The Country Store Florist and Pottery Shop......My Fourth Project

Time to get back to my trip down Dolls House Memory Lane with my fourth project. I was still firmly attached to DHE kits at this stage and bought another off Ebay, the Country Store, a smaller kit that was a bit of a disaster on arrival as it came without a roof or windows. The kit, while boxed, had obviously been opened and these vital components mis-laid. I am always in a bit of a quandary with Ebay bargains, you know, you get something really cheap and then feel a bit mean to complain. Well anyway I bought windows and decided to have an open floor for outdoor plants.

This was a project I started because I wanted to have a go at making some plants and flowers of my own and I thought it would be a very simple project to fill having discovered the artificial plant section in Hobbycraft. Ah, I was so naive then!!

 Like all my houses this still has a way to go but I was beginning to try and create my own pieces rather than look for everything in the DHE catalogue.

 I found lots of flowers and greenery in Hobbycraft, bought some flower pots that I aged rather simply and used tea leaves as soil. I stained some whitewood furniture and felt very proud of my self.

 Of course I know now that most of the scale of these plants is horribly wrong, many have faded or discoloured, the open area collects dust like a magnet and I made the rookie error of using air-drying clay to fill my pots.

I did, however, produce my first piece of dressed furniture with pieces I made, the potting table with a variety of plants and seed trays. The poppies are a kit by Bonnie Lavish who has now retired. Most of the plant pots are from Braxton Payne a US company with a huge range. 

 The first floor was meant to be for pottery but expanded as the project moved along.

I had by now made my very first visit to Miniatura and had come to the conclusion that while I liked making things of my own I really liked collecting miniatures too. Essentially I do like to shop!!

I began collecting teapots by Jacqueline Dunn, a very talented Scottish miniaturist who sadly passed on last year much too soon, and another Ebay seller who has since stopped making.

It was about now that I started writing my blog, putting my head above the parapet so to speak, mostly because I was picking up so much information from Blogland I was worried I would be cited for stalking.

It was through reading the blogs that I discovered the work of Julia Jefferys of Bear Cabin Miniatures whose wonderful cushions and framed Siamese cat can be seen on this floor.

 The ground floor is for the florist shop and in my mind I wanted French zinc flower stands and lots of colour. Unfortunately I thought I could get away with these ready made flowers which completely dominate the room.

 The other half of the room is much better and includes various potted plants and a working island for the florist.

 The kitchen units are all DHE and still work perfectly in this setting.

The floor is made up of 'slate' self-sticking floor tiles from Homebase. Using thin floor tiles cut to size is a really economical way to create flooring for a dolls house. I read somewhere recently that you can get packs in Poundland occasionally. That would be a great buy!

 This was also the first project I tried miniature printing and although the quality is terrible, what printer was I using the (!?), I was learning to find resources for myself.

I was still rushing through houses willy-nilly so this is yet another house that is still to be finished but it has a certain charm and one day I will return to it. I think it will wait quite happily.