Series: Antique of the Week

Our Monday Afternoon series features an antique from our inventory for sale at a special price. Many of these are quality "entry level" antiques or accessories that are great for the Old house restorer who may be a little short of cash but it trying to decorate in Period style. Regular readers have a chance to get a good quality antique at a very attractive price.

Great pair of Late Victorian early Arts and Crafts Andirons. 75.00. These can be shipped but they are heavy, if you are local to Indy or Cincinnati we can arrange pickup. More details here and yes we accept paypal and all major credit cards.

http://www.blujay.com/item/Wonderful-Pair-Of-Arts-and-Crafts-Andirons-27010000-2013800&keywords=

Indianapolis: Arsenal Avenue Arts, Antiques and Yard sale Saturday!

Indianapolis: The 400 block of Arsenal Avenue becomes one big sale as the block club will host an Art, Antiques, and Yard sale Saturday.

The 400 block of Arsenal is between New York and Michigan streets in the Holy Cross neighborhood. Lots of bargains and something for everyone!

New Series : Antique of the Week

This is a new series we are starting each Monday Afternoon we will feature an antique from our inventory for sale ata special price. Many of these are quality "entry level" antiques that are great for the Old house restorer who may be a little short of cash but it trying to decorate in the Victorian style. Regular readers have a chance to get a good quality antique at a very attractive price.

This is a lovely RED Victorian tufted parlor chair and has been recently reupholstered. The wood has nice carved details as well. A great side chair that would look great in any formal parlor , entry hall or bedroom. Offered at $125.00. More information here:

http://www.blujay.com/?page=ad&adid=3303768&cat=27040000

Available for pick up only in Indianapolis but we can make arrangements to meet you in Cincinnati on weekends for pickup there, or we are happy to work with your shipper. Good Victorian Parlor side chairs of this quality are getting increasingly harder to find and are a bargain at twice what we are asking for this one.

Restoration Resources: Shand Kydd Wallpapers

Shand Kydd Has designed a new late victorian Craftsman designed wallpaper, Most of the designs in this series area little 'off' to use in a period restoration yet this particular design is perfect for a formal entry or a cozy den or a long hallway.

It comes in several different colorways but in my opinion these two shown here are the most historicaly accurate. Its affordable too at 26.95 a roll through Creative wallcoverings website. Samples are available for 5.00 each.

http://www.creativewallcovering.com/wallpaper-shandkydd.html

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.

Victorian Furniture Upholstery: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Victorian Side Chair, pleasing color with button tufting priced

a 100.00 a bargain and available from us. A great starter

piece for any room

Essentially when it comes to Victorian Furniture there are "buyers" and there are "collectors". The buyer buys anything, doesn't matter what it looks like, if its Victorian they buy it. the collector on the other hand is looking to improve their collection. they buy with an eye towards design and style and possibly manufacturer. They are usually looking for the best piece they can find on the budget they have.


Upholstery is an important part of a Victorian furniture decision. It can be a great piece but if its got that orange patterned 70's upholstery on it, is it really worth the asking price?

Hard to find Victorian corner chair. Reupholstered

by us. 1800.00 (SOLD)

The answer is , it depends. If you are looking at "high end" Victorian furniture it doesn't matter. A Meeks , Belter or other high end quality manufacturer you are buying the piece for its maker and its finish. Finish is the most important part of furniture in this range. Originality, even if its worn ads value. Refinishing takes away value. While original upholstery is desirable it is not critical and in fact in theeth auction world high end pieces are often sold with just the base muslin cover because it is assumed that the buyer will want to reupholster to their own taste


Chances are you are not collecting at the high end, so what you are looking at is condition and upholstery. We all know bad upholstery when we see it. Antique dealers are lazy and often a
piece comes straight from auction to booth with no consideration about the upholstery.

