Happy New Year!

I got the best start to the new year - a whole day to work on minis. There are plenty of other things I could have/should have been doing (Christmas decorations down, anyone?) but my husband and I decided to spend this rare day alone relaxing and doing things we enjoy doing. So I made some good progress on the French country house.

The stairs are supposed to face the other way but the console didn't fit that way and I like having the steps come up to the bedroom door. That way the mini people have to go back to get to the bathroom. That gives them a bit more privacy, lol. In order to make it work I had to do some 'bashing.' This is the first time I've done a major alteration to stairs. So I know the final product is far from perfect and it's likely that the mini people couldn't realistically use the stairs as they are now - but, then again, rarely are dollhouse stairs realistically operable anyway.

So here they are, in all their glory. ;-) I'm actually very pleased. I finished the back of the steps with a matte board panel so you don't see the ugly step backs. The console fits perfectly, without jutting into the kitchen doorway - I think it probably holds the mini television since the couch and chair face that way.

So after spending all day on the stairs, I got a chance to do a tiny little upgrade on the chairs. I almost got out of bed last night when the idea came to me but I managed to restrain myself. I just added a narrow strip of black paper around the seats of the chairs. That little bit of paper makes them look so much more finished.

And here they are, back in the kitchen.

I've had a very productive day in miniland. Tomorrow I'll have to go back to the real world and get the Christmas things put away and the snowman things out. Monday it's back to school so I want to have all of that done before reality hits.

Last year I did a year in review post. I will have to see if I actually completed anything in 2014. Real life, aka Daughter #2's wedding, took most of my creative energy for the year. Totally worth it but I'm very glad to get back to my mini world.

Have a blessing filled day, wherever you are!

A New Year...A New Look

...at least for the toddler in the French country house. I only spent $1 on her at a miniature shop in Holland. Michigan last summer. I figured I could do something to improve her looks. I dipped her whole head in nail polish remover and started from scratch. It took me forever (and multiple coats of paint) to get her hair to look at least a little like normal hair. :-) I also painted her blanket blue so it could be a towel if she's in the bathroom or her blanket elsewhere.

 I finally found the metal ribbon I bought the first time I shopped at our new Hobby Lobby. I used it to dress up the canopy and I like it much better now. The roll pillow is the one that was on the slipper chair in the living room. I changed the ends from red gingham to blue. It ties the bedroom and bathroom decor a bit more.

 This is another potential living room layout. This way I could add a coffee table and it just seems roomier. The rooster on the console is a prize from my day of antiquing yesterday with hubby and daughter #1. He was $1!

 The kitchen got a few details like the towel on the island and I turned the island around. It makes more sense for the cook to stand on the sink side when chopping the vegetables, I think.

 Yesterday's photo of the window seat upgrade was very poor quality. Here's a better view.

 Speaking of poor shots, this is the upper hall after wallpapering. I used a 1:1 raw silk pattern in soft blue. The blue makes sense between the bedroom and bath and it's simple texture is a much needed visual break between the rooms.

Well, that's all for today. Hubby told me to set up shop on the dining room table. The other side of the table holds a large puzzle in progress. I guess meals will be casual for awhile. :-)

I wish you all a wonderful New Year full of blessings and love!

I got a dollhouse for Christmas!

A good friend found this house at a flea market over the summer and gave it to me this week for  Christmas. It obviously belonged to a little girl before me and was well loved. Because of that, the house needs some repair work done. I love the style, though.

 It looks like this room had the same zebra carpet as the room beside it. Um, that is gonna have to go. :-)

 The area under the stairs has been closed in and a door added.

 My friend include a bag of things she's collected that may have mini potential.

The attic room is L shaped.

And what are my plans for this house, you ask? Well, I am leaning towards an elf dormitory/house. The rooms are very large so it would be easy to fit in several beds in the second story rooms and a long table in the dining area. I will let this idea percolate in my brain for awhile so I can finish the French Country house. I will need to find a place to display Santa's house, the workshop, and the elf house all together. I think this will be a fun project!

It's a date!

