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General Advice on Victorian living
Welcome to the General Advice area of The Victorian Emporium. Here you can view and read all of our advice articles on their various subjects.
How To Use Victorian Door Rim Locks
A rim lock is externally mounted on the door hence it is on display. It is commonly used in a bathroom or other internal doors in a house which is not to say that it cannot be used on the main entrances with additional security.
How To Use Victorian Door Rim Locks
A Rim lock differs from the usual type of mortice lock used on a front door which is internally mounted within the frame of a door. A rim lock is not usually used on a front door as it is not as secure as a mortice lock, unless supported by additional security devices such as bolts. There are many attractive Victorian Door rim locks available for sale that can aid decoration and furnish a door, in the same way as an attractive…
Enhancing Your Home With Victorian Curtain Tie Backs
A fine pair of curtains are nearly always enhanced with a curtain tie back. These can be made from the same or complementary fabric as the curtains in which case they will need to be stiffened with buckram.
Enhancing Your Home With Victorian Curtain Tie Backs
A fine pair of curtains are nearly always enhanced with a pair of Victorian curtain tie backs. These can be made from the same or complementary fabric as the curtains in which case they will need to be stiffened with buckram. Tasselled tie-backs can come in silk, wool or cotton style and it is usual to match like with like i.e. a cotton curtain with a cotton style tie back but it is really entirely up to individual taste.
Steampunk Interiors
Steampunk refers to retro-technology (a technology possibly powered through steam) such as analogue computers set in a fantastical alternate history of the 19th century.
Steampunk Interiors
Will Steampunk Interiors be the new mainstream? It looks as if it is poised to conquer and evidence of this emerging trend can already be seen in jewellery, fashion and film but what about interior design? For those who aren’t initiated to the Steampunk cult, Steampunk in it’s purest form started as the perverted offspring of science fiction and postmodernism and originally a genre of fiction.
Upholstery fabric
Traditional upholstered furniture tends to have a large repeat pattern and when reupholstering a chair or sofa, using a traditional fabric with a large repeat pattern in traditional colours will make the chair fit well within a period interior.
Upholstery fabric
Fabric is used for a variety of purposes and generally the requirements of the fabric for each distinct purpose are different. For example for curtain fabric you may have unique requirements for each window depending on your room, window size and type and the side of the house it is on. You may want a sheer fabric that stops passers by seeing in but that allows light into a dark room. Or you may have draughty single glazed windows and…
What Is A Ceiling Rose?
The benefits of a ceiling rose are that it frames the connection and makes a feature of the light. It will add glamour and make a room look dressed and of it's historic period.
What Is A Ceiling Rose?
Perhaps you have been researching Victorian properties and may be wondering 'what is a ceiling rose?'. In any room, the obvious place to have the most important and largest source of light is in the centre of the room, so for many hundreds of years there would have been a central pendant light. Traditionally ceiling roses in the centre of rooms were used to obscure the fixings used to hang a light fitting – this idea has been continued…
How to Choose Victorian Cast Iron Radiators
Cast iron radiators can be supplied in a variety of finishes nowadays including plain, painted in any colour including metallic colours, sandblasted, antiqued and polished.
How to Choose Victorian Cast Iron Radiators
Cast iron radiators have had a resurgence in popularity recently both for aesthetic reasons within period house restorations and possibly partly due to the fact that they retain their heat better and stay warmer for longer than radiators that are not cast iron. Cast iron radiators are a beautiful traditional feature that will enhance the room of any period home. They are made in columns, which determines their depth out of the wall, and…
Using Luxury Silk Fabric In Your Victorian Home
If there is one item we most strongly associate with Victorian interiors it is the heavy sumptuousness of often elaborate curtains and drapery which adorned all homes.
Using Luxury Silk Fabric In Your Victorian Home
If there is one item we most strongly associate with Victorian interiors it is the heavy sumptuousness of often elaborate curtains and drapery which adorned all homes. Thick velvets, luxury silk fabric, damasks and tapestries will most definitely add glamour and luxury to the humblest or simplest of rooms but may make a small room dark unless chosen with care. It is generally advisable that large patterns and dark colours do not suit…
What Are Corbels?
Corbels come in many different designs and sizes from the simple scroll cutshape corbel with strong lines, the fluted corbel to the large highly decorative corbels. It’s down to personal taste and the style of the room where the corbel is to be used which is…
What Are Corbels?
If you've been researching Victorian properties, you may be wondering 'what are corbels?' Corbels are a decorative feature that can be used in many different places to enhance the interior of your period home. Anything that looks like it needs to be supported such as shelves or mantelpieces could be enhanced by decorative corbels.
Adding Period Light Switches And Sockets In Your Home
Light switches are a small but really important element that can make a big difference – this is something you touch many times per day so buy the best you can afford to take real pleasure in every day activities.
Adding Period Light Switches And Sockets In Your Home
When it comes to house renovations, missing out period light sockets and switches and opting for cheap plastic ones can really let your house renovation down. Something that can really make a difference to the finish of your period property is using brass sockets and switches which needn’t be cost prohibitive.
Using Victorian Cornicing Or Coving
Cornice or coving are used in conjunction with dado rails, picture rails and skirting boards and these would have originally been chosen as a set to complement each other.
Using Victorian Cornicing Or Coving
Using Victorian cornicing or coving is a really important element of a period house. Rooms especially within a Victorian house without coving look different from what's expected of the period and simply look odd. Cornice is used to provide a join between the walls and the ceiling of a house. They are usually used as primarily a decorative feature but as a vestige of the Greek classical order make the room look somehow complete and in…