The way to Arrange an Eiffel Tower Centerpiece

Eiffel Tower vases help you create tall, theatrical arrangements as centerpieces for a main table or personal event poles. The stone or flowers from the vases loom high above the heads of seated guests therefore the centerpiece does not interfere with conversation. Add long-life, tiny decorative lights to the glass vase for additional gleam at a daytime tent or a night reception hall.

Insert a short string of click-on fairy lights or one to three click-on LED Floralytes from the vase. Examine the opening at the Eiffel Tower vase prior to purchasing your lights to ensure they will fit within the vase. Click-on battery lights allow you to set your centerpiece and turn it on before the event.

Insert stitch into the vase if you’ll use it; clear colored glass seams magnify and distort the light like water. Pebbles also pounds the vase so that it won’t tip over. You may jump the seams and only secure the vase to the table to a small wad of florists’ clay, put under the vase.

Soak the floral foam at the curtain holder for a flower centerpiece. Skip this step if you’re using feathers.

Cover the floral foam with green moss for a foundation for your floral centerpiece. Then, push blossom stems firmly to the floral foam, starting with shorter stems around the perimeter and reserving the tallest, showiest blooms to your top center of the curtain holder.

Choose feathers rather than flowers and insert botanical drabs to the dry floral foam — all around the entire curtain ball until it is concealed by the feathers. Drabs would be the shorter, thinner body feathers of the ostrich and make an appealing rubbed pomander by themselves. In this instance, you’re employing them as a foundation for a stunning plumed centerpiece.

Finish the botanical arrangement with three or more tall plumes — the sweeping, drooping, complete, wing feathers of the ostrich. Place the bouquet holder at the neck of the Eiffel Tower vase and then place the vase at the center of the table. Turn the centerpiece lights on only prior to the event.

See related

The way to Make Stripes With Flat Paint, Semi Gloss and Tape

Stripes can be so much more stunning than switching between 2 colors throughout the surface. Create a stunning, unexpected effect by pairing flat and semi-gloss paints for a visual play in light and shadow, reflection and absorption. If painting walls, choose a place which receives ample lighting to flaunt the subtle changes in paint sheen.

Preparing the Space

Planning is vital to a gorgeous paint finish. Clean and prime the surface you wish to paint prior to starting with the base coat. On walls, dust the surfaces gently, then mask off areas that you do not wish to paint and protect the ground with a tarp. For other surfaces, sand gently to scuff up the surface slightly, wipe the dust off with a soft rag; subsequently shield areas that you do not wish to paint with painter’s tape. Employ a latex primer on wood or walls; for plastic, metal or laminates, use a primer intended for the stuff. Apply a second coat of primer if you’re able to still see the first surface through the first layer. Permit the primer to dry fully.

Setting Up for Stripes

Paint the project surface with the flat paint as the base coat, letting it dry fully. If necessary, paint a second coat atop the first to create a solid paint finish; the color should look constant over the painted surface, having no hint showing through. While waiting for the paint to dry fully, plot your stripe layout by measuring the project surface. Assess the width in case creating vertical stripes, then the height for horizontal stripes. Decide how many stripes you’d like — or the depth of every one — to determine where the stripes belong. Use a laser level and straightedge to assist mark the lines onto a wall in tape or merely a straightedge and tape measure onto a mobile surface. Draw a pencil line to help guide the tape positioning, or request a friend to hold the straightedge as you smooth the tape in place. The tape belongs on the exterior edge of every semi-gloss stripe to ensure the appropriate stripe depth. Place tape scraps along the regions that you do not wish to paint to help distinguish between the semi-gloss and flat paint areas at this stage.

Paint Them on

Use the semi-gloss paint in all the areas designated to the shiny stripes with either a brush or roller. Work at thin layers, as opposed to overloading the area with paint, to help prevent blobs along the tape which may produce the tape hard to eliminate; blobby paint may peel off with the tape, marring the look of your otherwise beautiful stripes. Add a second coat of paint if necessary; once all the paint is dry to the touch, then peel off the tape carefully to reveal the striped design.

