Bedroom --the beginning

Hello there, remember me?  So sorry to have neglected you, darlings, but we have been dealing with some 'real life' issues around here...thus, the long absence.  I'm trying ever so hard to get caught up on all your blogs so please bear with me!  And I'd like to welcome my new followers and send a big thank you to Tina from Just A Small Thing, who wrote the absolutely sweetest things about me recently on her weekly blog focus.  Really, I'm still blushing --and pink is definitely not my color! Check out her blog for yourself.

I fear I have done hardly a thing on my latest --and last--  room. Yes, you read that right: I am on the very last room of Merriman Park!  This will be the Master Bedroom. 

It's been a long haul.  And coming to my last (but not least) room stirs up some mixed feelings.  Of course I am completely thrilled to finally draw this project to a conclusion...after all, it's been three years in the making.  Oh, how I must cover my lips with my hand and suppress a wry titter, as I recall believing way back then (when Merriman Park was but only a rough sketch on the back of a paper napkin) that I would have the entire house finished by the end of that first winter!

The sketch that started it all...

Well, we all know how that naive notion turned out!  ...But while I am happy to finally be galloping toward the finish line, I have to admit the idea of completing Merriman Park makes me just a little --sad.   

Ugh, lets not go down that road, shall we? 

I have ordered many of the new components for the bedroom and they are now finally starting to trickle in.  Today the fireplace mantle showed up from Braxton Payne Miniatures.  It's pictured leaning against the wall in the first photo (above). I chose a simple design that seemed appropriate to a bedroom and I like it much more than I had anticipated.  The detail is very fine.

The wallpaper came a few days ago after being on back-order for a whole month!  I was afraid I might have to chose another pattern but I'm glad it finally showed up.  I lovz me some toile de jouy!  

I thought that, since this is my last room and since people seem to enjoy seeing how I put things together as much as seeing the 'finished product,' I would show my working process from start to finish.  So her is the blank room, just waiting for a few more bits and pieces to arrive and then we can get started...

Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you all have a great week!



 

The Reveal

I just spent a lovely, snowy, three-day weekend working on the finishing touches of the Library.

I had hoped for a sunny day to take the photographs, but if I waited for that I'm afraid it might be May or even June before you see any!  I'll eventually have my photographer friend over to snap a few decent shots but until then you will have to put up with mine.

One of my favorite new additions is the red-shaded lamp on the desk which I picked up at the local dollhouse shop, Little Enchantments. It throws just enough light to catch the desk's painted detail.  The built-in bookshelves are all filled with books and objet d'art.  I'm afraid I did not make the books --they are all bought-- but I did add a little gilding to their spines with a gold pen.  Eventually, I would like to have books that have printed pages, but for now, these will do...

I also 'color blocked' the books and think they look neater than when I had them just thrown in willy-nilly.  Not sure if they would have hung a little painting on the shelves like this, but I happen to like that effect --so there!  I received the little steps from New England Miniatures right before I got sick a couple months ago and sort of forgot about them.  But here they are!  Hey --check out the gold piping on the back of the chair!  I made the piping from embroidery floss on my Krazy Cords toy!  (Thanks for the tip, Catherine)!

Here's a shot of the fireplace side.  I have a lamp shining through the windows because it's so terribly gloomy outside in real life...but it's always sunny at Merriman Park!

Still having 'issues' with these chandeliers (grrr)! & I may replace them!

I added a fire in the grate of my Braxton Payne fireplace.  A fire in the Library is always so cozy, don't you think?  I was going to place an ormolu clock on the mantel but I figured with the grandfather clock standing just a few feet away it might be a little redundant, so I placed some tulips there instead. A touch of spring in the dead of winter.  Wish you could better make out the figurines on the mantel shelf.  They're 'vintage Japanese' totchkes I found on Ebay.

Now, I have to show you a closer view of the portrait hanging over the fireplace:

Mrs. Nathaniel Allen (1763) by John Singleton Copley

No doubt Mrs. Nathaniel Allen would have been labeled 'a handsome woman' in her day.  Her curious, life-sized portrait hangs in the Minneapolis Institute of Art and remains one of my favorites, perhaps because she is the very image of my friend, John Brewer. 