 My wonderful husband and I had a date today. We explored some of our favorite antique/vintage shops and had dinner. One of my finds was this two door console table. I don't know if it will fit under the stairs but that's my hope.

 I also found fabric for the master bedroom. The "sort of toile like" floral fabric and the sheet fabric were purchased today. I made the upholstered headboard from balsa and fun foam and tufted it. The bed itself is two layers of styrofoam. I am a bit disappointed in the layout of the bedroom. There is no good place for a double bed. This is the best option and I have blocked the French doors. I may turn the doors into a large arched window or leave them as doors that open out so they are still usable from the back side of the bed. In either case, I plan to make full length drapes that hang to the sides of the doors.

 Here's a closer view of the tufting and the different fabrics I used.

An overall view - my current plan is to make the ceiling beamed since I have all that upward space. Too bad I can't convert a bit of that to usable wall and floor space. ;-)

A day for details

 The bathroom is closer to finished. At least it has most of the essentials. I added toilet paper - a standing dispenser and a spare roll on the tank. The tub faucet is finally in place, too. Rugs, mirror, candle, and a new lid for the bath salts finishes today's work in this room.

 A piece of country styled art for the living room and a rug that will lay flat once there's a finished floor in here.

 The kitchen got a huge ivy plant that hides the upper cabinet join and a pitcher of flowers for the top of the fridge. There's also a new rug for in front of the sink....

 ....and a kitchen clock showing that it is, indeed, lunch time.

I've done nothing to the upper hall or any of the doors. I'm probably going to finish most of the interior work before even starting the exterior. I'm working on this project in very topsy turvy manner but I am having fun. :-)

I am loving this house!

 The kitchen still needs some finishing details but it's mostly finished. I want to add a yellow gingham cushion to the window seat, some rugs, and plants and collectibles on top of the cabinets. I need an opinion please - I'm thinking there's plenty of room for an island since everything is fairly small in scale. What do you think?

 A trio of rooster plates to the left and a tray over the bay. The valances are cut from scrapbook paper.

 The rooster pepper grinder on the stove and the matching cutting board hanging over the sink are Reutter Porcelain pieces. I'd forgotten that I had them but they were in Then Again Antiques. Who knew that it's as much fun to shop in a mini antique shop as in the 1:1 ones. :-D

The bathroom needs a rug or two, curtains or shades, and a mirror over the sink. I need light fixtures for the whole house and the tub still needs plumbing. Adding the windows and the trim around the tile added so much to the look.

The granddaughters will be here tonight for the weekend so there won't be any mini progress this weekend. Next week is my last before I go back to work after summer break. I don't think I will finish but I should make some big progress. Stay tuned!

Sometimes a dollhouse has other plans

...than the ones you have. This time it was the bathroom. It doesn't look anything like the original idea I had. I like this so much better. The first project was to get that wall between the hall and bathroom in. Then I could get to the fun part. I really didn't know what I would use the toile scrapbook paper for when I purchased it. I think it looks great in the bathroom. The blue towels help to carry some color over from the master bedroom. I ended up painting the outside of the tub because it reflected all the patterns in the room. I really like the black. The tub still needs plumbing and I need to finish the windows, trim out the rest of the wall tiles, and glue the stone privacy wall in place.

 The kitchen wallpaper and flooring are done. Once the bay window is finished I can put up the chair rail on the window and hutch walls. I finished the upper cabinets, complete with the range hood. That's another project I'm happy with. I had thought of doing a hammered copper hood but the sheet metal was not cooperating. The small cabinet over the sink and the range hood are both made from the top of a hutch that looks just like the plate shelf. I cut away the bottom shelf on the sink side and closed in the top to make a cabinet with doors. I left the back on the range side to help form the frame work for the hood.

The walllpaper is finished in the master bedroom, too. I just have to figure out what I want to do with the floor here and in the living room. I'm glad this is a fairly busy print because I had to do a lot of patching to have enough paper to cover the tall back wall.

Today was productive in the dollhouse and I got some needed chores done in my 1:1 house. Life is good!