Beyond the Basics

Rather than using two different paint colors, choose an elegant play in subtlety using the same paint shade in different sheens. The effect is most noticeable in bright illumination; at dim light, the stripes seem to meld together. Stripes should not be the same width, either — create broad bands of the flat paint, narrow stripes for your semi-gloss, for example, or change the width of each other stripe for an entirely different look. Diagonal stripes add a feeling of excitement or motion when utilized on a wall since they draw the eyes away from the average down or up visual scan of an area. Diagonals are best kept to one wall in a viewing area at one time or the effect may overwhelm.

See related

Feng Shui Ideas for a North-Facing Front Door

In feng shui, the front door is the gate by which chi — or even good energy — enters your house, and specific feng shui techniques can help invite this energy and make great vibrations for everyone living there. Harmonizing the doorway using the direction it faces is vital, because that invites energy in harmony with the surroundings. The energy from the north, which is watery and fluid, is enhanced by the colours blue and black.

Door Color and Texture

Feng shui recognizes eight directions and associates each with a colour, part and part of social and family life. At the feng shui compass, north reflects your livelihood, while south — the opposite path — represents fame and recognition. At the simplest terms, therefore, blue and black are the best colours for a north-facing doorway, and since the element for north is water, the contour or texture of the doorway ought to be fluid. Other variables usually enter into the equation, however, including placement of the door related to the house in addition to the surrounding landscape and neighborhood.

Accentuate the Water Element

A blue or dark door might not match the rest of your house’s exterior colour motif, and if not, you can other ways to invite the water energy from the north. 1 method is to construct a waterfall or fish pond by the front door; another is to hang blue or blue-and-white banners in your own front porch. Whatever combines the colours of the north using the fluidity of water invites the cool northern energies. Water features are considered especially auspicious in feng shui, and fluid water symbolizes revenue, particularly when the water piles up, since it does in the foundation of a fountain or waterfall.

The Space Inside the Door

In welcoming chi, the distance inside the front door is equally as crucial as the distance outside it. The door must open to the inside — that is a guideline that applies to all front doors — and the distance on both sides of the doorway ought to be clear to allow energy to enter freely. When there’s an alcove with a second door, then keep that door open and hang a light above it to widen the space. You can also use mirrors to make more visual space, but not one of them must reflect the doorway itself, or you will end up chasing Ray out the same way it came in.

Size the Door Correctly

When designing your own front door, then it’s also important to consider its size. If the doorway is too little, chi can’t enter freely, and when the door faces north, then it could result in hindrances in your career choices or revenue. If you can’t install a larger door, then use mirrors to increase the visual space. A door that’s too big may also be undesirable, because it generates a overemphasis on the water energy from the north. This may extinguish sparks of creativity or provide too much nourishment for the wood element, leading to maintenance issues associated with uncontrolled development, like mold or decay issues.

See related

Good Colour for High Walls

Putting the wrong shade on high walls can make a room look closed in or amazingly tall, dwarfing the furniture and making disproportion. Whether the walls continue only past the standard 9- or 10-foot mark or span two-stories tall plays a role in selecting a suitable warm, trendy, light or dark colour. Other factors include lighting as well as also the room’s size and function. Use these points and your personality preference to select the right paint or wallpaper.

Pales in Comparison

Forget about using a dark shade on high walls in a room with poor lighting and restricted square feet — unless you’re opting for a cave- or even tunnel-like effect. Instead, choose warm-white paint or wallpaper; the slight red tinge helps to visually lower a too high ceiling, without shutting in the room with darkness. Choose trendy white — hardly blue or green — for a little room with just slightly significant walls; cool, pale walls create a little space look longer, more vibrant and more proportionate to its height.

White Here

An all-white scheme — walls, carpet, furniture, window treatments — creates maximum brightness and surfaces that appear to meld at every stage, which makes this tidy look perfect for tall spaces. High rooms using angular ceilings and insufficient lighting cast numerous shadows, nevertheless, turning true-white into dingy gray. Only use a pure white-on-white-on-white scheme at a room which boasts plenty of artificial and natural light.

