Meet Ben and check out his laptop

Ben is a G scale model railroad figure. He's perfectly scaled for the half scale bungalow. I got his desk set up with a file folder full of paperwork and a laptop. Now he just has to wait for his wife to get here. :-)

Well, I thought it was finished!

By now you all know that I can't leave well enough alone, ;0). The desk just looked like it was missing something...and it was. The drawer over the chair area wasn't there. Now I'm truly happy with it.

It's ordered!

The bungalow kit is now ordered! Meanwhile, I've made some new furniture for it...or for another project if there's no more room. ;) The desk was made entirely from wood pieces in my scrap box. The curved drawers were made from a wooden book cut in half with cardstock drawers and bead handles. I used skinny sticks to make the trim around the base, except for the curves. For those I used cardstock.
The chair posts and legs are made from skinny sticks split down the middle lengthwise. The seat and back were pieces in my scraps and I used a bit of real leather for the seat cushion. I think it turned out really well.

More lights and more snow

This is the kitchen ceiling light again. I rotated the photo so it looks as though it's actually hanging.
The living room ceiling fan turned out really well. The ceiling mount is part of a button and the fan blades are cardstock.
This is the wall mounted lamp for over the bed. I made it with a combination of beads, wire and paint.
This photo is fuzzy but it's the ceiling fixture for the bedroom. The bead I used for the globe has soft stained glass looking shapes in blue and pink. It's a really pretty bead.

We're currently under a winter storm warning. We could get up to 20 inches of snow! I'd actually enjoy being snowed in. The only problem is that hubby is the ham radio emergency coordinator for our county and he's likely to have to be out in the nastiness. Stay warm and safe wherever you are!

Stained glass?

This is not a great photo but it's the view from the top looking down on a floor lamp I made yesterday.
This will be the ceiling light fixture for the kitchen.

These were so simple to make. I used inexpensive tiny suction cup hooks from Dollar Tree for the shades. The "leading" was done with a black Sharpie permanent marker and I used a toothpick to apply glass paint to the tiny sections.

Then I used a variety of materials to construct the actual lamps. The floor lamp has a wooden base with a flat bead as trim. The pole is a fancy toothpick and I used a small bead as the light bulb.

The kitchen light has a jewelry finding tip and part of a button for the ceiling mount.

I also made a light for the dining room and a ceiling fan for the living room but I'm having trouble getting decent photos.

I used beads and jewelry findings to make lights for the bedroom. They are a different style but still appropriate for the style of the house.

I'll keep trying for better pics. :)

The kitchen looks great now!

I added several things to the living room - a rug, an afghan and flames and embers for the fire. The rug is a blown up picture from a catalog. I printed it on cotton fiber paper.
Here are the pieces I used for the cabinets. I had some rubber stamps that were given to me that I wasn't interested in. (I love stamping but these were categories I wouldn't use.)
And here it is. The fridge and stove paper parts I salvaged from the rejected kitchen. The upper cupboards are just held on to a book cover with some sticky wax so that's why they aren't hanging straight. Each piece is separate so I will have options for laying out the kitchen. My favorite things are the double sink and faucet and the range hood. The stamp block has a dip for a finger grip on the top edge. I used a large craft stick for the counters and I put two holes in for the sinks. The dip and the edges of the hole were painted silver. The hardest part of the range hood was the angles - I kept looking at mine to figure it out. There's even a mesh fan grate inside. The doors are cut from regular and wide craft sticks with bead knobs.

I am so happy that I decided to try the wood. I'm also thankful for God's inspiration in using the stamp blocks.

Late night project

The dogs decided to go out last night just as I was ready for bed. They were out a long time. Long enough for me to start a new project...then I didn't want to stop even after they did come in. So it was a late night but look how cute the fireplace is! The basic framework is the cut down lid of an individual chocolate box. You know, one of those that holds 3 pieces? I painted that with a coat of hippo gray and then started tearing tiny little stones from egg carton and some tan packing material. I first trimmed around the opening with mitered strips from the egg carton and then just started gluing pieces of the cartons in place. I highlighted some of the "stones" with paint - hippo gray, pale pink and pale peach. I made the base and back with some of the packing carton and made a mantel from the egg carton. Once everything was dry I painted on some acrylic sealer and laid some twigs (large branches in half scale) in place ready for a fire.
Here's how it looks with the rest of the living room stuff. Once it's actually in the living room I may extend the chimney from the mantel to the ceiling with more of the carton stone since there isn't an exterior chimney, just the one on the roof. I'm not sure yet.

