Huyze Herkert, morning room: the floor and the fireplace
Victorians installed wall-to-wall carpeting in almost all their rooms. What a filthy affair that must have been! Burning coal fireplaces, streets full of dirt and ash, … and no vacuum cleaner! Eastlake thought this was an objectionable fashion. He recommended a parquetry border projecting two or three feet from the wall all around with a carpet in between. Here are some examples he gives: Exquisite! But far too difficult for a first attempt at making a parquet floor in miniature. At 23.8 by 26.9 cm my morning room is a small space, so I went for something much simpler: an oak veneer strip floor with a border consisting of two narrow walnut veneer strips. I kept the pattern in the middle section simple as I'm stitching a rug that will cover this part almost completely. I started by making a template from 1mm thick MDF and cut strips from 15mm wide oak edge banding that I ironed on the MDF. The border is cut from a sheet of walnut veneer and glued on. Each walnut strip is 2...