Advice, please

[lmgervais]

I've been looking at the clothes people wore, especially from "Anne of Green Gables" and am trying to decide if I want to change everything to a 1910 era, where horse and buggy were still common especially in small towns, but cars were starting to appear.

What I have been having trouble finding is appropriate wall treatments/paint colours, furniture style (Victorian or mission?), what a kitchen would look like, lighting, etc. For both the somewhat wealthy (dr's) and the average person (farmer?) in a small rural town witha one-room schoolhouse.

Thanks for any advice.

[Gayle]

Try this link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/homes/design/period_edwardian.shtml

[lmgervais]

Thanks, that's a useful start and more than I have been able to find.

[justmesue]

Great link Gayle! Thanks!

[ItzKathyP]

Our own Grazhina at New England Miniatures has the best collection around. Go to her Links page at: http://newenglandminiatures.com/links.html. The links at the top of each of the 3 columns go to an ENORMOUS collection of photos and information about eras in Victorian, Edwardian & Art Nouveau periods.

[Gayle]

Our own Grazhina at New England Miniatures has the best collection around. Go to her Links page at: http://newenglandminiatures.com/links.html. The links at the top of each of the 3 columns go to an ENORMOUS collection of photos and information about eras in Victorian, Edwardian & Art Nouveau periods.

I knew someone on here had done the different periods but couldn't remember the correct name.

The only reason I remembered the Edwardian period was the introduction of the John Wayne movie 'Big Jake".

[Little House fan]

Remember too that a house in the 1910's would have been built earlier and many of the furnishings, wallpaper, etc would have been from previous decorating eras so you can have fun with mixing and matching. Maybe dad has a new chair that fits the mission style but the dining set leans victorian. Most of my real life furniture isn't 2009. Decorate with looks you love that are anytime before and including your time period and then use the accessories (phone, appliances, calendar, etc.) to help with the dating.

Hope that helps!

[lauker]

I've been to the Anne of Green Gables house in Prince Edward Island and it's beautiful!

Here's a pic I've found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Green_Gables_Anne_Room.jpg

And the virtual tour of the house here: http://www.gov.pe.ca/greengables/

[Corwin]

Maybe look at Edwardian style?

[pin1056]

great links thank you :no:

[lmgervais]

Now, could I use my glencroft-bash for that period of time, even though I do not have all the separate sitting room, livingroom, diningroom, etc. I was thinking of it more like an old farmstead with the eating area in the kitchen and the sitting area/livingroom in the main room (possibly combined with a dining area if there is enough space) although there is no hall separating it from the front door. And what do I do about my planned library? It has no connecting door to the rest of the house because of the fireplace. (Can't fit one under the stairs, anyway). What could it become? The house is not big enough to have servants, and not grand enough to have a library I would think.

Based on the links and the info I have read so far, I think I can leave the rooms the colours I have them, and keep most of the curtains I have made. Painted walls were common, and I plan on adding wainscotting in a few rooms. Other houses will have wallpaper.

[chesterfieldzoo]

You can have some new stuff and some older stuff. Heck, my real life stove is 35 years old (sears double oven - upper and lower with range in between). Works like new - even the rotisserie.

My 1930's house has a 1920's stove. Most furniture is generic and can go in any era.

I would put in a master bedroom suite of victorian furniture. It was usually expensive and carved and not replaced soon. As opposed to living room stuff that would have been.

[lmgervais]

So, should I leave the fireplace in on the first floor (one I made based on Tracy's tut because the original opening didn't quite work with the bash) or do I take it out and put a false door connecting the additional room on the main floor (former library) to the rest of the house? Can't really cut a door out, as the house is already built and painted.

Plus, do I leave the room upstairs as a bathroom or make it into something else?

It's really hard when a house decides to possibly change eras more than half-way through the building process!

[KathieB]

Sounds to me as if you ought to take some time to stage the house with some basic furniture (even if it's not the furniture that ends up in it) to get a feel for what each room wants to be.

I wouldn't worry about a door into the lower right room. Does it have an outside entrance? If the tiny residents added these rooms, they may not have had an interior doorway. The only other solution I see would be to cut a doorway on the landing and put some steps down into that room. It would be a head-ducking opening, but the little people may not have been very tall.

I really like the way you've stretched this house to a whole new level.

[havanaholly]

When indoor plumbing became more than a fad a lot of people closed in a porch or moved the wall of a large closet, so you could reverse that, or go ahead with the bathroom and add a hinged divider wall. As for cutting a doorway, pry off the baseboards/ trims, if any, and have at it, if that's what the house demands.

