New Camera!

Regular habitues of Merriman Park will no doubt clap their hands and rejoice that my old camera finally bit the dust.  Or should I say bit the sand --as in the powdery, fine beach sand from the islands of Hawaii, sand which found its way into the minute, inner-workings of said camera and left it utterly inoperable.  And I had just figured out (thanks, Irene, sweetie) how to snap a non-blurry photo with the blasted thing...

So I thought I would practice using the new camera by shooting a few pics of some of the very latest features I have recently acquired for Merriman Park.

Here are a pair of chairs I made from a vintage (1980) House of Miniatures kit.  (They're still under construction, so don't judge them too harshly)!  These will end up in the Entrance Hall once I finish them all up. They come two to a box and somehow even though I only have room for six I ended up with eight total!  Note to self: ebay plus cocktails equals too many chairs!  The olive-green, striped silk coverings arrived the other day in a batch with some other silks.  But more of that, anon.

The table in the background was an inexpensive piece I doctored up with a faux-walnut finish with gilt accents.  The top is a light stone effect and I added a mirrored back for extra sparkle.  Because there can never be enough sparkle, right?

These chinoiserie-style stands will go in the Drawing Room, flanking the door.  I love using black as an accent color!

The tops have little scenes painted on them!  How cool is that?  They will be placed in the very back of the room, so unfortunately you won't get to see the design very well...

The book and compote I think will add to the 'lived-in' feeling of the finished room.  That is of course IF it ever gets finished!  (Rest assured that I'm working on something better to put inside the dish --other than the balls of museum wax-- so don't read me)!

I think these griffin andirons will look great in the Drawing Room fireplace (and they would also make fab real life cuff links!  Bonus)!

They go so well with the console table I received from Glen for Christmas! 

I splurged a little on this tea set but that's what income tax refunds are for, right?  I guess some of these photos are a little blurry, but I'm still getting the hang of the new camera!  (Sorry, Pedrete)!

I would love to have a real tea table like this one from JBM!  Of course I don't drink tea that often, unless we're talking the Long Island Iced Tea variety! Ching-ching!

I think that's it for the Drawing Room...but here's a little sneaky peaky of some of the Dining Room features...

The wallpaper is a period  (1803) French pattern from Chinoiserie.  The fireplace is from Braxton Payne and the newly-arrived striped silk will be used in the buffet niche, and for the seat cushions and draperies.  I can't wait to use my Pretty Pleater, Ray!!! Pretty Pleater!  I just can't get over that name, LOL!  (Wasn't she a contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race)?

Slow Going

Lucky for me, I usually have weekends free at  my job at the Department Store where I work in Display.  But not this weekend.  We had a Major Fashion Event at the store today which required me to go in late last night after closing and set up a huge stage set and catwalk and seating for eight hundred.  Then I had to go back early this morning and tear it all down!  So there wasn't a whole lot of time to work on Merriman Park.

When I arrived home this morning my entire body was positively screaming for a little nap (and, I'm not going to lie, a Bloody Mary, too)!  But I foreswore those tempting diversions when I caught a glimpse of poor, neglected Merriman Park, sulking in its corner of the dining room and so, to work!

Here it is, under construction.  I just love my new bannister from Sue Cook Miniatures!  I added some bull-nose molding to the stair landing as per Giac and took Irene's advice and tarted up the stair runners with black marble.  In deference to Simon I thought the bannister splats should be highlighted here and there in gold, all the better to draw attention to the detail.

I'm trying so very hard to resist attaching the railing until it is completely dry!  Patience is not one of my virtues, I fear.  (But having to sand off my fingerprints once already may be deterrent enough!

t

In addition to the stair splats, I also picked up this keystone from Miss Sue.  The old keystone, I'm afraid, simply did not make the keystone cut.  This little beauty I also used on the facade of Merriman Park.  I personally love to have continuity between indoors and out, (especially in an Entrance Hall), and I thought this would be a subtle reference to the exterior.  Of course, the stair splats are the same as my exterior balcony, so maybe I am taking this concept too far?  As a matter of fact, I am toying with the idea of replacing my Entrance Hall chandelier with a hanging 'lantern'-style fixture.  I've noticed that this is appropriate to a Hall (thanks, Irene)!  but, try as I may, I can't seem to find a lantern that I like.  So for now, I guess I'm sticking with the chandelier!

Oil Paintings

I don't know what I was thinking the day I had to go to the dreaded Scrapbooking Store last week to purchase ceiling paper for the Entrance Hall ceiling of Merriman Park!  In my defense, I think my blood-sugar level was dangerously low that fateful morning, and I was clearly not in my right mind, else why on Earth would I agree to sign up for their e-mail specials?

But sign up I did, because now my in-box is absolutely inundated  with sale advertisements from the aforementioned establishment!  But since today they were running a 50%-off special on color photocopying, (and since I work at the self-same Mall as the Scrapbooking Store), I reluctantly returned there this afternoon to make duplicates of all the Entrance Hall 'works of art.' 

'Why make another harrowing trip to the Scrapbooking Store for copies of my artwork?' you might well ask.  And the answer is, gentle Reader, because I decided to take Ray's sage advice and paint over the images with Mod-Podge, in order to make everything look a little more like objet d'art and a little less like postcards from the Minneapolis Institute of Arts Gift Shop. 

I also meant to try Irene's method:  she prefers to print her images onto a linen-finished stock.  But the overly-pleasant, salesladies at the Scrapbooking Store  informed me that while they did have for sale a virtual array of linen-finished papers, their color photocopier could not possibly print on anything so exotic as that.  Apparently, color photocopiers in Scotland have it all over our  primitive, Yankee models! 

When I informed the chirpy salesladies that I guess I would just have to try a professional printers, they looked positively crestfallen! There was so much hand-fluttering at pearl chokers and nervous clearing of throats that I just didn't have the heart to walk out empty-handed...

So I purchased two copies of my Titian's (and assorted other artworks) and spent the early part of this evening dab, dab, dabbing them with the teensiest, tiniest of brushes.  In a moment of personal inspiration, I added a copious spritz of spray-shellac on top of everything.  The Final Effect:  Well, as the girls on RuPaul's Drag Race say, I am positively gagging on their eleganza!  Wish you could savor the difference but I'm afraid the subtleties are completely lost in the  photos!

Sorry, Irene!  I'll have to try your method again another day!

Confidential to Barb in Minnesota:  Never put off tomorrow what you can put off today, right?