Back to the "Simple" layout

Tried one of those new dynamic views and have decided simpler is better.

I've been on vacation and on our way to camping we spent a night in a B & B.  It was a beautiful old home in Ohio and here are some of my pictures.  I have visited many but this is the first time I got to stay & sleep in an historic home.  It was also my first live seeing of black squirrels!  They had a family of them out back.

This fireplace was in the front hall which I found interesting.
The detail of the woodwork is kind of amazing. 

 Again the height of the pocket doors made me realize my doors in Ariel have to be taller.

The proportions of the whole house were fascinating to me and very helpful when working on dollhouses.
The relative height of the lamp for instance to the ceiling.  When there it was perfect, but in looking at this picture, much as you see a dollhouse room, it seems so low and so small.

I have decided my stairs somewhere have just GOT to have lamps on them like these.     
This picture looks into the dining room from the front hall.

 The built-in library shelves had the most interesting system for adjustable shelves that I have ever seen.   The cabinet on the right stood in front of one of 3 sets of pocket doors!

The exquisite dining room with a southern exposure.  I love the loftiness of the ceilings!
It felt huge and airy in there!   That ceiling medallion really stood out with the two-tone coloring used. 

 A small view of the "butler's panty" I think it once was but it would have made for a marvelous breakfast room for a private family. 

Another fireplace you just want to copy in mini - if you could.

























Hearth detail.

 Looking upstairs.

 On the lower left of this picture of the staircase, built into them were 2 drawers!  I thought that a wonderful idea.

 Opposite the fireplace in the front hall was this built-in hat rack!!   The settee there obscures it but it was original to the house too.  Fabulously detailed woodwork.

The front hall looking towards the entrance with it's stained glass.  The hall was about 12 feet wide, I "foot-measured" it.

 Another bit of hearth detail I found fascinating.  This fireplace was upstairs in our bedroom.

 Our room, which I think is the nicest, most elaborate bedroom I ever slept in.

Here is how it looked as night fell.

 The hinges on the doors were just awesome!

 This is a view of the upper hallway so simple and yet so wonderful.

The other part of the Ohio River Towns tour

I'll start with another lovely photo of the
Ohio River valley.

Hillforest didn't allow photos to be taken inside so I'll just show this outside one which I thought interesting because of the rounded front.  It would be quite the accomplishment to replicate in miniature.   The first floor curved section housed the entryway to the house and the second floor was a morning room which the tour guide said was where the ladies of the house spent their mornings having breakfast, writing letters etc.  It was the most charming room with the curved wall of windows overlooking Aurora and the Ohio River and to be able to sit there in the morning having your breakfast which has been made and brought up to you, ahh, the life!
I'd love to have such a room in Ariel but I don't see how I can do curved walls much less windows.  But, I could do sections or an octagonal room perhaps - we will see....
We also saw the Schroeder Saddletree Factory and at first we saw what I thought was perhaps the offices of the place.   The Schroeders were hard-working German immigrants who made the wooden part of a saddle and other items.  During the Depression they made over 2 million clothespins on this machine.  That cute fellow in the blue jeans on the right is my husband. 

Towards the end of the tour I asked about where the family lived imagining great wealth and a mansion somewhere.  To my surprise the guide said they always lived right there next to the factory, they raised 4 children (3 boys and 1 girl) who lived all their lives in this small place.  Here is how the front looked:

                                                                                                                                                                                                         

 The fourth home we saw was the Schenk Mansion which is also now a Bed & Breakfast.
It is huge with 35 rooms!   The owners let us walk about and take as many photos as we liked and I wish I had taken more.
There had been a wedding the day before, hence the white chairs.

We even got to climb all the way up to the tower room.  I discovered something about stairs that I needed to know.  I had bought a set of stairs from the local hobby store and felt that they were too steep, too narrow for the dignity of my Victorian era home.  I planned to use them for the servants stairs to the basement and even then I wasn't too comfortable with them.  I bought some good wide Houseworks ones for the main floors.
But in the Schenk Mansion and in Hillforest and the Lanier House I encountered the steepest stairs I've ever used and often my size 8 foot hung over the treads by inches!!!    So, as I pointed out to my hubby and am now doing here, I am more than comfortably assured that those cheap narrow, steep stairs are just the thing for the lower level and will also be used for the upper rooms of Ariel.

 

Meanwhile, the Main staircase of the Schenk Mansion required a photo

Both the Schenk & Lanier homes had these wonderful interior shutters which I have not seen done in a dollhouse before.  Of course both houses have 3 brick thick walls too.














Several of the bathrooms had COPPER TUBS that were very long and the owners said that oddly enough the men liked them best because they were large enough for them to lie comfortably in.   I tried but could not get a good shot of the bathrooms (which were surprisingly narrow yet perfectly functional).

Above are a couple of the bedrooms, the dining room and a photo of a fireplace surround up in the tower which I found interesting.









And to end with another fine view this one from the Lanier House looking out over their front garden to the Ohio River - how nice it would be to have such a view everyday!

Nothing made but plenty of inspiration!

Hubby and I went on a bus tour of Ohio River Towns and besides the simply fabulous views and scenery....

we also toured 4 historic homes and I got some photos of some items I fully intend to make.  First is a bed step stool that also housed a chamber pot.  This was in the Lanier House in Madison, Indiana.

I also was thrilled by all the restored facades on Madison's main street and decided I want my towns small row of stores to look something like.

The Lanier House also had 10' tall doors, both front and back entrance hall doors and the pocket doors!   Aren't they simply majestic!!     I do want pocket doors in Ariel.    I also noticed they had period carpeting nearly everywhere which was laid down in not very wide strips.   And just look at those fabulous curtains!
And then there was the dining room done with scenic paper, gold curtains and a patterned floor that you'd think would clash but it didn't.  I have been inspired by not only the furnishings but also the wall/floor combos in this house.

 

And just look at these delicious wash stands calling out to be made in miniature!

Look at the brightness & pattern of that carpeting too!  Wow!

More tomorrow....