[Random] The Victorian Clutter

August has been an eventful month so far, with my parents coming into town from South Korea for my dad's business trip. During our stay at my aunt's place in Hazleton, PA, our family stopped by Jim Thorpe, a town dedicated to an athlete of the same name. The small town was a pure delight - petite streets with hidden gems of vintage & antique shops in the midst of beautiful mountains, not to mention the Victorian architecture. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera with me, and I was not faithful in taking pictures with my iPhone. However, I did take a picture of this beautiful, Victorian porch. 

For me, the Victorian & Edwardian eras, La Belle Époque, and the Gilded Age are my fantasies. I love everything about Victorian architecture: 

 the fashion of the Edwardians:

the social excitement of La Belle Époque, and the coexistence of the old & new in every aspects during the Gilded Age: 

After an amazing experience touring the mansions along Bellevue Avenue in New Port, RI, I decided I wanted to "Victorianize" my rather modern-looking room filled with Ikea furniture. Of course, little by little. I decided to start out with my dresser. 

I purchased a three-part, foldable mirror from a vintage shop at Jim Thorpe for $20, and I am loving this new addition. 

I decided to try out the "Victorian clutter" with random decorations. 

"Alice in Wonderland"-themed decorations I made for an exhibition back in June. The cakes are, believe it or not, erasers. I filled up a small corked bottle with some random beads lying around in my crafts drawers for the drink. I love how the burned edges of the signs worked out!

I filled some empty jars (from Blick Art Store) with pearl beads that had to be stored somewhere. I stuck in some left over pastel-colored feathers from the afore-mentioned exhibition as a touch of color. 

I had some pearl beads laid out on the lid while I was making crochet bracelets and was too lazy to put them back in the jar... My air-dried roses were starting to fall apart, so I stuck in a petal for fun.

This is a handmade, lemongrass soap that I also purchased at a store at Jim Thorpe - smells pretty awesome! It turned out that this tin box from Ikea made a perfect storage box. 

Some rose-scented candles that I purchased at Ikea (don't we all LOVE that place). 

I also decided to place my tatted doily (my first!) amongst the "clutter" - the washed-out mint color goes perfectly with the antique, vintage look. 

Of course, the attempted "Victorian clutter" goes nowhere near the original, authentic clutter of the times. It also doesn't help that the items aren't antique and Ikea furnitures are too modern, but I hope that little by little, I will recreate my own Victorian-inspired room. I think lace curtains over my blinds would be a possible next step. And so my Victorian obsession goes on!