Originally Posted by
sewmom
I knew there was a name other than parlor, but i just could not think of it! ( i told you I didn't know much about them and I guess i proved that! Haha) what exactly is the difference between a parlor and a drawing room?
~grin~ Price?
More seriously...the drawing room cabinets have the treadle in the center, the flywheel encased in a side door, and drawers all on one side of the cabinet. These particular cabinets have a spring loaded lift for the machine, while later models did away with the lift because of injury liability. Because they were the "Top of the Line" cabinet for the era, they were more expensive than other cabinet choices. I think I saw something in my research that indicated that the drawing room cabinets cost about $225.00 at the time...
The Parlor cabinets are narrower, with drawers/thread holders, etc. attached to the door that opened to allow access to the treadle irons.
Ismacs has a good page...they call the parlor cabinets "side door" cabinets...