Witch Shop - Week Five

I'll lead this week with another reminder about my giveaway. It's been open for over a month now and it closes on the 31st May . . . And I have four entries. Four. It's really quite embarrassing. Other bloggers start giveaways and in under an hour they have more than four entries, in fact some can have close to forty. I know I can't produce the amazingly jaw-dropping fabulous prizes other bloggers can but please, please take pity on me and enter anyway. All you have to do is leave a comment suggesting a name for my Witch Shop and it doesn't even have to be a good name. Please. Oh, please. . . . .

Now I've finished crawling, i'd better get on to the Witch Shop. Most of the progress for this week was in the large room upstairs. This room is destined to house the shop's book section, so it really needed some bookshelves. These were made from balsa wood to fit in the right side back corner of the room. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out, but I think they could use some fancy trim along the top to finish them off. Between these shelves and the castle's library, I have a lot of books to make in the near future. Could a hand made book be among the mystery items in the giveaway prize?

After the shelves were in position, the room started to look more like a room than just an empty box, but it was the addition of rails around the stair well that really transformed the room. The rail is just pre bought spindles and posts with a balsa wood handrail, but the effect on the room was amazing. There is one problem with the position of this staircase however. When I decided to put it there way back when I assumed the door from the external steps would be hinged on the side of the back wall. As it turns out, it is hinged from the other side. Thus to enter the room through this door you have to open the door about halfway (which is when it hits the railing and can't open any more), shuffle into the small triangle of room open to you, climb over the stair rail and close the door while balancing precariously and hoping there's no one downstairs positioned to see up your skirt, then clambour back over to the right side of the rail. I'm thinking there should be a big pot plant or something in this corner to make it clear that the door fell out of use after the internal staircase was added.

The main floor area in this room will be occupied by a variety of eccentricly miss-matched chairs where the witches book club meets. On the left hand wall there is currently a sideboard where there will be a range of cakes and other treats for the witches to snack on durring their meetings. On the other hand, this is the only place in the room there could be a fireplace. I really want a fireplace in this room, but is it more important than delicatable, sugary treats? And the chimney would be a real b****r to try and make and instal as the roof over this wall opens and is angled. What to do? What to do?

I borrowed the bed from the castle to play around with the layout of the bedsit next door to the reading room. After trying the bed in various positions I decided that the room worked best with the bed in the least likely place; along the front wall. Because the door opens back toward the reading room rather than into the bedsit, there is just enough room to get in and out around the foot of the bed. This arrangement leaves plenty of space in the room for other furniture and a maximum of wall space which can be used to add a fireplace either on the back wall or either of the side walls. Finally, don't forget that there is a separate post each week for the castle so be sure and go back to take a look for it and it you haven't already done so, Please enter my giveaway!