I finished the bench this morning. I love how Sonya's little beach bag and sandals look there! Thanks again Sonya! :D
This staircase project has taken me two weeks and it's not finished yet! I still need to complete the landing and make the handrails. Excuse for today. I need another wooden dowel to do that...
I'm starting to get tired of working on this, but I'm determined to finish before I start anything else!
You heard me, right? "I'm not going to start anything else." So don't distract me, okay? :D
Hope you have a beautiful Sunday!
Please welcome MiniMe as my 250th follower! She is just starting out in this wonderful world of miniatures! Her first project is to build a little bookstore. I'm sure it's going to be great! Thank you to everyone who reads and follows my blog. I'm so bad about welcomes but I really do appreciate each one of you!
Today's little project is making a built-in bench for under the staircase. Here's what I've done so far.
I hurt my back earlier this week so bending and stooping and sticking my head inside my dollhouse just wasn't happening! I'm feeling better today so I thought I would do some more remodeling. :D
This will go under the staircase by the front door. I think it will be a nice little place to sit down and brush the sand off your feet. Sandy feet are welcome in my house!
I'm making some baskets to go in the cubbies. I just covered some cardstock with fabric, folded them, then glued them to another piece of cardstock. When the glue is dry I'll cut them off the card.
I still need to paint and glue the dividers under the bench. I thought it would be easier to paint first and then glue, At least this time. I don't usually do that. Hope it works.
I'm going to make a cushion for the bench too. I'll show you more later.
Hope you had a good day today. We finally got some rain! Great weather for mini-making!
I've been watching Real Good Toys build their new Bungalowon Facebook. Today they showed the front porch and some of the furniture they have planned for the house.
I've always loved a Craftsman style bungalow. This dollhouse is the closest one I've seen to the real thing you see below.
My house in Florida was built in 1920 and had many of the Craftsman features. I agonized for months over exterior colors. I finally chose the aqua and teal that you see below. The trim looks white in the photo but it was really a cream color.
Sadly, all of the interior woodwork was painted. I had planned to strip the paint but there were at least 8 layers! The one little portion I did manage to clean off revealed REAL red oak! Even the rafters in the attic were solid oak. No wonder it stood the test of hurricanes and time!
My house had 21 windows all on one story! I know because I cleaned and painted them all! They were three over one windows with the original wavy glass. Just beautiful!
I've saved my collection of American Bungalow magazines. I'm not sure why I saved them except that I thought "maybe" I could use them again? :D
I've saved the American Tradition historic paint colors brochures. I've saved the catalog with handmade tiles. I saved all of my This Old House Magazines too. (No wonder my house is such a mess!) If I could built my old house in miniature I wouldn't make the mistake of painting the wood trim. I wouldn't use Victorian furniture either. I would decorate it in the true period style.
I would add tile and stained glass and all of the other wonderful details that make a Craftsman Bungalow so beautiful. I would make my own mission style furniture and linens and...
Not a great photo but at least you can see some progress made!
I used up all of my printer ink trying to get the mural the right size! It's still about a half inch too short. I would like it to meet the top of the landing? I tried a piece of chair rail there but that didn't look quite right.
I want to add some trim to the side of the landing and on the front edge of the first step.
I added a wall under the stairs facing the front door. I can't turn the house around to show you now but it looks great! There might be enough space under the stairs for a little desk?
Okay. So I've spent my entire weekend working on my staircase project. The landing is built and painted three times. First it was white, then green, now it is white again. The staircase is painted and the floor treads repaired. The trim is measured and painted. Once. White. It's not installed. Just painted.
I need to seal the "art" on the stair risers and put some finish on the stair treads. Spray sealer and clear satin varnish are sitting on my kitchen counter while paint dries.
I built another wall to close off the underneath part of the stairs. I measured and cut and stuck my head in the house to see if it was going to look alright. I think it will be fine.
I thought about maybe putting a desk and shelves under there? I thought about what to put on the side of the wall that faces the front door. I looked at mirrors, paintings, wallpaper and welcome signs. So far all I've done is paint the wall. Twice. Once green and then white again.
I've got baseboard and trim painted. I've tried several different ideas for the side of the landing. None of them seemed quite right. I tried wallpaper, paint and molding and wainscoting. Right now it is just painted. White. I stuck a plant next to it to see how that would look.
I thought about handrails, rope pilings and balusters. I tried weathering some wooden dowels. I painted some white. I dug through my wooden beads to see if I had something I could use. No balusters or handrails so far. Just a pile of ideas on my desk.
Then I remembered a staircase I liked that had cleat hitches to secure rope for the railings. I dug around in my bead findings and found some that would work. I couldn't figure out how to attach the rope so I searched for a video to help me.
This is the one I found:
If you get this, please come over and help me!
So you see nothing of my progress on the stairs this weekend. At least you know I've been thinking about it! I'm wondering if this will ever come together?! I'm thinking that it's making me crazy!
Hope you had a good weekend. I don't feel like I got anything accomplished!
I found this brass bed on Ebay and just had to have it. I've never seen another one like it. Isn't it pretty!?
