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Monday, August 13, 2012

Dining In Style

In my personal philosophy of dollshouse creation, there are five stages to the process.  First is Construction, second is Decoration, then comes Furnishing followed by Ornamentation and finally there's Population.  I'm very pleased to be able to say that stage two of this house is now, at long last,  finished and I can now move on to the next stage; Furnishing.


 But before we move on to stage three, I'd like to share some photos of the lights.  The main house is now positioned on top of the basment, so for the first time you can see the whole house with all the lights working.  There are concealed bulbs in the hallway behind the study over the staircase and another over the basement stairs.  The kitchen has a chandelier hanging from the ceiling and the dining room has two candlearbra adapted from identical chandeliers.  The rest of the lights were all hand made, that's why its such a shock they all work!


And now for stage three!


 The above photo is how the dining room looked last week.  Lovely wallpaper, grand fireplace, but otherwise just a table and chairs whacked in the middle of the floor.  All the remaining empty space has now been filled in.


Either side of the fireplace is a pedestal, each displaying an ornamental vase.  These came out of the pre-renovation house.  On the back wall behind the table is a low buffet/chest of drawers.  I know a higher display cabinet showing off the best china might be more appropriate, but that would block off a section of the wallpaper and, I think, ruin it's effect.  I kept all the furniture as low as possible to leave the scenic vista in full view.


 In the back left corner of the room is a small chaise made to fit the space.  The shaped legs were pre-bought, but the rest of this piece is entirely from scratch.  I think I should have curved it out more to be wider at the back, but I still love it.  It's upholsetered in a light blue silk dupion and the seats of the dining chairs have been recovered in the same silk to match.


 In the front left corner is a three tiered dessert stand.  Yes, I know the upper tiers are crooked and I will fix them.  Each tier is made of a plaster ceiling rose.  This gives the underside of each level a wonderful decorative feature.  The flat tops of each will eventually be covered in a myriad of delectable desserts.


I still need to add a rug to the floor, something in a soft blue I think, and lots of food, cultery, glasses, etc, but would you care to dine in this room?


Next door in the Hall, not much has changed, except that the pieces of, well, junk that had been hanging around has been cleared out.  The two tables and chair are all the furniture there will be in this room although I will be adding a feature in the middle of the floor that I'll build as part of the "furnishing" phase . . . . .


Working on furniture for the study has been a much harder task.  There are about three essential items to fit in this room; a desk, a wing chair for reading and a free standing circular bookshelf.  Using a sample chair, a round table and an assortment of desks and desk sided objects I have tried arranging and rearranging these items in the room and have come to the conclusion that they just won't fit.  The problem is the desk.  Once you add a desk, regardless of size, shape or position the room instantly looks awkward.  Can you have a study/library without a desk?  I'm thinking at the moment that I may have to!


One final piece of furniture for the week is this chest of drawers.  I bought the kit from the very first doll, bear and miniature fair I ever attended.  It was the only fair that I ever saw a good range of DIY items and the only time I have seen House of Miniatures kits available in Australia.  If I knew how rare these things were, I'd have bought more way back then.  As it is, this kit has been siting largely forgotten at the back of the cupboard since then.  I found it while rummaging around in search of furniture for this house and thought it would be perfect for either the bedroom or the nursery (probably the latter). 




12 comments:

  1. You have been very busy - the house looks great! It's nice to see the rooms at this stage (before furnishings) and I love what you've done with the ceiling roses. That's certainly an idea I will store away. I'd never have thought of that. You should be proud of yourself with this one.

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    1. Thanks, Irene. The ceiling rose dessert stand was a case of me being too lazy to try cutting three circles and rummaging around for three flat circular objects of different sizes.

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  2. I like the dinning room very much!

    Marisa :)

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  3. Everything looks Perfect. Well done.

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  4. Tu casa es muy hermosa, gran trabajo.
    Me encantan los tapices
    Un abrazo
    GRACIAS por no tener palabra de verificación

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    1. Isn't word verification terrible? I can almost understand why its sometimes needed, but why it has to be so darn hard to decipher is a total mystery.

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  5. Hi Alennka! The House is really starting to come together! All your struggles are really paying off now... it is looking Grand and Elegant and the large rooms have the right amount of space for the Furnishings! (I am having that problem with my Cupboard House... the rooms are cramped!!)
    I had to smile when I saw the dresser kit that was your first purchase.... I have the same one... my first kit bought ...WAAAYYY long ago... and still unfinished! Maybe it is time for me to finish mine too!

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    1. I'm definately glad I chose to go with fewer, larger rooms now as I'm still finding the rooms too small to fit everything in. I cut a block of foam that was hanging around to match the measurements of a harpsichord piano I'd seen on the internet and tried it out in the drawing room and discovered I can comfortably have a harpsichord and about one other item of furniture in there! And I once thought those rooms were huge.

      I guess we both have good taste in kits. You should finish your kit drawers, maybe there's a place for them in the cupboard house?

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  6. Alennka, I too have that HoM chest and wish I had known how scarce they would become in Australia. The build well and finish quite well too. Your house is looking so elegant and lovely - I really love what you are doing with it. It's such a shame about the desk in the study. Would a table perhaps do instead? It would serve as a desk but could be smaller than the usual desk.

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    1. Thanks, Sandie. I think I have figured out how to "have it all" in the study, I just need to get to and make the furniture. Isn't it a shame about the House of Miniatures kits? I see them sometimes on ebay (etc) and the sellers usually ask about $10 for the kit, but another $30 to ship it to Oz!

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