I had a small battery operated alarm clock in there and have decided to sell that at the yard sale and get a bigger, electric one. One that's easier to see and will play music. :) Just outside the bathroom, in the hall, is a series of dressers that I use for fabric/sewing/pattern storage. The one opposite the bathroom door has 2 bottom drawers dedicated to bathroom supplies- soap, toilet paper, tissues, extra towels. I always point that out to guests. There are lamps on the dressers, too, so they can see what they're looking for. And there's nice space for them to spread out their makeup and stuff, if the space in the bathroom isn't enough. Inside the bathroom, sample size items and I agree, a shower cap is a must, I love those too! There are at least 2 deodorizer sprays in there. And matches. LOL We hardly ever get company, it's quite rare, so when we do, I go all out cleaning the upstairs and making it welcoming, as best as I knew how. (I now know better, yay!) One time, though, I heard Woody taking a couple up to their room (old friends of his that I'd never met before) and I heard the man say, as they passed thru the sewing room where I worked all day, every day, "What a mess!" and I heard his wife shush him. Now, there was a lot of stuff up there, but it was TIDY stuff and I had just cleaned my brains out up there, when I should have been working, and that did not endear him to me, not one bit. And it really affected me from then on, now when company is coming, I put all my stuff out of sight, as much as I can, because sound carries in this house and I don't want to hear that again, but then MY friends aren't that rude. :) Woody was really sorry I heard him say that, he knew I'd worked hard to make it as nice as possible. And as an aside, that might have been the visit where I pitted the cherries for the fruit salad with my teeth. LOLOLOL And for all you non-picky people, I think anyone would be happy to put you up! And I'm so grateful for ALL the suggestions and advice, I asked for it and you provided it, thanks sooooo much!

Lilylore, I want to say thank you for your post. It was concise, well thought out and very insightful. I don't know if you do interiors professionally, but you obviously have the head for it... Several days ago, I followed your advice about the doilies and I soaked them in coffee to give them an aged look. It actually worked pretty well and they now look yellowed and old. The pillows are one of the things that I've been wanting to replace for a while. I found most of the pillows at Jembro (kind of like a 5 & 10 with lots of household goods if you've never heard of it) and they were so very cheap. I would like to find something a bit older looking, but I hate to spend a lot of money on pillow cases. I kind of agree a bit about the wall medallions and the panel molding. You see, I had originally been going for more of a French look for the room, but obviously it evolved into something a bit different. The medallions are glued onto the wall with liquid nails, and I would not want to have to rip them off and do all of that spackling and repair work... Besides, I can't get rid of the panels either because they are actually doors (long story). You are totally right about the ceiling height being so low. It is a basement room and I've given a lot of thought about the best ways to draw as little attention to that fact as possible. Also, those are actually not sconces, just little decorative shelves. As far as the bulkhead goes, I wracked my brain trying to figure out a way to hide it with curtains, but the problem is that the bulkhead sticks out about 16 inches in front of the windows. Even if I were to hang the drapes above that or come up with some sort of a valance, there is the problem of the other bulkhead that divides the room. It kind of runs directly into the one in front of the window. I know, it's confusing, but I think under the circumstances it's not too bad. I love your idea of hanging some sort of artwork over the radiator covers and it's something that never even crossed my mind. The things that are placed on the radiator were kind of just plopped there temporarily without much thought to composition. I like your idea of have them be crowded with objects. I read a quote in a book called Victorian Splendor that I thought was very interesting because it speaks to the Victorian tendency to layer things that you spoke of. 'While furniture in the nursery and kitchen might be bare, she remembered every chair or sofa that stood in the parlor was robed down to the carpeting. Why, nice girls would no more show their legs than would nice chairs. Heaven forbid that people should see one's shape showing- any more than they should clearly discern the true contours of a room, window or door". I do grow quite a few roses at my house and I am planning on drying some this summer. The Miss Havisham look is exactly what I was going for (minus the wedding cake:). I saw the 1940's version recently and it was pretty inspiring for someone like me (maybe I should have been a set designer). The artwork on the walls has always been a bit tricky for me because I know that as you say, the Victorians did not space their paintings evenly and that is something that is tough for me. For some reason, my brain always tells me to position them in a symmetrical and equidistant way and I know that's not how the Victorians would have done it. I like the idea of making the picture frames an antique looking gold, but I have been afraid to do it because I didn't want it to be gaudy or overkill. But, I suppose that the Victorians were all about looking gaudy and rich. That's one of the reasons why practically everything in that room is woodgrained to look like mahogany. I have been looking for several weeks on craigslist for one of those domed Victorian displays that you mentioned. I see them in many photos of parlors and I don't understand why they don't seem to be in style anymore. One thing that I did do and wanted to share a photo of is a doll that I have added. She is an American Girl doll (possibly the most ridiculous money making racket ever to exist) that my 12 year old niece is no longer interested in. So, with a little bit of makeup,. I transformed her and she is now sitting on one of the chairs. I hope it's not too ridiculous, but I figured I'd give it a try:)

Oh my gosh, I'm so surprised. Thank you. I really thought I'd be criticized for ravaging my brand new rug - so glad you like it. Linelle, I got these colors from e-bay and they come in small plastic bottles. For the most part I didn't water anything down, although I did water down the lighter green color a little bit. However, having used these same products in my last rug, some of them may have been watered down at the time and I've forgotten. I put down practice patches of paint on white paper and then decide whether the consistency and color are right. It's good if you can work on a small, not so precious project for practice before you go on to more costly items. peaches, I understand why you would feel that way because our tastes are so different, and my husband generally doesn't like pale carpets. I'm happy with what I have now but still plan on purchasing another rug more along the lines of what you envision. In fact I saw one on overstock that was paler and we both liked, but I'm almost afraid of ordering from them because their description will say "brown and green" and all I can see is gray and beige. That makes it seem like a crap shoot and they really charge a lot when your return a rug. On erugsale their colors are very true to life on my laptop so it's not me. There's no hurry, but by summer I want to have the lighter-colored one in hand.

I also like the look of the second stools best, but as others have said, not sure if I would put them up against the cherry. Love your cabinets, love your soapstone BTW! Regarding the upholstered stools, I know I would be afraid of kids + fabric but I might also be on the overcautious end of things. In our house there is not much continuity of furniture style from one room to the next in terms of everything being MCM or farmhouse or French country, because none of the rooms are any one particular style. Every room has a blend of thrift-store finds, family antiques, Crate and Barrel/IKEA, etc. I would not recommend my house as a model for anyone else's, other than to say when I am in a house that is all primitives or all Victorian or all French country or whatever, it often feels to me like I'm on a stage set rather than in a personal home. I lack the discipline and love too many different things to pull it off myself.