Toy Shop Interior................

This is the top floor of my toy shop. I really like the raftered roof and fireplace. I think I will put a 144th house inside the fireplace and have side tables for the rest of the dolls houses. This is also where my toy maker will have his working bench. The walls are white which I won't change as the toys and dolls will provide lots of colour. The floors are paper wood effect and I will change or paint these.

The middle floor for the dolls and perhaps a couple of prams if I come across any I like. Again a lovely fireplace in which I would like to display something special. I am going to take my time filling this shop as I would like to collect pieces which are from my childhood, so a bit retro.

Lastly the ground floor with the shop windows. Under the windows I will put benches so they can be seen from the outside but will not crowd the smallest room. There is a mock slate floor in this room which I will keep as I like it.

I have chosen a rich red for the shop furniture which I will try and distress using the wax technique. As this is really a gown up's shop so I think it deserves a rich, grown up colour. I have stained the pieces I have with a light oak stain, marked the edges with a candle and then painted with red emulsion from a match pot I had amongst my paints. I will see what they look like in the morning. If they look too much all together I will mix the rooms with painted and stained units.

Mmmmm.......it will be good to see the furniture in place then I can get a better feel for the house.

And tomorrow I am going to bring my lovely girlie home for the summer. This is the big move as everything has to come home and I will be washing for a week! Or at least I would be if my husband hadn't booked our plumber/builder to come in and take down the ceiling of the utility room - years of leaking showers - and re-vamp the whole room. Definitely the wrong time but on the positive side if I can't do the washing and ironing I have more time to work on the toy shop!!

Time to Put Away Spooky Things.......For a While!

I have been working on the furniture for my witch's kitchen. Although my witch keeps a lovely house she is definitely not very organised when it comes to the washing up! I bought this cute sink at Miniatura from Apollo Miniatures I think and simply stained and painted the sink. I have used scenic water to fill the very full sink and add dipped green gloop. She has certainly been busy!

The dresser is more or less complete. I have left a space on top for a hanging plant and a compartment at the bottom for a sleeping cat in his bed. The cat nest idea was given to me by Julia of Bear Cabin Miniatures but we would both really like it to be a dragon hidey hole! I have also added some linen and serviettes for the drawer.

The table too is all finished and full of lovely witchy items. I will probably add a few more pieces to the chairs once I have a new range in place. I got out the Kitchener in order to make it but I didn't have the proper glue. They recommend a epoxy cement whatever that is will have to take advice in Hobbyland or somewhere.

So I have decided to take a break from all things witchy and begin putting together my toyshop.

Late last year I saw this house listed on Ebay but with the windows on the left. I thought it would make a great corner shop for my street so I contacted the person listing the house and asked if they could make me one the other way round. They agreed and built me this super corner shop. It has three rooms and I have decided it's going to be more of an adult collectors shop with teddies and gollies on the ground floor, dolls and characters on the second floor with the large top floor displaying 144th dolls houses along with a toymaker building a dolls house.

I was really pleased with the house it's beautifully made and fully lit but I have discovered that having the house arrive 'ready to go' I have not got the same feel for it. I know that sounds strange but we just have not bonded yet! Weird as that sounds. Of course there are still lots of things to do with the shop and I will be changing certain bits and painting and adding so I hope I will think of it more as mine as I bring my own ideas to the house.

Tomorrow I will start painting some of the shop furniture and if I have time begin one of the 144th houses I bought at KDF. That should be a challenge!