Mrs. Nathaniel Allen 1763, or Mr. John Brewer 2013? 

To the best of my knowledge, my friend John does not have a secret penchant for eighteenth-century drag.  His family came to this country in the nineteenth-century by way of Germany and Norway, so there is scant chance that he had an ancestor who frequented molly bars in ye-olde Colonial Boston.

And yet...there hangs this portrait...his portrait? Hmmmm...

I shrunk down an image of Mrs. Nathaniel Allen --(or my friend, John)-- whoever it is!  Anyway, I shrunk it down and over-painted it with Mod Podge, using a tiny brush and trying to mimic the same strokes as the artist.  Once dry and framed, it is difficult to tell that it is not a 'real' miniature oil painting that cost hundreds!  (Thanks, Ray, for the tip)!

I like how the painting's cool tones bring the similar colors of the hallway beyond the doorway into the room.

Well, I do hope you like the Library.  Of course, there are a few more odds and ends I would like to add here and there but you know how it is...is a dollhouse room ever completely finished?

Have a great week, everybody!

Curtains & Crown Molding

The thing I most love about this hobby is that one minute you're shooting sawdust everywhere and generally making a huge mess and the next minute your working with sumptuous, silk fabrics!  First of all, here are my 'finished' curtains:

I ran back to the bead store and picked up some brass jump rings, which are the perfect thing for hanging miniature drapes!  They're simply stitched on to the pleats.  There were a few tense moments trying to finagle the rods through the tiny eyelets and around the fireplace chase, but thankfully, it all worked out in the end. (I have to run some more starch through the curtain fringe --it's sticking out a little, LOL!

In front of the window is the sweetest little globe I received for Christmas --thanks, Greg! I LOVE it!  It came from Masters Miniatures in England.

As you can see in the above photo, I STILL have not installed the crown molding.  Someone asked me this week how you cut the pieces of molding to fit the corners and so I thought I'd show you, before they are all glued in.

First of all, I always mark my crown molding with little 'X's across the top side, which will butt against the ceiling.  It's very easy to get mixed-up because sometimes the molding looks pretty much the same up-side-down as right-side-up! And it is quite upsetting if you cut your molding up-side-down when you only have enough to go around the room once, with no mistakes. (Not that that EVER happens to me)!

I always start with the 'back' wall of the room.  This happens to be the easiest  --just measure the length of the wall and cut your molding to match.  Use straight (ninety degree) cuts. (above) You can make the cuts with a miniature miter box if your molding is wood and less than a half inch thick.  My molding is a little thicker than that (and it also is made from cast resin), so I used a normal-sized, power miter box just to speed things up a tad.

Next, we'll make the first corner cut.  For this cut, you need a coping saw. (below) You can pick one up at any hardware store and they're not too expensive.  Make sure you get some extra blades!

 It might help before we continue if I first show you the next cut.  This is how the corner joint will fit: (below)

 See how the angled edge will fit on top of the other piece, like a little puzzle? (above) Here's how to do it...

With a pencil, trace the outline of your molding onto the corner. (above) This is your cutting line.  You can use your miter box to remove the section up to the pencil line.  Then use the coping saw to remove the small bits up to the line.

Here's how the corner fits together.  (above) You can fine-tune the joint with a small file or sandpaper.  Any small gaps can be filled with Spackle, gesso or wood putty.

Make the other corner of your room the same as above.  If you have any 'bump-outs,' such as a fireplace chase, the corners are made by making two, forty-five degree cuts on the miter box: (below)

TIPS:

When cutting resin molding by hand, take your time:  the heat generated by the moving blade will start to 'melt' the resin and gum up your saw.

Do not try to make the 'coped cuts' in one pass.  Remove small pieces at a time until you meet up to the penciled line.

Buy extra molding in case you make a mistake!

Some of the fancier moldings (such as Sue Cook's) can be purchased with pre-formed corners.


