Getting Closer

I am really pleased how this is coming along. I have the baseboard and the cornice molding to along with putting the lights together. I think that I may also get a plant or something to fill the corner, but I think the placement of the furniture works. You can't really tell by this picture, but the walls are a tan color and work with the floor stain. The two pictures are the ones that were used on my father's CD cover; the one of the left is Chopin and the one on the right is my father when he was young. It is one of his first publicity pictures.

The room for my mother is also coming along. I don't have the pictures temporarily placed in this picture, but I like the placement of the furniture. The walls are a pale pink to go with the window treatment I am working. Again, the baseboard, cornice molding, and lighting need to be done to complete.

Moving Along

Things are moving along for the roomboxes. I painted the ceilings and arranged the furniture so I could get an idea of where things are going. Today I painted the walls. I found that the sample jars of paint that you can get at Home Depot are great for this. They are around $3 each and you can get any color you want.

Here are the rooms with the furniture arranged for placement. The first on is the one for my father, the second fo rmy mother.

I completed the outside of the roomboxes and am starting work on the inside. I received some of the furniture, including the two pianos that I was having a hard time finding. So I was playing around with the placement and determining if there was any other furniture I needed.

First my mother's room: As you can see, I postioned the window where it will be and put the floor in place to see how it will look. I also got the chandelier but that wasn't staying up with the temporary gum for the test fit. It's a 5 light fixture and should do well for lighting the whole box.

My father's roombox: I found I need some other pieces. I am going to put a desk under the computer. As you can see I put something in there just to place the computer, but

it is not the piece I want to us. I am also going to put a fireplace, and I hope to light that fireplace so that it gives more light in the room. I read in a dollhouse lighting manual that you need at least 3 bulbs to get enough to light with the furniture there. The floor lamp is only one bulb, so I need to add to it if I am going to fit that quota.

I also worked on the floor for his roombox today. I my big dollhouse, I took basewood, scored it, and stained it, and I am going to do the same here. It worked out really well for the other rooms, so I thought I would use the same process here.

The Start

So the boxes came in a few days ago. After looking at the instructions I realized it was relatively simple to construct and put them together. They are on their sides drying and I am looking forward to getting them moving along. I ordered some of the things to go into the boxes, except the pianos because the place where I normally get things for my miniatures has them on backorder until November. That would be in time, but I don't want to wait that long. So now I have to do a search for them while working to get the rest completed. The kit came with the moulding for the front and the plexiglass for the final assembly. Now to pick up the paints and start with the base.

Full of Ideas

Last night I went home from work all excited because I was full of ideas for my parents’ room boxes. I sketched out the design and decided what materials and furniture I needed to get and wrote them all down. I am going to light them and having never electrified a dollhouse before, I am a little stymied on how to do it. So I went onto the Internet and found a few resources that helped. One that I found that was helpful was Greenleaf Dollhouses. There are a lot of resources out there. I tried two searches; “how to light a dollhouse”, and “electrify a dollhouse”. But if anyone has any ideas, please let me know. Anyway now I have to figure out my lighting plan. Since it is a small space it was suggested on the Greenleaf forum that I could hard wire it rather than use the tape.

I struggled with reproducing the location my parents have their pianos in, but my father’s studio is not very interesting. So I settled on putting things in the room box that represented them – I saw Doreen did that with her shadow boxes. For example, my father recently put out a CD (shamelss plug here) and I am going to put the two pictures from the cover art in the box and display them as two portrait paintings behind the piano. That’s where one of the lights will be placed. I will have a floor lamp next to the piano and color the walls to compliment one of the portrait’s backgrounds. Since he is also into computers, I am going to put a computer on a small desk to the right of the piano.

For my mother’s room box, I am going to paint the walls a pale color, probably pink or peach, as she likes those colors. She has her piano in the front hall under a circular staircase. I decided that putting the stair case in the box might take up a lot of room, so I am just going to put a faux window to the right of the piano with drapes that resemble the ones in the life-size room, and a scene of a beautiful meadow behind the window so it looks as if you are looking out onto that location. There will be a large picture behind the piano that is a copy of a oil painting she loves, which hangs in her living room. For the lighting, I am going to hang a chandelier over the piano, which should light the whole space. Hers is going to be a little fancier since she tends toward that style.

So now I wait until the room boxes I ordered arrive.

Inspired

Okay, so I said I wasn’t going to do any miniatures during the summer months while I am training. Well, today I saw Fluffy Bricks posting “At the Dentist” and one of the comments was talking about doing room boxes for people as gifts. So, now I am inspired!

I am going to make two room boxes for my parents who are both pianists, for Christmas. Since they are divorced and live separately, it won't matter that they are similar. : )

I figured I need to get to work now so I can get them done in time. I ordered two room boxes from miniatures.com and now I have to think about the design and color – my favorite part! More to come on my progress.

Vacation

Hi all. I know it has been a long while since I have posted last, and some may have been wondering what’s going on, or not. But I am going to take a vacation from my miniature blog for a while at least while summer is here. I have taken up bicycling and it takes up way too much time. Besides, my workroom up here on the third floor of my house gets very hot in the summer so I won’t be doing much work on my mini house. It’s pretty much finished anyway. I just have to work on the outside and finalize some small things there. I am going to work on another project once the cold winds begin to blow and bicycling is not possible. I think it's going to be a cottage, but I am not sure. More on that decision to come later.

In the meantime, you can follow all that other progress, if you are so inclined on my other blog, Confessions of a Middle Aged Woman.

Thanks. See ya until then.