Terra Cottage Gets a Face Lift!

I know this may come as a shock to many of you but...

I love Victorian houses!

Since we can't afford an old Victorian house we are collecting antique architectural pieces to use in our house (I guess you could say that our house is the graveyard of all the other Victorians that didn't make it-lol:).

We use old architectural pieces as headers for doors and windows. This is the double window on the porch before...

and here it is after. This piece actually came from an antique armoire.

The fretwork on the porch can be found at most hardware stores.

I call it the 'wagon wheel' fretwork commonly seen on most Victorian homes today.

I found these corbels years ago at an antiques fair. They were just the right size for our small home. A fresh coat of paint and voila-a custom look for the entryway of the porch.

We also added the small scrollwork in the center of each porch opening. These pieces were part of a larger piece that we cut apart and used in several places throughout the house.

Now the porch has a more custom look:).

Hubby hard at work hanging yet another piece.

Now the roofline has pizzazz too!

This piece was also found at an antiques fair and looks wonderful gracing the roofline!

Let's go see the changes inside:).

Now you didn't think we could get through a post without Kramer making an appearance, did you? He wanted to help but first he decided to play. He seems to think that this piece is a surf board:).

He's guarding these pieces (these were the ones that were cut apart for the porch openings).

Architectural pieces function as art in our house too (yes, it's a flying pig hanging from the ceiling fan-it's a long story for another post:) . But this changed...

Hubby hard at work (what you can't see is that Kramer is holding the latter:).

We removed the lower piece and replaced it with a different one. The header on the closet door was part of an old mirror frame.

The library closet needed something too.

Remember Kramer's surf board?

Now it is the header for the closet doors in the library.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen hubby is removing another piece of architecture.

An empty space awaits.

The leftover edging from the piece in the living room now hangs above the eating area of the kitchen. (Kasey thought the picture looked better with dogs).

Calvin wanted to be in the post too:).

In addition to new fretwork, we took down the candle chandelier over the table and replaced it with a floor lamp that I found last Saturday. The metal scrollwork is beautiful and the base has marble accents.

Kramer!

(Sorry about that, Kramer walked across the keyboard and added his picture).

As I was saying, the floor lamp has metal scrollwork and marble at the base.

Remember the lamp that a dear friend gifted me? It now has an antique shade and brightens the kitchen counter.

Boy, all of this work has worn me out! Let's sit on the porch with a cup of tea and enjoy the early morning breezes.