Sneak Peak

It has been a while since I posted anything about the interior of Merriman Park. For good reason, too, since I haven't done much on the inside. But that hasn't stopped me from picking up a few sticks of furniture here and there!

This is the Entrance Hall, showing the fireplace and Palladian screen in the background with its supporting columns and pilasters from Labre. Here, I tacked up the crystal chandelier, which will eventually light up. Matching, working wall sconces hung over the pair of demi-lune tables will flank the door on the back wall. I've purchased one sconce and am waiting til they go on sale again before I get the other set. (They are not cheap)! I am debating whether the doors on the back walls will be "set" or "working." If they worked, I would have to add on an inch or two off the back of the house so there would be a glimpse of hall beyond the door. Details, details...

You can also see the Regency-style recamier (top pic) and pair of chairs flanking the fireplace. I plan on having working candles on the mantle, which is  from Sue Cook in England. A mirror will be set into the molding over the mantle.

For finishes, the floor will be black and white marble tiles laid in a checkered pattern on the diagonal. There will be a paneled wainscot around the entire room with a scenic wallpaper of ruined, classical architecture (which I have also already purchased from Chinoiserie in Spain. A dentil molding will circle the room end-to-end at ceiling height and also between the columns and pilasters on the Palladian screen. A plaster ceiling rose in the center of the room will mark where the chandelier will hang.

Condifential to cousin Tim:  Yes, I know right now the interior looks "minimal"!! 

Oh, balustrade is finished, too...

I forgot to mention that I finished the balustrade on the roof, including the urns and pedestals. The urns came from Scotland, and took FOREVER to arrive (on back order).

I finished priming everything yesterday --well, except the windows, which I'm still working on. They are such a bore to disassemble and paint but thankfully, I only have SEVEN left.

Speaking of thanks, hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. I, unfortunately, had to WORK, being a common, Retail Drone. The department store where I toil for a living is the last store on Earth that does not put up their Holiday Decorations before Halloween. The owners insist that nothing goes up til after Thanksgiving, so there I was, hanging from a cherry-picker, festive decor in hand, tacking it all up while the rest of yous all was gorging on turkey and pumpkin pie.

Whatevs, I came home afterward to a roast duck and all the trimmings so I should not complain!

Guess I should also be thankful I still have a job.

Update

So I guess it's been a while since I posted a photo of Merriman Park! There are not a whole lot of changes, as you can see, but I did manage to get the front primed. I changed out the pediments over the upstairs windows and I added keystones to all the lower-story and basement windows.

I really like the triangular pediments as opposed to the "curved" ones. They are more historically accurate, too.

Oh, I also finished the sections on the roof between the balustrades and the large, center pediment. I know there's a technical name for those sections but I can't remember what it is!

I think the house looks great all one color. (Even if it is just primer).

Now that the weather has changed and I've got a start I hope to be posting more often. Stay tuned...

It's Dollhouse Weather!

Surprisingly and rather strangely, Summer in Minnesota stretched languidly from the Dog-Days of August into September...and then into --October??? When the thermometer hit seventy degrees in November, tongues started to wag: "It's the End Times," I heard a lady on the train explain to no one in particular. She nodded as she spoke, her thin lips curled into a tight smile framed by precise, auburn curls. "Yah, I hope my husband gets the gutters cleaned before we're Raptured."

One overhears the oddest things on the train. (That reminds me, the gutters do need cleaning).

But in true, Minnesota fashion, the seventy-degree readings on one day turn to twenty the next. The gardens that til now had sprouted late, guady zinnias and ruffled, purple kale shriveled, gasped their last breath and withered. A cold, autumn rain turned to snow and buried everything under a thick, gloppy blanket.

This morning I rubbed my sleeve over the oval, beveled-glass window of my front door and peered outside.

I remember my Father doing the exact, same thing --only it was thirty years ago, on May first, May Day, his birthday. A late Winter storm had dropped an inch of snow on grass already turned green, the tulips in their neat bed peeking stoically through white frost.

"God damned, Minnesota Winters..." he muttered.

Ah, Winter! Winter in Minnesota. God only knows why any of us stay here. (BTW, my Father moved to Arizona shortly after the above incident). It's not that we don't adore the lovely changing of the seasons, or anything. I live for that! But, seriously! Winter here in Minnesota can go on FOREVER! Snow on the first of May? Really?

But when I rubbed the frost off my window this morning, I did NOT fly into a weather-induced tizzy. Au contraire! I tore open the door, took great breaths of frozen air into my lungs, realized it's NOT the End of the World! It's NOT May first, it's the end of November, for crying out loud! I pounded my chest and exclaiming to no one in particular (take that, religious train lady) I screamed "it's DOLLHOUSE weather!

And with that, I slammed the door and padded down the steps to my basement workshop and beheld the forlorn, cob-web draped image of my neglected Merriman Park.

Sorry!

