Mansion Tour

Stop 11: MASTER BEDROOM
This room was the master bedroom of Bessie and William McKee. Even though Marjorie lived at Blithewold for another 40 years after Bessie died, she left the room as it was when her mother occupied it. The furniture is embellished with marquetry, a process of inlaying different kinds of colored woods, or bone and shell, in fine veneer. Most of these pieces are 19th century Dutch, Italian, and French.
The wallpaper illustrates a Dutch theme and is original to the room. The paper strips were hand painted and then hung like regular wallpaper. Although the strips were hand painted off the premises, the painting was completed after the strips were installed in 1908. Unfortunately, the artist is unknown. The wallpaper was stabilized and conserved in 2008. The scene is of a Dutch village, with windmills and sailing boats.