retrostyleguy81's Profile

You can find a textile conservator in your area by going to www.conservation-us.org.

as a light source they should have used a lamp post rather than over head lighting.

Contact a professional paper conservator. You can find one in your area by going to www.conservation-us.org.

small, rectangular tiles - white ceramic, marble, or porcelain...hexagonal tiles for the floor?

I agree with the mushroom, red and white color palette, so just paint the room a light, earthy gray. Also, get drum shade for the floor lamp, keep the curtains, keep the artwork (just hang it all above the bed in such a way that they together form a rectangle or square silhouette, keep the bedding if you want (or get something in a deeper red-either in a solid or geometric pattern), get a different throw for the chair, change out the lamp on the dresser with a modern one (target or ikea), declutter the dresser top, find something to hang about the dresser-sunburst mirror, perhaps?). That should do it. If you didn't replace the bedding, I bet you could do this for under a hundred dollars.

You can also read a good guide here:

http://www.conservation-us.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=626

does anyone know the name of the chair on the left side of the picture? I've seen it before, but I don't know if it's famous or not.

I would never use bread to clean a painting.

Instead, read through our guide on Caring for Your Paintings:

http://www.conservation-us.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Page.ViewPage&PageID=632

There is also a link on the page on how to locate a paintings conservator near you.

I am religious, so it wouldn't bother me at all. The graveyard, while unusual, would just be a tangible reminder of the communion of saints that have lived there before me.

ok...cluttered decor aside (though the bedroom is nice as is the kitchen), as a resident of the District of Columbia, my only comment is that it really irks me when a person says that someone moved to DC when what they really did was move to Arlington or Hyattsville or, g-d forbid, Fairfax. What they can say is that they moved to the DC Area, Metro DC, or maybe the Washington, DC area. However, the District of Columbia is a distinct, separate jurisdiction within the United States of America. People who move to Rossyln pay income taxes to the federal government and to the commonwealth of Virginia and get two voting senators and eleven voting representatives to the House, plus a governor and state legislature. Residents of the District of Columbia pay federal income tax and a "state" income tax and get a mayor, a council with congressional oversight, and a non-voting delegate to the House...like Guam and Puerto Rico, though they are exempted from US federal income taxes.