Tedium

One thing I dislike doing in dollhouses is painting all the moulding and trim. Dentil moulding is particularly annoying because of the teeth.

Sounds comical but true:

You have to get the brush between all those little teeth or bare wood will show (esp once you glue it to the wall) and it will look awful. So small brush, paint, slide between each one. Tedious.

But it’s done and glued in the music room, so yay. Now that I have the kitchen mostly done I’m going back and putting on finishing touches to the other rooms that I either was too bored to do at the time or didn’t have the materials for.

Life as a miniaturist is not all glam.

Kitchen–Nearly There

Working hard, have it almost done.

Countertops, windows, breakfast bar, etc. all in. Will do a tile backsplash around the counters.

From the hall into the kitchen. Not the best pic, but gives the idea of the partition between kitchen island and rest of room.

Closeup, tiled breakfast bar. More pictures in the Kitchen page under “Big House Remodel.”

I still need to put in cornices and finishing touches, and then, of course, decorate. But the bulk of the remodel is done.

Now, what to do with this room?

I Suffer for My Art

Last night I installed canned lights in the false ceiling and glued it in place in the dollhouse. Today, I checked it and two of the canned lights had popped from their holes and were resting on their sides between real ceiling and false ceiling.

Heavy sigh. Had to take out false ceiling, redo canned lights and do it again.

Cat found this fascinating. I did not.

Also managed to mislay a package of lovely wood veneer. Eight pieces of various woods, and I’d only used one. Argh.

The lights are right now, am working on the trim. Don’t want to do photos until trim is mostly done.

More progress

The kitchen project is turning into a load of work.

By now I’ve finished the counters and tiled the breakfast bar counter, and am working on the lighting and ceiling. I’ll post pics when I’m done with that step. Challenging.

Kitchen progress

The kitchen project has turned into an extreme makeover. Silly me–I thought I’d put in a wall here and there, and that would be it. It always happens: I can’t move forward on one part because I’m missing a piece, and it all has to fit together like a big jigsaw puzzle, or more accurately, Tetris.

But I’ve taken some strides forward:

The window in place with view outside, outside light and oven hood light installed.

Another view: A wall between refrigerator/breakfast bar and rest of the big room.

It will all look better as I straighten, trim, neaten, paint, install the counters, etc. etc. etc.

Working…

I’ve been writing books and not working on minis, but I’ve started working on the kitchen of the Big House. I decided to take what had been the dining room:

And turn it into a big, eat-in kitchen. This dollhouse has some humongous rooms, so instead of having big, rectangular boxes in which the furniture gets lost, I’m playing with the space. I plan to put in a false wall overlooking a balcony garden, add a breakfast bar, and play around with lighting.

Here we are in the construction zone. It takes a while to build all these (The Kitchen Collection, by Houseworks), but they look cool when done.

Updates

I’ve been writing books (3 of them), so not so much working on the miniatures. However, updated photos today at the website:
http://jennifersromances.com/Miniatures/miniatures.html

Updated the Black and White room

Weekend Restoration

The highboy repairs are complete and it’s been restored to its place in the Black and White room (which I need to update).

The other thing I restored this weekend was the little food scene I made for my husband some time ago. It had sat on his desk in his office and gotten a little banged around.

I added a floor and reglued all the pieces in place.

You can see the whole thing with closeups here:

http://www.jennifersromances.com/Miniatures/fruitandveg.html

Big House Foyer

I’m still in the process of putting finishing touches on the foyer, but I have before/after pics

Before: Victorian wallpaper, free-standing staircase, front bay removed

After (1): Staircase cleaned and retouched, new wall with closet, updated color scheme that carries into music room beyond.

After (2): You can glimpse the old wallpaper inside the closet.

I need to add pictures and things to soften it up. That’s the fun part.

I’m stymied on my repair to the highboy. I found cabriole legs that are almost the same, and sanded them into shape. And then discovered I have no black paint. The path to dollhouse repair is never smooth.

The Palette

Yesterday I finished most of the trimming of the first floor room of the Big House.

Since I love before and after pics, here are some:

“Before.” The previous incarnation as a Victorian parlor (with renovation in progress).

“After.” The same room, updated. I plan to make this a music room.

The garden “outside” is lit with the NovaLyte white strip LED light. It really looks like daylight out there!

None of this renovating was expensive. The false wall is 1/4″ plywood from the lumberyard, the plaster is spackle from the same hardware store. The trim is inexpensive dollhouse trim or 1/2″ stripwood and 1/4″ sq stripwood. I’m using the old windows in the house (repainted), and keeping the flooring (that I painstakingly put in one strip at a time). The “garden” is a photo.

The lights were about $11 a piece. Probably the French window is the most expensive item. Amazing what you can do for a few bucks.

More before and after pics of the entry hall when I fix up a few things in there.