Old is new again

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Apr 20, 2002 by Lisa Sandmeyer Capital-Journal

Right and bottom: Topiaries flank a bookcase filled with accessories, from ceramic pots to metal figurines.

Below: The drapes in the bay window frame the house's most prominent view, to the southeast.

Left: The rug and painting were selected for the way their colors bring all the shades in the room together. The color scheme also plays into the adjacent den, with its walls of rich red.

Below, left: A plate rack on the wall echoes the theme in the room's other accessories with its scrollwork.

Below, right: A round candle was the choice for a room with many circular accessories.

Designers take showhouse back to its Victorian roots

By Lisa Sandmeyer

Photographs by Philip Carlson

The Capital-Journal

The home at 333 S.W. Greenwood has come full circle.

The Victorian landmark changed hands many times in its 117 years, and for a time was even partitioned off into apartments.

Today, it opens its doors on its past as the ERC Designers' Showhouse, restored to its period look in nearly every room.

Discovery Furniture and Window Wear Design Center teamed up to dress the front parlor, the room visitors today --- and 100 years ago --- were first greeted.

"Our first thought was to carry on the Victorian theme," said Joyce Winter, an owner at Discovery Furniture.

The furnishings grew from a sofa, a deep red boucle with heavy fringe trim, that was on Discovery's showroom floor.

"We just fell in love with the sofa," said Maia Ruby-Clemmons, a designer for the store.

The bay window caught the attention of Penny Carter at Window Wear Design. Its circular shape is echoed is many of the furnishings, including the draperies.

The drapes are a cinnamon hue, with swooping, silky swags pinned with rosettes. The bottoms puddle on the floor.

"It's a nice, elegant look," Carter said.

The fabric is polyester, which Carter said not only holds color better than natural fabrics, it drapes better and is easier to clean.

The chairs in the bay window, with round picture frame backs, are from manufacturer FlexSteel.

The etagere, by Pulaksi, is a combination of materials --- leather, iron and wood --- with rounding scrollwork.

The coffee table has a round, glass top on a stand with curving legs.

The sofa has rounded arms and a curved seat. Scrolled molding atop the bookcase adds curves to an otherwise straight piece.

Gold trim on the bookcase adds another design dimension and complements the gilded wooden frames on the rooms paintings.

"Mixes of materials and faux finishes were very popular back then," Ruby-Clemmons said.

Winter likes the bookcase's size.

"It gave us a chance to have fun with accessories," she said. In addition to books, the shelves hold ceramic pots with small plants, colorful plates and figurines.

Topiaries --- with balls of greenery on top --- flank the bookcase. At the top of each is a metal filial that Winter said reminded her of a Victorian-era fence top.

To bring the colors of the room together, Winter and Ruby- Clemmons chose a floral scene for the sofa painting and a floral patterned rug, both with the reds, greens and golds found elsewhere in the parlor.

Not all of the plants visitors will see in the parlor will be alive, but Winter has a scented spray made for permanent botanicals that may fool the nose, if the plants don't fool the eye.

The grandfather clock in the corner closest to the front door wasn't Winter's first choice.

"On my drawing board, the corner was larger," she said. The clock offered more than the right size, though.

"The clock looks as though it was hand-painted for this room," Ruby-Clemmons said.

On the parlor ceiling, the anaglypta mirrors the lincrusta wall treatments in the home's foyer and up the staircase. Anaglypta is a heavy, embossed paper that can be painted, Carter said.

The paper's seams are nearly invisible. After the first coat of paint was applied, the seams were coated twice, Carter said, then another full coat of paint was applied.

Adding interest to the walls are picture frame molding, medallions and a chair rail.

"This year is so much fun because of the Victorian style of the house," Carter said. "It's always nice to work with a little more space up and down."

"You can put a lot into a Victorian room," she noted. How much depended on how much money the homeowner had in his pocket.

In the late 1800s, furniture makers were beginning to mass produce, which made better pieces available to the middle classes, Winter said.

New again: Parlor first step back in time

See NEW AGAIN, page 17

Designers

See the designers involved and descriptions of each room in the ERC Designers' Showhouse.

- page 18