The Victoria Room

The Victoria bedroom was formally referred to as the "west bedroom", and also, affectionately known as the "blue room" due to the wallpaper which graced its walls when we arrived. This bedroom, remained largely unchanged for the first three years. Then, with the impending arrival of a new family member, it became important to set a higher priority on this room, as it would serve as a nursery.

The room is rectangular, approximately 11x14. It has three windows and one closet. One of the windows is what we refer to as "a jumbo"; one of four extra large double-hung windows at Ocean Manor which measure nearly five feet wide by six feet high. In keeping with the tradition of large closets in this house, it measures about 8 by 3 feet, which includes a bank of built-in cabinets. The trim is cypress.

The first "work" that touched this room was the restoration of the three windows. Since we did most of the windows in the house in rapid succession, the three in this bedroom were done long before we gave serious thought to where we'd take the room. As the nitty gritty of the window restoration will be discussed fully in the Dressing Room page (when I write it), we shall only mention here that the sashes for all three windows were removed and restored at a local restoration shop. The casing, stool, and sill were restored by me while the sashes were out. Here is an image of one of the windows restored with the exception of the latches and lifts. (Shining brass is a form of punishment around here, and since we've all been rather good lately, it hasn't gotten done yet)

You can see the bronze chain within the jamb, and the brass finish washers and screws securing the stops. The trim has been cleaned up and re-shellacked. It was relatively easy because it had never been painted. On the right side of the window, you can see the blue weave-pattern paper. This paper wrapped around three walls. The remaining wall, seen to the left of the window, was papered then painted over before we arrived. This would make for more difficult removal.

Unlike some other rooms in the house we could mention, this room, being rather simple, was planned from the start. We elected not to remove the walls in this room -we would keep and repair the original horse-hair plaster. We elected to keep them not because of any special love for plaster, but because we wanted to try a different direction in insulation: pour in foam. The only radical work to the room would be the removal of the ceiling, this would be done for two reasons, the poor condition of the ceiling, and to install a proper vapor barrier.

From the outset we selected the wallpaper and, as usual, tried it out virtually beforehand.

More to write, stay tuned.