Just playing

I made some clay pots and added various plant materials and then arranged the furniture into "rooms." The fabric under the bedroom set came from the swap box. I was planning to make toss pillows for the living room but I think it makes a great rug...hmm. The fern leaves were cut from a real life plastic plant. I also added the top trim pieces to the bed today. It looks more finished now, I think.
The living room will have the large floor plant potted in a terra cotta bead, a fern on a plant stand (made like the previous fern) and a smaller plant in a clay bowl (made with reindeer moss.) I will add some throw pillows to the couches when I actually decorate the house. The walls will probably be a pale olive in the living room.
The dining room has a vase of flowers - a really cool stained glass looking bead - and a gold trimmed terra cotta teapot. I made the teapot from polymer clay as well as all the pots except for the bead I used for the floor plant.

It's fun just to arrange and rearrange - it helps me to get ideas for the finished rooms.

New half scale treasures

The Small World online forum that I belong to has a traveling round robin swap box. When it arrives you take out anything you are interested in and add anything you want to clear out of your stash. The box arrived today and look what I found! The grandfather clock is one of the weird scale things you can find at Dollar Tree. I cut off some of the bulky extra wood and sanded off the glossy finish. I used some dimensional gel on the clock face to represent glass. It's going to look great in the dining or living area. The treadle sewing machine needed a bit of work, too. The hand wheel was broken so I made a new one from a circle of tooling foil. The top was brass so I painted it to look like wood and added some painted "thread" to the machine. Now it's ready for a project. The wringer washer is a fridge magnet. I'm not sure if I will use it in the bungalow but it's cute so I kept it for now. If I don't use it, it can always go back in the box next time around, lol.

I also found some fabric for pillows and some beads for light shades, pots and candles. At this rate I'll have all the interior decor figured out long before my birthday. :)

New additions

The chest of drawers and the nightstand were this evening's work. The drawers are fake...but they look like they could open, lol. The bedside table is a little "wonky" but I can hide the bad side against the wall. I like the concept - one of the braces slid up before the glue dried and I didn't notice until it was too late. I'll make another table if this one ends up bugging me too much. ;)

New and improved...well, improved anyway

I got out my trusty Dremel tool today and worked on the dining chairs and the rocker. The thinner front legs and trim around the seat help the dining chairs to look much less clunky and more in scale. I enhanced the curve of the rockers and thinned the legs of the rocking chair.

Looking at the photos it looks like the stain is really blotchy. It doesn't really look like that. I think the flash is making funny reflections.

I was asked about a tutorial. I will have to think about that. The original chair was based on a pattern for a 1:12 scale chair. The rest of the items are my designs based on the Mission style look and using the materials I had on hand. I will get back to you. :)

And still more...

I made lots of pieces while watching football today. The bed, rocking chair, sofa at the back right, and the table and chairs are all projects from this afternoon. I'll have to decide whether this is going to be a contemporary house decorated authentically or a turn of the century house but since I don't even have the kit yet, I've got some time to decide, lol.

I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Wait, there's more!

Once I had the chair done for scale, it wasn't as difficult to make the other pieces. And to respond to April's comment on the previous post, I hate to measure and I often work on the principle that it's close enough. :) The little bars that make it Mission style were a real pain. I did a lot of trimming once the glue set.

Doing everything by half

I've asked hubby for the half scale bungalow for my birthday coming up early next month. I want to decorate it in Mission style. That would be a bit of a challenge for me in 1:12 scale. Here's my first chair. I'm actually quite happy with it. There are some flaws but I won't point them out. ;) I have a one inch scale pattern so I just cut all the measurements in half. One piece of furniture down for a five room house...