It's been a busy, hectic summer and I'm afraid that I haven't worked much on Merriman Park. But I have been toiling on a rather major project for The Lilacs, my "real" house, which is a small bungalow built in 1908. We have always wanted to put in some sort of stone or brick patio out back, but have never been able to swing it, financially. But we finally decided to bite the bullet this Summer, so with great determination and spades in hand we broke ground around Memorial day.

The weather hasn't been very cooperative this season, either being pouring monsoon rains, or blistering heat with tropical humidity (or sometimes both)! So progress was slow, slow, slow! I thought we would NEV-AH complete the task. The job was made all the worse what with the dogs tracking in all the mud and sand. It quickly became impossible to walk across the hundred-year-old hardwood floors in ones bare feet. There was sand EVERYWHERE! Even in the bed. Gross.

Deciding on the type of pavers was not an easy decision either. We love the look of local Kasota limestone, but there was already a poured concrete sidewalk running through the property to deal with. Do we break it up and replace it as well? We opted to keep it ( I have always admired its gentle, meandering curve) and frankly, after the sheer horror of digging the hole and hauling away the seeming never-ending pile of soil for the main patio, tearing out all that concrete was simply NOT going to happen!

We then fell for vintage, granite cobblestones from the original horse-and-buggy-era streets of Minneapolis. A local salvage yard had mountains of them for sale and we liked the idea of reusing period-perfect materials from yesteryear. But these little beauties were sold strictly by the pre-packaged pallet and we were informed by the surly sales staff that 10% of the blocks were unusable because they had grooves carved into them to accommodate the street's antique trolley tracks. And no, they would not be interested in buying back the grooved cobbles, thank-you-very-much. Now what to do?

The answer came when we then found a modern facsimile at a local landscaping yard. These contemporary look-alikes not only mimicked their ye-olde counterparts, but also had the added advantage of being a standard size ( for easier installation) AND they were made from concrete --so they nicely complimented the existing path.

But Will We Ever Finish the Job?

So all that's left to do now is to pull out a few of the bricks and raise them up just a tad to level things out. (I don't think this is so necessary because personally, I like the charming, wavy effect but darling dearest INSISTS upon it being absolutely, PERFECTLY FLAT so I guess he put the kibosh on that idea). But believe you me, with a century old house, it will be the ONLY 100% flat surface. But what do I know ? Sheesh. Then, we have yet to sweep in the sand between the cracks hopefully BEFORE they fill themselves up with all the nasty refuse from the nearby heinous black walnut tree which I have been sworn to NEVER, EVER even mention removing, even though it's an evil, monstrous thing that could have been an actual prop from the original Poltergeist movie, and actually nearly murdered one of my poor, hapless, tow-headed nephews when the little nipper unwittingly toddled near its unholy clutches! KER-SPLAT!!! Landed a ghoulish-green, egg-sized walnut mere inches from little nephew's noggin. I tell you that tree is PURE EVIL, but it will IN NO WAY EVER COME DOWN, no not EVER so I might as well just drop it, right now --FORGET IT!

"Miniature" Ballgown --LOL!

OK, I know I'm pushing it --it's not really a miniature as in doll size. But this is the dress that I have been working on for about six weeks and yes! it is finally, at long last, complete!

I guess it probably doesn't look all that complicated but all those diamond shapes of my "updated harlequin" design are appliqued by hand. Each separate shape has grosgrain ribbon "stripes" sewn in rows, then I top-stitched a wider ribbon over everything to create the harlequin effect. Real, freshwater pearls are sewn where the ribbons intersect. (As always, you can click on the photo to get a closer look).

The party --or I should say parties-- are this weekend. I am also doing the decorations for all three events: a dinner after the Friday service, a luncheon after the Saturday service and then the Masquerade Ball on Saturday evening. I have already made up thirty-six planted arrangements in terracotta bowls for the luncheon and made table arrangements for the masquerade consisting of wig-forms with elaborate, feathered coiffures. They are pretty outrageous! I am making all-white, cut-flower arrangements for the dinner. I'll post pictures of everything next week. Then maybe I can get back to poor, neglected Merriman Park!

Update!

Merriman Park has sort of been put on the back burner, these days. I'm not gonna lie, the weather here in Minnesota has been way too glorious to stay cooped up in the basement with a giant, unfinished dollhouse! No, you don't understand! Spring usually sucks here in the Upper Midwest! We usually still have brown, crusty, leftover snow on the ground in April and we haven't had so much as a flurry since March first. It's INSANE! Not only have our ten-thousand lakes been unfrozen for ages but there are gaw-jess flowers blooming, people! The grass is green! I got sun burned, already! It's too surreal!!!

Also, my dollhouse project has been usurped by Project Runway. No, not the popular TV show, my own special, private project runway --I am making a party gown for my best friend's daughter who is turning thirteen and the theme for her Bat Mitzvah party is: Masquerade! The dress is a glittery confection of pink silk designed with an abstract harlequin pattern (thanks, Oscar de la Renta) embroidered from the fitted bodice to the bottom of its floor-length hem with iridescent fresh-water pearls. It's still just in pieces but I'll snap a pic if I can ever find the freakin' camera, which never seems to be in the same spot, ever!