Known as Grandma Roedde's bedroom, the master bedroom is smaller than what people are familiar with today. It is a cozy room, with a central window on the west side of the house, which lets in an abundance of light. Is this room anything like yours? Do you have a bed like this one? Do you have you a wash basin beside your bed?
Ceiling Paper
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The first thing I noticed about the room was the beautiful wallpaper on the ceiling. Have you ever seen that before? It was quite common to have wallpapered ceilings in Victorian houses, although it is not very common today.
The room is full of all kinds of items that you would find in typical bedrooms during the Victorian times. There are even some things in this room that we don't see or use anymore. A good example is the wash basin, beside the bed. The pitcher, which was usually filled with hot water, and the large bowl functioned as a sink. Here you would wash your face and hands, and a gentleman would even shave.
Chamber Pot
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Located on the floor beside the bed is a chamberpot. Do you know what its use was? It was an equivalent to the modern toilet. You definitely don't see many of these anymore. Typically, when modern plumbing was not available, the wash basin and chamberpot acted as a substitute for a washroom (specifically a sink and toilet). The Roedde House was built with one washroom upstairs, which is currently not restored, that was equipped with modern plumbing. Typically, a Victorian home would only have one washroom, if any at all. Because the Roeddes only had one washroom in the house, the family would have continued to use the chamberpots and washbasins.
Sewing Machine
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There are two different dressers here in the bedroom, and would have been used by two different people. The first dresser could have belonged to Gustav Roedde. It is a dresser that is basic in design and just as elegant as Mrs. Roedde's dresser. It has carved handles and a nice, rough finish. It probably would have been similar in style to what the Roedde family might have had in their room when they lived here, but there is no true way of knowing. The dresser is laden with all kinds of artifacts that would have been used for shaving, trimming, and general grooming. Many of the things on the dresser are familiar, and even people today have some of these implements in more modern forms.
Dresser with mirror.
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Matilda Roedde's dresser, with its shiny finish, is slightly grander than that of Mr. Roedde. Made of walnut, this American piece is skillfully crafted from a commercial manufacturer. During the Victorian era, more and more household furniture and items were being commercially produced, that is made in vast numbers, often with the help of machinery, in a factory. Commercially made items were more easily afforded in comparison to one-of-kind hand made originals. The dresser, while not a unique piece, fits well with what we would expect the Roedde family to have owned. Similar to the gentleman's dresser, it is covered with all kinds of grooming items made for the woman of the household, that would be found around the period. Make-up kits, brushes, and perfume adorn this dresser and each would have been commonly found in a middle-class lady's collection of accessories.
Dresser
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Finally, a comment must be made about the bed. This bed is known as a spool bed and is a good example of what a typical Victorian bed would have looked like. It is called a spool bed because the shaped detail of the headboard and foot-board looks like spools of thread that have been connected end to end.
Wash Stand
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The wash stand beside the bed would have been a standard necessity before there was hot
running water in the house. Hot water was installed at the time of the invention of
central heating.
The jug and basin are very fine Doultan pieces. These are typical of 19th Century decoration, and the matching chamber pot makes this a handsome set.
The Roedde Bed
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