The Music Room

After the last post, I thought it would be nice to show something pretty. The Music room is one of my favorite rooms. I'm feeling the need to change things around in the house, so I'm thinking about reupholstering these chairs (there's a pair), possibly in pale blue silk. Like most of the house, this room desperately needs curtains, so I'm hold off making a final decision on the chairs until this room has drapes.

 

 I love this violin! For the longest time, this chair held a PLASTIC violin. It was actually pretty effective, since the scale was good, and the color wasn't too bad. But then I found this one at a show, and I just couldn't resist...

Is it strange it makes me a little uncomfortable to have a miniature instrument just laying out like this? I took violin lessons for nine years, and my real violin was ALWAYS in the case unless I was playing it. This mini violin came with a case, but it seemed terribly out of scale. Maybe I should make a new case for it?

Something Weird...

Do you ever get the urge to make something really strange in miniature? I've been wanting to make a

a collection glass eyes ever since I read a book in which the villain had a collection.

I used the largest no-hole beads I had on hand. I stuck the beads to tape and gave them a few coats of off-white. Dots of brown,green and blue for the iris came next, followed by a black pupil. When the paint dried, I coated the eyes thickly with gloss medium, and then glued the eyes into the cases. The glass over the cases has an antique look, which makes it particularly hard to photograph.

This was definitely one of my crazier projects!  I have no idea what to do with them now that I've made them, since they are too macabre for my pink house. I guess they'll go into a stash drawer for the moment: I'll find a use for them eventually!

Miniatures in the Real World

I just had to post a photo of this. The other morning while I was in the kitchen, I noticed that a few patches of violets had migrated to our back door. Last summer, I found a bunch of tiny perfume bottles in one of my favorite vintage/antique shops. One of the bottles made a perfect vase for the violets! The whole arrangement is about 2" high, so it's definitely too large for 1/12th scale, but it would be perfect for a doll's tea party.

More of My Mother's House

This cupboard bed is in the larger of the two upstairs rooms. Mom made the bed out of miniature shutters.The quilt came from an eBay seller who no longer makes them.  The bedside table was made by Ed Norton.

 This painting is across the room, above the fireplace. The flowers were made by Mom from kits.

 Here's the little sewing table next to the fireplace. The two small paintings (one mostly hidden behind the chair) are by Josephine Meyers. The sampler is one of about eight around the house.

Revisiting an Old Project

You may remember this project, since I've shown it (half finished) before. But I'm really pleased with the way that these paint boxes came together at the end it's only thanks to Mom that these are done.

The photo below was how the paint box looked the last time I showed it. I actually made several of these at once, since I had the supplies to make these boxes out already. I built the paint box to fit around an eyeshadow tray. The box was looking good, but the tray needed a brush.

Since I'm terrible at finishing projects, the paint box sat like that in a drawer for months waiting for paintbrushes. Finally Mom spotted them while we were going through my supplies looking for something else. She couldn't believe that I'd left them unfinished for so long. She lined the trays and made the brushes for me that night. I love the paintbrushes she made!

Two Projects

I don't have much to show at the moment. I usually photograph my miniatures at home, and write these posts at school, so I haven't had a chance to finish and photograph the bookshelf I posted last time yet. I have another reupholstering project in progress as well, but the photos for that didn't turn out well, so I'll have to put it off until I go home in another a week or so. In the mean time, here are some fun little groupings I put together.

I made everything on the makeup tray, with the exception of the tray itself. The little blush brush was a bit of a pain, but I love the way it looks on the  tray.

Everything in this account book scene was made from scratch. I'm slowly building up a good collection of beads for perfume and ink bottles, but I can't believe how expensive a short string of beads can be! Fortunately, I only need to use them one at a time. I've also found some inexpensive beads in the dollar store. One $2 'crystal' bracelet makes a whole lot of perfume bottles!

A Bargain Bookcase Transformation

I have a small addiction to bargain hunting. I love flea markets, thrift shops, and most of all, the "sale" box at one of the local dollhouse shops. This box contains an assortment of problem furniture that the shop just wants to get rid of for one reason or another. Sometimes the furniture is missing drawers. Sometimes the furniture is a bit broken.  The last time I was there, I found a Town Square Miniature kitchen cabinet that was missing the rest of the kitchen set. I figured that with a bit of work, I could make the cabinet into a very different looking piece.

I never remember to take proper before pictures, so here it is the first photo I thought to take, after I'd already done most of the painting. The legs are just square posts, with some laser cut brackets added. I also changed out the cabinet's rather chunky original knobs for smaller walnut pulls. I may replace those though with something a little more elegant. I've stuffed most of my readable books in the there for the moment, and have it in the music room for the moment, though it won't stay there. I think it will go somewhere in the attic (Phoebe's room, Lottie's room, or the playroom), but I'll have to do some rearranging first.

I'm also undecided about the glass in the doors. Right now, the original Plexiglass is propped in there, and I'm hating it. I'm thinking about replacing the plexi "antique" glass, but that would make it much more difficult to see inside the cabinet. Another option would be to take the glass out entirely, making the contents much more visible, but I think that not having any sort of glass would bother me more than the plexi. I'm stumped. What would you do to the doors?

Some Things Are Only Fun in Miniature

This is just a quick post to share today's project. Mom and I spent the day working on a few of these pillows. Mom made the pillows, I made the mice and holes! After this photo was taken, I went back and added more holes (without mice).

The Dining Room

The dining room is difficult to photograph. It's a small room behind the front hall. I've put it off photographing it because there are a lot of unfinished projects in this room. The chair seats are covered with bright green and cream fabric that clashes terribly with the wallpaper. The sideboard is an unfinished bespaq piece. The room desperately needs a carpet and the single window a curtain (actually, ALL the windows in my house need curtains!)

 Despite all that, I decided to give you a peak at the room. The wallpaper in this room was a huge headache. I spent one summer looking through stacks and drawers full of wallpaper at three different shops. The dining room was one of the very last. There was  only one problem. The shop where I found this wallpaper only had one sheet,  and that wouldn't be nearly enough! A very helpful manager at another of the shops tracked down and ordered the paper. But when it came, we found out that I'd picked a half-scale version of the paper: the design that came was much, much bigger. The smaller size was much more difficult to find. I started to worry that I'd have to find another paper. Luckily, the manager was able to miraculously track down two sheets of the smaller print just in time!

  The theorem (stenciled painting on velvet) was done by my grandmother for my mother's childhood dollhouse. The white and pink porcelain vase was made by Lucy Coles, who used to make the most gorgeous porcelain dolls dressed in knit outfits. The blue and white plant holder in the corner of the room (behind the sideboard) came from my mother's childhood dollhouse. The silver is from various miniature silversmiths, including Acquisto and Don Henry.

I also had to point out the this tiny tea caddy. It has the tiniest flowers. I think it was made by Carrol Lodder, but don't quote me on that!

P.S. I'm sorry about the photo quality!