Let's talk Edwardian house decoration

I've been thinking back to my old house a fair bit recently so when Skirtings R Us got in touch about exploring Edwardian house decoration it seemed timely and I wondered how much my house had influenced how I'd decorated it. But to do that I needed to know more about the decor of the time. In researching this post I've learnt the Edwardian era was relatively short - as was Edward VII's spell as monarch - lasting between 1901 and 1910, although "Edwardian" is often extended at both ends from as early as 1890 until just before the first world war. Which in anyone's terms, is quite an extension!

Edward VII was by all accounts someone who was a leader of the fashionable elite and often influenced by European arts and fashions. And the decor style must have been a welcome relief from the dark colours and heaviness of Victorian interiors.

The Edwardian style is lighter and brighter and must have been a breath of fresh air and includes many pastel blues, greens, pinks and creamy yellows. As I'm writing this my mind can't help but wander to The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady, which I remember having a resurgence in the late 80s, just before I bought my house in 1992.

Examples of typical Edwardian decor

The National Trust property, Polesden Lacey is a typical Edwardian home and it's one I've visited, albeit a while back.  The pictures I've shared of it here before focussed on it being a party house, which it very much was, but looking at it again today it is typical of its time.

A PENDANT LIGHT AT POLESDEN LACEY IN SURREY

WING CHAIRS AT POLESDEN LACEY

Pendant lights in a smoked glass were often used as central lights in a time when electric lighting was just beginning to be introduced in grander homes. Ceiling roses were used to disguise the light fittings, and fabric lampshades with frills and tassels were popular too.

The furniture was reproduction and included a range of styles from baroque to rococo, with wing chairs being a typical shape, often upholstered in chintz and damasks. 

Fireplaces were smaller than Victorian ones often with decorative tiles, with even smaller versions installed in bedrooms.

Polesden Lacey is clearly a grander house than my old mid-terraced house, but the Edwardian room set at the Geffrye museum is more likely the style we'll still see in domestic houses even today, and much closer to mine too. 

The picture rail is typical, as is the style of front door - both of which were retained in my house as original features. I've said in a recent post how I was fortunate to discover original fireplaces which had been boarded up by previous owners. And that wasn't all. The original panelled doors had been covered in hardboard and many years and layers of paint, the picture rail remained in the front room and the high and moulded skirting boards were also mostly in place. Replicating the Edwardian look is relatively easy to achieve by installing a picture rail and skirting board similar to those in the pictures below:

THE EDWARDIAN LIVING HALLWAY AT THE GEFFRYE MUSEUM IN LONDON

THE EDWARDIAN LIVING ROOM AT THE GEFFRYE MUSEUM DECORATED FOR CHRISTMAS (IT'S NEVER TOO EARLY, RIGHT?!)

 

Looking through my pictures I realised that Mottisfont in Hampshire, another National Trust property also fits into the Edwardian decor style even though it was reconfigured and redecorated by Maud Russell in the 1930s, so right at the end of the extended Edwardian era. As you can see the flowers, which are loosely arranged, as per the style of day, also have a natural and pastel feel to them.  

FLOWERS IN THE EDWARDIAN HOUSEHOLD WERE OFTEN LOOSELY ARRANGED AND ECHOED THE WALLPAPER

While the wallpaper is still quite formal, its colour is lighter than it would have been and the addition of fresh flowers in the fireplace add a further feminine touch. As does the reading material on the nearby desk.

Even in the maids room, the Edwardian style is apparent - stripes were another favourite for wallpaper, and the pretty hand painted coat hanger is one I'd happily have in my house today.

STRIPED WALLPAPER AND A PRETTY FLORAL HANGER IN THE MAIDS ROOM AT MOTTISFONT

So that's a glimpse into decorating in the Edwardian style, fascinating isn't it? And I'm sure that like me you'll see elements of the style maybe in your home, and definitely on the high street. It's a style that's calming and relaxing, but is it a style you'd choose to decorate in, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

* This is a collaborative post, but all views and opinions are my own.