[lmgervais]

Sounds to me as if you ought to take some time to stage the house with some basic furniture (even if it's not the furniture that ends up in it) to get a feel for what each room wants to be.

I wouldn't worry about a door into the lower right room. Does it have an outside entrance? If the tiny residents added these rooms, they may not have had an interior doorway. The only other solution I see would be to cut a doorway on the landing and put some steps down into that room. It would be a head-ducking opening, but the little people may not have been very tall.

I really like the way you've stretched this house to a whole new level.

The room does have a door to the outside, so I am trying to think of an occupation for the man of the house where he would have an office at home. One of my other houses in box already wants to be the country dr's home, so that's out. And I do want to leave the fireplace in as I am making the exterior stone to match it, but will have to think about it and see what 'comes out in the wash' LOL.

[lmgervais]

When indoor plumbing became more than a fad a lot of people closed in a porch or moved the wall of a large closet, so you could reverse that, or go ahead with the bathroom and add a hinged divider wall. As for cutting a doorway, pry off the baseboards/ trims, if any, and have at it, if that's what the house demands.

Yes, I think that I will make the bathroom much smaller than originally planned and use the rest of the area for something else. Thanks, Holly.

[Gayle]

The room does have a door to the outside, so I am trying to think of an occupation for the man of the house where he would have an office at home. One of my other houses in box already wants to be the country dr's home, so that's out. And I do want to leave the fireplace in as I am making the exterior stone to match it, but will have to think about it and see what 'comes out in the wash' LOL.

How about an attorney?

[lmgervais]

How about an attorney?

That would work with the house, but would there be one in a small town?

Edit: Just looked up the history of a small town - a lawyer it will be, and I can still use the bookcases that are almost finished! Problem solved.

[Corwin]

How about a dairy room? Those were often accessed by the outside, or a servants room?

[grazhina]

A little general information:

As long as we're discussing unusual situations in old houses, here's a couple of points you might find useful when you're working on room and furniture placement in your dollhouses.

A common problem for original owners of Victorian era homes was not enough wall space for the bed. A noted architect of the day made a note of that in one of his books. It seems a lot of architects would carried away with making the house look interesting, and pleasing to the eye, but they'd forget to leave space for beds and other large pieces of furniture, thus making people have to put their beds in front of windows even though they didn't want to.

Also, if you're doing a Victorian era room, they used to place their dressing tables in front of windows so when facing the mirror, the light from the window would light their faces. Remember, they didn't have electric lights to turn on with a flick of the switch, and candles and oil lamps never did give that much light anyway.

Bathroom placement:

Ok, really, this is true, I've seen it on old floorplans, examples of houses that had bathrooms next to the dining room. Sometimes the architects would stick bathrooms in the oddest places.

[havanaholly]

I like the attorney, with the library; otherwise I was going to suggest an apothecary or a cabinetmaker's shop & workshop.

[lmgervais]

Thanks for everything.

Grazhina, thanks for the words of wisdom. I have been looking at some stuff on your site for ideas.

The house I am using in my Glencroft-bash, which I altered to make more or less symetrical, giving me an additional room both upstairs and downstairs. Originally, the house wanted to be fairly modern inside (it will be an old stone house on the outside), so the bathroom was actually going to be a combined bathroom/laundry room. Now I will make the bathroom smaller by adding a dividing wall and use the rest of the area as something else (storage space, perhaps?). And the library underneath had an exterior door only because of the stairs and to keep the little ones out unless invited in. That will now be a youngish lawyer's office.

I have enough room in the master bedroom to put the bed against the wall opposite the stairs (which are set back in their own hallway). However, the dressing table may not fit in front of the window as it has a small window seat, I believe. I was planning on putting a cradle and a rocking-chair by the fireplace near the upstairs window. The other room upstairs will be a bedroom for the two young boys in the family. Will have to see what type of furniture I can find to furnish the two bedrooms.

Also, because it is an 'old' house, it does not have separate rooms for an entryway, a diningroom, a kitchen, a parlor, etc. So, I have to think about what I can fit in the two original (slightly larger) rooms downstairs. Also, the house will be painted (already mostly done), but will have wainscotting added to some of the rooms and I may change the style of curtains I have already made for the house.

Thanks again for the advice!

[havanaholly]

You could use foamcore to bash another wall to make a small foyer at the front door.

[Sherry]

Make it the parsonage and him the preacher?

The ranch and him the rancher in his office so the hands don't go in the house?

A famous author and that his study?

The dentist's office?

The poker room for the saturday night games?

The drug dealer's house, and a drive up window in that room so they don't have to get out of the car to get high?

Don't laugh, there was one like that in the town where we used to live-only it was a motel room and two boys ran out to the cars and took orders and filled them!