Tall, Dark and Awesome

You can use saturated or dark-colored paint or wallpaper on high walls as long as the newspaper has a small sheen to improve light reflection and airiness. In a huge room, warm, dark, matte walls limit shine, raising ambiance and coziness. Alternatively, paint or paper only the focal wall — backing a fireplace or bed — to match dark floors for consistency and impact. Pull a light tone in the flooring, such as light gray out of slate, or light brown in hardwood, for the remaining walls. Flooring that’s darker than the vast majority of the walls grounds that the space.

Look Up

To create high walls or a tall, open, industrial-style home appear less cavernous, paint the ceiling a dark or warm shade. Reddish brown, charcoal, dark gray or even black paint over the ceiling consumes light and produces coziness below. Flat, matte or shine-free paint absorbs more light than reflective shiny paint, assisting you to achieve optimum results. For a pastoral or country-style residence, a wood-slat ceiling is another choice; utilize a matte finish or abandon the wood bare to prevent sheen.

Where to halt

Expand your colour options by splitting up the walls. Install trim or a plate rail at regular ceiling height — between 8 and 10 feet upward. Paint the lower part any shade you prefer, using eggshell- or even satin-sheen paint for a bedroom or living room, or easy-to-wash semi-gloss or high-gloss paint at a kitchen or bathroom. By giving this decrease area dramatic colour, from emerald green to ruby red, you keep the focus down to a typical height. Paint the upper wall and ceiling in matte white to blend one effortlessly into the other, keeping them from the shade equation.

Ceiling Showoff

High ceilings can dramatically elevate layout, so go ahead and show them off rather than play them down. Use pure-white crown molding to transition off-white, dark or bright walls to the ceiling, showcasing the ceiling’s shade — or even a ceiling mural. Provided that you avoid litter, decorate the walls smartly with artwork as well as the space proportionately with furniture and accessories, you elevate the layout’s attractiveness.

See related

What Color Kitchen Cabinets Won't Make Your Kitchen appear Smaller?

The ideal cabinetry shade can make a kitchen look bright and airy, but shade is simply part of the design equation when it comes to maintaining the space from seeming smaller than it is. Utilize cabinet-color trickery, openness as well as the ideal dark-colored finish to make the most of every square foot.

Gloss Over Cabinet Colors

Your cabinetry’s sheen is about as important as its shade when it comes to enhancing the kitchen size. A shiny finish — whether obvious sparkling varnish over wood, or high-gloss paint on your favorite childhood color — reflects light, raise the space. Well lit spaces erase dark shadowy nooks and corners that steal distance in the eye. Improve any cupboard shade and sheen by swapping yellowy or low-wattage light bulbs for daylight or full-spectrum bulbs.

Cabinet Color and Design

Black, dark brown or brown gray walls appear to visually recede. Believe “black-hole effect .” Contrasting white or pale neutral cabinets appear to float on dark walls, but their design might be more significant than their shade. Slim, sleek, streamlined cabinetry takes up less physical space than slick, beefy, ornate units, as do flush-mount appliances, compact furniture and minimal accessories. Lifted cabinetry feet exposes more floor area, while beadboard doors provide vertical lines that carry the eye upwards, visually raising the ceiling — and both particulars existing cottage charm.

Open to Dark Cabinets

Even dark-colored cabinetry looks less intrusive, if it’s open, allowing the eye to travel indoors to the rear wall. Take off a couple of upper cabinet doors, exposing neatly stacked plates or uncluttered rows of cups and glasses, and producing a state casual impact. Glass doors offer the same openness, while keeping out dust and oily cooking movie. If all the cabinets in a dark shade appears too visually hefty, use them for the reduced ones to bottom the space, and choose for white or stainless-steel uppers that nearly mix into pale-colored walls.

A Space-Enlarging Combine

Virtually any monochromatic scheme, boasting cupboard shade that almost blends to the wall, countertop, flooring and appliance colours, looks to enlarge space. When a room’s contents and colours appear to merge, visual begins and stops are wiped out, and circulation becomes unobstructed. A dark monochromatic strategy can be welcoming and warm, ready to point with brightly coloured accessories or an island focal point. A pale-on-pale scheme — white and icy blue, or greige on beige — appears cool and airy throughout. Although various cabinet colours keep your kitchen from seeming smaller, the colour you choose simply depends upon your style preference.

