Spring Trip to Biltmore, Part 2

Hello everyone -- I'm bringing you more pictures from Biltmore House today.  If you missed the first post, you can find it Here.  When writing a blog, we're not always sure which posts our readers will be excited to see, and which ones will bore them silly.  The thing is, part of my reason for writing this blog is to have a sort of journal of our family life, which I'm hoping our son will be interested in reading someday after his dad and I are long gone.  If you're thinking, "Oh no, not that place again," that's okay.  I'll have some other things to share very soon.

I won't be showing as many costume pictures today, but I do want to share with you some of the creative and lovely things that the folks who work at Biltmore House displayed as part of this exhibit.  In addition to the movie costumes, books were a big part of the theme, and since it's Spring, there were lots of beautiful flowers too.

Today we'll begin in the breakfast room, which is one of my favorite rooms, by the way.  It's obviously more cozy and intimate than the banquet hall, and the table is usually set so perfectly.  This room had some lovely flower arrangements in pink and white, so I hope you enjoy.  I love the Wedgwood Jasper Ware tiles around the fireplace, and notice the garland of flowers and greenery up above the mantel.

I love pink, so I was quite taken with these flower arrangements.  The ones on the table were gorgeous, as were the ones on the mantel.

The movie being featured in this room was "Twelfth Night or What You Will," and these dresses were worn by Imogen Stubbs and Helena Bonham Carter, playing the parts of Viola and Olivia.  Notice the tall arrangement in the left of the picture; these are pink tulips, white delphinium, and trailing ivy.  Gorgeous, gorgeous.

Don't you love this idea?!  Books with the pages folded in opposing directions, and the one book placed vertically inside this cloche.  I've got to try this at home.  :)

This same thing was done with the books on either end of the mantel above, and the pages are trailing down the sides.  You can also get a better look at the flowers here; I can't tell if these are pink roses or pink peonies.  What say you?

Love, love these pink tulips in the blue and white porcelain vase!  I wouldn't turn down that clock, either.  ;)

These were the place cards at the table that day.

And here are closeups of the two dresses.

Next, we'll visit the library, another of my very favorite rooms in the house.  The flowers on the mantel are purple clematis, fern fronds, and what looks like stephanotis woven in with long pieces of grapevine -- seriously talented flower arranging.

This pretty spiral staircase leads to the second level of books.  Notice the pot of snow-white hydrangeas in the picture above.

Aren't these books beautiful?  The various sets are identically bound (in leather I feel sure).  George Vanderbilt had a collection of over 22,000 books -- a man after my own heart.

The book and movie (mini-series in this case) featured in this room was "Pride and Prejudice."  Mr. Vanderbilt's copy of the book is in the red display above.

Elizabeth Bennet's costume (played by Jennifer Ehle)

and Mr. Darcy's costume (played by Colin Firth).  I didn't know until my mother-in-law told me that Jennifer Ehle is from my hometown in North Carolina.

Some more pictures from the library.

Another pretty decorating idea.

This was a miniature brass lamp in the style of Aladdin's lamp.

This gaming table and chess set atop it once belonged to the Emperor Napoleon.

I like this carving of a medieval monk with his book and feather quill reminding us to be silent in the library.  I think Mr. Vanderbilt must have had a good sense of humor.  ;)

That's all for today; these posts are really time-consuming to put together because of all the pictures, and I like to double-check my details and information.  I do hope you enjoyed the tour, and thank you for your visit.  Have a great day!

Denise