DD Inn & Drawing Room - Week Six

For yet another week, not much has changed in the Drawing Room. I have been looking for a suitable rug, but not been able to find one. I've been trying to find out what type of lights would be suitable, but not been able to find any good examples. Basically, I'm about ready to give up on finding anything I need to finish this room off. My Overmantle mirror arrived in the mail this morning. I haven't had the chance to see what it looks like in position yet, but I have a feeling it is going to be a bit too large for the space I've left for it which will mean repainting some of the vines over the fireplace. The only change actually made to the room lately is the addition of two as yet incomplete seats. The furniture arrangement in this room still isn't working for me and I'm really very close to pulling the whole lot apart and forgetting the whole thing.

Luckily I'm doing better with the Dancing Dragon Inn.

I started the week by making the decision to change the colour of the woodwork. The "oak" colour I had been using was too new and unweathered looking. As I mixed it to match the colour of a relatively new, varnished oak cupboard of my mothers this shouldn't really have been a surprise. So I altered my pot of "wood stain" (i.e. acrylic paint and water) until the colour was a more silvery-brown. The result is a more settled been-around-for-a-while look with out the oak looking like it's centuries old. I think the end reuslt is much better than the original although repainting all the wood visible in the building was one of the most tedious things I've done lately.

I concentraited on finishing all the tasks that needed doing on the first floor before the second floor was put on top and restricted access. The first floor is entirely devoted to the Tavern. The right side of the tavern is dominated by the fireplace. The brick back and base of the fireplace is made of MDF brick board that I pulled out of the house that became Highcroft Castle. I repainted it to match the other brickwork and added some black "soot". The front and sides of the fireplace are balsa wood. It still needs some decoration to finish it off, perhaps some sort of crest or heraldic shields on the front above the lintel and of course a firemark and a fire (etc).

The left side of the tavern is where the counter or bar is located. Made of balsa wood (well, what else?) I gave it a carved look by adding some lace over the wood and staining the whole lot. I'm not sure a floral design is quite right for a tavern, but try to find some lace with a more "manly" design. On the back wall over the bar are some shevles which help to frame the "doorway" into the "kitchen". If you took a peek behind the curtain covering the door you'd find only a blank wall. I'm a bit diaspointed I had to leave the kitchen out, but there simply wasn't room for it. Between the arrangement of bar and fireplace I've left myself a pokey little space under the stairs I'm not quite sure what to do with. All suggestions are gratefully accepted.

Beams accross the ceiling were added to make it look like the next floor is being supported by something more than luck. The front door was made (yep, balsa wood again) and installed and the railing was added around the balcony between the steps and the front door. Aside from a bit to finish off around the kitchen door and some rails for the stairs, this pretty much has the taven ready to be built on top of!

Opps! Looking at the photos just now I've realised I've added beams accross a space that was supposed to be open to the next floor in a sort of gallery. I'll need to think about this.

Anyway, that's pretty much the progress for the week. This week should hopefully see the next floor going up and the first two bedrooms of the inn starting to rake shape!