See related

How Do I Use Color in Office Design?

A workplace in home is tricky — you need dedicated space, a feeling of separation from the rest of the household and its own rhythms, cozy furniture and usable layout. In addition, you will need to focus on the colors in the space. Your company cubicle design may or may not have increased productivity, but you’re in control now. The colors you pick can de-stress, energize, soothe, inspire confidence, improve creativity, or just make you feel great once you pull up a seat and get to work daily.

Too Cool

Immersing yourself in character is one certain way to balance life’s stresses and restore balance. Greens and blues in an office may have a similar effect. Mint walls, white trim and a sisal carpet are crisp, new and light-filled. Lagoon or Maya blue accent wall behind the desk and bookcase, tempered with white on trim and window walls, are energetic but calming — the intense, welcoming blue will not put you to sleep the way baby or powder blue may. The judicious use of this shade isn’t stimulating enough to be distracting. To get more nature in a neutral office without a paint, add a lush green plant or some vibrant area rug in lime, white and cerulean, or move with denim or green on the desk chair upholstery.

Hot Deals

Colours that command an intense emotional reaction can define the mood in your office. Should you operate at high intensity levels and need the space to support that daily drive, look to the warm end of this warm-shade spectrum. Red is explosive — unless you’ve got nerves of steel, then you probably wish to limit it to accents. Red venetian blinds at a white office, red oriental rug in a neutral office or a red lampshade in your glass background could keep you primed for action. Sunflower yellow is a productivity booster. Yellow is great for focus, but it does grab focus; too much yellow may leave you high-strung and restless. Softer yellow walls or armless bright yellow leather “customer” seats are a strong compromise. Orange can be fantastic when it is a tobacco leather desk chair, a rust accent wall or a file cabinet. But moderation in all things is your motto when your colour preferences are equatorial.

Subtle but Sophisticated

Neutrals let you change your colour accents to fit your mood, the season or the customer project du jour. An all-white office begs for an overload of creative imagination. A linen and toast office smooths out the rough borders of this day and is anything but bland with the added textures of a seagrass mat ground covering or camel berber carpet, and wood slat blinds or unbleached linen drapes. Gray contains an entire paintbox of colours. Charcoal is tough enough for your hard-driving negotiations; pewter requires the middle ground — perhaps not too solemn yet still deep; ghost-gray has more gravitas than pure white but lightens up a shadowed alcove or daylight-deprived room. Punctuate the low-key neutrals with touches of ebony or dark chocolate at a leather desk chair or enameled bookcase, a lemon-colored ceramic lamp base, a mainly coral framed poster on the wall. Cork-tile bulletin boards and bamboo floors work with each impartial.

Plum Perfect

It is your office, so select what makes you happy. If this happens to be purple, good for you. Shades of purple, from darkest aubergine to barely-there lilac, mix the cool and warm colour spectrums and may evoke different reactions — from calm to imaginative to deep. Use more or deeper intense purples as accents, and consider them for the dominant color in carpets. Paler lavenders and grayish-purples work with strong blues, violets and royals purples — the deeper hues are acceptable for formal drapes or seating upholstery. Should you crave lighting without white-on-white, a whisper of wall paint in pinkish blush or faded lilac relieves the austerity without being too assertive. Test any wall shade with a huge swatch under all potential lighting conditions to be sure you can live with it.

See related

What Color Wall Paint Can Go With Merlot-Colored Furniture?

Merlot is a blueish grape that vintners may blend with cabernet sauvignons and Bordeaux wines, or jar the varietal on its own. The color merlot varies as much as the intricate flavors of the grape — by a purplish-red into a blue-purple into a almost-black — and it may be mistaken with wine, Bordeaux, blackberry and burgundy. Cherry wood is a rich color, and merlot is a effective upholstery color. Wall paint colors balance merlot furniture and exhibit.

