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Furnishing!!!
Hi all! I have spent quite a bit of time tidying stuff up and now I've begun to furnish the rooms! Because the kids attic bedroom is so small - despite my adding on to it, I wanted to build 'built in' beds. Well I am absolutely thrilled with how well they have turned out! I have started to work on the rest of the attic also. It's going to be Val's space for crafting and for apothecary stuff. Beginning to really enjoy this process!
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So many ideas....
I was looking through Pinterest the other night looking for ideas and this one picture jumped out at me - my stomach flipped and I knew exactly who my new Chantilly is for!!!
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Latest Entry
False Front Drawer
This tutorial deals with converting a House of Miniatures drawer using thinner basswood for the front, sides, and bottom, and
dovetailing all four corners, to make a "false front" drawer. A false front drawer is one that has the drawer built as a open box
with all four sides and then the front piece is installed. This was done for two reasons:
1. Some woods, especially burls, are not strong on their own and need the reinforcement
2. Veneers allow the use of very thin layers of expensive and highly figured woords that are too scarce and expensive to make a
solid drawer from
Please refer to my tutorial "Dovetails for Drawers" for details and notes on creating the dovetails
I am demonstrating using the House of Miniatures Three Drawer Chest (Kit 40011) drawer using the kit parts as the drawer front and
as measuring patterns so you can convert any kit drawer for any House of Miniatures using these instructions
In the first part we are going to cut out the new parts using 1/16" basswood for the drawer sides and back and 1/32" basswood for
the drawer bottom
Step 1: Lay out and measure the kit parts. Here you can see the front, bottom, sides, and back. The kit uses a non prototypical
construction method where the bottom and back are the full width of the drawer and the sides rest on top of the bottom and do not
extend all the way to the back. This is something else we are going to correct
Photo 1 shows the parts and their sizes
Photo's 2 & 3 shows how the sides, back, and bottom are assembled (they are just sort of propped up here)
Step 2: Cut out the new sides from 1/16" stock.
The sides are the full height of the old sides (9/16) plus the thickness of the bottom (1/8 or 2/16) or 9/16 + 2/16 = 11/16 high
The length is the full depth of the bottom (1 21/32) plus 1/8 (4/32) for the front plate, 1/32 for the front dovetail overhang,
and 1/32 for the rear dovetail overhang or 1 21/32 + 4/32 + 1/32 + 1/32 = 1 27/32 long
So the new sides are 1 27/32 x 11/16 x 1/16
Step 3: Cut out the new front and back from 1/16" stock.
The back is the full height of the old sides (9/16) plus the thickness of the bottom (1/8 or 2/16) or 9/16 + 2/16 = 11/16 high
The length is 3 3/8 (3 6/16) plus 1/32 per side overhang (1/16 total ) or 3 6/16 + 1/16 = 3 7/16 long
So the new back is 3 7/16 x 11/16 x 1/16
Step 4: The parts are marked for the dovetails (the four matching jions are lightly numbered 1 to 4 in pencil)
Step 4: Cut out the dovetails. As these are a little wider than 1/16" I found that an easy way to clean them up and "cut" the
dovetails for the front plate is to tightly wrap sandpaper around the edge of a scrap of 1/16" basswood
Step 5: Glue the parts together. I sand off the pencil marks just prior to gluing each side join. Sand off the projecting parts of the dovetails (see my dovetail tutorial)
Step 6: Cut the bottom from 1/32 sheet and glue in. I found the easiest way is to put the completed drawer on the sheet and run a
pencil around the inside to mark the size to cut. I also use two scraps of 1/32 sheet to space the drawer bottom slightly up from
the base
Step 7: Cut the false front from 1/42 veneer and sand flat. I found the easiest way is to put the completed drawer on the sheet
and run a pencil around the front plate to mark the size to cut
Step 8: Glue the false front to the front of the drawer. I use wax paper and a scrap of 1/16 basswood as a backing for the clamps.
Notice how the veneer slightly overhangs the drawer edge on all four sides
Step 9: I cut the plate slightly oversive and sand to fit after gluing
And here it is mocked up in the cabinet. I will cover the polyurethane finish and installing drawer pulls in another tutorial
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The Glencroft: Day 4-5
TGIF!
Im am so happy with the progress of my Glencroft! I started yesterday by gluing some of the remaining facade pieces. The upstairs gables were glued in and I was able to finally make my sub-walls out of foam board for the upstairs! (See pictures below).
Once I finally had the front walls all tacked, I was able to start planning the Stone Portico/Porch that I will be adding to the front. I plan on making this out of 3/4 plywood to give the walls a heavy stone thickness but at first I wanted to make it out of foam board so I can get an idea how the finished product will look. Since the new porch addition covers most of the swooping roof line in the front, I was able to remove a small section on roof that comes through the living-room above the front door. Now, the room is nice and square. You can see in one of the pictures below.