And that, my dears, concludes our little lesson du jour!  (I hope it helped, Gwendolyn)...  Next time, I promise to have the crown molding glued into place!  But before I sign off, I wanted to thank everyone again for your kind words regarding my recent ghastly run-in with the shingles virus!  I am happy to report that all is well and I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am for all your thoughtful, well-wishes! 

Library Progress

Work on the Library came pretty much to a complete stand-still while I was ill, but here I am again, faithful Readers, back from the dead,  fifteen pounds lighter and raring to go!  I even felt inspired enough this weekend to reupholster some chairs I received from Santa, as well as re-doing my aforementioned recamier.

The set of chairs are part of the Thomas Jefferson Monticello Collection and were originally covered in red "silk" (polyester).  Fortunately, when I purchased my wallpaper from Chinoiseries Miniatures a while back I also snapped up the matching fabric in 'real' silk.  Of course, I want to pipe the edges a la 'Krazy Kords' Catherine, but I haven't gotten around to that, yet!

The recamier I decided to re-do in a gold/red stripe from Renaissance Fabrics. (I think the fabric cost more than the sofa but it was well-worth it).

The curtains are made of the same stripe-y fabric.  So once again out came the fabulous Pretty Pleater!  I know that some of you have in the past  poo-pooed the Pretty Pleater, but I personally LOVE it!  Not only does the name itself make me titter like a little school-girl, but I find it so easy to work with.  And if you remove your curtains from the handy-dandy, Pretty Pleater apparatus while they are still a little damp and block your fabric on foam board, the results are a lot less 'tortured'-looking. 

Once complete, the curtains will hang from brass rings on a matching rod...but I seem to have misplaced the tiny hoops...oops! Back to the bead store!   I will then be able to finally glue all my wall panels in permanently. It seems that I cut my poor, neglected crown moldings ages ago and at long last I will be able to dust them off and officially install them!

I copied the design of the curtain pelmets from a photo I found on the internet...don't you love the fringe?  I made it from a gold ribbon --thanks to the advice of fellow blogger Jeffry-- just sliced a ribbon lengthwise in two and pulled out enough threads to form the fringe.  How easy is that?  (Thanks, Jeffry)!  I am trying to train the fringe to hang downward by combing them with a little starch on my fingertips.

Santa brought me the delightful desk and chair, as well as the grandfather clock and the library steps. I also am receiving a beautiful globe from Master's Miniatures (thanks, Greg)! which is still en route from England.  I have a pretty mirror on order that will eventually hang over the desk.  Really, all I need to fill out the room are some desk accoutrements and a few other odds and ends...

My favorite Christmas gift of all was a new harp for the Music Room!  Ain't she purdy? I can't believe all the little strings it has! I think I might pick out some of the harp's carving in gold, what do you think? 

I take that back...my absolute favorite Christmas gift of all was not going blind in one eye!  That little episode was kind of --scary-- I guess you'd call it...but I want to thank all of you who wrote or phoned with your best wishes.  It was very kind of you to go out of your way, (especially this busy time of year), to check up on li'l ol' me.  Now that I'm getting my mojo back, I look forward to catching up with all of you and all of your blogs...

Best Wishes for a healthy, prosperous and fierce 2013!

XO,
John

Technical Difficulties

We are experiencing some technical difficulties here at Merriman Park involving a nasty virus and your intrepid reporter's right eyeball.  Needless to say, it's become rather unpleasant to try to do any computer work much less perform the subtle intricacies of miniatures!  So I'm afraid I must go MIA for the time being. 

Fear not, faithful Readers!  It will take more than a bout of temporary blindness to keep this bitch down! 

I look forward to catching up with everyone's blogs at a later date...til then, hope you all have a lovely holiday season!

Forward & Backward

Whew!  It seems as if Halloween was just a few short days ago and here it is almost Thanksgiving!  If you're worried that I'm going to torture you with another Top-Ten List of Pilgrim Dolls, fear not, beleaguered Readers, I shan't go there!  My Library is coming along, however slowly...ugh! it's a long story but let me fill you in on what I've managed to accomplish.

