Mother always said, "If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, --come sit next to me!"  No, wait.  That was Miss Clairee from Steel Magnolias who said that.  My mother used to say something about if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything.  OK not as witty as Miss Clairee, but good advice to live by nevertheless.

Guess that's why I haven't posted in a while...not much to report unless you want to hear the nitty-gritty details about my bout with the flu.  What's that you say, gentle Reader of Merriman Park?  Oh, that's what I thought...

These sconces sparkle more than a drag-queen on a Gay Pride float!

I did manage to get all the new crystal sconces hooked up --along with a second power strip!  Most of you, I understand, are going, "Whatever.  Big deal."  but you have to remember that this miniature electrical business is all marvelously new to me and I can't seem to touch so much as a grain of wheat bulb in this Brave, New World without causing a major black-out of epic proportions.  What can I say?  I'm the design-guy, and definitely not the tech-y guy!

I have to admit, I was just a trifle worried that having six double, crystal sconces in a 14 X 16 room might be just a tad bit of an overkill.  But now that they're all fired up I really like the repetition and it sort of makes the room seem --bigger, I dunno why--  maybe because they take your eye around the room?  God knows I'm a sucker for anything that sparkles  --if I wasn't a magpie in a previous existence, I most-certainly will come back as one in the next.  And you know my motto: "it's not done, until it's over-done!"

I also fired up my father's rusty, old, power miter box, which is positively ancient and I think it just might be one of the very first power miter boxes ever produced, which practically makes it an antique.  How I've managed to use it thus far without losing a finger or two (it has no guard)! is only proof-positive that something Divine is watching out for me. (I do mutter a little prayer each time before pressing the 'on' button), so high-five, ye Spirits who tend 'pon Mortal Thoughts!

Anyway, I needed the miter box to cut the resin crown molding, which I find almost impossible to saw by hand.  The saw blade heats the resin up to near-molten temperatures and there's such a gooey mess!  (And not in a good way). My father's Medieval behemoth made quick work of the resin molding but left a virtual blizzard of white shavings across the kitchen table and floor this morning:  it was like walkin' in a Winter Wonderland!  

Of COURSE I came up just a few inches shy of being able to finish the crown molding!  So now I'll have to order another piece...and then wait for it to come...and you know the drill....

Most of the baseboard (skirting) is in --no small feat!  Between all the corners around the six pilasters,  the niches, the fireplace chase, etc there were over fifty cuts to make --mostly compound miters.  Ugh!

Well, I told you there wasn't much to report on the Merriman Park front!  However, in other news, the miniatures blogosphere is positively a-twitter with recent exciting goings-on!  Simon at Miniature Enthusiast with his fabulous real-estate coups, Andy over at dollshouses and miniatures with his top-secret shenanigans, and Pedrete at ¡Hoy puede ser un gran dia! with his Chippendale Strippers I mean furniture...it all makes life here in li'l ol' Minneapolis seem absolutely duller than dishwater!

Have a great week!

Drawing Room ReDux

Hope I'm not mixing too many Orders!

Still working on refining the plans for the Drawing Room.  I found a similar cornice that Thomas Jefferson used in his own house, Monticello, and I think it is appropriate here in Merriman Park.  It features a favorite motif of Jefferson's: the ox skull(!) interchanged with a rosette medallion.  I think the ox skulls are just  too butch for words.

I'm also still stewing on how to fabricate the niches on the back wall.  They are quite a bit larger than what I can find commercially available and I have resolved to attempt to create more of my own components in the other rooms.  I suppose that I could break down and buy the smaller-sized niches.  Problem solved, right?  But I really like the larger scale of the ones in my sketches! 

(I have a fab surround from Sue Cook for the door).

 I figure, if I fail at the niches, I can always just fill the arches with mirrors!  That might be pretty awesome!  I am for sure going to put a mirror over the fireplace mantle.  Oh, I just noticed I forgot to pencil in the sconces on the pilasters.  Ooops!

This room is starting to remind me of one of the 'period rooms' at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.  That room , I recall was a Music Room from a grand house in Paris.  The walls were painted cream and all the moldings were gilded.  And it really has arched mirrors in all the corners, too!  Spooky!

Definitely going to put another corridor beyond the door opening!

 I'm not yet sure what colors I will end up using in this space, but there is plenty of time before I have to worry about that.  What do you think?   I know that a parquet wood floor would look stunning in a room like this, don't you agree? 

Anyway, back to the niches...Mirrors would be lovely, but right now I have my heart set on niches with statuary!  We're talking Roman gods & goddesses!  Thanks to everyone for your great suggestions on how to pull off the curved and rounded tops of the recesses.  Andy mentioned papier-mache and that is something I have worked with in the past.  I've never been very good at getting a smooth finish with papier-mache.  Here's a puppet head I made a few years ago out of the stuff:

Mr. Punch!

See how the surface is rippled from the layers of paper?  I just don't like that!  (Guess that's why I abandoned this project!

I made the head by sculpting it with clay and then papering it over the clay and then slicing the papier-mache, removed the clay and re-joined the halves.

Probably should have made a cast of the clay head and papier-machied the inside of the cast.  Anyway, if I attempt this technique on the niches, that's how I'll do it.

Guess I can always go back to the mirrors if the niches don't turn out!

Funny thing is that Thomas Jefferson has two similar niches in his Drawing Room at Monticello.  But while he was stationed in Paris as the new American Ambassador, he purchased two matching pier mirrors and sent them (along with a whole warehouse full of French furniture) and where do you think he hung his brand-new Paris mirrors?

That's right --he hung them over the niches and covered them up completely!

Isn't that rather ironic?

Addendum:  OK, after I posted this, there was something nagging me and I think it's that the cornice and the pillar capitals don't really go together.  I don't want the neighbors of Merriman Park to titter behind their fans that I mixed Doric and Corinthian Orders in my principal room!  So I am going to use the Thomas Jefferson cornice in the Library and chose a more apropos cornice for the Drawing Room, which, by the way, seems to be morphing into the Music Room.  Opinions?

Confidential to Karin Corbin:  W.W.K.C.D?