Last night I picked up a few finishing supplies (Stain, varnish and paint) so I can finally start doing some detailing. I want the wood throughout the house to be a really dark rick color so I plan on mixing a cherry, walnut and a hint of ebony stain to hopefully achieve this.
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Some pictures of the house as it is, now...
I've been having "issues" with loading pictures...trying to figure out how to adjust the resolution on my camera to make them the proper size to post here. So we'll see if this works:
The house has had as many cracks as I can reach -- filled in with wood putty. Some of the rooms have been painted. I'll be painting the rest in the next day or so. The hardest area to paint is the area along the staircase. This should have been painted (or papered) before the house was built! I didn't attempt to take all that apart.. it was pretty well-built, only one major seam along the staircase that needed putty. But it also is a very cramped space, so it's going to be a challenge to paint.
Then wallpaper. I intend to wallpaper the upstairs and the smaller room downstairs, which will be a kitchen. The Great Room will be painted white. I think I'm going to make a stone fireplace there too, and cover up the original one, and perhaps do the same for the one upstairs....I may have to send my husband out for more pebbles! (We live in sand country...sand, pebbles, rocks, boulders, are all around us!
)
Let's see if I can post these latest pictures.. Ah, that worked!
you'll also see the windows I made, using pieces of old "lumber" from previous houses, scraps from the Greenleaf houses so they're the right dimensions, right thickness. I'll paint them the same color brown as the outside of the house, and the beams in the ceilings on the first floor.
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stump fairy house, still sanding!
Been doing more sanding when weather permits, kind of cold out there sometimes, and way too much dust for in the house. Doing more of the fine sanding now, getting the wood very smooth. I figured out where I want doors and windows, at least part of them but haven't had the courage to cut yet, cutting is so final. I think I am going to work on the bed, I can do lathe work in the house on the tiny lathe and it is not very messy, at least no dust and I can do it on newspaper to cleanup fast. The bed spread is done now, I finished it last night. The final act was sewing on the ruffle, I started matching the two pieces but quickly realized that wasn't going to work because it buckled the ruffle up making it look awful. I had to pull the ruffle a little to get it right, the bad part of that was undoing about 4" of hard won ruffle because stretching the top part made it way too long. It is not the easiest part to undo because of all the rows that only knit part of the row and turn, plus the yarn overs and knit two together make it easier to lose a stitch while taking it apart on such tiny work. I think my next knitting project will be a blanket or maybe more then one, I do have a blanket chest to but in the bedroom. I am going to work on designing the bed first then start in. Since my iPad battery is dead I have no way of putting pictures on there so I will if I get the battery fixed.
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Tiny Houses, No, Really
So, I live in a tiny house. Like, literally. It's 280 square feet. It's a vintage travel trailer from the 50s. I do have my old trailer, which I use mainly for storage, where I'm currently purging, with the goal of eventually getting everything down so that eventually, life can be lived in under 700 square feet.
But it brings up interesting issues when you're working with dollhouses. What takes up not much room in the world of tiny, can take up a ton of space in the world of tiny houses. And I'm building an apartment ;)
The majority of the build took place in my tiny house, but the house itself, will live in the other space, at least until I have a new home.
So yesterday, after the last of the beams had been fixed in place, I took the shops up to my big place to live. The other apartments will be built out in what I lovingly call my tiny house "the minty turd".
What would I do if I didn't have the big place? Probably make the apartment building weatherproof ;) but I'd prove that when it comes to dollhouses, space constraints shouldn't constrain your dreams.
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Latest Entry
Short and Sweet - Using Paint.....
1. Open the file in paint. In this one, I use the inch setting to see how big the design is of the paper: almost 6 inches x 8 inches - so it is way too big.
2. I use the resize function in the home tab to reduce the size. I chose 30% - that should reduce the sample to 1 3/4 inches by 2 1/4 inches - that translates to 1 3/4ft by 2 1/4 ft - looks about right.
3. Use "select all" function and copy function.
4. Change the paper size - I use 17x11 - legal - that's what I print on
5. Go to the View tab - and zoom in until the original design appears pixelated and paste. Then move the copied part into position - you can use the arrow keys to move it and match the pixels.
6. Repeat until the full length of you paper size is filled.
7. Use the select all - copy function and repeat the pattern across the paper
8,. On this one, the pattern is offset - so I had to add to the bottom of the second column. After the second column, I can copy and paste until the end of my paper.
9. Zoom out and make sure it looks correct to you in terms of pattern size and try to imagine if you could see that on your wall. If it seems too large - reduce the size in 10% increments until the pattern has a size that looks correct.
What helps me:
Zooming in until you see pixels as little squares helps with matching offset patterns - you can line up better and use the arrow keys to move the copied design one pixel in any needed direction.
