Showing posts with label living room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label living room. Show all posts

Saturday, December 31, 2016

Farewell 2016



Well last night I hung trim in the mini mansion.   It is pretty much the last of the construction style work to the house.  Well...except for the lights which will be installed when I have the money to purchase them.  (Christmas and car repairs sucked me dry!).    


This morning I was rushing around getting ready for work but I just had to take a moment to remove the tape that was holding the trim and wainscoting in place while the glue dried. I was like a kid at Christmas, giddy with excitement!  I couldn't resist...I pulled down the box of furniture that I do have for the mini mansion.   I'm so excited!!!   I didn't have time for the books and smaller things that I do have...but it's an idea!!


Bedroom


Sewing/quilting room


Living room


Kitchen 

I was carefully pulling the tape off of the trim and one piece came up unexpectedly...tearing the wallpaper in the living room.  Aaaarrrgggggggg!!!  You can't see it in the pictures because the chair hides it....it's right by the doorway leading to the kitchen. I could probably leave it unfixed but I know it's there and it bothers me...so I will have to fix that!  Good thing I have extra paper!!!


Theoretically the mini mansion can now be moved to its resting place and I can focus on the interior fun stuff...the knick knacks and furniture and things that make it look like a real life home!  And what's better?   The workspace is now free for the construction of the McKinley!!!  Bring it on 2017!!!



Wednesday, December 28, 2016

Addiction

Work is steadily progressing....on everything!!!  I usually spend an hour or two in the evenings working on my 'dollhouses'.  It is so relaxing and satisfying to see things come to life!


First of all let me include a picture of the rope bed that I FINALLY finished!


And beside the rope bed is the cradle with the wee itty bitty afghan that I crocheted with embroidery floss.


Yes I have sheets and a quilt for the bed but it's too darn cute to not show off the rope part!!


With those two things done I haven't done much else on the log cabin...other than think about little things that I want to do.  I still want to put in a fireplace crane or a gridiron at the fireplace. 



And I want to have some dough being rolled out with the rolling pin....little things like that!). 


Work has been moving along on the mini mansion.  The living room received its floor and then commenced the slow polyeurthane...dry... sand....clean..polyeurthabe...sand..dry...clean...repetition!  As soon as I was happy with the 'waxed floor look' I finished up the living room with the trim and other than the lighting (I am working on a budget, the fixtures are going to have to wait a few weeks/months!). The room was/ready for furniture.

It will need all the fun little touches...stuff like a foot stool...a knitting basket....pictures...etc.  but it's fun to see it look 'kinda real.'


Speaking of pictures...this dollhouse was my boyfriend's sister's when she was a child.  I found some of her artwork on the walls.  I kept one (I wish I would have kept them all but I wasn't thinking until it was too late).   This morning I made a wee little frame.....

and painted the frame gold!   


Well, the curtain rods I made are gold...which were not hung yet in the previous picture!).  



So next up was the kitchen....I decided on green walls with a white wainscoting, a white tin style ceiling, and the same light pine flooring.  The walls were covered and the floor was laid tonight.  Lots of clamps and weights!!



Once again I was at a standstill....


So on to the McKinley!!!


After being overwhelmed the other night I knew I had to tackle it.  Otherwise it would gain big ugly horns and I would never do it!  So the next morning I started pulling out the pieces for the first steps.   



It was just time consuming...flipping through the large awkward panels and getting parts without the other pieces popping free from the panels.


   So I gave up...and went and purchased a whole raft of ziplock bags.  I spent a few hours labeling all of the pieces and bagging them in ziplock bags according to the panel number from which they came.   Much more manageable!!!


Tonight the real work began!!!   Window and window trim!!!!!  



All of the windows have their outside trim!!!




My workspace is way too small!!!  



I think I need to finish the mini mansion....at least the walls, floors and ceilings so I can rest those baby back on the piano while I dream and plot about the furniture for upstairs and the little fun things that make it seem real!  


Then I'll be focused on stuff like...

Spice boxes



And rug beaters




But the addiction grows!   I finished my work tonight and picked up the flyer that was in the box that my dollhouse came in and I think I know my next dollhouse...it will be a quickie though!!!!  


The Storybook cottage by greenleaf.   



Why that?  I've always said I wanted to do a quilt shop!  Wouldn't that make the cutest quilt shop!!!!  (The Coventry cottage would work too...but the smaller one is the think I'm going to go with...when that day comes!!)




Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Books books books!

I moved the steps in the mini mansion and loved it.  The only thing I didn't like was the space under the steps.  Finally I decided on building a bookshelf for under the steps.   


I was nervous about it for sure!  But then I kept reading about people using foam board for building and decided to give it a whirl.  I am sooooo glad that I did!!!


I traced the space and cut a piece the shape of the under steps space.  It cut like butter with my exacto knife!  I dry fitted the shape and it fit perfectly.    I would like to say that I worked off of a pattern but I didn't.  I  knew a book would be about 9-10 inches tall...so I figured my shelves should have around a one inch (one foot ) opening.  I literally just cut and thought about each step and before I knew it I had a bookshelf that fit into the space perfectly!



I was charmed!  I was in love!!!


I am still leaning to no rail/banister on the steps as the room is so small.  But I knew I needed/wanted a rail around the steps  on the second floor.  So I started that.  The pieces I have were too big so off to the workshop I went.



Oops!!! I learned to take it very slow!!!



And I pieced the rails together (yeah I probably should have painted first!   And you can see how much I cut off in the picture!!



So the railing, steps and bookshelves need a nice coat of white paint and they will be ready for installation and books.


BOOKS!!!  I need books!!!


My supplies:

File folders (card stock)

White paper

Colored pencils

Glue

Scissors 

List of books (printed and shrunk as far as will fit on books)


I knew the rough size of a book to be about 3/4 of an inch so I cut a long strip of 3/4 inch wide cars stock.



I then cut the long strip into the width of the cover of the book.  Honestly I eyeballed it....but it is about 1.5 inches.  (And further down the assembly line I used a previous cut book cover as my template). I also marked the rough spots to fold the cover.



I colored the cover.  Since my house is set in the 1900's I didn't want fancy pictures....



I then folded the cover into a book shape.



I took the white paper and cut it in long strips (the width of a piece of paper) in 3/4 inch strips.



This strip of white paper I folded into an accordion shape.   Once again I eyeballed it and checked to make sure it would fit into the cover of the book I was working without overlapping.   I trimmed the top and bottom of the 'accordion' to make it nice and neat.



I then glued the inside binding of the cover and attached one of the 'accordion' pieces of paper. I held this with my fingers for a few seconds.



My first few attempts I wrote with a find pen the name of the book...and while it was cute I didn't like it.  



I decided to print up the names....so at this point I then took my printed list and cut one title out.


  I colored it the same color as the cover and glued it to the outside of the binding. Center and hold for a few seconds to make sure it adheres.




Set to dry and begin the next book!!!



Notes:


I chose titles that were historically  accurate.


The chairs will be reupholstered soon


The wallpaper is destined to go bye bye soon too!!