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About this blog

Willowcrest, San Fran, Westville, Beacon Hill and others

Entries in this blog

Unfortunately, the quilts are finished.

Perhaps I'll have to make some more, as extras. I've always hated how my bed-dressings stick out at the bed sides, so I decided to do something about that. I sewed in some soft wire that I had lying around. For the paper-pieced quilts, I stitched it into the backing before I sewed on the backing. I have read of folks using aluminum foil for this also, but I think it would have to be pretty stiff foil for the materials I'm using. Here I am picking out all the papers. English paper-
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9

The Willow is complete!

Well I trimmed and trimmed until my fingers nearly fell off (actually it does a number on my back, with all the weird angles I have to get into to lay the trim), and did some touchup paint, and finally finished off the Willow. I also looked around for boxes but nary a one to be found that's big enough-- 3' x 3' x 2' is what this house needs. I do have a couple large boxes on hand that if patched together, will do the job, so I guess that is what I'll have to do!
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6

Newberg is done!

Well, I might add some sealer here and there, but it's ready to box up and put in the mail. (Aunt J, I need an address!) Sourcing: Inspiration: Robin Carey's "The Darling House" [Chantilly] , the color purple, and the desire to make a Newberg like nobody ever saw before "Duval" railing, "Barbados" and "CiCi" porch grills, "Cumbria" brackets, "Marissa" gables (3 lg, 1 sm): Heritage Laserworks Corbels and "Victorian picket roof ridge cap": Manchester Woodworks Papers, fabr
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5

San Fran - finished!

Well it was a race to get the San Fran finished, and me plagued with allergies to boot, but I finally got it in the mail. Some pics- first of the base, which I covered with the brick powder treatment that came with the kit. I had never tried this stuff before and was a bit trepidatious, but it turned out pretty well; alot hardier than I had thought it was going to be. You would pretty much have to take a chisel to it to get it off! I decided not to install any more win
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5

Finishing up roombox.

Finally came up with a pillow that might work: Made some ornaments out of beads and real-life ornament hooks: Little corner shelves, and some pictures on the wall, that will have a personal meaning to this box's recipient: I have been fiddling around with red satin ribbon, trying to make some decent bows for the stair posts. No luck yet-- I will have to try to find some finer ribbon... Now this box need
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4

San Fran porch railing.

The dowels provided in the kit for the 1st-floor porch fretwork were too big to string beads on, so I hunted around and found some thick wire and beads that would fit on it, and braced up the back of the porch decoration piece with square rod; drilled holes in the rod to support the wire, and braced the wires on the top with matboard. Painted the beads and wire; everything needs a couple coats of semi-gloss now to seal.
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4

Paint, furniture, and San Fran progress.

Well it has been about a month since I posted last, because of the upgrade; I think I have figu(red out how to post photos (had to put them in an album first), so here goes: Some exterior paint, finally: Looking more and more house-y! Screen door and staircase railing: Meanwhile, assembling the walls of the San Fran; each wall piece has a little groove that the piece below it slides into. The whole wall assembly turns out to be a bit bendy and flimsy; hopefully it will end up being supported b
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4

More curtains, and furniture.

Found a nice little green print in my fabric stash for the kitchen: And a pale yellow for the bedroom: Found a use for a print that I've had for years, and never found a place for! The little fan is my own design idea. I'm sure I got the idea from somewhere, but couldn't tell you where. I conserved the parlor fabric carefully, and made two chairs (http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/search/label/Make%20and%20upholster%20a%201%20inch%20scale%20chair )
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4

Window dressing.

But first, some little things that my mother gave me for Christmas: Aren't they neat! My favorites are the turkey and goose and little green glass bird on the upper left, and the jug with a cork in it near the front. I wonder where she found them! Here's my solution to gaps on the mansard roof! They are strips cut from a cracker box; Dada's blog http://dadasdollhouse.wordpress.com gave me the idea to use thin cardboard strips (they use cereal boxes!) and
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4

And the Magnolia is complete!

It is currently bouncing along in a delivery vehicle-- well hopefully not too much bouncing... Some lit pictures-- finally got my transformer in: Some shots of my wing chairs and sofa: The legs turned out to be alot shorter this time around, but that's OK. I wanted to make something for the kitchen, so I looked up Kris' tutorial for kitchen cabinets out of matboard: http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/search/label/How%20to%20make%20ki
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4

A little more little furniture.

I made some of Kris' chairs http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com/ for the parlor: Had just enough taupe "piping" (natural cotton braiding cord, by Clubhouse Crafts; found by the beading at Joann's)! Made the shabby chic bed from Kris' tutorial, and her occasional table too: I wasn't paying attention and used cardstock instead of regular paper for the bed's "decorative turnings" so they are a bit bulky but that's OK. That table did take a bit of elbow grease, with
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3

It's getting closer...