Industrial Grape

Actual concrete walls or faux — a variegated, rough-textured blend of medium and mild grays — are a foil a living room’s focal point, for a lavish velvet sofa. Pick up the industrial wall shade in a silky low-pile carpet in a very simple pattern of silver-gray and merlot to coincide with the couch. Frame the walls and keep the palette extremely easy: silvered metals, white, the soft grey of the walls, and a glass vase crammed with almost black hydrangeas or calla lilies and deep purple.

Merlot and Marble

Cherry wood cabinets in the kitchen would be too dark and dramatic in the room without the balance of textures and colors. Cabinets and a work island with lots of marble and operate a wide marble backsplash all over the room. A stainless cooker, dishwasher and fridge include extra gleam and a touch, pickled flooring and as do the walls. The white paint’s slight chalky gray tint invites a couple of accents to offset the red tones of the wood. Set a blackberry or blueberry enameled mixer, toaster or coffee maker on the counter tops. Fill out a bowl that is porcelain with eggplants or blue-black plums.

Formal Dining

The luster of a classic dining room is improved by a careful combination of upholstery, wall and wood colors. Striped brocade cushions on the hardwood chairs reflect the red-merlot hue of the stained sideboard. Apricot walls at a gloss are edged trim. And the curtains are a mix of vitality and luxury from silk taffeta, lined with ivory silk that is heavy. The reddish-purple wine shade warms the room, along with the tones of orange help to pull together its ornate although disparate elements.

Purple Passion

An Art Deco-inspired master suite is pure theatre when merlot and black dominate the room. From the inlaid dresser to the ebony bed frame with satin bedspread, there’s no mistaking the space’s message. Black enameled walls and a tarnished ceiling gleam like a night sky. Silver wall-to-wall carpet, layered with orientals in black, pewter, wine and silver designs, echo the colors of ceiling, the walls and furnishings. Pewter silk curtains, strung in merlot to coincide with the comforter, punctuate the walls that are inky. Work with a lighting designer to acquire the task and ambient lighting just right in a room with a color character.

See related

Woodipedia: Is It or Can It Be Cherry?

Stains have made it rather simple to color 1 type of wood to make it resemble any other sort. However there are two species of wood that actually do seem alike in their uncooked state: cherry and alder. Here’s how to tell the difference.

TEA2 Architects

When you think about a cozy country kitchenmost probably you are imagining warm-colored cherry cabinets. “Cherry was one of the most popular cabinet forests in rural regions throughout the country, since it was so widely distributed across the USA,” notes Andy Richmond, vice president and certified appraiser at Garth’s Antiques at Delaware, Ohio.

Nevertheless there’s another wood species which features a milder version of cherry’s reddish tones and grain patterns. Alder is affectionately referred to by woodworkers because”poor man’s cherry.” With a coating of finish, it can readily pass for cherry into less-discerning eyes.

Cherry basics. When we talk of cherry, we are really referring to black cherry — Prunus serotina. A distinguishing element of most cherry wood is gum stains, or pitch pockets. They’re brief, black streaks that look like hardened resin deposits.

Occasionally cherry has pin knots — tiny brown circles which again add visual attention. High-end cherry is figured, meaning undulating beams of light seem to take across the grain, lending the plank a shimmering depth. This luminous effect is known as chatoyance.

CM Designs

Alder basics. Commonly called red alder, Alnus rubra grows principally in the Pacific Northwest, in which it’s the most environmentally abundant timber. The grain pattern and quiet coloration of alder is polarizing. Some folks like it for precisely that reason, though other people find it boring. Alder may have pin knots, but it does not have gum stains.

You will sometimes hear references to clear or knotty alder, but these are just general descriptions. “That’s not a grade,” says Walt Maas, manager of Bohnhoff Lumber at Vernon, California. “There are industry standards for grading lumber — like there are for grading meat. Each type of wood has its own specifications which specialist hardwood lumber graders follow.”

This makes it easier to compare prices when shopping. However, Maas notes that a few businesses put their own proprietary levels on lumber, making comparison shopping harder.

VERMONT WOODS STUDIOS

Contrasts between cherry and alder. There are 3 chief differences. To begin with, alder is considerably softer, so it weighs less. Second, alder is cheaper. And lastly, alder has no sapwood, that is the creamy coloured wood on the edge of a plank. Like walnut, cherry is known for having plenty of sapwood.

