Little Changes

 I painted the base of the kitchen light fixture white and added a paper shade. It's hard to see but the living room light base is now chrome instead of brass. Both were very simple changes but help to keep the period look. I used nail enamel to cover the brass.

We are enjoying a beautiful weekend here in Indiana. I hope you are enjoying a bit of sunshine, too!

Date day!

Hubby and I enjoyed a day out today. We did a little shopping, ran some errands, had lunch out, and looked for new living room furniture. One of our stops was Hobby Lobby. I found a couple of LED ceiling fixtures to use in the Westville. I bought the only two the store had but I will order more. At only $12.99 they are a bargain. HBS has one just like it for about $20. I think I can add paper shades if I want to change the look but the style is simple enough to use as is. You can see the difference the lights make.

With an overhead light and the lighted TV the living room looks quite cozy.

The light in the kitchen makes a huge difference. This photo was taken without the flash.

I may add shades to these later. That's will be really easy since these lights are magnetic. Bedroom and hall lights will be coming soon!

Touching up on snow day#3

 Today I concentrated on cleaning up little problem areas to make the house look more complete. The living room paneling had several areas that showed up white in photos. A little bit of paint with a fine tipped brush fixed that problem. Looking at the photo below, it looks like the area over the door could use a bit more paint. Well, almost fixed.

 I added ceiling trim to the kitchen because all my wallpaper edges weren't straight. The trim is made from the plastic guards that come over windshield wipers. Cut them at the seam to make two strips of trim, paint the inside, and glue in place. Recycling at its best!

 The cowboy room had a couple of small gaps that were easily fixed with a bit of trim.

The exterior paint work was touched up and sealed with a coat of matte Mod Podge.

Even though these weren't big projects, they were the kind of detail work that makes a mini home look more like a real one. Have a wonderful day, my friends!

Snow day #2

The calendar says it's April of 1955.

Scott paper towels and dispenser added in the kitchen, too.

Mr. S. has a tray to hold his wallet and loose change. He also has the last photo taken of his parents on his chest.

Just a boy and his dog watching a boy and his dog.

I added a little LED light inside the TV. It's just a little battery operated light but look how real it makes the television look!

A green thumb

 I knew I wanted a plant stand for the living room bay window. I found this one and this one on Pinterest and and they were my inspiration pieces. I am happy with the result but not as happy with how miniatures sometimes look in large photos, lol. The bit of fuzz has been removed from the ivy plant. The white edges at the bottom of the paneling are not visible when viewing the house normally. Please try to ignore them now!

The African violet in the red pot is the only one that took any time to make. I'm borrowing that one from my Zibbet shop at the moment. The others are just bits of 1:1 fake plants or wire and floral tape. They fill the plant stand very nicely, though, and show Mrs. Sherwood's green thumb.

I still need a few more pieces for the walls but I think I've finished all the major projects for this house. It's been a really fun house to do because I know I won't ever live in a real house like this. Soon it will be time to move on to the next project...

Just a bit of color

 Most of the pole lamps I've seen from the 50s have colored shades - usually in pink, white, and turquoise. I wasn't sure how to make them colored until I used nail polish on the canisters.

The polish worked well on the lamp shades, too. It's all coming together, detail by detail.

It's starting to look like home

 Thank goodness for curved manicure scissors! I wouldn't have been able to cut the flying ducks out with my regular craft scissors. You can't tell in the photo but I embossed them to give them some dimension on the wall.

 While Davy and the dog greet Dad at the door, we can just see the new art piece on the wall to the right of the bay window.

 Mrs. Sherwood is dabbling in a bit of modern (mid century modern, anyway) art. She's not too sure about it even though the colors go beautifully with the rest of the room. That's why it's hidden a bit from the first view of the room. Of course, that lamp is going to highlight the piece but we won't point that out to her. I really like it. ;-)

The bedroom picture is of flying sea birds. The pinks and blues look nice in this room.