This piece was a good example. We acquired this piece from a "antiques dealer", well really not
an antique dealer but a buyer with delusion that they were an antique dealer. They were dealing in "mid century'(Junk from thrift stores). In the middle of a booth full of "campy 50's furniture was this Victorian Fainting sofa . Upholstered in a 1970 "bird' motif it may have been 'campy' but was hardly appropriate for the piece. Apparently no one else like "campy" because it had been marked down 5 TIMES, its tag a kaleidoscope of different inks and scribbles as the dealer realizing their sense of style didn't match the rest of the world had marked it down over several months to finally get rid of the elephant taking up expensive booth space.


We however saw the potential in this piece. it has nice lines for late piece of Victorian furniture. It had flexibility because being a later piece, in red oak, it could also be a 'crossover' piece that also would work in a craftsman era home and would have appeal as an 'accent piece' in an Urban
contemporary loft.


We selected a rich green fabric, one of the staple range of color in the Victorian Era. this fabric has a slight subtle pattern which worked well for today. Victorian furniture palettes. Red, Dk Green, Gold, lack, Dk blue. Victorians DID NOT do white furniture because of coal dust that permeated the air. Because of the red Oak finish we selected a slightly lighter gimp to make the transition between the two and to add a little Victorian punch we added a row of fringe gimp across the back for added interest in the same lighter green color. As you can see the finial product looks very appropriate. This piece had already had its strings retied and new webbing so it was not a major labor intensive upholstery job. An affordable piece for any collector we have priced at 425.00.


So when looking at piece of furniture remember condition of the Finish is number 1, upholstery is number 2. Consider the cost of reupholstering if you find a piece you like. Upholstery costs will vary depending on the style of the piece and complexity issues such as tufting and pleating. Know when to "pass' on a piece. remember you want to be a Victorian Collector not a Victorian buyer. After all you still have all those house projects to do!


Note: Victorian Antiquities & Design offers Upholstery and fabric services, feel free to ask up about your "project".

THIS OLD HOUSE ROXBURY SECOND EMPIRE

photo courtesy TOH website

This Old House is doing a Second Empire In Roxbury Mass. The duplex Second Empire was severely deteriorated and is the kind of house they would bulldoze In Cincy but there they are bringing it back and the home will be sold to to deserving families. You can follow the progression the This Old House website and of course the TV show:

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tv/current-house-project


This project shows that even severely distressed property, in the worst of neighborhoods, can be restored and reused. the goal is to bring homeowners back into the neighborhood. Doing just one house on a block like this will have a dramatic impact on the entire neighborhood and bring others in. This approach works and why we can't get it right here in Cincinnati, baffles me.


You redevelop neighborhoods one house at a time, you bring new people in, you establish community.

You DO NOT redevelop neighborhoods by ordering houses vacant, Demolishing them and creating roadblocks to restoration and new people moving in.

Indianapolis Downtown,Midwest Urban Planning that actually works

Over the weekend we attended a home improvement show in Indianapolis at the Convention Center. Our trip downtown allowed me to really "look' at why Indianapolis is the downtown success story that it is and why it thrives while other cities are losing both population and business.

We decided to get to the show early ( about 10:30) because we knew if we got there much later it would be crowded. Even on a day when the temperature was 10 degrees, there is always something going on downtown. We parked just a couple of blocks from the convention center , which is undergoing another MAJOR expansion to handle the city's ever growing convention business. urban planning is a big issue in cold climate cities that compete with "warm weather venues as you have to get people from point A to B in a quick manner.

Indianapolis 'listened' to its business community which is why you find free parking on city streets on Saturday and Sunday. Something Cincinnati needs to do especially on Vine and Findlay Market in OTR and the downtown. Free parking is big incentive to small business's in the downtown area.

Another Planning "plus" is the parking garage system. Many multi level parking garages are underground. Indianapolis began this over 20 years ago. Multi level parking garages are often underground and have either buildings above , like Circle Center mall, or outdoor Plaza/green spaces like the area over by the Weston Hotel. Even existing above ground parking garages are 'connected'.

