The Tour: Off to Morocco in our Victorian Aesthetic Movement Parlor

Some spaces you just have to think about. In this case a small room off the"Garland Parlor".  This room probably functioned as an upstairs office for Mr Burgman and as the family grew it became a bed room. By the time we came along it was painted white and totally devoid of personality.

It  also had some design challenges. The door was to one side which made the room look totally unbalanced and it walled in a very small space in way that made it appear even smaller/ Our solution was to close in the doorway and instead move the doorway to a new centered to the room opening  Originally a single door with transom. in its new configuration at 5 ft wide with Victorian fretwork. Portier rod below with exotic vintage fringed tapestry and curtains, it takes the entrance to a new level and welcomes your entrance to a unique space.

On the wall opposite the fainting sofa we hung a large antique tapestry on the wall which was done in a Terra Cotta color  and brushed and color washed to give it a slightly aged look.

Below that we stretched some old green fabric on a wooden stretcher and sat it on the floor to add another visual layer and placed a vintage ebonized and gilt table topped with a brass Turkish Tea Pot

The window was also an issue as it was not centered. We decided to false drape part of the wall to make it look like one double window with the drape pulled back.

Peacock feathers and a Urn with peacock complete a theme and fill a corner

This Moroccan lantern light adds visual interest in the other corner.

The settee is an aesthetic movement piece. that just happened to work with wall colors perfectly.

 The stained glass window  started out at a regular "farmhouse window" that we replaced with stained glass in colors to match the light fixture stained glass.

The Moorish chandelier and medallion complete the look. We still plan on covering the ceiling with a Turkish style ceiling tile we have on order.

So we went from white box to Moroccan Dream in less than one week

Extreme Chair Makeover: Turkish Parlor Chair

Finding an 'exotic' parlor chair suitable for a Turkish parlor is next to impossible, a pair of high end chairs could set you back 10 grand or more IF you could even find them.

So how do you get "the look" without spending a ton of money? Well with a simple new slipper chair and some imagination. We already had these chairs from staging a house a few years ago and they are study and somewhat comfortable but in their  sold form they are contemporary boring seating. These actually came from Target and at least has a sort of Moroccan upholstery.

This is the chair before and its your typical big box chair that colts together and "instant chair"

Now these chairs sit higher than Victorian era chairs so we elected to cut  2 1-2 inches off the legs
You would not have to do this but we think it makes the chair look more "era authentic" We used a black base fabric that had a slight floral design and has some shine on  it. We doubled this fabric to give it more weight and durability and in this case the black skirt is 7 1/2 inches long. This immediately changes the scale of the chair. At the same time we added fabric to the top which duplicates the style of exotic chairs in the Victorian era.

The black fabric created the backdrop for the 5 inch Gold lace fringe which was applied to the skirt and the top with glue. Although we elected to do some sewing on this project this could be done no sew with hem tape and adhesive.

So there you have it, a Turkish parlor chair for less than 150.00.