Jane Austen Tour of Gore Place

As part of the bachelorette party where we made that paper flower bouquet (and yes, I have a tutorial on making the flowers coming your way later this week), we took a Jane Austen tour of Gore Place.  Gore Place is an historic home in Waltham, MA.  As the tour guide (who dressed in period costume) confessed, the link to Jane Austen is tenuous at best, but it's there:  The home is from the same time period that Austen was living and was constructed in the European style rather than the American style.  

As you know, my friend Riv is a Janiac and she dressed for a day in Jane Austen world.  You will see that she seems to fit right into the Gore home!  (As a side note, if you're interested in period clothes, I know that she has good luck ordering from dressmakers on etsy who will custom cut a gown for you!)

We started in the carriage house:

I loved seeing all of the carriages.  Having read a lot of Jane Austen myself, I always wondered about those "phaetons" -- it turns out that they were the sports cars of that world.  Two people sitting in one of them would be quite cozy.  Very scandalous!

Next, we walked around the exterior of the home.

The exterior of the house is extremely symmetrical, but the interior of the house is not.  As it turns out, much of the house was designed to fool the eye.

Speaking of fooling the eye...

...those stairs aren't marble.  They're wood painted to look like marble!

Riv & I both geeked out about this lovely little surprise:

Calling cards from Pride & Prejudice characters!

The wallpaper in the Gore home was spectacular!  I would wear a dress with this peacock pattern!

Riv fits right in, doesn't she?

I liked seeing all the art in the home -- not just on the walls, but the exquisite hand made furniture.

The wallpaper in this chimney was quite interesting.

One of the things that I love about old houses is how decorative even the most simple things are -- like these heating grates.  Wouldn't that make a great stencil or stamp?!

Not all the wallpaper was to my taste....

Now, this wallpaper I'll take.  And the Chinese dressing gown! (Although, it's meant for a man.)

I'm seriously inspired by all the colors in this beautiful floral wallpaper.  I love that it even has little birds in it!

Um...I realize that I'm starting to sound a little bit wallpaper obsessed, but OMG!  The wallpaper!  

Look at that gorgeous carving and that beautiful quilt!  So exquisite!

And how about the beautiful dressing table below and the butterfly purse on it!

This is the master bedroom:

This was considered a very fancy commode.....

This is the private parlor for the lady of the house:

Above you can see a lady's sewing box.

Below, the servant's stairs and the second photo down shows the ingenious heated drying rack system:

All in all a great day, which we capped off with afternoon tea at the Langham Hotel in Boston.

A perfectly perfect Jane Austen inspired day!

Thanks for stopping by!