Sunday 24 February 2013

Interior Decorating for an Edwardian Dolls House - Part 1

Art Nouveau inspired carpet and cushion for a dolls house
Dull Green for an Edwardian Dolls House Dining Room

If you are wanting an authentic-looking interior for your Edwardian dolls house, you may be interested in finding out more about the colours and styles used for decorating in that era (1901-1910). Several factors influenced the choice of  interiors. 
  • Advances in painting and printing technologies in the early 20th century meant new colours and wallpaper patterns were developed and used.
  • Decorating styles such as Art Nouveau and designers like Charles Rennie Mackintosh each favoured different interior colour schemes.
  • With the new interest and theories in healthy living, sunlight and fresh air, the darker colours of the Victorians were replaced with lighter tones for paintwork and wallpapers.
  • The increased use of electric light in homes meant the discolouration of walls and woodwork by old gas lamps no longer influenced decorating colours.
  Art Nouveau used these colours for interiors: lilac, violet, a pale deep pink, pale blue, sage green, mustard and olive green. Wallpapers and tiles featured flowing lines, the 'whiplash' motif and stylised foliage and flower patterns. 
  Charles Rennie Mackintosh was a Scottish architect and designer. His rooms were light and minimalist with white walls, ceiling and carpets. Touches of pale pink and soft grey showed in decorative details such as the 'Glasgow rose' design on walls and furniture. You can now buy dolls house furniture in this style in 1:12 scale.
  I love doing all the research to make my dolls houses seem as real as possible. So in my next blog post I'll give a room-by-room guide to the colours used in Edwardian times.That may inspire you!
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4 comments:

  1. Linda24 February 2013 at 18:44

    I love this idea! Thank you for the excellent info and I look forward to reading more!

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  2. Wendy Craig24 February 2013 at 20:04

    Thanks, Linda. I get almost as much pleasure out of doing the historical research as I do out of making the minis!

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  3. Lucille6 March 2013 at 10:59

    Hi Wendy! Sorry to be late to the party. Thank you so much for this information. I knew nothing of all this. It's very interesting. Recently, I built an Edwardian single bed from a tutorial from Jane Harrop found in her book Edwardian Era. I must say it was a rather difficult and fiddly build but I enjoyed the challenge. It's just that I am not an experienced miniaturist. This is all fairly new to me and I have so many things to learn, especially when it comes to patina when painting furniture. I see so many beautiful finishes on dollhouse blogs and I must try to learn how to do this. I guess it's only from doing that I will learn. I don't go out at night. It's too dangerous. I don't drive. Otherwise, I could take classes. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your Edwardian articles.

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    1. Wendy Craig6 March 2013 at 13:47

      I love the Edwardian era, Lucille. Such elegant clothes and new ideas and technologies.It sounds as if you are doing really well making minis. And you're right - it's a case of practising & the more you do, the easier it becomes.

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