The Rural Voice, 2006-02, Page 33Home Decorating
Redecorating a 150 -Bear -old Victorian house
Patti
Robertson
operates
Classic
Interiors in
Wingham.
By Patti Robertson
Well, here we are well into winter
and what better time to take the time
to renovate.
For our first look at spaces for the
2006 season we are travelling to a
huge 150 -year-old Victorian country
home in the area. The owners are a
young professional couple with two
young sons and a third on the way.
They've purchased this home because
of the ample yard, it's close to local
parks and has huge covered
verandahs on all sides for play and
entertainment areas.
All the structural features of the
home are sound but the decor has
sadly been neglected. This couple
hired me and in doing so explained
that they have been given the
opportunity through their jobs to
travel the world and they have
decided that this is truly an
opportunity for the whole family.
(What an education for the kids!)
They also love to entertain family and
friends and want to encourage their
kids to bring their friends home, as
they get older. As a start they're
asking for my assistance in pulling
together the ground floor, particularly
the living/dining room combination.
There is only so much cash flow and
they need all the tricks I can give
them for their budget.
So now come with me and use
your imaginative powers to visualize
what I see. I drive up the large lane at
the side of the home, walk up a
flagstone pathway, up eight steps and
onto the well-proportioned side
entrance. I knock, and am greeted by
the lady of the house. As we
exchange pleasantries we pass
through the sage green mud room and
laundry room, into a huge country
kitchen painted cornmeal yellow with
Wedgwood blue cupboards, I note the
use of a multi -blue border and also
note that there is an office off to one
side in a mustard tone.
We pass through these areas and
into the living room and dining room
space. These rooms form a large "L"
shape with the living room measuring
14 feet by 25 feet and the dining
room to the left measuring 14 feet by
12 feet. There are four huge windows,
two to the front on each side and two
with side yard exposures. The family
has a large sectional, worn but of
good quality, end tables of very good
quality, a coffee table whose surface
has seen better days and odds and
ends of lamps.
I turn to survey the dining room,
which boasts a lovely old Victorian
dining suite inherited from Grandma.
There are only roller shades on the
windows and the walls are covered in
an old beige wallpaper print. The
floor is old hardwood in relatively
good shape. The walls boast some
really attractive artwork that the
couple has started to collect on their
travels.
The couple looks at me and says,
"well, what can we do with a small
budget — the bulk of our money is
going into a trip to China!"
I start by suggesting we carry in
the colourations from the kitchen to
some extent. I feel their sectional is
worth recovering — both style and
structure -wise. We look at some
muted tweed patterns in a durable
commercial grade. The colouration
here is a coffee -bean hue. This will
go well with the two leather swivel
recliners and the floor will also
respond to this tone.
Next we move to the walls, and
we are going to paint this with alkyd
paint right over the wallpaper. Yes!
Right over the wallpaper. No it's not
orthodox but let's remember that
these kids do not want to get into
major renovations which could easily
occur once+ the paper comes off these
extremely old walls. (I call this
cosmetic surgery — build on the old
foundation.) We choose a coffee -
bean colour for the walls and will do
a soft, crushed suede look faux finish
over this with a hue one tint lighter.
This will serve to camouflage any
imperfections in our wall surface.
I teach both of them how to do a
very subtle marbling technique to use
on the coffee table, thereby saving
the price of a new one.
Next our attention turns to the
windows. We look for cost effective
fabric and find a lovely large pattern
in an English Crewel design,
featuring flowers and birds. The
colouration ranges from the
cornmeal -coloured background into a
range of blue and brown tones that
incorporates all the tonal values from
the kitchen and those of this dual
room's new decor. Simple side panels
and a tailored valance is all that is
needed to add colour, warmth and
charm to this room. We can still keel,
the roller blinds underneath for now.
We add co-ordinated toss cushions •
to the sectional and there is a lovely
companion stripe to match our
drapery fabric and we'll re-cover the
dining room chairs with that.
We set about positioning the
artwork and accessories. A large
Italian floral oil painting takes centr
stage on the wall above the sofa, a
collection of crucifixes from around
the globe creates a real eye stopper
on the opposite wall and a trio of
Wedgwood vases looks stunning on
the sideboard.
The only major purchases left to
make are the table lamps and I
suggest that these be on the large size
and either of a textured ceramic that
repeats the colourations of the walls
or in a warm antique brass tone.
As I leave I suggest that the
kitchen window treatments repeat the
essence of the living room, dining
room combo and that the mud room
and laundry room be repainted into a
blue which will be the final co-
ordinating statement of the entire
main floor of their home. The home
has all come together with style and a
cost effective flair.
TIP: Always carry the
colourations used from one room
subtly into the adjoining room's
decor for the most professional
effect.0
FEBRUARY 2006 29