I'll use these photos to help me see what areas need touchups-- whoops, I see quite a few already. I have the base plywood marked out to be sawed down; I need to remember to finish out the wiring underneath the house before gluing the house to the base! I think that after I affix the house to the base, I will dry-brush some gray and black on the "stones" around the bottom of the house (it's actually a textured paper); I don't think that tan color complements the
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3

Slow but sure...

Made more progress with wallpaper and window installation-- It occurred to me after I papered the bathroom that I will need to accommodate for the wall-mounted light fixtures, so I figured out that I would make a tall medicine/towel cabinet or something to hide the wires... I have six window handles left, so I am thinking about which bay windows to put them on... Maybe I will put some of the little "porcelain" knobs on the kitchen bay windows... Right now
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3

Spray-painting and wallpaper.

But first, I'm always tickled with what a difference a layer of grout makes; from this (here I have dry-brushed onto the original barn red some peach and soot highlights)-- to this: The "grout" is spackle mixed with a little water, some gray and soot paint (and then some white paint when I got it too dark ). I sprayed the bricks well with matte sealer and let it dry overnight before I started the grouting. At first I tried some little bottles with very fine tip applicators, but I
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3

Siding done, and cracking open the San Fran box.

Figuring out what the staircase looks like, and installing a (matboard) door, pin-hinged: I found on sale some of that acrylic gel stuff that one mixes with paint to make it look like stain, and have been trying it out on the stair treads and railing newel posts; so far it looks OK, though I mixed it with a dark paint to get this (what I consider to be) medium color. Siding done! :thumbup: And side trim (matboard strips) affixed. I have to get some paint now! Also you can s
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3

Kitchen cabinets

It has been a busy month; I have made progress with the San Fran, getting up to the attic pieces and doing some wallpapering: Installed the front doors, which is a pin-hinge system using brads: Dry-fitting attic pieces: Meanwhile, the country house got its porch roof installed, finally!
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3

Coming 'round the bend.

I am rounding the bend with the country house (bash of a Laurel kit); now I am approaching the finishing-up stages. (So yes, there is a fair ways to go. ) Finishing install of the kitchen cabinetry: Do you like my little potholders? They're bits of cardstock covered with fabric and bordered with cord. One can barely make out in these pics that the "tile" floor was pieced together from two very slight
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3

Even more color for the San Fran.

I went ahead and installed the 3rd floor partition and the little attic floor; I didn't want that long narrow space at the very top, but I didn't want to close it off entirely, so I made a little triangular wall out of foamboard, cut a hole in it, mounted one of the lights behind it, and framed it with a jewelry finding (with a bit of "glazed" translucent scrapbook paper that lets the light out but prevents seeing the nuts and bolts behind it). I also installed the two remaining lights be
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3

Sand, spackle, paint, sand, repeat...

Well I have been chugging along the past couple weeks, nothing interesting, just prepping porch and window trim assemblies: ...installing roof pieces, prepping and installing roof trim: ...installing exterior window trim pieces: So the corner trim pieces don't quite fit flush to the base trim, because of the pre-installed siding. That might be a reason to install siding afterward, but then one gets paint ever
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3

More bits here and there.

I think I've gotten these rooms finished: Still working the attic, with some matboard creations to hide wire runs: Some work on the exterior: And a little kitchen unit from Kris' recent tutorial; I think that next time I make this, I will use all matboard (no cracks ) instead of basswood. (Also I thought that th
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3

A bit of actual color.

It has taken me a while to get this far, bits of dowel and wire and beads and matboard: The purples turned out a bit darker than I'd originally envisioned, but I decided to roll with it and see how it turns out. I need to find some way to add purple accent to the windows and door. Purple framing? Purple window boxes? It wants a light touch, not too purpley...  
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3

Furniture-works.

I've been working on bits and pieces on the house, and on furniture from Kris' tutorials:
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3

New year, new houses.

Well hubby had some gift certificate codes lying around for amazon.com, so I ordered the Arthur (it seemed like the most house for my buck) and a Melissa and Doug bathroom set (need to build up my furnishing supply again, now that I went and furnished the Pierce and Beacon Hill houses so heavily for the nieces for Christmas!). I am thinking that the Arthur will make a nice house for a little granddaughter of a colleague of mine, with some of the Corona Concepts furniture kit pieces like I did fo
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2

I ran out of windows...!

Well here are the last of the window treatments: The trio of kitchen windows has long rows of blue-checked ruffles, top and bottom-- they're tacking in place right now... Well I am done with window treatments now-- really enjoyed that part, sorry to see the last window... Need to do something with the lower half of the bathroom wall-- have an idea for a simple white wainscot pattern... Also need to floor the blue ro
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