Metamorphosis Monday: Re-enactor Clothing

Metamorphosis Monday is sponsored by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH . Make sure to visit her blog and see all the wonderful transformations!



My before and after this week is something that has taken me a good bit of time this summer: Jean cloth mule-eared trousers and a hand stitched cotton shirt for my re-enactor husband.

I took period accurate cloth like this:



and turned it into

this



and this



The jean cloth is a combination cotton and wool and was so scratchy and hot to sew during the summer! I kept thinking what could be worse than sewing this and then I realized that the only thing worse would be wearing it for a weekend outside with no showers. But this is what DH likes to do in his spare time!!!!

Here is a close-up of the button fly. As I was hand stitching the buttonholes, I thought longingly of my 2 sewing machines with automatic buttonholers. The buttons are made of bone.



Here is a close-up of the back of the trousers and the buckle closing.



Here is the shirt. It is made without any pattern. All the pieces are rectangles and it has a gusset under the arm/sleeve. The buttons are made of glass.



So that's what I have been up to lately. Now stop by Susan's blog BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH to see all the other transformations. :D Jewel

Prize Winning Picture Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis Monday is sponsored by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH . Make sure to visit her blog and see all the wonderful transformations!



For my Metamorphosis, I am sharing a prize I won on Carolina Mama's Fabulous Blog. Carolina Mama keeps a roll call of Carolina Girls in blogland. Anyway, she was hosting a giveaway of a 16 by 20 stretched canvas print through Uprinting.com.

The good folks at Uprinting.com took this picture of my house from a 2004 snowfall


and turned it into this print on canvas


It really looks way better than I can photograph. Trust me, it's wonderful!!!! I can't wait to get it framed and hung up!!!!

Thank you Carolina Mama and Thank you Uprinting.com and Thank you Susan at Between Naps on the Porch!

PS I am WAY behind on commenting on everyone's posts. I am sorry and promise I will catch up!!!! :D Jewel

Metamorphosis Monday - Younger Daughter's Bedroom

For Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH.


This metamorphosis is my younger daughter's bedroom. You may remember that I shared my older daughter's bedroom HERE.

This bedroom started out with 2 layers of wallpaper on it, both off white. One was vinyl and easy to remove and the other was really old and paper and Stuck!!!!
Here are some before pictures.
This wallpaper came off easily.

This wallpaper did NOT!

Notice the little chandelier.

In the previous picture is the bed my younger daughter had picked out. She wanted to use my old childhood French Provincial furniture. I offered to strip and paint it, but she loved it with the gold trim and all. She said it was very "Audrey Hepburn."
She wanted a really bright room to wake up all the Victorian influence in this old house, so here it is!!!

Quite a change, right?!
My old furniture needed some touching up. The vanity had several nail polish remover rings on it and the vanity seat had broken and been thrown away. I finally found a paint to match the vanity - it was actually a green shade!!! We also found this stool at Target and just painted the trim with a gold paint pen.

Here is the mantle.

And another view/

I can't believe I don't have a picture which shows the new ceiling fan/light fixture. So much more light and the fan is nice in the summer.
Here bedding was from Target. We tore up all the old carpeting and the floors were in great shape. I will share her bathroom on another Metamorphosis Monday! Now visit Susan and see all the great changes! :D Jewel

Metamorphosis Monday - Daughter's Bed Room

This is my Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH.



What I am sharing today is the renovation of my older daughter's room. This had to be the ugliest room in the house when we first moved in, but it had great potential. It has a bay window, fireplace coffered ceiling. She was adamant that she did not want her decor to be Victorian like the downstairs, so we let her design it herself.

Before -




The air conditioning pan ran over before we bought the house and had warped some of the panels in the ceiling.



This was taken while we were stripping the wallpaper. There obviously used to be a picture rail - see the line and the different types of plaster over on the right. Also note that the plaster had never been painted. All throughout our house, we found unpainted scratch plaster that had never been painted.



We painted the trim white and the walls blue as she wanted. All the bedding came from Target. The little blue loveseat came from Pier1 and folds out into a bed. It has come in handy for sleepovers. We replaced the overhead light with a ceiling fan. Here is the after:









My daughter is now a Junior off at college, but still comes home - and brings friends! She is still enjoying this metamorphosis!
Thanks Susan for hosting another Metamorphosis Monday! I can't wait to see what wonders everyone will post! :D Jewel

Metamorphosis Monday- Study

For Metamorphosis Monday sponsored by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH . Make sure to visit her blog and see all the wonderful transformations!



