Gentlemen's Smoking Room/Den
As you pass the half-bath there is a doorway into the Smoking Room. During the Edwardian age, the ladies gathered in the living room and the gentlemen gathered in the den for their after-dinner cigars.
As with the other two fireplaces in the house, George had the one here converted to gas logs. All the woodwork, the fireplace, including the hearth and the brass and hammered copper cover, was painted baby blue. It was an incredible job to strip the paint and took about 10 full days. The metal cover had to be removed and taken to an automobile bumper repair shop to be professionally dipped to remove numerous coats of paint.
The floors had to be sanded and refinished. The woodwork (including the ceiling molding, door molding and window frame) had to be refinished. Five layers of wallpaper had to be removed. The cracked plaster had to be removed and the walls replastered. This is the room that had a doorway to the parlor so the 3/4 wall woodwork required replacing.
The mural wallpaper applied to the upper portion of the room is from France, and leather wallpaper was installed between the wood panels. Wiring had to be installed for the sconces for lighting. A ceiling fixture provides additional lighting. The fixtures are on dimmer switches to adjust the lighting in this room.
The door that originally went into the Parlor opened in such a way that it prevented you from access into the west addition swinging into the room and flush across the addition doorway. George removed the doorway to the parlor flushing this wall between the rooms. He widened the entrance doorway to the family room (which kept it from looking like an add-on from the interior and thus, incorporating the room into part of the structure of the house).
View from the Family Room.
View from the Family Room.
Flush wall that once held doorway.
Amber bulbs in the four sconces provide a warm ambience to this room.
Ceiling fresco.
Ceiling fixture is on a dimmer switch.
Tiarabella's Family Room
This is the main gathering room of the house! Put our feet up on the coffee table, watch television or view the joggers running by ... or all three at once!