Period Curtains?

[Nigel Watts]

Progress report:

http://fitzwalter.blogspot.com/2009/09/curtains-now-in-place-but-how-to-pull.html

Any advice on how to pull my colour scheme together would be most welcome.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Wow - but written on your blog.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Thanks for the kind remarks and the great advice - most helpful and lots to think about. My wife would certainly agree with the decluttering bit! My photography doesnt capture the feel of the room very well, partly because of the flash and partly because of the need to use a wide angle lens. In the flesh the ceiling looks nothing like as white and the room seems taller.

I was thinking of table lamps from Kime, in gilt bronze, but he's jolly expensive:

http://www.robertkime.com/product/item/tidcombe_lamp

 

[Moo]

Nigel - do you really need to use flash with that new digital camera? Mine isn't nearly as posh as yours, but I've found that it takes decent pictures in amazingly low light conditions. Why not give it a try?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Point taken about the colour of your ceiling. It's a big mistake to believe the colours on the screen are representative of how they really look.

Those Robert Kime lamps - beautiful, I hadn't heard of that company before, so thanks very much for the link! (Chris won't thank you though!) They'd work really well, especially the gilt bronze.

 

[Moo]

ps

I've found that Photoshop does a good job of brightening under-exposed pictures. It can also be used to adjust the contrast, hue and saturation of areas of colour. If you haven't got it, it's well worth investing in.

 

[MdB]

ps

I've found that Photoshop does a good job of brightening under-exposed pictures. It can also be used to adjust the contrast, hue and saturation of areas of colour. If you haven't got it, it's well worth investing in.

Alternatively, just download the Gimp which is free: http://www.gimp.org/
It works a bit differently to PS but has all the features that most people need.

 

[Moo]

That's brilliant - and it's free!
If I didn't have (expensive) Photoshop already, I'd definitely go for Gimp.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Finally finished one pair!

 

[JoceAndChris]

It's just fantastic - well done! How many hours do you think they took? Ages I bet!
Where's the light fitting from? I love it.
And what are the bird motifs in the window? I can't make them out.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

It's just fantastic - well done! How many hours do you think they took? Ages I bet!
Where's the light fitting from? I love it.
And what are the bird motifs in the window? I can't make them out.

That reminds me, must add "Anthemion" to the dictionary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmette

 

[Moo]

Are they part of an external railing?

 

[Nigel Watts]

The anthemion and acanthus in cast iron are set into the windowsill on the outside. Its quite a common feature in this part of London. We have the same feature on the first floor.

The chandelier has a long history. My father was talked into buying it from a dodgy antique dealer in Suffolk in the 1970s. It had much more glass on it then, but was in bad shape. I volunteered to restore it and took it apart but never completed the task and it sat in his attic for the next 30 years. A few years ago I took it to Wilkinsons in Catford, a firm specialising in chandelier restoration. They informed me that it had been concocted from four of five different sources; the drops were mainly 18th C but the structure was mostly Regency. I traded in the 18thC drops and got them to restore it along Regency lines, which involved them making a new cut glass dish and regilding it. I am quite pleased with the finished product.

 

[JoceAndChris]

So interesting- what a great story there is behind all your things.

Thanks for filling the anthemion shaped gap in my knowledge too, funny, all those years in N6 and shopping where you go shopping and I never noticed them.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Joce - in answer to your question of how many hours took, I'm afriad I really don't know. The elapse time was about three months I guess, but work was very intermittent. I started trying to work on the kitchen table but this was hopeless as I had to pack it away after each session. In the end I set up the rear end of the room they now hang in as a temporary sewing worksop (if that is the right term). There was so much mind numbing hand stitching that I was only able to work in relatively short stretches.

I have found the whole process quite satisfying though and I am now contemplating making some garments. When I broached the subject during my lunch hour to one of the shop assistants at McCulloch & Wallis, the haberdasher's off Oxford Street, she expressed surprise and said she didnt think I was "the normal demographic". Judging by the clientele I guess their male customers are not expected to be staid professional types in pinstripes. Perhaps next time I go I should try to look more Bohemian. I also have a lot to learn about the kind of frocks women like to wear. I would love to put my wife into a Regency dress like those I saw last night in the BBC's latest version of Emma, but she will have none of it. (Where is the village and what are those two houses by the way? - Gareth is sure to know)

On the subject on cast iron Anthemions on window cills I am not that surprised you didnt see many in Highgate. I havnt made a systematic study of it, but they seem to have been popular on London houses built around 1830 to 1860 - presumably influenced by the Greek revival syle. Highgate village is mainly earlier than this, and I dont think surrounding countryside was developed until later.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

I would love to put my wife into a Regency dress like those I saw last night in the BBC's latest version of Emma, but she will have none of it. (Where is the village and what are those two houses by the way? - Gareth is sure to know).

I didn't see it (will watch on iplayer) but I understand the village is Chilham, and one of the houses is Squerryes Court, both in Kent.

 

[Moo]

I am now contemplating making some garments

Good on you, Nigel!

But think carefully about what you decide to make - start with something simple, in lovely fabric. A really snazzy weskit for yourself, perhaps?
And see if there are any classes in your neighbourhood; it's always handy to have an expert to show you how to deal with the tricky bits. I do wish you lived just down the road from me; in the olden days, when I was young, I took City&Guilds exams in dressmaking and learned lots of the proper couture ways of doing things, like always putting zips in by hand, and shaped waistbands, and how to turn a facing really neatly.....
It's just so much more satisfying than hacking things together quickly.

And - a thought: Do the garments have to be worn by someone? You could always make a wonderful re-creation of a period dress and display it on a dressmaker's dummy as yet another work of art for your home.

 

[JoceAndChris]

And - a thought: Do the garments have to be worn by someone? You could always make a wonderful re-creation of a period dress and display it on a dressmaker's dummy as yet another work of art for your home.

Gosh, what an absolutely brilliant idea that is. Move over suits of armour, that's just so much more romantic. And how I wish you were down the road from me too Moo, I'm currently really struggling with a 1940s blouse.

Nigel - how glorious it would be if you could make yourself a silk morning robe, or some such thing. Making clothes is very satisfying from the point of view of being able to achieve period costume, and you should definitely give it a go!( I really want to make that Regency frock and float round in it here. http://giftshop.janeausten.co.uk/acatalog/info_92.html) The style is so simple there's no reason why it couldn't be worn out and about in summer.

Thanks for all the interesting history about the anthemion too.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

They were going a bit out of fashion at the time, but I see Nigel (and the rest of us) in a banyan coat and "turban" cap
http://www.costumes.org/HISTORY/100pages/BANYAN.HTM

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh WOW!! I bet Penners has got one for each day of the week! :lol: How marvellous.

Chris and I were watching "Great Expectations" last night, you know the 1946 one with John Mills as Pip. (I love the old versions, it's like a double period drama as you identify both the 40s and the Victorian stuff). John Mills wears the most amazing dressing gown, it's one of the highpoints. You look at it and you think why do we put up with these towelling numbers?

Go for it Nigel, I can just see you by those fab curtains in a banyan coat.