Details From My Mother's Georgian Cottage Kitchen, Part 2

We spent yesterday playing with my young cousin, so it's just going to be a post full of leftover photos today.

 This cabinet along the back wall of Mom's kitchen is a vintage commercial piece made by Reminiscence. While most of Mom's furniture is handmade, she does have four or five Reminiscence pieces scattered about the house. For some reason, they just seem to fit in her cottage! Can you spot the mouse in the photo above?

 The blue and white porcelain piece in the fireplace was made by Henny Staring-Egberts.  I can't remember the proper name for this fire cover, but Mom loves it. There's another mouse barely visable in the upper left corner of the photo. That one was made by Rosie Duck. With all the mice running around this kitchen, it's a good thing the bread is safetly stored overhead in a hanging crib.

One last little detail I'd completely forgotten about until I was taking photos. These Stokesay Ware plates are difficult to see until you really bend down to look in the house. Hope you've enjoyed this peek into my mother's miniature kitchen!

Details From Mom's Georgian Cottage Kitchen



I haven't shown much of Mom's dollhouse recently because she's been busy with other things. But it occurred to me that I've only ever showed a quick overview of the kitchen, which didn't begin to do this detailed room justice!

 Mom built her sink from balsa wood and real miniature bricks which she chipped and sanded to look old.  I was in charge of finishing the sink to look like stone. I used a combination of glue and wood putty to get rid of the wood grain and mimic the texture of slate. I also made the "lead" cistern above the sink out of cardboard. Mom used a few of my paper tiles as a backsplash. Can you spot the Amanda Skinner mouse? There are eight of them hidden throughout the house.

 

 Mom found this same doll twice on our trip to England! The first time, the doll was in the personal collection of the shop owner, and wasn't for sale. The second time, fortunately, Mom was able to purchase her.

This cupboard is nearly hidden behind the stairs, but it holds several more treasures, including a few favorite pieces by David Edwards.

Over by the fireplace, the high chair is by Brian Long and the jelly cabinet by Johanna Scarborough. The David Edwards egg rack is one of Mom's favorite items. Just above the highchair you can see one of my salt boxes.

For more posts about Mom's cottage, click here.

The Great Switch

Last night Mom was going through her dollhouse, and decided to rearrange some of the furniture. She ended up taking out a few gorgeous pieces that just weren't working in her house. Rather than packing them away, she let me take them for my house.

This plate was one of the things that came out of Mom's cottage. I only had space for one plate left on my kitchen plate rail. Now that it's full, I'll have to go through and rearrange the order a little. I just worked my way around the room as I bought more plates, so some of my favorites ended up in the very back where they can hardly be seen.

The other thing I took was a gate leg table made by Gerald Crawford. Mom had two of these, and kept the one by the fireplace upstairs, but this one was fair game. I rearranged the parlor a little to make room. In the process,  I decided to  take out a few pieces as well.

This big round Escutcheon* table in the photo above has never fit in my parlor. It was an expensive mistake (and a beautiful table), so I kept moving it around trying to make it work, but it never did.  Mom took one look at it and said it would be perfect for a newly-cleared spot in her house, so I was thrilled that it finally found a home! The orange tree and screen also came out. The orange tree was an early project which needs touching up, but I have a few new spots in mind for it after the makeover.

 

* I'm sure I've seen their website, but I couldn't find it. Does anyone know the link?

 

 

My Mother's Dollhouse: Wash Day!

 

I don't think I've ever really shown this view of Mom's house before. These doors are around the right side of her cottage. The door on the left leads into the kitchen. The right hand door leads into a pantry/storage room (originally intended to be the outhouse, but Mom thought a pantry was more interesting!)

Mom has period wash items set up out here. She made the tub and bench herself.

 

Mom loves David Edwards' miniatures. For a while, a few local dollhouse shops carried some of his work, and Mom bought out all the clothespins they had!

This little nest is tucked above the kitchen door.

The Toys in My Mother's Cottage Dollhouse

As a kindergarten teacher, Mom loves children's toys and picture books. She gets very excited about finding the perfect Christmas and birthday gifts for my young cousins, and can spend hours in a good toy shop, so it's always surprised me how few toys she's added to her miniature cottage.  

The wooden market and animals were purchased from Eileen Godfrey's shop. They all have a great patina The little boy is by the Wren's nest.

 On the bed in the smaller bedroom, she has an antique wooden doll.

This little wooden bed is tucked between the foot of the bed and the fireplace. Mom made the mattress and stained it with tea to make it look older. The jointed wooden doll was made by Eric Horne.

