Historic Home Tour: An 1880 Victorian Mansion, Beautiful & Bright

I subscribe to several "old house" websites featuring information about historic homes available for purchase.  Though I doubt I'll ever own an historic home, I do love to tour them pretty much every chance I get.  I drool over their large windows, deep moldings, high ceilings and rich history.  If there's a ghost story attached, it's all the better.

But this post isn't about ghosts, instead it's a tour of a beautiful historic home, an 1880 "Victorian Mansion" located in Madison, Florida.  The listing states, "Located in the historic section of the City of Madison is the Victorian Mansion that was built in the 1880s for Major William H. Dial. The home is one of the finest examples of the Italianate style in north Florida."

The listing also states, "The home features bay windows, a roof cupola, and an unusual bow porch on the main facade. It is lavishly decorate with bracketed cornices, window pediments, and other distinctive late 19th century mill work. The house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.  The historic home has 4 bedrooms with their own private bathroom, a library, parlor, dining room, kitchen, and enclosed porch for a total of 3773 square feet."

Let's take the tour!  (All photos are from OldHousesdotcom)

Beautiful, large entry with a wonderful chandelier.  Look how deep the baseboards are.  Wonder if it's still called a baseboard when the molding is this deep.  When I go on historic home tours, I sometimes almost miss the furnishings from oohing and ahhing over the heavy moldings and architecture of the room.

Not sure if this is the parlor or the library.  Love window seats in bay windows.  What a gorgeous mirror!  Notice all the plantation shutters throughout the home...my favorite window treatment in the world.  I love them layered with draperies...not heavy draperies...gotta have lots of light.  But I do love the look of the plantation shutters, both from the inside of the home and from the outside/curbside.
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Brumby Hall: Tour the Upstairs of This Historic Home

In early December I had the opportunity to tour Brumby Hall while on a Christmas Historic Home Tour in Marietta, Georgia. One of the homes open during the tour was Brumby Hall. I previously shared a tour of the downstairs of this beautiful home HERE and a tour of the two dining rooms HERE.

In case you missed those previous tours, here's a brief history of this historic home.

In the previous posts, we toured the downstairs; today, we're heading upstairs.

I've always wanted to put a runner up my main staircase with the brass rods like you see here.  I wouldn't mind exposing a bit more tread on either side, though.  Love this look on a stairway.

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Beautiful, Historic Brumby Hall: Take the Tour

This week between Christmas and New Years is such a special time.  In a way, it feels like time is standing still.  For some, life may have returned to normal with normal working hours and schedules.  But if your household is anything like mine, you're still reveling in all things Christmas with New Year's Eve/Day waiting in the wings.  My family is still here visiting and the memories we're making are memories I will cherish always.  I hope you're making wonderful memories this week, too.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to tour Brumby Hall, a "house museum" included in The Marietta Pilgrimage, a Christmas Historic Home Tour.  Brumby Hall has a rich history and it's a delight to tour since it has been restored and furnished beautifully.

This brief history of Brumby Hall was included in the booklet we were given during the tour.

Hope you enjoy this "pictorial" tour of Brumby Hall.  If you ever have an opportunity to tour it in person, you'll definitely want to do so.  Pictures just don't do it justice.

The Entrance:

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Tour the Beautiful, Historic Whitlock Inn

Recently, a friend and I went on a Christmas historic home tour in Marietta, Georgia.  Included in the tour was the beautiful Whitlock Inn.  This Victorian home was built in 1900.  A brief history found online states, "One hundred and ten years ago, the M.G. Whitlock House, the famous 150 room Marietta resort, burned to the ground. Before the Civil War, it was a popular showplace for tourists taking the train from the hot coastal towns, like Savannah, to the cooler foothills of Georgia. The resort occupied nearly the whole block of Whitlock Avenue where now stands The Whitlock Inn, a private residence and the Trust Company Bank."

"In 1900, part of the land was purchased by Herbert C. Dobbs and his wife Annie. Here is where they built this Victorian Mansion, home for their family of eight. In 1910, the home was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Kemper Smith, who, after several years of residence sold the home to the Dosser family. The much loved Dossers were active in the First Methodist Church, which is now located directly across Whitlock Avenue. Mrs. Dosser is remembered as a favorite piano teacher and the giver of elaborately decorated Christmas parties."  (Brief history found here.)

Today the home is a Bed and Breakfast owned by Nancy and Sandy Edwards who graciously open it to the public for tours.  Come along and take a peek inside this beautiful old home.  (The following pictures were taken by me the day of the home tour, except for the photo of the dining room and back yard, which I found online at the Whitlock Inn site.)

The parlor:  Love the fireplace and the gorgeous wallpaper!