Connectivity is a huge plus in Indy. From an urban planning standpoint I am NOT a big fan of skybridges as I feel they tend to impede street level business. However that's not a problem in Indy as careful planing has resulted in business's located in the Circle Center Mall a 4 level Indoor Mall that, at a time when other downtown malls are dead, continues to stay full, or businesses are located in the Hotel complexes which are connected to adjacent office buildings via tunnels which means that local office workers can quickly get to lunch during the week. Even street level "non connected ' businesses like some restaurants or retail are less than a block from a tunnel, or skywalk and many have interior entrances to those interior pedestrian passage ways. In fact you can travel from the state office government center to the mall (over a mile) without braving the elements. The vast majority of the Hotels are part of that connectivity network and the city can move tens of thousands of people after major events via this system of skybridges, tunnels and wide city streets.

A great example of the connectivity is the Arts garden a glass and steel structure built literally above an intersection that connects Circle Center Mall, The Claypool Hotel complex, and the 5 star Conrad Hotel and luxury condominiums. This venue has full schedule of arts and music events and you will find downtown office workers on their breaks enjoying a variety of entertainment.
Adaptability has been a key component. Urban Planners have looked at preserving historic streetfronts while adaptively reusing the space in new buildings behind them. Circle Center Mall for example preserved many historic building fronts and complete historic buildings as part of its mall project while reusing them in new combination of Office/retail use. Many former office buildings downtown are now luxury condos and some have had completely new building built behind them that house say parking garages with 1st floor retail. The restaurant accross the street in this photo occupies level 1 while housing a multi level parking garage above it . All behind a 1920 historic building facade that was saved as part of the new construction that took place behind it.

That adaptability allows the city to host multiple events where up to 150,000 people may be able to attend a variety of events. Given the city's compact downtown it is the only city I know capable of handling a football game, a basketball game and concerts and conventions at the same time.

While other cities struggle with deciding what they "want to be", Indianapolis leads the midwest with competent urban planing that listened and combines retail, convention, office and residential housing in a thought full manner. Other cities need to look at that sucess rather than trying to 'reinvent' the wheel.

Happy Holidays Preservation Community,ResErection Inc Website Down!!!

The ResErection Website that had been marketing historic and landmark properties for sale for dis-assembly and relocation, is, for the moment, closed down. http://www.reserections.com/

All the ads are gone replaced with "ResErections, Inc. We are on a Strategic Retreat To Florida For the Season !!" so, for the moment, there are NO properties being "pimped' for sale!

As regular readers know we "exposed" ResErections Inc. as recently advertising the Landmark Ouerbacker Mansion in Louisville, which according to the owner, he had neither authorized or spoke with the owner about marketing the house and had NO intention of selling it.

So for the moment, Cincinnati's architectural treasures are not being "hawked" to out of state, or country buyers!

A minor, if only temporary Victory, but a Preservation Victory Non-the-less!

Merry Christmas Preservation Community!!!!

Victorian Parlor : The Tete a Tete

Nothing 'finishes off" a Victorian Parlor like a 'Tete a Tete' settee. These pieces are increasingly hard to find and highly desired by those recreating a Period perfect formal parlor.

The tete a tete was designed to physically separate it's two occupants. People faced in opposite directions but could easily communicate.

Known also as a 'gossip bench' or "courting sofa" it enabled the occupants to conduct a proper conversation. Courting sofa was something of a misnomer as few mothers would dare let a potential caller sit that close to one's daughter.

It was one of those 'eclectic pieces of furniture generally reserved for larger Parlors and often served as bridge piece between two sitting areas. Say a settee on one side of a room and a pair of chairs on a another.

What to look for? Well form. the steam bent versions with curved seats are much more desired as they have better lines. In the more " eastlake form' You might find incised carving or in very rare cases ebonizied finishes with gold incising. Avoid the mahogany pieces with federal style backs. These are often reproduction and not worth buying made in Malaysia.

It's a rare occasion to find a complete parlor set in the same style that includes a tete a tete, you will come accoss individual chairs that match sometimes. Prices are all over the place. Rare examples by Horner can fetch 10 figures and you can find lesser examples, perhaps needing upholstery for under 500-1000.00. They are elusive but if you look hard enough and long enough you may be able to add one to your collection.