VERMONT WOODS STUDIOS

Cost. Cherry’s cost is somewhat contingent on the amount of sapwood. Most boards have significantly more heartwood (the pinkish-red color) on one side and clearly more sapwood on the opposite side. The proportion of each on a single board affects pricing. Another factor is plank width. Wider boards of all species are pricier.

Maas reports that the wholesale cost of cherry at his yard is $3.20 per plank. Alder is priced substantially lower, at $2.70 per board foot.

Color. Whilst alder is quite even in color, cherry’s fundamental red cast may have a whole spectrum of variants. This makes it difficult for woodworkers to color match the planks on large projects. Gene Leslie of Rancho Cucamonga, California (who produced the cherry cabinets displayed here) evened out the disparate tones by treating all of the wood with lye to artificially age it while maintaining the clarity of the grain. Amateurs need to be thoroughly educated on this process before attempting it, however, since lye is highly caustic.

When creating tabletops and cupboard panels, woodworkers frequently cut the sapwood to incorporate the prized heartwood. The sapwood is subsequently used for the interior constructions, especially in drawer construction.

Durability. Black cherry rates 950 on the Janka scale for hardness, which puts it on equal footing with soft maple but much below harder hard walnut (1,450) and black walnut (1,010).

Alder is rated 590, position it as a very soft hardwood, slightly above poplar (540).

Mosaic Architects Boulder

Not cherry. While there aren’t any wood types erroneously identified as alder, there are several misnamed cherries. Chief among them is Brazilian cherry, also known as Jatoba. It is a very popular flooring choice nowadays, not only due to its cherry-like color, but also due to its durability. Brazilian cherry rates 2,350 about the Janka scale. (Recall, hard maple is 1,450.)

Other forests masquerading as cherry are Patagonian cherry, Bolivian cherry along with African cherry, which is also referred to as Makore.

Precision Cabinets

Finishing. Cherry and alder are prone to blotching when finishing coats are applied. Again, some people today take this as a gorgeous trait of genuine wood, though other woodworkers attempt every finishing trick in the business to minimize it. It is a good idea to ask for a completed sample.

VERMONT WOODS STUDIOS

UV stability. Cherry naturally patinates into a darker, richer color over time. American antiques expert Andy Richmond notes antique cherry furniture may resemble mahogany.

It is also a superbly UV-unstable wood, which many woodworkers utilize to their advantage. To quickly and painlessly deepen the color of some cherry planks, woodworker Gene Leslie intentionally leaves them out in sunlight after grinding them.

Krista Agapito – S&W Kitchens, Inc..

Sustainability. Domestic hardwoods are endorsed by the U.S. Deptartment of Agriculture as a preferred green building material — in large part because of the responsible harvesting approaches practiced by the American hardwood industry. Another significant element in the sustainability of American hardwoods is the minimal transportation requirements, in comparison to those of imported exotics.

More: Learn about more forests and how to utilize them on your design

See related

The Way to Fix Vinyl Cloths

Fixing a vinyl thing can be sometimes simpler and more economical than replacing it if it covers a big or a favorite object. Durable vinyl fabric is used by Producers . Even though it holds up under normal usage, vinyl may tear, burn or stain. You may find vinyl repair kits and items at cloth shops and most department stores.

Dampen a cotton mat with rubbing alcohol or use the cleaning wipes contained in your kit to wash around the area and remove any dirt or oils.

Wash the area with soap that is gentle and warm water to ensure a fresh surface. Dry the vinyl with paper towel.

If you’re repairing a hole or a tear that goes entirely through the fabric, cut as backing for the damaged area — on a sub patch — contained in the kit. In the event the vinyl covers foam, such as Set the patch behind the hole with tweezers to get it.

Make sure the sub patch lies flat without any ripples or folded edges that could show through. It does not need backing if your vinyl cloth has surface damage, including a scrape.

Select a paper that is graining you are currently repairing. Vinyl comes in a variety of textures, known as graining. By way of example, vinyl may be dimpled, eloquent or stained with a faux leather look.

