Recreating The Bedroom At Hilltop Farm (The Beatrix Potter Way)

 I am tickled conch shell pink with excitement! Firstly that today is Beatrix Potter's Birthday, and secondly that I am bringing you this lovely idea of mine in which I am recreating Beatrix Potter's bedroom from Hilltop into my bedroom here at Carter's Cottage. 

My beloved gardener and I went to the tractor supply yesterday to pick up some staking wood, fertiliser chicken feed and mealworms. I was carrying on of my excitement about recreating Beatrix Potters bedroom here at Carters Cottage. All in a British accent I might add ( for me, it's great practise). I posed the question to Jeffrey why, if folks love Beatrix as much as I do, why haven't I ever heard of anyone else recreating her bedroom? His reply;" Perhaps they're not as bloody mad as you baby." Steady on!

Oh, back to the continued conversation Jeffrey gave me, as to why more people don't, is probably because most people aren't as obsessive as I am about the women that inspire me, (such as Beatrix Potter and Tasha Tudor). Which most assuredly I can understand.

(Errr...I know I've always been a bit bonkers. I believe Beatrix is getting quite a kick out of it. I can imagine her right now saying," Oh, how delicious Raquel!" I will do her proud, and I'm having a blast collecting all the individual pieces.

(Before I dive deep into this post, I wanted to share a small little snippet of fact with you. I think it's charming, so I thought I'd share it. So do you recall ever hearing about the lovely Annie Carter {Moore} that was Beatrix's governess, as well as the inspiration for the Peter rabbit letter she wrote to Annie's child Noel? I'm sure if you've ever read much into the history of how The Tale of Peter Rabbit came to be, you know of Annie. But I would wager not many folks know that Annies maiden name was Carter (like mine) before she married Mr Moore. Isn't that charming indeed! It made me wonder if somewhere down the line we are related. My family is from England, and I have several Annie Carters in my genealogy. It would be fascinating to uncover that missing piece of the puzzle.) 

The first aspect in recreating Beatrixs bedroom for me would most definitely have to be the William Morris Wallpaper in the Daisy pattern. There are several colours in the Daisy pattern, but the one Beatrix chose is green and rose. I measured my bedroom and sent an email to the wallpaper company with my dimensions. They happily gave me the correct amount of rolls that I'd need to wallpaper the entire room from the ceiling to chair railing. From the chair railing down to the baseboards, I will use paint in the bluish/green turquoise that I am custom blending myself. I will be attempting to make it as accurate as I can. But then again, I may go with a more greenish colour instead of so much turquoise hues. I'm not sure yet on the paint colour. We will see as I get further along in the project. Furthermore, I want it to be a little different because I want to add my special touch to it as well.)

I am having my father make me a mantel, which I will place at the bottom right from the footboard of the bed as well. It won't be a real fireplace. However, I'll make it seem real with a small gas one, decked out with a fireplace guard.

I found these charming Staffordshire Reproduction King Charles Spaniel Dog Pair Figurines reproductions which will sit on the mantel. I love that they are from Staffordshire, United Kingdom; the same place my dearly beloved Jeffrey hails, which I think is quite fitting!

Another element to bringing this room together will be the hand-embroidered canopy/tester, which will indeed take me some time. I'll spend my evenings creating a design myself. I don't think it'll be too difficult as I've been embroidering, cross-stitching and smocking since my teens. So this will be a fun sewing undertaking. I don't watch television so my evenings will be creating a custom pattern. I have a geometric embroidery pattern book, so I think I'll be able to use my imagination and create something quite similar.

I'm lucky in that my bedroom furniture is all antique and in the same stain colour as Beatrix's. They were my grandmothers, passed down to me, so those are presently in place. Beatrix used a quilt on her bed, and I will be using my grandmother's quilt for our bed covering. My dad is going to build and frame a tester/canopy around my existing antique bed. 

I have lace panels beneath in the ivory cameo rose pattern. Whereas Beatrix doesn't have lace curtains in her windows, I love lace, and therefore opted to have them. There are lace curtains in every window of the cottage, because I love them so much, and it's very southern ya know...) I don't have a window seat, nor an upstairs, so I wanted a delicate feature, and I think lace creates the statement of feminine plus elegance. For the panels, I chose a reddish-pink velvet from Ikea and then I will stitch an antique fringe pompom bobble trimming in silk, when they arrive, which won't be until late August, (because of the Corona Virus).

I'll layer my antique rugs accordingly, and I'm staying on the lookout for a similar duck print. It'll be a fun "duck" hunt to track one down that's similar. (Wink, wink)

Perhaps it was premature to share all the details with this Beatrix Potter Hilltop bedroom recreation because now you'll have to wait months before the reveal. However, it can be looked upon as an adventure, just as Beatrix so famously quoted (except that I don't mind staying home all my life...smile.)

"We cannot stay home all our lives, we must present ourselves to the world, and we must look upon it as an adventure." ~ Beatrix Potter

Have you ever wanted to recreate one of your heroes rooms before? I'd love to hear.

I surely hope you check back to keep up with the progress. I'm planning to make this a series called "The Beatrix Potter Way."

Now, as you know me by now quite well, it'll take a juncture, as I have many things on my plate, but I'm surely going to add this to my dream board of accomplishments.

Most affably yours til my next swim, Raquelxxx