I received my palm tree fabric the same day. Looks like they were made for each other?
The box the bed came in says it is 1:12 scale but if it is, it's a king size bed! It is 4" x 6" but to me it looks larger. I think it will be perfect for the Flamingo Inn.
I've been working on my new staircase and landing all day. I wish I had paid more attention in geometry class!
I got distracted from building and "painted" some art on the stairs after I saw this image at Coastal Living.
I'm still trying to figure out the landing. It's not as easy as it looks! Trying to get it all level and plumb and the angles correct has become a real challenge! I wish I had four hands!
What can you use to seal balsa wood so it won't warp? I've found that paint soaks in and raises the grain of the wood too. I would like to avoid that also.
Here is what I've done so far with the stairs. It is all just held together with painter's tape for now. Once I get all of the measurements correct I'll make the new landing from wood.
I just made one little post for the stair railing. I want them to look like rope pilings. I found out how to secure the rope at Ehow.com.
I may have told you before, but my mother was an artist. She really enjoyed going to art shows, collecting art and creating her own beautiful paintings. Mother had lots of "artsy" friends too. One of them was Phil Capen.
Phil's watercolors have been shown in some of the most prestigious galleries, public places and in private collections. He used to teach watercolor classes too. Mother took several of his classes and I remember her talking about him with the highest admiration. If you visit his website you can see some of his work.
I happened to find some note cards that mother bought at one of Phil's shows. They are a bit faded and worn around the edges but still beautiful. This one will become the mural for my beach house living room!
Here is what the wall looked like when I bought the house. I removed the wallpaper and painted but it still looked like it needed something special.
Here is what it will look like with the mural in place. I scanned the card then re-sized it to fit the space. I think it's going to look amazing?!
Right now it is just printed on paper and propped up so I could see how it might look.
I'm thinking about reworking the stairs and making an angle at the bottom with a landing. There is still much to do! I may add something under the stairs too? Like a built-in closet or something?
Hope you like my mural and perhaps find a treasure that you can use in YOUR dollhouse!
Have you seen Erin's post today over at House of Turquoise? She has posted some amazing rooms just filled with ideas for a dollhouse! I like this photo.
I just ordered a fat quarter of this fabric for my new dollhouse. The print is a bit large but I think it will work?
Guess where I found it?! The Seam Shoppe in Key West! Perfect.
I need to quit shopping and get back to cleaning up my workroom. But first I'm going to go get some storage containers for my paper, paint and flower making supplies. Right now everything is all over the place and I have no room to work!
Hope you are having fun today!
PS. Casey sent me hundreds of great little flower punched shapes! Can't wait to make more flowers! Thanks again Casey!
My dear cousin, Becky took this photo at the beach recently. I just had to put it up on my blog! Thanks Becky!
Becky is a jewelry artist and instructor. Check out her website!
Becky is encouraging me to try clay again. I think I'll leave that to Becky and all of you amazing clay artists out there!
I'm cleaning house and doing laundry today. My new dollhouse is calling me though. I really want to paint it and add the new windows and door. I have the new second floor porch railing and stairs to install too...
My second orange tree will just have to wait a while. Thanks for all of your sweet comments!
I just discovered that the white paper from a purchase receipt makes the prettiest little white flowers for my orange tree! These are real oranges and flowers. I'm just a copycat! LOL
I'm off to work now but I hope to finish my tree tomorrow?
I found these little jars on Ebay by one of my favorite sellers, Beautifully Handmade. I think they will make cute little candle jars?
Then I did a GOOGLE search for "free printable labels" and found these!
I'm hoping to use them for my little jars when they arrive. I'm planning to pour real wax into the jars with a little wick so they can be lit, just like real candles. :D These are free votive candle wraps from Paper Crave.They might make cute little labels, or maybe flower pots or pitchers? Love the colors!
I really wish I could find out who made the cute little jar candles I saw on someone's blog last year? They were really great!
I'm spending too much time gathering ideas and not making minis but I hope to have something to show you soon. Hope you have a beautiful day!
I did some online shopping this morning. I haven't purchased anything yet but if you click this link you will see my "wish list" at eQuilter.com.
I'm looking for fabrics for the Flamingo Bed and Breakfast. I think these fabrics would be great!?
Just looking right now. I still have to remodel, paint and wallpaper the house first!
It's fun to look around and see what is available. If you haven't checked eQuilter, you should. You can purchase as little as 1/4 yard. Beware though. You might be there for hours!
Here are my first three sunflowers. They are about 1/2 inch in diameter.
I used brown felt sprinkled with "dollhouse dirt" (dried coffee grounds) for the center of the flowers. When the glue was dry I cut out little circles.
The flower in the center of the photo above was made by cutting two circles from yellow painted paper. I cut some pointed petals and then glued the center on top of the flower. I think I like that one best?
The other two were made by gluing each tiny petal to the back of the center one by one. Not an easy task!
This staircase project has taken me two weeks and it's not finished yet! I still need to complete the landing and make the handrails. Excuse for today. I need another wooden dowel to do that...
