivory satin. I dyed the gimp and fringe (which I LOVE) to match the outline thread on the embroidery. This is a six petal shade and is adorned with acrylic beads, too.


It is on the vintage lamp that sits on my desk. If you look back at the original Parlor photos, you will see this once had a lace shade on it. I like this better and the embroidery shows very well when lit up, too. The soft glow of the shade is due to the silk lining. Without the lining, you would see the outline of the bulb.


After completing these two shades, I decided that those who hand sew these (as they should be) earn every cent of the hundreds of dollars that they are forced to charge for them. They are very labor intensive!!

First, the entire shade frame must be wrapped in ribbon. Then, it took me over 16 hours of hand stitching to do the floor lamp shade and about 12 hours for the desk lamp shade. Each shade is made from several layers of fabrics all hand stitched individually. In the floor lamp, there are 25 fabric panels to sew on one at a time.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my new passion. Now I'm looking at every lamp in a different light (pun intended) to see if it needs a Victorian Shade.

Click to enlarge any photo but please do not copy without permission. I gladly give it for a good reason. Thanks!

The Winner....

.... of the magazine subscription to Old House Journal is....

Shirl of Shirl's Rose Cottage.

I know that Shirl will enjoy this as she, too, lives in an old farmhouse.

I'll be having lots of giveaways in the future so be sure to check back often.

Once in a Lifetime Offer......

Wouldn't you love to live here???


I have subscribed to this magazine for a long time now. It has wonderful articles on the "bones" of old homes and has been a valuable resource in our restoration of this circa 1848 house and the cottage. This particular issue shows how to rebuild your old stained glass windows and even shows how to make the glass look old.

Over the years, I have used many of the articles to help me fix horsehair plaster, repair a window sill that has rotted over time, seal an old door from the weather, fix a wood floor that had fire damage and repair copper gutters.

I am offering a free one-year subscription to one person that comments on this post. If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please post your interest in the comments section.

Until next time.........

We Have a WINNER!!!

Yesterday my granddaughter pulled a name from the hat (bowl) and the winner is..........

KIM of the Victorian Parlor!!!

I think Kim visited every Parlor post!

Congratulations, KIM!! Please send me your mailing address so I can ship these treasures off to you immediately.

Thanks to all of you that entered my Parlor Post give away! This was such fun that I think I'll have a few more in the future.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for more posts on Victorian living and decorating inspirations. I have big plans for the living room sometime this winter, but you never know what I will be sharing next.



Love this place!!! Don't you??