Oct. 6th 2013
I am sorry, but I am a little behind in getting this out. I think I am still catching up on my sleep!
After my all night fun at the auction, I had a wonderful deliver to wake up to!
Gates Antiques arrived at 12:00pm
(I asked for a later delivery so I could sleep a bit)
with some of our last furniture.
Check out what wonderful things they brought me!
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Finally our Grand Hall upstairs has somewhere for people to sit!
This settee is just like the one downstairs in the Grand Hallway.
We found them at two different times and there are just slight differences in them.
I just love this Victorian chair!
The arms of the chair just seem to wrap around you as you sit in it. All I need now is a couple of small tables, lamps and an area rug for this space! Of course a little decor would also make it just a cozy spot to curl up on a quiet afternoon at the plantation!
They also brought the two gold chairs we won at the auction on Thursday.
We weren’t sure which room we wanted to use them in; either Madison or Turner Master Suites. So it really helped seeing them in the spaces to get a good feel for which they worked best in. We tried the Madison Master Suite first, but these two chairs are just a little too dressy for the Madison Suite. I think we will need to find a more “Federal” style chair. I have been listening to “A Slave in the White House” by Elizabeth Dowling Taylor about Paul Jennings, James Madison’s Man Servant. In the book, she talks about an “English Chair” that Madison preferred in his old age. I would really like to figure out what that would look like and add it to the room. Of course we could always get a Campeche Chair like he used during his retirement. I will tell you more about this chair later. But we tried the gold chairs in the Turner Master Suite and I have to say they look wonderful there!
When Dolley Madison (Dr. Lynn Uzzle) was visiting the last time, she had suggested we build in a small seating area in the Turner Master Suite by the riverside windows. This would allow our guests to sit and read and gaze out at the beautiful river. I think I have to agree with Mrs. Madison. It is just what this room needed. I just need to get another small rug, small table and lamp to complete this area. And being that these two chairs are in a “French” style, I think Mrs. Madison will be pleased on her return.
And for those of you who have visited the plantation already, don’t worry about our wonderful settee from Baltimore! It will have a perfect space at the end of the bed once the chairs are done and returned. We do need to get the gold chairs reupholstered. I was talking to Jay Gates, of Gates Antiques, our lead designer. We are doing the Turner Master Suite in whites, golds and pinks, but I don’t want to use these colors on the chairs. We need to bring in a different color and pattern so we can brighten the room without over doing the pink and white. The area rug we have in there now is a pink with two shades of blue. So I asked for them to look for something that would pull out the blues in the rugs. I can’t wait to see what they will find.
They also delivered some of the items we won in the auction!
The small area rug found a space in our Ladies Parlor!
And the Presidential Gold Mirror, crack and all, arrived.
It has found a space over the English slant top desk in the Madison Master Suite.
I had the option to send it back and have them replace the bottom cracked mirror, but you know, I don’t think I am going to do that. It is just perfect with the original mirror in it. The details on the painted mirror are not ones that I would want to part with.
James Madison (John Douglas Hall) will be returning on Tuesday for a meeting here at Belle Grove Plantation. I can’t wait for him to see how wonderful the room is starting to look! I even got the wood mirror with the old Colonial style eagle placed next to the bed.
All I need to do now for the Madison Master Suite is get two portraits of James Madison and one of Dolley Madison. It has been really hard finding just the right ones. I have the two portraits of Madison I want and the one of Dolley, but the trouble is finding someone that can copy them without killing me in cost. And it has to be almost perfect because I am really picky about that. I have looked into maybe doing a photo on canvas of them. This method allows you to place the photograph on the canvas and make it look like a painting. This way I could get the exact copy I want without killing our budget. If anyone knows anything on this process, please let me know. I need input.
Our next deliver will be on Friday this week. We are getting the curtains for the Conway and Hipkins-Bernard Junior Suites! The canopies won’t be ready then, but to have curtains in there will really start making these rooms looked more like a home!
I can’t wait!
Can you?
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