A lucky find

I found this fountain for $1 at Goodwill today. No water and "snow" around the base - I think it's meant to be part of a Christmas village.
I've been wanting to make a rooftop garden on my Victorian townhouse for a long time. This fountain is a good start.I used fishing line to make the water dripping down on each level and added clear dimensional glaze to the basins and down the fishing line. It looks like water is flowing now. :) I painted over the snow, added tea "dirt" and planted some tiny ferns around the base. Next step will be making some furniture and potted plants.

At home in the parlor

Good morning! Just a quick update to show you all how the sewing table looks in its new home in the Petite Dreams parlor. The table in my book, Decorative Dollhouses by Caroline Hamilton, has a lot of painted gold accents but I think I like mine plain black. What do you all think?

Ceiling roses and tin ceiling tiles

On one of my mini forums today there was a discussion about ceiling roses for dollhouses. This photo is a picture of my real size kitchen ceiling. It's finished with a textured wallpaper that I painted to resemble tin tiles. The leftovers have been very useful for minis.
I cut out lots of the little square motifs and painted them to make a tin ceiling for my Petite Dreams Victorian kitchen. I've also cut around the larger border of the square and left them white for my other Victorian kitchen.
I kept the design simple for the bedrooms. This one has just the floral motif left white.
The parlor and dining rooms call for more extravagent ceilings. Here in the parlor I cut out the entire floral motif, including the border. I added corner pieces to the ceiling corners and added gold "leafing" to the central rose.
In the dining room I cut around the first border of the large floral motif and added corners and smaller flowers to the ceiling corners. I again added the gold leaf effect to the central rose.

I've still got lots of this wallpaper leftover. I've used the paper intact to make cove plaster ceilings in some roomboxes, too. I think the investment of one roll would be well worth it if you like more elaborate ceiling detail in your dollhouses.

A comparison shot

I just thought I'd show my quarter scale townhouse with the 1:12 townhouse. Both of these are Victorian. I don't usually do Victorian but it was fun to do the two one inch scale houses and this little one, too.

More from the Victorian houses

These top two photos are from the Victorian Cottage Jr. I made the bed, quilt, washstand and one of the bedside tables. The rug was printed onto a T shirt transfer and then ironed onto Aida cloth. The rugs in the parlor were made the same way. All of the photos in this room are ancestors or living relatives of either my husband or me. I made the chandelier, sofa, wing chair, table, and fern. The dining set was made from a Chrysbon kit and the black chair at the front right started life as an inexpensive import. I painted and reupholstered it.

This is the Petite Dreams parlor. I made all of the furniture in here, including the fireplace. The burgundy drapes are made of velvet scrapbook paper. It's very easy to get nice pleats - just accordian fold. The stair carpet is embroidered ribbon.

Emma and Richard in the master bedroom. I made the bed and fireplace. The hanging lantern is based on a lantern photo I found online. The "plaster" ceiling rose is an element cut from my real size kitchen ceiling paper. The dresser and vanity are refinished Dollar Tree purchases.

The kitchen tin ceiling is made of another element cut from my real kitchen paper and then painted silver. The floor and wainscot are both printed from the internet. The cook stove started life as a Spam tin. The sink was made from a Vaseline lid with hardware added. The cook is hard at work at a table I made from scratch and aged. I also made the chair at the front right.

I made most of the dishes in the hutch and the food throughout the kitchen. The best thing about miniatures is that you really have no excuse to be bored - there's always something different to try!

Victorian times

Many miniaturists' first project is a Victorian dollhouse. Not so with me. My first three houses were all contemporary and I had no interest in doing a period dollhouse. However, after that third house and the birth of my third child, I had little time for minis for several years. About 5 years ago, my husband bought me a Real Good Toys Victorian Cottage Jr. for Christmas. I decided that it would be fun to try a Victorian house and so it began. The next Christmas, I got a Petite Dreams house kit. It's very similar to the RGT Allison Jr. but reversed. It is prefinished on the exterior and I left it the original blue but added touches of darker blue for accents. I also made the dolls for both houses (except for the baby - she's a Renwal doll). Emma and Richard and their two children live in the big house and Emma's parents live in the cottage next door. Both houses have staff as well. Maria is the cook/housekeeper at the cottage. Emma has a cook, a nanny, a butler and two maids. I made or refinished most of the furniture in the two houses. I really enjoy figuring out how to make something out of bits I have on hand. That challenge is my favorite part of the miniatures hobby. These photos are all of the Petite Dreams house.