Dining Room:

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Christmas Historic Home Tour in Marietta, Georgia

Last Saturday I went on a Christmas (historic) home tour in Marietta, Georgia with a friend.  We had so much fun! The weather was great...not too cold, just cloudy.  I took a lot of exterior pics and was able to capture bunches of pics inside two beautiful homes included in the tour. I'll share the interior shots soon, but for now, here are the sights we saw along the way.

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Paula Deen "Street of Dreams" Home Tour

Recently my friend Terry took a Street of Dream's home tour. Have you ever been on one of those tours before? They used to have them in my area frequently, not sure if they still do. I've been on a few and they are a great way to get ideas for your own home.  That's how I found the wallpaper for my son's bath many years ago.

This home has the most amazing outdoor room and wait until you see the dog wash! I'm not sure why there's a urinal near the dog wash--at least, I think that's what it is.

How do you like the TV above the fireplace?  I guess they make outdoor TVs that can take the humidity and cold.

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Decorating with Wreaths Inside Your Home

Although Thanksgiving is still two weeks away, I'm already thinking about Christmas.  I have even started decorating a little inside.  I want to start early this year so I can really enjoy the holiday season in full.  There have just been too many years in the past where I felt I had just put the decorations up when it was time to take them back down.

One  of my favorite things to decorate inside with at Christmastime are wreaths.  We all know wreaths look wonderful hanging on doors but there are so many more fabulous places to hang a beautiful wreath inside your home.

Wreaths are gorgeous hanging in front of a window.  Give the chief dishwasher a lovely view with a beautiful wreath.  I love the little one hanging off the edge of the island.

Traditional Home

Here's another great example using a square wreath inside, again in a window...

Traditional Home

I took this photo while on a home tour and I love how she not only hung a wreath in the window, but she completely encircled the window with garland, too.  You can take this home tour, HERE.

On this same home tour we saw this wonderful bedroom, again with a lovely wreath hanging from a window.  Isn't this room just beautiful?  You'll find more of this home tour, HERE.

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Tour The Library, Drawing Room and Gardens of the Mount, Home of Edith Wharton

For last week's Tablescape Thursday, I posted some photos Mandy took recently after she toured The Mount, the beautiful home of American novelist, Edith Wharton.  If you missed that post, you'll want to check it out.  The tablescape we viewed was created by Bunny Williams, one of my favorite designers and author of An Affair with a House.

If you aren't familiar with Edith Wharton, here's a bit of info about her from the website for The Mount:

"Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born into "Old New York," a tightly controlled society that positively discouraged women from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage. Author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture and gardens. Essentially self-educated, she was the first woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (1921); an honorary Doctorate from Yale University (1923); and full membership in the Academy of Arts and Letters (1930). In addition to being a prodigious author, she was a master house builder and gardener."

Mrs. Wharton built her home based on the designs and ideas she outlined in The Decoration of Houses, a book she co-authored with Ogden Codman, Jr. in 1897.

Mandy also shared photos of some of the other rooms she toured while visiting The Mount.  Mandy said, "We also came across the drawing room that was decorated by Charlotte Moss."

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Savannah Georgia: A Home Tour

When I visited Savannah earlier in the Spring, I was with a friend who loves gawking at beautiful homes as much as I do.  We pulled onto a side street and despite the humid, hot temps, we hopped out of our air conditioned car and strolled a few blocks admiring the beautiful old homes.  Now, that's house love!

One of the first things we came across was this wonderful gate.   I'm loving those pineapple finials.

A pretty home with beautiful window boxes...

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Home Tour: Historic Home Built in 1850

Before I discovered blogs, one of my favorite guilty pleasures was visiting real estate sites with listings of beautiful historic homes for sale.  Nothing like taking a wonderful home tour while sitting in the comfort of your own home.  A great site that showcases historic homes is OldHousesdotcom. Recently, I followed a link on their site and it led me to this beautiful home in Palmetto, Georgia.

This home sits on 16.73 acres and the interior appears to be professionally decorated with the furnishings valued at $500,000.  So let's take a tour! :)
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You're a Grand Old Flag...Touring Main Street America!

In celebration of Independence Day, I thought we would take little tour of "Main Street America." These beautiful, historic homes all have one thing in common...they are all flying the colors! I love seeing an American flag blowing in the breeze from a wonderful old porch.



These homes are from various places in the southeast. Some are in Greenwood and Columbia, South Carolina and Asheville, NC but most are in Marietta, Rome and Roswell, Georgia. I've also added a few from a recent trip to Savannah and the Isle of Hope. See if you can spot the flags and/or patriotic bunting in each picture. Some are a little tricky to see, but they are there. Hope you enjoy the tour!

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A Fairytale Cottage in Carmel

Carmel, California is known for having some of the cutest "fairytale" cottages you've ever seen. Since I love a storybook home, I was excited to discover one of them is currently for sale AND there are photos online showing the interior of this adorable home.

This cottage is listed with Carmel Realty Company.

It's named Short Stop...even the name is cute! :) The real estate listing says it features an ocean view and is "just a stroll to Carmel Beach and the shops and restaurants of downtown Carmel."