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Wood carved bar scene
I bought this scene about 4 years ago from a guy who found it at an estate sale. I’m not selling it, but am wondering if anyone knows anything about it? It’s all original except a few things I put on the table and bar (not the bottles. Those are original). My husband thought it was a scene from the Great Depression. Who knows. The wood trim around the base is just positioned there. It’s meant to be the trim for the glass case which I need the glass for. Does anyone have any idea about this set? It’s not signed. It’s carved from wood. Thank you in advance!
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Here Are The BEFORE Pictures
Here is the front:
The tan shingles & the exterior of the roof:
The interior:
The inside foyer with broken and various pieces:
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Welcome to my blog
It has been a while since I've worked on anything to do with dollshouses. This is mainly due to not really having the room to work on my 12th scale projects, so I am going to turn my attention to working on half scale and quarter scale projects instead. I live in the UK, so I have never built nor will I likely have the oppertunity to work on any Greenleaf houses. Most of the houses I have bought have been the small Dollshouse Emporium ones which they manufactured for their creative competion pieces, but I never had the chance to build them to enter them. I prefer small houses to large ones because they allow me to be more creative as there are lots of different styles of miniatures that you can use.
I do have an old Lundby house which I bought off e-bay for a project involving Sylvanian Families which I am updating. (Hopefully, I'll be able to do more of that next summer when I've organised our flat a bit.)
One of my favourite UK companies to buy dollshouses from is Petite Properties as they speacilise in quarter scale and other small scales. They are more ideal for my living condictions at the moment and I have built three of their houses and I have an half-scale tudor cottage which I hope to resume work on over the winter months.
I do other crafts, mainly cross stitching and sewing projects which I will feature in this blog from time to time.
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First Leap of Progress
This weekend saw the first big push for progress after the windows took almost a straight up week to do because I was not satisfied until I completely customized every weekend.
The windows were done by taking transparency sheets, and cutting them to size using the windows included in the kit as a template. Then, based on some Pinterest inspo, and good ol' fashioned trail-n-error, I painted the outline of the windows with black paint mixed in clear glue. After it dried - I used either white or green tinted clear glue to fill in the glass segments that I wanted colored. I had to go one color at a time, letting the layers dry completely between coats to prevent bleeding (hence why it took almost an entire week). After I was satisfied with the colors, I painting one last outline on the top with black to have both sides identical.
Then, because I am me, I didn't like how 'flat' and perfect the clear part of the windows looked so I did a layer of acrylic poly something or other that was in my craft room. This created an awesome old window look that I am very pleased with.
Have decided to try putting wallpaper on both before and after assembly to see how it goes both ways. Because I want this house to look like someone in living in it as it is falling apart around them I wanted the segments of wallpaper to be really apparent. I cut scrapbook paper in 8 x 2 strips, smeared glue on the walls and then layed them down - using books to keep the paper flat while it dried. Then, I carefully pulled some of the wallpaper off and used watered down acrylic in various shades of brown, green, gray, and black to created an old and distressed effect.
Turns out I could spend HOURS creating gross wallpaper LOL - so fun and it is awesome to see the character start to come out.
Currently putting the varnish on the window and door casings so I can start gluing some stuff together!!
Image is a dry fitting of the living room front - you can see the spider web stained glass on the front door and the double hung window - really happy how the pop of green adds interest
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Moving doors AND windows
Starting to think all of my blogs are about fixing things and changing my mind.
My original floorplan had the main door enter into the kitchen. I - and by default my eventual dolls - like to have a place to drop my grocery bags as soon as I walk in the door, and too many open floorplans and apartment plans these days do not include back doors, like in the good 'ol suburban neighbourhood days. Having spent some years as an interior designer, I had a number of clients interested in Feng Shui and the the order of placement. After taking some photos of my house' facade, I realized we see right into the kitchen as we open the door, and Feng Shui frowns upon this.
So, I got to thinking ...
Got out my box cutter ...
... and switched the main door for the main front window. And it did feel better. And, the front door is now closer to where a car would park ... to unload groceries or whatever. The main door now opens into the living area, a thumbs up per Feng Shui.
Big question of the day is, will my eventual doll family really care if the kitchen sink alighns with Jupiter? Probably. I have seen some real 'placement order' doozies over the years.
I really need to get my doll family together. Does anyone write bios about their dolls? Habits, likes, single or married, kids or pets .... mine for sure will be fans of the series 'American Pickers'.
Pic. 1: the photo that started it. I can see the kitchen farm sink through the front door. Main window is to the right, with its privacy screen.
Pic. 2: Door cut out.
Pic. 3: Window cut out, moved to door opening.
Pic. 4: Door moved into window opening. Spackling in the cuts and chop marks.
Pic. 5: From the inside. My hard hat area.
Pic. 6: fitting the privacy screen.
Pic 7: All back together.
I cannot imagine doing any of these changes if I were working in wood. Course, then again, maybe I'd be more careful in my planning from the get-go. Or maybe I just enjoy demolition!
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