This is the only before picture I could find of the study. The previous owner (heir to the family who built the house) had used this as a music room, but we thought with the built in book shelves that it would be a good study.



It looked a bit better after we moved our furniture and books in.





When we wallpapered the rest of the downstairs, we couldn't decide on what to do in this room. It is the smallest public room downstairs and the bookshelves take up most of the wall space, so it seemed a waste to use expensive wall paper only to cover them up with shelves. We finally decided to paint the walls a red, so what shows has a lot of impact. As you can see, this is my husband's room primarily. He was a history major in college, has developed a local battlefield and is a re-enactor. I made the uniform on the valet in the picture above. As you can see, these are pictures from Christmas. We decorate this room with a Nutcracker theme since the nutcrackers are soldiers.







Be sure and visit Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH for more great before and afters! :D Jewel

Metamorphosis Monday- Foyer

I just found a wonderful new blog Hooked On Houses and they are having a block party this Friday! Be sure and visit to see all the great posts! :D Jewel

Happy Metamorphosis Monday sponsered by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH.
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/





When we bought our house 8 years ago, this is what the foyer looked like. The wallpaper was from the 1930's and had ghostmarks of old pictures and was very soiled around the light switches. We wanted to take the house back to the 1880's, so we knew we wanted dark trim and Bradbury & Bradbury wallpapers.
Front view

Rear view

Notice the colonial light fixture - we knew that had to go.
The hall was also dark, so I wanted to add sconces. We were doing a tax credit renovation, so the NC Dept of Cultural Resources had to approve each change. They said they would allow the sconces, but didn't recommend it since we had no proof there had every been sconces in the first place.

Here are some more before photos. It looked a bit better when we took up the old carpet and added our rugs and furniture.



When ordered reproduction lighting fixtures from Victorian Lighting Works and were really pleased. We had to install the sconces after the wallpaper was stripped and before the new paper was hung. Imagine my vindication when we found patched plaster holes right where the sconces were going to be installed and the gas pipe behind the plaster! I knew there were supposed to be sconces in that dark hall!

The newel post we stripped to show the burled walnut panels, but the rest of the woodwork my husband faux grained. The wainscoting was evidently installed when they had everything painted white, because it is pine. The doors and door and window casing are oak. So even if we stripped all the wood and stained it, it wouldn't make. The faux graining gives us a uniform look throughout.


Here is the renovated foyer.Notice the new hall light and sconces. I think they make a huge difference! We painted the coffered ceiling a light green which went with the paper.


In the rear, under the stair well, we made a Turkish corner, which was popular in the 1880's.


Here is a close-up of the foyer wall paper which is a Dresser design from the 1880's.
I don't have a close-up of the border, but it was also designed by Dresser.


Hope you enjoyed this Metamorphosis! Be sure to visit Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

for many more wonderful before and afters! :D Jewel

Metamorphosis Monday

For Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Susan at Between Naps on the Porch!


Here is what my house looked like in 1887



Here is what it looked shortly after we bought it in 2001



We had to cut down lots of volunteer hedges full of wisteria (see my last Outdoor Wednesday post!!!). We researched and determined the original colors of the house and found that Sherwin Williams is still making the same colors.

Here is what it looked like after the last massive hedge removal in 2006. The grass has grown in now!!!



Mint Juleps on the Porch anyone? How about some lemonade?



Be sure an see all the other Met Monday posts at Between Naps on the Porch!

Metamorphosis Monday

For Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH
http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/


Here is my Parlor before renovation:






As you can see, the walls were papered in a dark green and the woodwork was all painted an antique white. We knew the woodwork was originally stained, but some wainscotting in our foyer was added around 1900 and they used pine instead of the oak everywhere else in the house. So, even if we stripped all the woodwork in the house, it would not match. So my handy husband taught himself how to faux grain. Here is the door leading into the parlor grained and the portieres I stitched up. (Yes, they look like Scarlett's!)



One plus was that the floors in this room were in good shape and have extra special inlay.



The Bradbury & Bradbury paper we chose for this room is in an Italiante style of the 1870's. Our house was built in 1883, but still has some Italianate influences. Tastes changed slower in small Southern towns.

Here is the Dado (under the chair rail:



Here is a corner block in the ceiling paper:



Here is a lamp we hung. It was a kerosene burning lamp that had been electrified:



Here is the "finished" room - the quotes are because I don't ever feel finished. I still want to add some window treatments, but don't want to cut out any of the natural light or hide the gorgeous wide window frames and the mantle is still not stripped. But patience is a virtue!!!





Thanks for stopping by and Thanks to Susan at BETWEEN NAPS ON THE PORCH!