Decorative finishes/Medallion Work continues in Persian rooom and Dining room

Just a quick update the first of the two medallions is painted, one more to go, Colors were chosen to match colors used on the frescoes in the room.

Lots to do still but we also have painted the medallion for the dining room. Again to match the colors used in the room:

Updates as time allows.

Frescos work updates and did I mention we have tour coming up?

We now have enough to pull corner stencils

Lots of time spend exposing the ceiling fresco work...an hour here and hour there but its starting to reveal itself and I am now confident we have enough to get good stencils of the banding.

The ceiling banding is almost exposed now

 We should be able to restore the floral work with no problem.

So this is the poster for the event

Oh and we have this tour thing coming up for Historic Preservation week in conjunction with Logansport Landmarks we are opening the upstairs up for guided tours of the restoration work in progress from 3-5 on the 22nd, in conjunction with a Preservation Picnic that goes on until 7 PM that will be held "on the grounds"

Hoping to get the gate and pergola done and then just a few more sections of fence and the future raised bed veggie garden will be ready to plant

This of course means lots more landscape work outside, we got some more fencing up and have been working on the beds.

Transplanting day lilies that were in the shade before is an every day task

This is not an easy task when you have almost an acre sized "private park", we have found huge old Viburnums which are now in bloom (snowball bushes), we have been  dividing and moving Hostas and Daylily's which are huge now and everything is just doing much better since we got some of the choking English Ivy off things.

Can you see the several ton boulder? NO, because the English Ivy covers it. Coming off in the next couple of days

Of course there is still more to do.

Two of these to paint to match the Persian Parlor

This week we got our pair of ceiling medallions for the Persian Parlor which I hope to have painted and up by tour time...hey, sleep is highly over-rated.

Victorian Ceiling Medallions: The Art of Decorative Ornamentation

The Victorians believed in the art of ornamentation. They painted, gilded, stenciled, faux finished, marbleized or grained in an effort to get just the right look. Ceiling medallions were no exception.

If you are lucky enough to still have the original plaster ceiling medallions they are painted the same color as your ceiling, probably white. White was a color reserved for linens but not Victorian ceilings.

As part of our restoration we have light that will be over the stair hallway. Because it is a cottage we do not have grand entry hall to play off of, nor do we have a huge ceiling space. Because it is a cottage it is more intimate and was originally just a way to get upstairs at night to the bedrooms, However because we will often use the side entrance this stairway and as a result it will take on greater significance. So we are taking some tricks from the typical Victorian bag of decorating tricks and adding in details. Things like fretwork, stained glass windows elaborate staircase details and of course a proper ceiling medallion. All things Victorians could buy through the mail order catalogs or at their local lumberyard.

Our ceiling where this will be is small, about 3 feet wide and perhaps 6 feet long. We elected on a small scale medallion but in an elongated form which will make the ceiling space appear longer than it actually is. This ceiling will be painted and have a stenciled border. Our desire is to that this small space as almost a 'jewelry box' a small space with details and treasures. Our ceiling medallion selection is actually a reproduction made of fypon and is 18x25 inches in dimensions. It comes of course in "plain jane white".

If you will be painting a medallion it is important to prep it. These factory made medallions often have imperfections and will need minor sanding. I do not use white for base coat but rather a terra cotta color. I find the darker base allows for 'richness of color especially with the gilding.

Color selection is based on variety of factors including other colors and stencils being used in the space . For this project in addition to the gold we used a green (slightly sponged), a red (alizarine crimson), and a dark Thalo Purple. The purple reads as black in most cases in normal light except in the center where we gave it a marble veined look with some additional gold veining. The center section of this will be drilled for the metal rod that will hold the small scale electro-gasolier that will hang here.