Dollhouse Decorating Ideas – The Georgian Style

How to Achieve a Genuine Georgian House Style
By Julie Ann
By Julie Ann

Influences and style
To achieve a genuine Georgian house style when building or decorating your own Georgian dolls house it is important to understand the influences and style during this period which spanned from 1714 to about 1830. During the Georgian period people really began taking an interest in fashion and interiors. The upper classes would often enjoy a Grand Tour of Europe for a year or two and during this time were heavily influenced by the fashion & interior design they saw on their travels. This influence also extended to the design and style of the Georgian dolls house. Other major influences included the architecture of Inigo Jones and the Orient.

The style of the time was all about delicate colour schemes and woodwork, dainty furniture, harmony, balance and a sense of light and airiness to the rooms.

Characteristics of a Georgian dolls house
The most popular color schemes evolved from the heavier burgundy, sage green and blue greys of the early Georgian period to much lighter greens, sky blues and dusky pinks. Floors of Georgian houses were typically bare boards covered with Oriental rugs. Or, if the property was more up market, the floor would have been a pale colored stone or marble.

For a genuine Georgian effect dolls house walls should be paneled up to the dado rail and then painted or papered above.

Repetitive patterns in wallpaper such as trefoils and far eastern designs were very popular. Wallpaper also reflected the trend for block printing towards the end of the Georgian era and featured simple, bold geometric patterns such as squares and stripes.

Cotton with a delicate floral pattern was the fabric of choice for soft furnishings . It was important to match the sofas, armchairs and curtains, and the latter were often adorned with pagoda style pelmets. Often armchairs and divans were protected with loose covers made from cheap, striped linen and these were removed for entertaining on special occasions. Georgian lighting featured chandeliers made from glass, metal and wood, as well as brass, silver, or silvered wood wall lights. In less expensive properties light fittings were often pewter or tin.

Furniture was delicate, for example wing chairs and chairs with hoop or shield backs.
The Georgians loved their fireplaces and the grander the house the more elegant and eye-catching the fireplace! Carved surrounds with swags and shells were an indication of wealth and status. Ornaments and pictures would usually be grouped around the fireplace to emphasize the importance of the fireplace as the focal point of the room.

Moldings on the ceilings often consisted of elaborate ribbons and swags, classical figures and urns.
Georgian front doors generally had central knobs positioned at waist height and no letterboxes. There was often a filigree fanlight with a canopy and pediments. Original Georgian properties had sash windows and shutters.

All images are from the Thorne Room Collection on permanent display at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Find out more about Georgian dolls houses, accessories and furniture and advice on building dolls houses at Julie's website. Article originally published on Ezine.

The Thorne Rooms

Eugene Kupjack, a jeweler's son, began his career in miniatures in the 1930s while working on "The Thorne Rooms," Kupjack became the master of miniature artisans by combining exquisite craftsmanship with theatrical suggestion. This series of 68 room boxes in 1/12th scale is on permanent display at the Art Institute of Chicago. 

Susan 

Dollhouse Decorating – My First School

Dent, Ohio must have been the last place in Hamilton County to come into the 20^th century. Located on Harrison Pike, twenty miles west of Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati, the Dent School was a four room affair on two floors – 3 classrooms and a principal's office. Each room was about the size of a present-day middle-class living room, where kids in grades 1-12 learned their 3 Rs: reading, righting and 'rithmetic.

I made this room box for my daughter Laurie when I tired of her eight-year-old whining about the privations she suffered on going to school, mainly in winter. Besides this visual example, I'm sure I laid some, “Well, in my day ...” nonsense on her.

While the incentive for this project may have been, “I'll show you,” the memories it now evokes are precious,

I went into the first grade in the 1948-49 school year. There was no running water at Dent school. A well was capped with a hand pump. We all drank from the same enamel cup that hung from its spout. A real petri dish for germs, I guess, but nobody died.

The play ground sloped gently down to a creek. Each heavy rain gouged gullies, which looked like the Grand Canyon to a six-year old. We played a thrilling game called Jump The Ditch. I did once, anyway, and went splash. Only the biggest kids made it, but it was exciting to watch.

The high point of the year was when the grown-ups moved the privy. A neighboring farmer wrapped a rope around the outhouse a hauled it aside. A group of fathers took turns at digging the new Hole To China. I remember them laughing when one of the men yelled, “Don't splash!” as they threw the first shovels of dirt and rock into the old pit.

The next school year, Springmeyer Elementary, was built and I was happy to go to a real school. The Dent School downgraded to a garage, its playground crowded with junked cars.

This is kind of a long timeline post, I know, and has very little to do with dollhouse decorating, except to share with you where my enthusiasm for miniature comes from. Little details like the initials carved in the desk top, which unfortunately do not show in these picture. They are LR + JZ, (not the rapper, but Josh Zarimba, whom my daughter Laurie Rall was sweet on). The memory of her blushing and screeching, “Oh, Ma!” floods back every time I dust this room box, a memory that connects two generations.

Keeping memories alive – that's what has kept up my enthusiasm for miniatures going for all these years. What is your driving force?

Yikes! I'm not finished with this 1:12 scale "Getting Ready for Easter" room box. The young lady that lives in this room has her new Easter bonnet, dress, shoes, purse, and bible – everything she needs for church service, followed by the Easter Parade. But I still have some finishing touches!.