There's still a lot to do inside and I haven't really done much with the exterior. Monday is a teacher in-service day at school so I get a day off. Yay for play days! I hope to make some major progress. I love working on a new project but I'd like to have my dining room table back again. Fingers crossed for a productive Monday.

I really should be heading to bed

...but I have to share the living room with the knotty pine paneling. I also did some staging in the kitchen.

 First, the kitchen - Mrs. Sherwood is happily cooking away in her new kitchen. She still needs curtains on the windows, a clock, and some artwork but this room is nearly complete.

 I even started filling the pantry. I was asked about the cabinets and appliances today. For anyone who hasn't been following this project from the beginning, I purchased the basic lower cabinets and appliances but everything was all white. I sanded, painted, and redid the pieces to get the 50s look I wanted. The two upper cabinets were kits but I made the corner shelves and joined the two cabinets.

 The knotty pine paneling looks so good. I'm happy with the color and the thin wood was very easy to cut with an exacto or even craft scissors. The curtains were made from coffee filters and the carpet is scrapbook paper. This room needs artwork and I need to finish the front door. The tables need "stuff", too. I want the house to look lived in.

Mr. Sherwood approves of the makeover. He was getting tired of coming home to renovations. I'm not sure he's going to be too happy when the exterior brick work starts. :-)

Have a great week!

Opinions, please?

The original plan for the living room - It's scrapbook paper with details added.

I'm considering knotty pine paneling in the living room bay. I don't really want to panel the whole room and will most likely stick with the print wallpaper I originally chose for this room. Will it look weird to panel only that small area? Should I panel that whole wall? Should I rethink the print wallpaper and go with a light gray instead? Lots of questions, my friends, and I hope you have opinions to share!

Small Progress on Some Minis

 The kidney coffee table and step end table just didn't look finished. I spent quite a bit of time sanding each one. Then I added a bit of warmth to the color. I am much happier with them now.

 I purchased two Houseworks upper cabinet kits for the kitchen. They were very easy to assemble.

Here they are finished and ready to hang- presuming I ever have time to work on the Westville. My Christmas break has been nice but I just wasn't able to find the time to work on minis that I'd hoped for. Bring on the snow days!  ;-)

Lights, Camera,....

 Here's the first of the living room lamps. It's a mix of jewelry findings, beads, and wire. The shade was made from scrapbook paper.

The second lamp is a pole lamp with three lights that can be arranged as needed. Neither lamp works.

It's time to start the renovations. I need to remove all of the windows and replace them. The trim may need to be replaced as well if I can't successfully remove the pieces without breaking them. All rooms get new wallpaper, except for the attic which will have beams. It has such a low ceiling that I'm not sure it can be used for much else other than storage. I may use one wing as a sewing room. The floors need a lot of work, too. Especially the bedrooms that had zebra felt glued down as carpet. I'm hoping a heat gun will help in the removal of the leftover glue.

The exterior is also a mess. The porch trim will have a few alterations to make it look more streamlined. I think I want the exterior finish to be brick. I'm not sure on that yet. So much left to do...I guess I'd better stop typing and get started. :-) Happy new week, my friends!

It's the little things

 I pried the mirror out of a broken makeup compact this morning. It was the perfect size for the dresser. I mounted it to the dresser so I can rearrange if I want - besides the fact that I haven't started the actual house renovations yet. The zebra carpet has to go.

I made a couple of adjustments to the chair and made a matching ottoman. With this layout I can fit another chair. I need more of the turquoise felt. I think the second chair should be the same style as the sofa. That's the current plan, anyway.

We are in the midst of the first winter storm of the season. We had seven inches of snow an hour or so ago and it's still falling steadily. Hubby and I are enjoying hot drinks and homemade donuts. Yum! We are snug and warm in our home while the beautiful snow falls outside. Life is good and we are blessed.

On to the living room

 The photo was my primary inspiration. I blended it with another style that had the single cushion and tufted back.

