Home decorating for the modern medievalist.

This is the long wall of our living room, which we have designated as "the Medieval Room." Some of its features include the non-functional and/or replica weapons, the pewter containers, and the hanging tapestry. This tapestry is a hand-painted canvas Roman shade, and the artwork thereon is from the Bayeaux Tapestry. The picture below shows the practical purpose behind this decorative tapestry.

Here you see the tapestry retracted. It folds many times along its length due to the Roman-style shade construction, revealing our entertainment center. In this way the modern conveniences remain hidden when not needed. By sheer luck, the remote control can penetrate the shade to reach the stereo receiver, because there is no paint in front of the receiver when the shade is down. Thus, we can play CDs or the radio when the shade is in the down position. The speakers for this particular system are Bose AM-5 speakers, and are hidden where the shade hides them even when retracted.

We have attempted to hide and/or modify the appearance of all the modern things in our "Medieval Room" as time and funds permit. For example, the lamps are brass with simple parchment-appearing shades for now; later we plan to replace them with ironwork torch-type wall sconces. Below is one of our more interesting innovations:

This is a painting of us in "generic medieval" 13th-century garb. We had a professional photo shoot and then gave an 8x10 glossy photo to an artist who painted the picture. When time permits we'll do the same in our Norse garb now that we've selected Norse personas. The photo below reveals the practical purpose that this particular painting serves.

Here you see the painting opens on a hinge to reveal the thermostat (it's not crooked, the photo was crooked in the scanner). The frame of 1x2s behind the painting creates the space for the thermostat, and a simple piano hinge and magnetic catch make the painting into a door to access it. The trick here is drilling holes in the frame for ventilation, or the thermostat can't sense the room temperature properly. We found it easiest to build the frame, attach it to the wall, attach the hinges to the painting, and finally attach the painting to the frame.

We have the rest of the room decorated with framed scrolls, animal skins, and other good Medieval stuff.

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