A Victorian Give Away...

I thought I'd give you one more chance to sign up and closer photos of the Victorian gifts for the drawing on November 1st.

The cute little shade is from Aunt May's Cottage and is ivory lined in white.

I didn't want anyone to think that you had to have MY ancestors, so I've chosen one of my favorite graphics of a sweet young lady in a pale pink dress for the soft gold 5 X 7 Victorian frame.



It was a very big deal to have your photo taken back then and many folks were lucky to have had one sitting in their entire lifetime. After the turn of the century, photography was not such a science and there were more opportunities for photo shoots as cameras became easier (and safer) to use.

The Victorian ladies loved to craft something wonderful out of every photo that they could get their hands on, so I've included a Shadow Box frame.


This particular shadowbox is not very deep, but there is enough room for a small painting, a little golden gimp braid around the edge and a piece of red velvet to duplicate the shawl worn by the regal looking lady in the painting. Note the small piece of vintage jewelry also inside the frame. The winner can, of course, remove all of these visuals inside the frames and substitute their ancestors instead.

More on Victorian decorating in the next post......

What's Under There??

All of the beautiful Victorian homes that you see in the magazines are staged to look the best that they can. Most times you will see items that are put there for "show" only and not part of the everyday living of the owners. We LIVE in our home, so this parlor is in use every day by a real family and their cat. Even though we were not of this age, we use the old toys, games and books in this room and are happy to share the stories that they evoke with our grandchildren.

Sometimes things are not what they seem and this post is to show you a few ways that you can "cheat" and get the look you want without the price that you don't.

I've already shown you a couple of those with the footstool and the fern stand. Here are a couple more..

This beautiful corner covered table has been my largest display surface in the parlor. It holds my teacup while I read, it holds the cat while she looks out the window and it changes with the seasons and my moods. I don't know what I would do without it.



Lest you think it is a valuable family heirloom, here's a look under the lovely coverings. It's a $10.00 plastic yard table! I bought this about 9 years ago to use on my patio. It served its purpose there for many years and has now moved (stains and all) into my favorite room in the house. It also hides Fraidy Cat's toy box and occasionally Fraidy herself if she is in the mood to play her hide-and-jump-out-to-scare-the-pants-off-you game.


Here's another cute table that Fraidy often uses for her games. It's a great place to hide when someone comes to the house that she doesn't know. She can keep an eye on their feet to see when they leave.


It's one of those three legged cheapos that you can find in your nearest dollar store.


Tables are for more than hiding things. Sometimes I like to put something sheer over one so you can almost see a wonderful surprise under there. Here is one of those. Sidebar: the lamp on this table was purchased at a local antique store. The shade is not a replica, but a true Victorian antique....all hand stitched with beautiful trims. The cherub base is plaster.


A little closer look....


Under here is a darling vintage Moss Rose children's tea set resting on an antique wedding hanky. I'm proud to have two of these sets and will give one each to my great grandgirls when they are old enough to not use them for weapons of mass destruction.


Now, here's what you've been waiting for. The treasures on my large round table are shown below. There are white lines around the items that are in the give away. You can start your own Vintage Vignette with them. Just comment under any of the parlor posts and your name will go in the drawing dish. The more times you comment, the more times your name is in the pot. Drawing is November 1st!


I hope you have enjoyed this tour of my 1848 Victorian Parlor and that you have come away with some wonderful ideas to decorate your own home. Thanks for stopping by...........

More Parlor Details.........

Wow!! I can't believe that I've been gone for almost a month!!

Vacation in Eureka Springs was wonderful. We also stopped at a few unique and historic towns on the way home. Then, I needed to concentrate on our annual church bazaar and creating items for that. Those will have to be detailed in other posts as I want to get back to the parlor and our give away! Continue with those comments as all will be counted as one entry each for the prize.

We are focusing on Victorian details in decorating. Always present is the glass covered floral arrangement. This most often contained a bird or some type of stuffed animal (yuck). I've chosen instead a beautiful porcelain pitcher from Germany and an antique crochet doily.




One of my favorite collections is lace collars from the 1800s. I have about 50 in my collection now and have chosen to showcase a few in this antique Apothecary jar. I change them often with ones that are stored away and take them out at least once a week to just look at the tatting and beautiful handwork on them. Humbles me a great deal...


Another of my collections is pin cushion dolls. This one was acquired at a flea market for $6.00. They did not know what they had as I would have paid ten times that for this beauty. The silk on her skirt is a bit tattered, but I love her just that way and could not change her a bit. Just look at that lace! I do have many busts without the skirts (pincushions) and intent to duplicate this one using one of those.

The Vics loved their clocks. As clocks were always hand crafted and very expensive, the more afluent Victorians displayed them as a collection showing off their personal status in the community. I don't love them that much, but every once in a while, I will run across one that tickles my fancy. This is one of those. I found this at an estate sale that was mostly made up of boxes to sort through. Another of those that were done by the "unknowing and uncaring" grandchildren. They had no thought of keeping anything of their grandparents as they were now sucessfull attornys themselves. With little regard to the treasures that they posessed, I asked how much for the little clock. They said $2.00 and snickered under their breath as to what a fool I was to buy it for even that. So sad. After a little cleaning, this is what surfaced.


This is another of my not-so-perfect finds. This little pitcher was purchased at a garage sale and was only 50 cents because it has a small chip out of the rim on the back side. I love the softness and color of the roses and no one even knows there is a tiny chip in it. It goes perfectly on the mantle in here with some ivy in it.


