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Entertaining in the parlour may seem like a thing of the past. Up until the 1960s, entertaining guests with cocktail parties and lunches in the parlour was fashionable. Nowadays, parlours have been transformed into living rooms, toy rooms, or TV rooms. Having a space without electronics where you can entertain is starting to be in vogue once more. If you have the room, here is how you can create the perfect parlour in your home.
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Get a Fireplace
In case the room doesn’t already have one, check the cost of installing a real, wood-burning fireplace. If you don’t have the proper wall for one, a gas-powered or electric-powered fireplace is a nice touch to the room. It makes the room seem more classic, warmer, and it’s a centrepiece in the room for you to organize your furniture around and create a space for conversation and sitting.
Purchase a Few Antiques
To give the parlour that classic feel of early 20th-century glamour, buy antique ceramics of vases or wooden, upholstered chairs and matching tables. When a guest comes into your parlour they will be immediately drawn back to a different time making the visit more enjoyable. Adding classic glassware like coupe glasses to the ambience is also a nice touch.
Place a bar cart in the room where you can make cocktails for people as they can sit in your luxuriously decorated room. Everyone will feel very posh and start acting accordingly.
Take Up Any Carpeting
A parlour always looks better with hardwood floors. Parlours are traditionally right by the entrance to the home, so guests won’t have to worry about taking their shoes off by walking through your house or walking on carpeting. Guests can enter right away and enjoy themselves.
Hardwood floors are very easy to clean and maintain, whereas carpeting can collect dust and germs. A waxed and very shiny hardwood floor will reflect the light illuminating the room, and they go very well with any kind of decor or furniture. Feel free to purchase throw rugs that you can place under furniture to protect the floor and accent the entire room.
Install Crown Moulding
Crown moulding is quintessential 19th century, and it is always impressive. Putting moulding around the tops of the walls, around light fixtures, and around doorways will make your room look amazing and will be a great conversation piece for visitors.
Frame moulding around the centre of walls also adds a nice pop to the room that can be painted white while the rest of the wall is painted another colour or wallpapered. Add some tiffany lamps, plumes of flowers or tall foliage in the corners and the room will be outlined perfectly.
By making a few of these adjustments to the parlour room of your home, you will be entertaining guests in no time. Having a place without any electronics makes it a great room to play games, read, or meditate. Every home needs that one room that is a retreat.
