Welcome to the Parlor

the PARLOR

I typically write long-winded entries about all the crummy work and endless details involved in my house endeavors. This time Ill just let the pictures and a short list speak for me.

10 quick points:

1. The paint color is Underseas - Sherwin Williams
2. It was thinned a tiny bit and brushed on. To get the overly flat powdery finish I wanted I brushed the paint till it was almost dry before moving on to the next spot. This has a tendency to "polish" the surface resulting in a more dynamic paint surface. This is tedious and time-consuming.
3. a final coat of very thin paint unified the wall and fully deadened the finish - it is entirely UNwashable ...
4. The furniture is nearly all English ebonized mahogany from about 1875.
5. The center table is American made ebonized cherry with a pink Tennessee marble top - there is a matching table in the Brooklyn Museum.
6. The shorter sofa is English rosewood, 1865 (I have the catalog advertisement for it ...)
7. The taller sofa is American walnut, @1875
8. The rug is a Sabzevar, new, bought on ebay from Iran (before they stopped the imports) I love it.
9. The crystal chandelier is original (so they claim) to the house and was a nightmare to clean
10. The picture rail is new, and works.

Original wallpaper discovered under several layers of paint - I successfully soaked off the paint to see what the paper was like

before - PO's furniture ... shudder ..........

Right before moving in the furniture - yeah, its out of focus and the color is totally off ....

Ebonized furniture, faded peacock blue walls, cherry/mahogany woodwork, Chinese import porcelain, Parian "slave"  and "Azalea" by Albert Moore in an outstanding Aesthetic movement frame (the original is nearly 9 feet tall).

Looks like the Witches oven from Hansel and Gretel.

The mantle and over mantle mirror are not original, but dang don't they look like they have been there 110 years ?

The last of the lilacs ... Period clotting only, thank you.