Colonial House The second floor passage provides access to three additional bedchambers, including ours. This area would have served as work space. An easy chair in the front of the passage provides a place to sit and relax or read. The two-piece crown moulding in the second floor passage is the simplest of all the […]
Colonial House The first floor bedchamber, the Blue Guest Room, is in the room behind the parlor. Since it is a primary guest room, it is trimmed with chair rail and a single-piece crown moulding. The trim is painted a bright blue; a minor color in the hierarchy of important 18th century colors as would […]
Colonial House A server at the far end of the dining room is accurate to the period, as is the gate-leg table at rest (folded) under the large mirror on the exterior wall. Above the server are the May and December lithographs from the 12 months of flower prints. These two prints represent the birth […]
Colonial House On the right is the dining room, with woodwork painted bright red. This room is socially prominent and definitely meant to impress guests. A large built-in corner cabinet contains creamware pieces and matching Wedgewood Queens Ware dishes, in the potpourrie design, for display and storage. Queens Ware was named for Queen Charlotte by […]
Colonial House To the left is the parlor; a socially important room. This room has a small wood burning fireplace in the corner with a custom mantle, painted in the same color as the passage woodwork, and slate surround. It is built with a square early colonial firebox using hand-molded bricks. A cast iron fireback […]
Colonial House Look to your left at the wide plank pine flooring in the parlor and passage and you will notice it is continuous from the parlor through the door threshold and into the passage. Now look at the threshold at the dining room door and you will notice a perpendicular floor board in the […]
Colonial House If there are outside corners inside the house, there has to be a way to finish that corner so it is straight, plumb, and smooth. Today, metal corner beads are used with joint compound applied to smooth the transition between the side of the bead and the sheetrock. Colonial plasterers did not have […]
Colonial House With the exception of the front and back doors in the passage, which have brass hardware, all other doors in the house are hung with H-L and H hinges. Box locks are mounted on the surface of the paneled doors and can be locked with a slide bar on the box lock.
Colonial House While the chair rail and a three-piece crown moulding trim the passage, the parlor and dining room are trimmed with wainscoting, chair rail, and extensive four-piece crown moulding. See if you can spot the difference between the crown moulding in the parlor and dining room. Bedchambers seldom had crown moulding, an exception here […]
Colonial House There is a hierarchy to space and woodwork and it is designed to impress. Social status was important. Rooms used for entertaining had greater social importance than room used only by the family. These public rooms, such as the parlor and dining room, where the family status was being displayed, had more elaborate […]