These tiny toys are in the middle of the room. I think the wooden doll is another Eric Horne creation, but it's smaller and has fewer joints than the one above. We don't know who made the other pieces. It's hard to convey how tiny and delicate these miniatures are from photos. 

You can see that the bed has been painted with roses. I think the basket was made from some type of seed pod. I found them at a show years ago,and bought three or four. Two ended up in Lottie's room, but one made it's way over here. It's only about 1/4" wide.

Happy Easter!

We're barely seeing any buds outside, but Mom's dollhouse is in full bloom! We're spending the day with family, so I'm taking a break from posting today.

A New Addition to My Mother's Cottage

Here's a quick peak into the fourth room of my mother's dollhouse. This is the least finished room in the house, and I have a terrible time photographing it, so I'm only showing glimpses. It's the ground floor room next to the kitchen.

 Mom hung a few of her favorite paintings above this table, which she's set up as a desk.

 Here's a close up of the desk, with an open ledger.   It's a bit blurry, but right in front is the newest accessory- a tiny, hand embroidered case for letters, made by Latchkey and Jonquil.

Here's a better view of the front. The stitches are so tiny, I can hardly see them! It photographed white, but it's actually a very pretty shade of off white. If you want one of Jonquil's fabulous embroidered pieces for yourself, check out her etsy shop.

After the Dust Settles

Christmas is over, and there have been a few new additions in the dollhouses...

 

 The little dummy board I painted went in front of an upstairs fireplace in Mom's house.

 Mom gave me this sweet little framed needlepoint (from this Etsy shop). I thought at first I'd hang it in Pheobe's room, but now I'm thinking it may be better for the parlor.  I'll post more photos when I've made up my mind on the right spot.

 

A Gift For Mom

Every year, I try to make one or two miniature gifts for Mom. This one is a project I've had in mind for several years. Mom loves dummy boards in both real life and miniature. We also have a really sweet English Cocker Spaniel who loves to sleep in front of a fire. Sometimes she curls up so close to the fireplace that she's nearly lying in the coals! For a few months, I toyed with the idea of commissioning a dummy board from Pastmastery, but just as I was ready to commit, they announced they would no longer be making miniature dummy boards.

The other day, I finally decided to try painting one myself. Since I couldn't get the dog to remain in the correct position for long (she's getting old, and kept putting her head down to sleep) I had to do the initial sketch from a photograph. I painted her with acrylic paints on thin birch plywood.

There are still a few touch ups I need to do, but most of the painting is done. I added a toothpick to the photo above for scale.

Here's the back, showing the triangular support piece. I still need to sign and date it, something I always forget to do. It doesn't matter too much when things we make are just staying in our own collections, but we have to double check that everything is signed before each show!

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.

My Mother's Dollhouse Part 2: The Kitchen

Last time I showed the exterior of my mother's cottage. Today I'll show you the kitchen.

 

Mom seriously loves kitchen things! Before she got her own dollhouse (this one), she was always sneaking extra things into the kitchen of my dollhouse. In fact, when she first got this house we agreed she could shop from my kitchen! 

There was one thing she wasn't allowed to take though. Years and years ago, I fell in love with an Amanda Skinner mouse. I wouldn't give mine up, so mom had to get her own. She ended up buying eight! Now there are mice hidden throughout the house for people to try to find. 

The center table is set up for making butter. The doll came from England. Mom and I had wanted to take a trip there for years, to see Jane Austen's house, Queen Mary's dollhouse, and shop for miniatures. About six years ago, we finally got the chance to go, and it was an amazing trip. We ended up going all through the Cotswolds and stumbling across several dollhouse shops. We each found some real treasures. I brought back several plates for my kitchen plate rack, and the brass bed for Phoebes room (ending a two-year search!). Mom brought back this doll and a miniature watercolor which is upstairs.

Mom made the kitchen stool as well as the sink.  The slate sink is made of wood, covered with putty to give it the right texture. I just finished a "lead" cistern to hang above and hold the water supply (not shown.) 



More photos of the cottage exterior can be seen here.

Not My Dollhouse...

...it's my mother's! It was built by Frodingham Dolls Houses (no longer in business) several years ago. It's a front opening house, but there are no hinges. The front walls and roofs fit together using slots and inside beams to hold everything in place. 

The garden to the right is still in progress. Eventually, they will all be "planted" in one flowerbed, so that they can be easily removed to access the house.

 Here's a closer view of the front door. The lantern on the left is the one I made.

 This photo shows the kitchen door and larder. The larder was originally supposed to be a privy, but mom loves miniature kitchen items, so the larder seemed like a better use of space. The basket holds tiny carved clothespins!

 I'll show the inside in a few days!