Hubby and I love to travel to historic towns and other places of interest. This is my spoon rack with souviniers from each of the places we have visited over the past six years. I'm having to double up so need to find another rack soon as we are off to Cape May next year. I can't wait!!


This little Eastlake chair was purchased, as is, at a local auction for (don't hit me) $7.50. Now, the upholstry is not original, of course. It's not even period, but I plan to recover this little cutie sometime this winter. The color is OK for now and it serves very well as a desk chair. So sorry that the gorgeous carving on the headstead does not show very well in this photo.


I found this lovely tassel to adorn the back of the chair. Victorians LOVED tassels and used them everywhere! This one has beautiful beading on it and I think I got it at TJ Maxx.


I finally got the portrait to put in the empty frame. Alas, it did not fit very well as the painted part was not quite wide enough. With a little imagination, I painted the sides of the canvas black and hand dyed a piece of beaded lace to cover the the black which make it wide enough for my stretcher. I like it even better!

I've shown all of these details to impress upon one and all that you don't have to spend a fortune in order to create a warm, inviting, interesting, romantic room. Just use your imagination and display what you love. Add a little whimsy. You will never tire of it and will always feel right at HOME.

Click on any photo for an enlargement. Please do not copy without my permission. I'll gladly give it for a good reason.

Stay tuned. Next time I'm featuring a post called "What's under there?" and I'll also reveal the treasures for the giveaway.

Don't forget to comment..........

Stay Tuned.......

I really meant to put another Parlor post on here before our vacation. I'm sure you all understand how time gets away from you and me.

We will be gone until the end of the month. As soon as we return, I will be posting more details and makeovers from this room along with a special post called "What's Under There?".

Don't forget to leave a comment for the give away in October. Remember, it's for an item displayed in this very room.

HINT: It is NOT the settee!

More Details

This is the fourth in a series of the Parlor Makeover in our 1848 home. If you've been a regular follower, you may remember when I purchased this settee. I've never been sorry and have loved just seeing in my home. In reality, it's not very comfortable unless you put your back in the corners of it and put your feet up on the seat. However, its original intent was not for comfort, but for sitting upon with your bum on the very edge and holding a cuppa tea. Ladies, back then, did not lean back in a chair or settee during a visit and would lounge on a chaise only at home.

Let's look at some details in this photo. Notice the underskirt on the corner table next to the settee on our right. Its pattern is not the same as the settee, but it goes very well because it has the same color family and background color. The table on the left is covered in the same light weight netting as the header scarf on the window above. Because the settee is high off the floor, I wanted something more grounded on each side of it.


Pillow details. I've talked before about how important pillows were/are in Victorian decorating. This was one of the ways that the ladies of the house could showcase her stitching talents. Here, I'm practicing to make the rosettes on the Victorian Lamp shades. I love how this turned out on the pillow. The under fabric is an ivory Dupioni silk and, as the Victorian's would do, I've made this a sham so I can change it out often with something new to showcase.


This little beauty is an antique find. It is made from a very fine netting with pieces of lace hand-stitched over it. It has a beautiful lace ruffle and an embroidered rose medallion. I suppose this to be from the 20s or 30s because of the machined lace. This is also a sham. I made a Dupioni Silk pillow to fit the sham. Back in the day, it would have been done the other way around.


Let's look in the corner to the right. The Victorians loved to decorate with plants so I've put a tall tree in the corner to draw the eye up to the ceiling and that wonderful crown molding. To the right, notice the empty frame. It is waiting for a canvas that I ordered and won't be here for about a month. The portrait is of a lovely woman in a black dress arranging flowers in a vase and duplicates many of the same colors in this room.


The lamp on this table was an antique store find for $20.00. I rarely spend that much on anything, but I just HAD to have this lamp! On this table, covered with a silk velvet burnout piano scarf, I've put some family photos. The Victorians LOVED to show off their ancestors in wonderful, ornate frames. These frame are available in Aunt May's Cottage, too. From left to right are my grandmother (and namesake) and grandfather Pease, his father, his mother-in-law (my great-great-grandmother) and his wife with her second husband. According to my cousin who has researched my family back to 1170 AD, my great-grandfather was "a bit of a scalawag, preferring adventure to fatherhood". Other items on the table include, a musical bronze egg, two silver boxes, a StereoViewer marked 1898, my grandmother's glasses and a popular woman's magazine dated 1896.


This is the fine net with embroidered roses scarf swag over the settee. In the center, I have fashioned a rosette that was popular in the 80s, made with a rubber band and some poking. This adds a little color at the ceiling and ties in with the covering on the little square table to the left of the settee and its pillow. This will be the summer window treatment for this room. The winter one will be much heavier and is still on my drawing board.

As I said earlier, the Vics loved their photos. If you have a current photo that you would like to showcase in your period room, just run it through your printer on a sepia tone or take out almost all of the color in the photo as I have done here with my great-grand girls.



This little corner cabinet was purchased at an antique store in Saint Joseph, MI for less than $25.00. Shown on the bottom shelf is a tiny tea set I purchased on eBay over an ivory, fringed piano scarf.


This painting is by my favorite rose painter of all time....Igor Levashov. There are two of his paintings in this room.


I purchased this little musical jewelery box at a porch sale in town recently. The graphic on the top is in silk and it plays "Somewhere My Love" (Laura's Theme). I use it on my desk to hold some hand painted stationary, note cards and my favorite pens. I won't tell you what I paid for it 'cause you might hit me........Oh well, OK....two bucks!



Don't forget to leave a comment for the drawing. Just a hint.......it will be for something in this room!! Every time you comment on this series, your name will go in the hat.

Stay tuned for more..........