 Next was a kidney shaped coffee table in blonde wood with paper clip legs. That's what they were called - paper clip legs. Mine were  made from.....paper clips. Genius, I know, LOL. The box in the back corner is a cake decoration TV. It will be perfect after its makeover.

I still need at least one chair and I have a stepped end table in progress. It's almost time to start the house rehab...not my favorite part but it goes fast once I get started.

Edit: Here's the chair. It's sort of a futuristic wing chair. The step end table is next to it. Now I desperately need to get to the rehab part so the furniture pieces look good.:-)

Down to the details...and the roof

 This is how the house looked after a couple of hours of play last night. After church today I got back to it.

 The master bedroom has louvered doors into the room. The doors were cut from pieces in a mixed bag of trims from Hobby Lobby. The doors are fixed in place but at least give an illusion of privacy.

 I made window boxes for the two end windows. The boxes are made of cardstock with the Houseworks "iron" for trim and mounting brackets. I used a mix of mosses and silk and plastic flowers and plants to give the boxes the full to overflowing look I wanted.

 Several months ago, my husband and son were going through all the computer stuff we'd collected over the years. They found several mice (mouses?) that no longer worked. Son pulled the track balls out of them to see if I could use them. I didn't know what I'd do with them at the time...

 ...but they made great topiaries for the balcony. The console is the bottom half of a Michael's hutch and the chair is an altered rocking chair. The Persian cat was a thrift store find.

 The small balcony has pots overflowing with greenery and the lower porch has a yellow rose topiary in a stone urn (Dollar Tree plastic trophy cup painted with the paint I used for the house) and the large rooster moved outside. He's just too large for the interior of the house but he works well for porch decor.

In his place on the console are a leaning mirror (I took care of the blobs of wax after the photo was taken) and a jar of wild flowers - tiny dried flowers from the last bouquet hubby surprised me with.
I need more artwork and other items to personalize it for the family who lives in the house. Photos and other little details will make it look like a home. I don't think I've ever taken this long with a project but the delays are paying off. When I'm not able to work on the house, I spend time researching the French country look I'm aiming for. I'm very pleased with the results so far.

In other news, we visited the newlyweds yesterday. They live three hours away so we hadn't been to see them since the wedding. We had a wonderful visit with everyone - including our granddaughters. (I'll take grandchildren however we get them. Becoming an instant grandma to 4 and 6 year old, adorable little girls has its advantages. Namely, lots of snuggles and giggles. :-) ) We headed back home a bit earlier than originally planned as a huge snow storm was moving our way. It held off until late last night and today. Last I looked we were fast approaching 8 inches of snow and it's still falling. We could get up to 15 inches by tomorrow morning. It's absolutely gorgeous, we have plenty of food, and I love being snowed in. I know my kids are all safe and have enough supplies so I'm going to enjoy the next couple of days. We may only be "stuck" for a day but that will be enough to recharge and enjoy time with my husband and daughter #1 who's been visiting for awhile.

Stay safe and warm, wherever you are, and I wish you a wonderful, blessing-filled week!

Really Finished This Time

 I found a problem with the light fixture over the table (the tack that I used as a ceiling mount was poking through the upper floor) so I had to take it down to fix the problem. While it was down I decided to make it black to tie into the kitchen decor better. I also added a spacer bead to keep the tack from going all the way through the ceiling. I had to take the pot rack and light fixture over the island down to get to the back so I gave them a coat of black, too. The 'embossed' detail on the rack shows much more clearly with the solid black finish. Be sure to poke the photos so you can see the details.

 I changed the candle tray to a smaller one. That way the ottoman can still be used for feet, lol. My favorite thing on the ottoman, though, is the baby name lists and pen. There's a baby name book on the side table. The doll I ordered from HBS is the Houseworks Joy. She's pregnant. The little details like these are what makes a dollhouse feel lived in.

The bathroom got a small piece of art for the wall. I think there will be a shelf on the right wall over the tub. Where else will the shampoo and such go? ;-)

Have a blessed day, my friends!