Thursday, March 22, 2012

"Heads Up" in the Parlor!

Hello my friends and Happy Spring! I do hope that Spring is really here.  I love this time of year when you can sleep with your windows open and wake to the sound of the birds singing. What a gift from God that my ears may hear that beautiful sound.

Welcome back to my parlor. I am so excited to share this part with you because it is my most favorite thing that I have had done to the house to make it look Victorian. Remember, me and my house, we are Victorian Wanna Be's!

When we first bought the house I really loved everything about it except for one thing. The tray ceiling in the Living Room/Parlor!!!! How on earth do you make a tray ceiling look Victorian?! Well, that question was on my mind almost daily! I thought about, I analyzed it, to use wallpaper or not to, tried to figure out how I could give it the illusion of  a one leveled ceiling. Do I paint the lower part light to take it up and the higher part dark to bring it down? What to do! After searching all of the back issues of my Victorian magazines I decided what I needed to do! Have a mural painted on the ceiling! So I found a young lady from my church who had just finished at the Chicago Art Institute and was excited to have a job. So, she came and worked her magic and I loved it... but, it still needed something else. I felt like it looked like an unframed oil painting and needed some crown moulding going on up there. So back to the magazines! I found just the right idea but now it involved my husband! Oh boy!  Remember, he does NOT share my Victorian vision!!! He thought the ceiling was just fine the way it was before I had it painted! Oh, phoey! So after wanting this moulding for over 4 years he finally got it for me this past Christmas! And exciting it was! So now, after all that rambling on, are you ready to see it?! I'll start with two stages of before photos, you know how I love before photos! ;-)
Please click on to any photo you want to see enlarged.



And here is the picture from the Victorian magazine...
Isn't it GORGEOUS?!! How I would love to have those high ceilings! Wow!


Looking at the ceiling from the front of the room. Doesn't it look so much better with the moulding?!
I painted it to match the ceiling medallion which in turn matches the colors throughout the house. (I know... the fan isn't very Victorian looking, but it serves its purpose.) I would still like to add another gold decorative thin piece of moulding under the layer of green that would come down onto the pink just a tad but cannot find the right piece. You can't see all of the gold but the colors go like this...gold, red, gold, green, gold, salmon, gold, red and gold again! Talk about tedious!!! It took me forever and I still need to go over the gold again!!!



The back part of the ceiling. It isn't very clear but next I'll show you the close ups of the cherubs.






So, there it is! I hope you like my cute little cherubs. And now I need your advice and/or opinion. Looking at the photos below and seeing how the room looks with the moulding, do I need to add a picture rail, that I would paint gold, down where the light green of the tray meets the darker green of the walls or would that make the room look too divided or bring more attention to the tray part and make the walls look too short? Please let me know what you think. (And that means you too Richard, king of Victorian decorating!  :-)  ) Now remember, ignore the TV!


Thanks for visiting and I'll see you next time when we move on into the kitchen/dining room area. Have a great week!

5 comments:

  1. How darling. You are getting so grand and I love it. Richard from My Old Historic House.

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  2. Hi Gina: Hello!! I'm so happy to meet you and am now following you also. I love your home. You are doing the same thing I did for many years, (read my bio) although mine wasn't nearly as gorgeous as yours. Even when I found my dream Cottage, it is not as gorgeous as yours. What a good job you are doing. I'm looking forward to seeing more. I think I will check out Richard (above). He sounds interesting. Isn't blogging great!! Happy Monday..Judy

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    1. Hi Judy! So glad to hear back from you so soon! Thanks for following my blog! I look forward to seeing more of yours as well. You are in for a REAL treat at Richard's!

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    2. Gina,

      Your blog is wonderful ! I love what you did with the tray ceiling-it's beautiful! I would not add another layer yet. Live with this for a few months and if you still feel it needs more then go for it. Before we moved into our current Victorian we had a turn-of-the-century Neo-Victorian (c. 1999:). We spent years transforming it into a Victorian cottage. I love what you have done with yours-you are an inspiration:). Living the Victorian life doesn't require a Queen-Anne mansion, just a royal imagination and lots of inspiration!

      Blessings,

      Kim

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  3. Gina,
    Love your ceiling!! So lovely!!
    Did you see the ceilings in the Stegmaier Mansion? I wanted to lay on the floor of each room and just look up!!

    Hugs,
    Debbie

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