A Not So Shabby Chic Interior.....

I have been collecting together some of the items for the interior of my ornamental dolls house and the interior is taking shape. I have put in the cornice, skirting and false doors. The doors were from kits that I have never used and I took apart all the architraves in order for them to sit flat against the wall.

 The floorboards were left over from Flourish and Blotts and I have waxed them. They look quite reddish here but they are not so in real life. I really like the fireplace which is just the right size for this smallish kit. I must admit the giant hydrangea grows on me more and more!!

 This is a little selection of what I found in my stash that I thought could be placed somewhere in this project. The lantern I bought at KDF but the other pieces I have had for quite a while now and I can't remember whose they are. If you spot a piece that I purchased from you just let me know and I will tag it. Not sure if they will stay in this bay and the cake stands need to be painted yet.

The upstairs 'guest' room with a few finished pieces. I have ordered a single bed for the room which I am hoping to dress myself. I am intending to use vintage handkerchiefs for the bedding with lace edging. They seem to be of the right sort of size and be shabby chic pretty plus there are loads on Ebay for 99p and I shouldn't have to do too much sewing!!  

The downstairs sitting room is also coming together. The sofa is an old DHE model that I bought ages ago for another project that has been long put aside. It is not perfect but will look better with a cushion or two. I think I will also have a dresser in the room although I love the giant hydrangea and don't want to cover it completely.

The white pumpkins are by Lory, one of my favourite miniaturists, just perfect for the mantlepiece. The tray of chocolate truffles is a gorgeous piece that was a must have buy from Ebay that I have not had a place for until now.

The small desk was destined for The Leaky Cauldron at one stage but looks perfect painted for this setting. I will also add a small wall shelf for books and papers.

I have long admired the work of Danny Shotton, who makes the most exquisitely detailed miniature household pieces. When I saw this brass companion set at KDF a few weeks ago I knew it would be a perfect piece for this room. Unfortunately, he does not have his own website and only sells at fairs like KDF and Miniatura but you can see a large selection of his work here. The prices are obviously a lot different on this site compared to buying directly at a fair. I am not sure if his pieces can be ordered directly by telephone.

I have also been busy painting lots of other bits and pieces with which to dress the rooms despite the call of Christmas! I am hoping that my extra roof tiles will arrive tomorrow so I can tick that box and finish off the roof. The annoying thing is that I will be putting up all the decorations this weekend so my house will be putting aside its shades of cream for a while in favour of red and gold so even if I finish the house it will have no place to go until January!

My Ornamental Dolls House Flowers.....

After getting soaked yet again this morning walking the dog, I came home and settled down to a lovely day playing with my new project.

 This house is a decorative item for my new very grown up front room. Having painted it with the same ivory colour both inside and out I decided to have a feature wall....

 .....on one of the external outside walls......

 ......and one interior wall. The wallpaper is by Laura Ashley and matches that of the real life room. Of course it is wildly out of scale but somehow that doesn't seem to matter. In fact this giant hydrangea looks like the de-cals that seem very fashionable at the moment.

 I have also used up some left over self sticking wooden flooring for the top bedroom. I only had enough for the one room which was a bit disappointing as I usually like to match the flooring but this is supposed to be a quick project using up bits and pieces from my stash.

 I have bought these slate tiles for the roof of the house as they seemed a very reasonable price and the grey matched perfectly with the colour scheme. Although they are not textured they have quite a simple clean look which suits the project.

 I have finished the overhang and one complete side of the roof but of course I am about 150 tiles short of finishing off the whole roof. Entirely my fault as I forgot the over hang when I calculated how many boxes I would need! So tonight I have ordered the extra tiles, the ridge tiles and some leading for the edging. There is no such thing as a simple project!!

 I have not purchased tiles from Romney Miniatures before but they do have this very handy moulded ridge/lip which means you can place them on top of each very easily and not worry about spacing or slippage.

These tiles are made out of a resin mix I think which did mean that they required a quick rub down before use to smooth them off which was a little time consuming. I also found them quite difficult to cut. My tools are a little basic though, as you can see, and scoring and breaking mini tiles or bricks is always a challenge. Quite often I use the sanding block and sand them to size to avoid having to cut them.

It is all moving on nicely, I have a couple of days left before I have to start getting ready for Christmas, the much awaited return of my children and ( may all the gods help me! ) move my elderly parents from one bungalow to another. If the move happens without my having a complete melt down it really will be a Christmas miracle!!