My houses...Cath Kidston shop

Because I'm such an infrequent blogger, I've been thinking I need to post some photos on here of all my current projects, partly as a record for me to help me organize my thoughts and give me some motivation to get something done in the very little spare time I have at the moment.  I am very good at beginning new things but not very good at completing anything!  Not one of my houses has a room that I can say is finished, there is definitely a quantity over quality thing going on.

I'll start with the most recent first.  My Triang Spot-On bedroom had me thinking more and more about Cath Kidston's designs, and after spending much time looking at her shop layouts and catalogues I decided on what my much neglected little Sid Cooke shop will have to be.  I began to collect images together on Pinterest for reference.  She uses a lot of vintage repainted furniture in her shop displays, so what better way to re-use some old oddments I had no other use for!  I excitedly purchased some Humbrol gloss enamel paints in bright red, yellow and a lovely vintage pink and began to paint.  A lot of shelves now to fill with flowers and polka-dots.

I've been doing a bit of needlepoint, very easy to pick up and put down in spare moments to add a few stitches.  The isn't a Cath Kidston design but I thought it worked out OK, until I took the photo which makes the stitches look so chunky.  I've since bought her 'Stitch' book and found a lot of those designs will translate very well to 1:12 scale if worked on fine enough canvas or linen.

I have a little dilemma...I wonder if I should repaint the very chipped vintage DCMT stove with a new coat of cream enamel, and repaint the old wooden tea-set below?  The stove has been repainted in the past.  If it had it's original paintwork I would definitely not consider it (I do have another one with the original paint intact).  I usually don't like to touch or change vintage pieces, but it's looking a very sorry state right now.  The tea-set was once green but is now discoloured to ugly grungy greeny brown with half of the paint chipped off and missing.  Not sure how old it is or where it originated - I've seen similar ones, usually red, advertised as German.  Both of these were ebay purchases.

Grandad's House again

So here is the next room in my Grandad's House...a Triang Spot-On filled retro bedroom, a bit 60's, a bit shabby chic and Cath Kidston influenced (I scaled down one of her wallpaper designs for the chimney breast, though I think I've hung it sideways).  Yes, there's a very large gap between the walls behind the red chair, I may need to do something about that sometime!  My husband thinks it looks more like a tatty old hotel room that hasn't been updated in years.  All these rooms are just beginnings, they have a long way to go!

Grandad's House renovation

Again I must welcome new followers, thanks for following me although I so rarely post anything at the moment!  Sorry I haven't been able to mention individual followers, I'm finding it very difficult to find time to keep up but you are all very welcome.

Here are some photos of my old childhood dolls house made by my Grandad.  It had been stored away for at least twenty years so it all looked a little run down.

I have now repainted the interior and made a start on one bedroom, the lounge and the kitchen, putting a few bits of old furniture in that I've had from childhood or bought.  The house is a little rough and chunky (made for a child's hands) and a bit vague in scale and era, but it will be a good place for displaying bits and pieces of vintage furniture I pick up. I am hoping the kitchen will be fully kitted out with Brimtoy pieces eventually if I ever manage to get in the top bid on ebay!

Bedroom has dressing table I believe by Kensalcraft, chair is by Twigg and beds and little stool unknown, I think it's a bathroom stool.  Lounge has fireplace by Barton, bureau by Tri-ang, radiogram by Kleeware, and vintage handmade three piece suite and embroidered doily carpet.  Kitchen has a Brimtoy dresser (so cute and retro!), and a few Barton things.  Not sure who made the cooker.

Meanwhile, my new little mini has been keeping me extremely busy....

Still here!

Hi again, and welcome to all new followers, thanks for your comments!  I haven't logged in for a while but am still here and working on mini things whenever I have a spare moment.  I have a lot of catching up to do on reading other blogs too!  Various reasons for my absence include a toddler who no longer takes naps, and being rather pregnant (currently 27 weeks) - I'm feeling quite exhausted for most of the time and I guess I can expect even less time once the baby is born!

I now have two more houses to work on (as if I didn't have enough).  My old childhood dollshouse is now with me, built by my grandad, and currently being filled with vintage furniture (roughly 1:16 scale), and a 1970's Lundby Gothenburg!  I shall post some photos when they are ready.

Swedish summer cottage

My little Swedish summer cottage is looking a little dusty....

Mormor and morfar are not looking very impressed (is there even some mildew on morfar's jacket?!).  Most of their favourite furniture has been donated to the white scandinavian house!

One day I will start to spruce it up a little for them, repaint the front door, finish the outside walls and chimney.  Today they just had a little dusting.  (Actually I think these two figures may be from Germany, a lucky find in perfect 1:12 scale).

Box lid update

A while ago I painted the box lid I'd found by 'Handcast Designs Ltd' to resemble carved wood.  I used some leftover paint that came with a Chrysnbon kit, as I thought it would be suitable for the type of resin material the lid was cast in.  The paint seemed to take to it very well, and I'm quite pleased with the result.  In the end, however, I decided that I won't use it for the caravan.  I think it will work better somehow mounted on the wall of the library in Manderley (yet to be decorated!).

Welcome!

Wow, I have a lot of new followers since last posting!  Welcome to Lisette, Casey, Bözse, Sonia, Núria, Victoria, Beatrice, Evelien, Sylvia, Núria, Gillian, sandybrian (sorry, I don't know if you have blogs), Ana Maria, and Susi.

I will try to post a little update on here soon, sorry this has been so slow!

All white?

Hello and welcome to Ingrid, Marta, Heather, Georgie, and Puppenstubennostalgi.  Thank you for following my blog!