Cut the graining paper to fit by at least 1 inch in all directions beyond the damaged area. Lay the paper over the tear or hole.

Meld the newspaper with the ripped vinyl by rubbing the heating tool’s tip in a circular motion over them for 20 to 30 seconds. As you operate, hold the newspaper still. The paper and the damaged vinyl creating a seam will fuse together.

Permit the fused fabric to cool. By gently pulling it off, Eliminate the surplus graining paper.

Mix the colour of this repair compound in a disposable cup employing a combination of the many included colours. Consult with the colour chart and operate at a space for the best results. Remember that the compound will darken as it dries.

Hold the knife and then drag the compound lightly and beginning out of the damaged area to create a repair. Work with the amount of product that is compound and cover that 1 inch of the damaged material at one time. Repeat this process until you’re pleased with the outcomes.

Lay another bit of graining paper with precisely the same pattern as you selected for the backing — over the compound. Hold the graining paper in place while rubbing against the heating tool. The length of time differs based on the type and thickness of the vinyl.

Permit the newspaper to cool. Lift and remove the paper that is extra to reveal your repair that is finished.

See related

Victorian House Information

Victorian homes were built during the reign of England’s Queen Victoria, from 1837 until her death in 1901, and have a striking and unique look. Beyond its historic charm, owning a Victorian home may have an added financial benefit. Local and federal incentive programs exist for the purchase and restoration of vintage homes, such as the Federal Rehabilitation Tax Credit, which may pay up to 20 percent of restoration costs on qualifying elderly or historic houses.

Identifying Features

Victorian homes usually have an asymmetrical shape and small or large asymmetrical porches on the top or base level, or both levels. The steep roofs have a decorative wall, called a pliable, attached at the triangular portion of the roof, facing the front of the house. Columns, shingles and siding have stained or textured borders.

Popular Victorian-Era Styles

The Victorian home evolved to various styles over time whilst maintaining the exact same standard design sensibility with innovative touches which represented the architect, area and time. Victorian styles include the Edwardian, Gothic, Italianate, Richardsonian-Romanesque, Second Empire, Shingle, Stick-Eastlake and Queen Anne. Generally speaking, Edwardian houses have Art Nouveau influences and stained glass. Gothic houses have gingerbread-style wood detailing. The Italianate style has columned porches, a flat roof and angle-set bay windows. Richardsonian-Romanesque houses have masonry construction rather than wood. Second Empire houses have tall wrought-iron ornamental details. A Shingle style home often has a stone or brick floor and windows of varying dimensions. Stick-Eastlake houses have a freestyle decor and square bay windows. The towered Queen Anne has a roof with a gable.

Victorian House Interiors

Traditional Victorian interiors received inspiration from the Italian Renaissance and the medieval period periods. Intricate ceiling designs, cornice finished plastered walls, chandeliers, mirrors and fireplaces contained the decor. Owners painted the interiors with pastel colors similar to the vibrant pastel palette shared to a Victorian home’s exterior. The book”Victorian House Style: An Architectural and Interior Design Source Book,” written in 2002 by Linda Osband, Provides a room-by-room manual for Victorian layout and an outdoor backyard.

San Francisco History, Preservation and Restoration

More than 50,000 Victorian homes dotted the San Francisco city landscape from the early 20th century. An earthquake in 1906 caused a fire that burned for four days, ruining close to 75 percent of the area’s houses, including many of the first Victorians. Local citizens located the Victorian Alliance at San Francisco in 1972 to encourage preservation and recovery efforts and also to reduce demolition and stripping of Victorian houses in the area. Should you own a Victorian home in the area or aspire to purchase one, combine the members for a monthly meeting to share preservation hints and techniques.

The Painted Ladies

On Postcard Row, the San Francisco city skyline rises up behind the Painted Ladies, a row of colorful Victorian homes most identifiable from the TV series”Full House,” a popular sitcom in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1978, Elizabeth Pomada and Michael Larsen wrote the book”Painted Ladies: San Francisco’s Resplendent Victorians,” and in 1989,”The Painted Ladies Revisited,” showcasing and describing how to make your own Painted Lady.

See related