Softening our gabion seating area with plants

Right from the off, back in May when our plans were hastily redrawn after just happening to buy a pizza oven, I planned to have a second row of gabion baskets and plant them up with plants from our garden. MOH was less sure about this part of the plan, but as he wanted a pizza oven he went along with it.  I thought that adding at least a tonne of hardcore at the back of our garden would need some softening and I think the two photos below show that I was right.

GABION BASKETS INSTALLED AND FILLED, BUT STARK...

PART OF THE SECOND ROW OF GABION BASKETS PLANTED UP WITH FERNS, CROCOSMIAS, SEDUMS AND DIGITALIS

The difference is amazing isn't it? I'm pleased I persevered with this as not only did it help us lose some of the soil we've been collecting but it helps the new structure stand out less, which may seem an odd thing to say but it gives it a more natural feel. 

So how did I turn them into planters?

The answer is membrane. I could have used plastic but that's non-permeable and so they would eventually become like mini bog gardens, that's fine if that's the look you're going for, and if you're planting plants that like those conditions, but I wanted to use the plants that I'd displaced - the ferns, as well as some other plants from around our garden. Crocosmias seem to grow two a penny and I had a pot of those from where I laid some of the old patio paving slabs under the cherry tree. I'd also been collecting sedums and so those were destined for their too.  The final plant I wanted to include was a foxglove that was growing in a pot. Not the usual place for foxgloves but I wasn't sure if it was a weed or a plant (it was a plant) so had moved it there for observation. 

But first things first, membrane.

I cut two ultra-long lengths and used them to line the baskets in a cross form. I found that securing them with string worked well and quickly found a way to do this so the string was out of sight. On seeing them MOH said they looked like waste bins... Hmmmm.  With soil added, less so I think?

In went the plants, and more soil to top up the baskets. And as with any planting they got a good long water.

And they seemed to thrive. Even the foxglove that was moved while it was flowering seemed happy - phew. 

I'm a fan of dense planting and especially in this kind of space it's worked well. Nearly two months later and the plants have settled in really well, filling out and softening the space as I'd hoped. 

We've still a little more to do, as I want to add a further gabion basket planter on the end so that each of the three seats have plants behind them, but that's just finding the time to level the soil, line the basket and fill it with soil. I've a couple more ferns and crocosmias waiting to go into that space, so the plants are sorted.

I also want to line the three triangular spaces between the seats with membrane in the same way and plant those up with camomile, penny royal (a ground covering mint variety) and thyme, so that when you sit there and brush against the herbs you get a waft of scent too.  This, alongside sorting out the front of the baskets - I think it needs some kind of step - and then I'll happily declare this part of the garden finished.

What do you think?

Filling our gabion baskets

It's been a while since I shared the start of our gabion basket journey, and I can't believe how quickly it's gone, so today, belatedly I'm sharing how we filled them. I was keen for a mix and match approach, but MOH favoured buying rocks and going for a more normal look. The sort of look you see on the sides of motorways, and as we later discovered in our local B&Q, and then again for part of the gabion wall at Hyde Hall. They're everywhere and it’s like when you've decided on a new car, you’re suddenly aware of it everywhere, and wonder if you’ve made the right choice.

I don't expect you'll be surprised to learn that we didn't go for the uniform and more usual buying rocks to fill these. MOH had worked out the quantities needed - using one of the gabion basket providers sites - and told me a big number, I think in the hope to shock me. It didn't shock me as I'd already used that calculator and gone one further and worked out the cost for buying the stones too.  Yes, exactly.

I did some speedy internet searching, on eBay and Gumtree and Freecycle, to see if we could buy bricks and rubble, and even if people would give them away. It turned out we could, and even better, there were a couple of people giving stuff away less than twenty minutes away by car. Proving to MOH that we could collect enough stuff for free, and he knows me well enoug to know when he was beat.

So on another one of those hot days we headed over to Hither Green and loaded the boot of my Renault Clio full of sacks of rubble, bricks and broken slabs. The lady there was happy for us to take as much as we could and a car-full was gratefully accepted. The next day we headed over to the other side of Blackheath and loaded the car again, this time with help from the man giving the rubble away.  He said he was glad to be getting rid of it, so it was the least he could do. In this collection there were roofing tiles, more broken slabs, some rubble and some bags of post-crete that had been activated. 