Well, I am still here, just busy with full scale life, but I am still working on many mini things (too many) at once.  I have been doing some refurbishment on the vintage/shabby white house.  Not a lot to show yet, but this is the third redecoration on this house and I hope it is the last!  I can never resist filling half decorated rooms with furniture just to see how it may look once it's finished....I really shouldn't do this as it slows the process of decorating very much!

This was the first house I bought, before I really knew what I was doing I had decorated it randomly and pretty badly and filled it with cheap furniture.  The 1930's house phase lasted a while but I lost heart with it, but now I think I am happy with this new look, inspired by real houses such as this one! I just need to keep painting things white for a while...

Miniatura...

Welcome to Little Miss Kris (not sure if you have a blog?), Lainie and Victoria.  Nice to have more followers!

I have been busy spending far too much money - from now on I must try to concentrate on making things instead for a while.  I really enjoyed Miniatura, I was only there for a day but I think I managed to see everything, though I could have spent much longer looking at all the lovely detail in some of the stands.

Here is my haul......

Handmade false books by Ellie de Lacy (there were some lovely handbound books also, but these non-opening books are very effective), and a selection of tiny perfect miniatures by Danny Shotton.

A Victoria Fasken teaset (the photo doesn't really do this justice).

Pitcher and pot from Elisabeth Causeret Bettler.

Mirror by The Ironworks & Black Country Miniatures, hurricane lamp by Glasscraft, gold plated fire-irons by Lucy Askew, and a fantastic ginger beer bottle by Terry Curran.

Old gin bottle, pipe in ashtray and crystal ball from Shepherd Miniatures, bowler hat from Forget-Me-Not Miniatures.

Aged lichen covered pots by Clive Brooker.

Hand-turned burlwood bowl by Ken and Linda Batty of Al'Turn'Ative Proportions.

Bits and pieces from Tee Pee Crafts (I could have spent much more time rummaging here!).

In addition were flower kits from The Miniature Garden Centre, and Templewood Miniatures, trims and fabric from Little Trimmings and Blue Riband, and plasterwork from Sue Cook.

Caravan progress, and welcome!

Firstly, welcome to Liesl, Maria, and Heleni.  I'm still surprised anyone is looking at this, thank you for following me!

I've had a busy few days so haven't posted for a while.  I've made a little progress on the caravan.  I've had an old red blouse lying around for years that I kept because of the embroidered panels on it.  I thought that one day I might find a use for them, and now I have!  I thought it made a good bedspread, maybe a bit Indian in style.  The bed is going to have a lot more cushions once I have made them.

I made a small shelf using the fretwork fan pieces.  They are very very delicate and easy to break once the main framework is cut into, so a few were broken as I attempted to make this.  Also I used a little bit for something like a Welsh love spoon to put on the wall.  I tried wetting and bending the wood for the bowl of the spoon but it just wouldn't work for me.

The doorway isn't to scale at all, so it will have to be a very low doorway that you need to stoop to get through - I put some material and lace hangings around it, but this end needs a lot more work.  The stove is a pencil sharpener - not sure about having a chimney inside though!

Here is the exterior, with the fan fretwork in place.  Perhaps it needs some aging?

I made my first little purchase on Etsy a few days ago, so once that arrives I'll also be adding it to the caravan....mini crochet, in lovely colours!  I also bought tickets to Miniatura in Birmingham, my first visit to a dolls house fair.  I'm so excited to be going!

PS.  I expect I will keep changing the background/header of this blog until I'm happy with it!  Sorry if it looks different each time you visit.

Welcome first followers!

Hello and welcome to my first followers, Annie and Norma.  A big thank you for following my blog, how exciting!

Garden colours

I was looking through the window onto the garden while fiddling around with my caravan, and realised the colours I was using are very similar to the colours of the flowers in the garden at the moment; mauves, faded pinks, purples, reds and greens.

In particular, the fuchsia - that is the reason there is a shrivelled looking fuchsia head in the next photo, the last one on that particular bush (others seem to have been picked off by my mini boy!).

So now I want to make some in miniature, perhaps also some red apples freshly picked....I'm thinking of the caravan on a late summer evening in an apple orchard, woodsmoke, lanterns.....

Morning room sofa

I re-upholstered and painted this sofa...a lot of tea-staining later and I think I'm happy with the result, though still not sure about the gold.  I think it probably needs to be seen in the finished room.  It's for the morning room in Manderley.  I'm not exactly sticking to the novel (I'd need a huge mansion for that), but I am using some of the descriptions of the rooms to influence the decorations and contents.  The morning room should be filled with rhododendrons and will take it's colour mainly from them. I made a few from tissue paper and punched leaves, but there will be many more to make.  The sofa fabric is a hydrangea print - I used the reverse to give it a more faded feel (the front side is a very vibrant pink).

The Green Lady

Here are a few pieces for Manderley.  The photograph is an old ambrotype of an unknown lady, bought on ebay.  I thought it was so sad that on the back was written 'Not to be given away to anyone'. This lady was once loved and this image was once treasured by someone, but now although this may be the only existing photograph of this lady, her identity is now lost and forgotten.  Now she will be treasured once again!  She deserves a beautiful room I think.  I love the patina of the frame and the way the oxidised green on the frame matches the tinted colours of her dress.  The salon of Manderley is in similar green tones, very unfinished at the moment so I'll add pictures once it's in a more presentable state.  The lilacs are made from an Anja van den Doel kit, the cushion I embroidered on 35 count linen using a pattern in 'Embroidered Projects' by Sue Hawkins (Dolls House Do-It-Yourself series).  There was an extra line of stitches, oops, but I am very new to needlepoint so I was happy anyway with the result and hopefully it isn't too obvious!  I bought the Biedermeier commode second hand in a German market, pre-made, I think it is by Mini Mundus.

Strawberries!

Summer strawberries in a vintage bucket for the Gypsy caravan, made from a Dale R. Kendall kit.