I Can Haz Gorgeous Parlor

parlor [pahr-ler] noun – a room for the reception and entertainment of visitors to one’s home; living room. “I shall retire to the gorgeous parlor with a cocktail this evening.”

Now, I am absolutely sure by now that you are sitting on the edge of your chair questioning why the hell am I using the term parlor instead of living room like the rest of America. Simple… Neither I nor the house are like the rest of America. Given that the colloquial term “living room” did not exist at the time our house was constructed in 1852, it seems only fitting that I should use the term that applied to the room when it was built. That said, I will be the first to admit that I fail my own obtuse obsession for the term parlor and instead call it our living room. But I digress…

 

OK, lets move on….

A couple of weeks back I wrote about getting back into the swing of things and finally moving forward on projects for the house. Part of this plan included finally setting up the parlor as an actual living space (albeit unfinished), getting some art on the walls, and trying out furniture placement. You can see by the photos that I did manage to get things set up in the parlor and for the past few weeks we have been very much enjoying the space as a functional room.

Then last week I wrote about halving the half bath in preparation for our future master bath above, all of which will be our big project for 2019. But before we dive in head first into the half bath/master bath renovation, I thought, maybe we should delay the bath renovation a few weeks and focus on the parlor, like actually painting walls and stuff. So that is just what we are going to do… But like so many other projects, it will not be totally finished, but further along than it was.

 

The first step in making our parlor gorgeous is going to be the medallion. If you remember, I was on the hunt for the perfect medallion last spring. I wrote in a two part series, first about my arduous search for the perfect medallion and coming up short. Followed up by my experiencing a medallion miracle when I came across an authentic 1870s plaster medallion taken from a local house slated for demolition that had been sitting in the basement of a local antique shop for 20+ years.

Getting the medallion up will involve making a huge f’ing mess because I have to tarp off the center area of the living room and cut a giant oval hole into the plaster ceiling. Rest assured, there will be a blog post about the process, as I think it will turn out to be quite an adventure. I will also be revealing what will likely be a controversial shift in my plans for the medallion.

 

The next step will be preparing to install track lighting… Yes, you read that correctly, we are going to install track lighting in the parlor for the sole purpose of lighting the art. I know what you are thinking, Track lighting? Really? Stick with me… It is a well known fact that as a gay man, it is my duty to have track lighting. At least according to Olympia Dukakis, although I must admit I do not know many Marks, Ricks, or Steves. Seriously, I know it seems like an anomaly, but I will make it look fantastic, and I believe it is the right solution for our house. I will get into the nitty gritty of the whys and hows when we get to that point.

 

With the medallion in place, and the track lighting installed, it will be time to begin painting. Because the room is large, and because there is no space to move all of the furniture to, I will be moving everything from one side to the other to accomplish the painting, starting with the center of the room around the medallion. As for what color? Well, you know it is going to be dark, and last year I expressed my interest in painting the room Narragansett Green by Benjamin Moore. Well, that plan has certainly changed. We will not be painting the room Narragansett Green and I will wait to reveal the final color choice as we get closer to opening a can of paint.

 

Once the painting is done, I will finally be able to completely unpack everything (books, tchotchke’s, and the rest of the art), and turn our parlor into a warm and inviting space. I will still need to restore and resize the stunning crystal chandelier we acquired last spring.  I have kept it under wraps for the most part (only showing its outline in a post and a quick instagram story on it), but like many of the other items in this post, I will do an entire write up when I get started working on it. Oh, and then there is the amazing brass fireplace surround which I haven’t gone into much detail about (you can see it in the parlor pics I posted a couple of weeks ago). Of course that too will be a project which will be posted about when we get there. For the time being, the chandelier and fireplace surround  can wait, and I can move on to our big projects for 2019. Assuming the world doesn’t slip into financial chaos before then. But again, I digress…

So… I can indeed haz gorgeous parlor!

Next up, back to the half bath and the as yet to happen (but certain to happen) misadventures of replacing a toilet. Not as glamorous as decorating a parlor, but sure to be interesting nonetheless.