So now as well as the stones, bricks and other suitable garden rubbish we had two car-fulls of free rubble or hardcore. And the latter was all stored in our front garden, so there was still the large job of moving them through the house and up to the end of the garden. In the heat that wasn't a job we relished, and then while we were preparing the area and getting the baskets positioned I managed to get a reaction to a mosquito-like bite.

We'd already decided to fill the large 1 metre depth x 1 metre high x .5 metre wide baskets first. There's two of those and they were the most important to be filled as our new pizza oven would sit on top of these. With the bite growing ever bigger and me becoming increasingly grumpy about it and less mobile, I was banned from carrying bags of rubble.  

Thankfully that coincided with the day that my SIL and BIL were drafted in to help out, and the day the four of us installed sleepers in another part of the garden.  And yes, they did work hard and we were ever so grateful. It's amazing how much more work you can get done with four pairs of hands, over two (even when one pair of hands isn’t as useful as they’d be without that bite!)

So while the three of them carried our newly found collection of rubble through the house, around the chicane of the dining room table, out of the conservatory, across the circles and up to the stone circle at the end of the garden I waited and sorted out pieces suitable to be at the front and on display. The thing with gabion baskets is they get their strength from how they're filled. So the filling needs to be compacted and free of large gaps, as large gaps don't equal stability.

And so we made a start. 

What we immediately learnt was that 1 metre is a long way to place things, and I quickly became a dab hand of nursing blocks for the edge down the drop using hands through the wire baskets. And even then it'd often fall over as it got to the bottom, and that's where the rake (both ends) came in handy. 

Never let it be said I'm not resourceful!

And gradually I got into a rhythm and worked out how many bricks and half-bricks I could fit into a row, and how by using slate I could make the small level adjustments I needed. I was also keen to use the remnants of paving we had leftover from our patio and the stone circle (and subsequently the patio extension and barbeque stand) so there was some continuity and of course, so we could finally use up what we had left!

It didn't take that long for them to fill. And clearly that's easy for me to say, as I was waiting for the rubble to be delivered rather than lugging it up the garden!

Throughout the afternoon there was much stepping back to admire and check progress. And if you tackle a project like this (or in fact any project) it's something I recommend. The level may be telling you it's level, but what does it look like? For a detail person like me, who annoyingly can often spot when things are millimetres from where I wanted them, it's the only way to go and be sure you're happy with it. 

That of course occasionally gets me into slight pickles, like the time when I wanted the stone circle moved by five centimetres, thankfully I'd spotted its location wasn't right before digging really started, so while the gardeners were a bit miffed to start with, once I'd shown them the difference it would make, they were totally on board, but it was touch and go for a moment.   And if you're wondering how I managed to show them something that didn't exist, well I didn't of course, but I did show them the view from our rear windows and how the circle was niggle-ling-ly (yes I know that's not a word) out of kilter for the eye.

And let's zoom back in for a moment, as once the gabion baskets are filled, they need closing and so the sewing with wire skill was called on again. It's pretty neat isn't it?

ALL MOH'S OWN WORK

Following advice from Katie Rushworth, from ITV's Love Your Garden, we laid a paving slab inside the basket, then closed the lid and added a paving slab on top. The reason for this is that if (or when there's movement inside the basket, the internal paving slab will help retain some the baskets stability. Clever huh?

Oops, it's time to stand back and admire our work again!

And this is with all of the baskets filled. We didn't have enough rubble and hardcore for all of the smaller baskets and ended up buying some London Stocks bricks to give it enough of a yellow feel for me. We also bought some thermal blocks (think breeze blocks that are easy to cut) for the inners. This made filling the final three seating baskets much quicker and gave us the knowledge that our seating blocks, will be pretty stable. 

So our gabion baskets are filled, and it's starting to take shape - what do you think?  There's still a bit to do and I hope to share the next installment much quicker than before, because it won't be long before we get to the pizza!

If you're keen to see more examples of how gabion baskets are used, then why not follow my board on Pinterest. It comes highly recommended as MOH also undertook research and sent me links to some of the things I'd pinned onto my board. He doesn't do social media, and couldn't work out why I found this amusing...  

But if gabion baskets can get him looking at Pinterest (albeit through Google searching) then it really is quite a powerful tool!