First of all, I'm hooking up the lights and chandeliers.  This is never an easy task for me and it inevitably   involves lots of colorful cursing from your intrepid reporter as I fumble to hold onto those damned brass pins!

I decided the Library would have two chandeliers centered on the bookshelves.  I'm not quite ready to build my own fixtures from jewelry findings --yet!  (Some day, perhaps...) But to save a little ching, I revamped some 'stock' fixtures.

So here's one of the little chandeliers I picked up.  It has tiny, gold chains you can just make out in my horrid photo.  I removed these chains and replaced them with strands of glittering Swarovski crystal beads, which I think are much more glam than gold chain, don't you think?

There were extra beads so I added swags of them between the arms of the fixture --because a chandelier can never be too sparkly, right?

Here they are, sort of  semi-installed.  I accidentally broke one of the bulbs because I thought they were bi-pin and --duh!-- they are actually a screw-in type bulb and so instead of screwing the bulb in tighter when it turned itself off I fiddled with it and now I think the glass part of the bulb broke off from the little metal socket part.  UGH!  NOW how am I going to get it out??? 

So this is the sofa I have picked out...I had made a Chippendale-style camel back number from a kit and it turned out pretty well, but it just seemed a little --I don't know-- stodgy.  My original plan was to make the Library a little old-fashioned, done up in an earlier Georgian style but when I put this sexy Recamier in place I was smitten! 

Of course that means I have to go back to the drawing board on all the other furnishings and even the curtains I painstakingly Pretty-Pleated will have to be re-vamped, I'm afraid...but oh well, it's not a race, right?

Hey...if I don't see you, have a lovely Thanksgiving holiday to all the American miniaturists out there in blogland...here's my favorite Thanksgiving clip (only a teensy bit scary, I promise)!

Library Shelves

Finally, my Library components arrived in the mail today and I am able to get busy!  Here are my door surrounds which I am using to frame my built-in shelving. I even got a few books today, too! All I have left to do is glue everything down and fill the gaps with gesso and then touch up the paint.

Here's how the shelving started out:

Shelves are probably one of the easiest things to build, furniture-wise.  You just decide what size you want them to be --in my case, the size of the door surround, and build the little box. 

As an afterthought, I decided to do a mahogany finish on my shelves.  It would have been so much easier if I had finished the wood before assembly!  Oops!  At least I did not glue the back on, yet!

Here it is with the back and the decorative frame.  That's the same skirting molding on the bottom which matches the same on the wainscot.

Here's the doorway, I'm giving the door the same mahogany treatment as the shelves...

And finally, here is the fireplace wall with my Braxton Payne 'Adam' mantlepiece.  Yesterday all my 'glowing embers' --also custom-made for my narrow hearths by Braxton-- arrived in the post, so I'll be busy retro-wiring those into all the other finished rooms!

Pretty soon I will be able to install the Library walls!  Got to break out the Pretty Pleater first and whip up some curtains...

That's about it for now...just wanted to thank everyone for their comments on my Halloween Top-Ten Scariest Dolls list...sorry if some of them have given you nightmares!  But that reminds me:


SCARE-IFIC DOLL #5:  Ideal's Tuesday Taylor!

AND her big sister, Tiffany Taylor...  I only have them on the list because when I was about twelve or  thirteen years old I tried to switch up Tuesday Taylor's hair from blond to brunette or, more likely --the other way around-- and her entire, bi-colored scalp twirled off in my hand!  And it wasn't even my own sister's Tuesday Taylor...it was my best friend's sister's Tuesday Taylor!  ...If it had been one of my sister's Tuesday Taylors, I would have just LOL'd, but I was at my friend's house, it was his sister's Tuesday Taylor and I was completely horrified!  ("Dude...why you playing with my sister's doll?")  I tried oh god how I tried to snap the scalp back onto the infernal Tuesday Taylor noggin but it simply would not go on!  So I shoved the entire, tired mess under the sofa cushion, lock, stock and miniature Cruella DeVille scalp. Poor Tuesday 'is today' Taylor...she looks decidedly un-groovy --and dare I say scare-ific-- without the top of her head. :)