Let's take a little peak inside. It has that beachy vibe with bright, fun colors throughout. The walls appear to be trimmed out in the board and batten style, so popular today.
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Isle of Hope Home Tour, Part I

Wormsloe, featuring the unbelievably beautiful mile-long avenue of Live Oaks that I posted about HERE, is located along the Skidaway River. Just down the road is a beautiful community called Isle of Hope. According to Wikipedia, "Early maps refer to Isle of Hope in French as L'Isle Desperance (modern French: L'Île d'Espérance). Legends abound of pirates using the island to hide their treasure, and generations of children have gone digging hoping to find it.. Legend also says that French Huguenots used the island as a place of refuge for fleeing persecution."

After our visit to Wormsloe, we went exploring and happened upon this marina along the Skidaway River.





Just outside the entrance to the marina, a street ran along the edge of the marina and the river. It was lined with homes that had us oohing and ahhing. There were too many wonderful homes to share in one post so I'll share the rest in a second post tomorrow morning. As wonderful as these are, the homes in the second post turned out to be my favorites, so you'll definitely want to see Part II of this Isle of Hope home tour. Some were so picturesque, I would even call them "storybook homes." Don't you love that name, Isle of Hope?!





Several of the homes on this street appeared to have their ceilings painted "haint blue." Folklore has it, painting your porch ceiling blue will keep evil spirits away from your home. Back in the day, folks also thought it would deter bugs/flies from hanging around on the porch since they would think the ceiling was the sky and wouldn't land. :) I just love how it looks.





See the doggie on the front porch? We saw so many cute dogs on this street. :)



There's another doggie on this front porch...do you see him?



This home is for sale. You can view the real estate listing HERE.







Love this raised cottage.



I wonder if this home used to have a double porch and they closed in the lower section. I never like to see them closed in.



This home has a big screened-in porch. Normally, I prefer to see screened-in porches on the back of the home; but the view of the marina and Skidaway River across the road makes having the screened-in porch on the front a great idea.

Stop back by tomorrow morning for Part II of this Isle of Hope home tour. Some of my favorite homes were toward the end of the street and you are going to have a fit when you see them!



Update: You'll find the second part of this Isle of Hope tour here: Isle of Hope Home Tour

Tour an Historic Home Furnished with Gorgeous Antiques

While we continue enjoying all the great links for yesterday's Met Monday, I thought I'd take you inside of the beautiful historic home where my garden club meets each month. But first, a little update on two small changes I made recently at BNOTP.

Something New: Picture Links on Sidebar
I just added picture links on the sidebar this week. They will take you to the same place the category headers across the top take you. They are just a "visible" reference...another way to find those previous posts.

New Category: Favorite Posts
I've added a brand new category called "Favorite Posts." The Favorite Posts category is a great place to access posts that were favorite reads with BNOTP readers but don't readily fit into one of the previous categories. :) I'll be adding more post links to this category this week. I hope the categories make it much easier to find those older posts.

If you've never checked out the categories across the top of the blog or the newly added ones on the sidebar, hope you'll try them out. If you're looking for a particular post and don't see it, just drop me an e-mail at betweennapsontheporchatgmail.com and I'll track it down for you and send you the link.

Now....on to our home tour!

Each month my garden club meets in this wonderful, two-story Victorian home. It majestically sits on over 3 acres of land, surrounded by beautiful gardens. The home was built in 1850 and was constructed with hand-made square nails and wooden pegs!




What's say we go in and take a little tour. I love the paint color here in the entry. This home is furnished with some gorgeous antiques.




I took these photos on two different evenings, so that's why some of the pics of the living room were taking during the day and some were taken at night. Actually, I'm kind of glad I did that because the walls really look different depending on if it's daytime or nighttime. Here's the nighttime view.




And a daytime view...




How do you like the corner cabinet?




Here's a little close-up...







Note the beautiful cabinet with storage for china. I wonder if that piece has a drop-down desk? It looks like it does.




A closer look...




This room also has a wonderful tall case clock.




Here's the other end of the room. I love the arched doorways, heavy moldings and tall ceilings. ~~~SIGH~~~




Even the bathroom is beautifully decorated.




Not sure if this room is considered the library, music room or the parlor. I wonder if the colors they painted the rooms are historic colors. I love the beautiful blue color of the walls in this bright, sunny room. Great mirror, too.




A beautiful piano...







The dining room is painted a rather bold color...kind of a deep coral.




Fabulous sideboard and mirror...







Another amazing tall case clock. I love all the inlay on this piece.




Isn't the chandelier pretty reflected in the mirror? :)




Here's a better view of that great chandelier.




Hope you enjoyed the tour of this wonderful, old home. If you'd like to tour more lovely historic homes, click HERE. Or, just click on the "Historic Home Tours" picture link on the sidebar.