3rd Floor Bedroom Has a Character

The 3rd floor bedroom has been eluding me for quite a while. I had to have a chair rail since the angled walls are longer than even Brodnax papers. Yesterday somehow it all came together. I still have to do a chair rail, and crown.

I also hung and wired the light. Looks cozy.

New Kitchen Wallpaper, again

Its been a challenge to get the right tone for my French Country Manor kitchen. The first attempt was a plaster like paper that I really loved, but it didn't seam well and then I somehow tore off a small patch. A second paper went up, and almost immediately got removed. The third paper was a yellow and white vine paper. It was just OK but didn't really enhance the tile floor.

I saw the new paper on a dollhouse wall in person at my local dollhouse shop, and I had been looking at it already as a possibility. Once I saw it on the wall, I was sold!

Electrical problems in Dining Room

I had all the fireplace and sconce lighting working and I was cutting and fitting baseboard. I had noticed the floor overhung on the front of the house about an 1/8 inch and slid it out to trim the back edge of the floor. I hosed my wiring job when sliding the floor back in.  While groaning and trying to figure out how I could fix, I noticed that none of the 2nd or 3rd floor lights were working either.

I started to panic but was able to deduce it was the lead going upstairs. I was able to slide out the foyer floor, and add another cross run of tape, joining the run that goes upstairs - that took care of that - whew!

I still have to fix the dining room sconces and fireplace lighting. 

So...I decided to again change the kitchen wallpaper. I've been struggling with what to put in there. I had a few papers picked out, and oddly enough my local shop had a house they were papering for a customer, with one of those choices in it. That sealed the deal and I ordered it. So.....since I would be removing the kitchen paper, I would rewire the dining room sconces through the wall into the kitchen before I paper. I also removed the dining paper from the fireplace wall, and then I'd have access to all the wiring. Then, I reinstalled the chimney breast and papered over it as I wallpapered the wall, the right way of doing it.

So I also had to remove all the crown I just put up on that wall....and once lighting was installed and tested, completed the crown and baseboard. 

Kitchen wall where I drilled to rewire dining room sconces

French Country Design Resources and Notes

Keeping track of colors, sources, how-to's is something I'm not very good at so rather than keep a paper notebook, I'm going to post here.

Wallpapers
First Floor
Dining Room: Brodnax 1AC105 Michaelmas
Foyer: Mini Graphics English Rose Beige
Living Room: Brodnax 1VT304 Peregrine, World Model white embossed wainscoting
Study: Itsy Bitsy Mini Equestrian Red - Plaid
Kitchen: Itsy Bitsy Mini 1222 cottage acanthus pink on ivory

Second Floor
MBR: Brodnax Gathering Red
Foyer: Itsy Bitsy Mini Woven Damask -Ivory 1294
Guest Bedroom: Brodnax 1VT303 - Patina (stripe)
Bath: Broadnax 1VT311 - Ravenhurst

Third Floor
Girls Room: NC871.07 Dark Pink Toile - New Creations, World Model Molding 34903
Bedroom: Brodnax IVT302 - Morocco on top, 1VT314 - Damask on bottom
Hall: Jacksons Miniatures - Tulip Arabesque Pink H62

Flooring
Kitchen: Romney Miniatures - Terracotta Square Quarry Floor Tiles
Foyer: Tid-Bits Alabaster with black dots
Study: Brodnax Lille Parquet, Cherry
Strip Wood - SH Goode - Cherry Flooring strips 3/8" x 1/16" x18"

Bathroom - World Model Faux Marble Floor Tile, diamonds.


Built-in Items
Trim in first floor - Falcon Molding #3685
First Floor - Sue Cook Doorcases OD7S

Second & Third floor -Sue Cook Doorcases OD8S
Third Floor Ceiling Roses - Sue Cook CR25

Furniture

BB Miniatures
Bespaq
JBM
DeCava Interiors

Paint/Finishes

Quoins (Jackson Miniatures)

Lighting
Study - Lighting Bug
Foyer- Lumenations by Mr K
Dining Room - Lumenations by Mr K
Living Room - Lighting Bug
MBR - Clare Bell
Bedroom - Clare Bell
Girls Bedroom - Clare Bell 3 arm

Kitchen - Clare Bell 4 Arm short Hurricane chandelier

Bathroom - Cir-kit?

Chateau Courtyard and Quoins

As the exterior texture was done, I moved on to the courtyard and laying the slate. After laying, I applied the Mod Podge Ultra Matte, and then grouted, followed by a sealer layer of Mod Podge.

The quoins were painted white, and looked pretty stark against the dark grey house, and it seemed fitting that I give them a more grey tone, more like stone. I used a similar technique on them as what I used on the French Country - stippling.

All in all, I'm very pleased with the exterior!

Third Floor Sitting Room

For lack of a better name for this room, its called the sitting room. No wallpaper yet, but flooring is done.

Third Floor Girl's Bedroom

Once I saw this bed, dresser and vanity, I knew this would be a fru-fru room! Toile and stripe - pink!
There's a Ni-Glo hanging lamp, and a nice rug peeking from the side. The window is also framed out with the actual arch trim that is made for this.

Here's a better view of the rug - punch-needle I think.

This is an interesting shot - almost like the actual neighbor's house across the street.

I have to share how I finished the inside of the arch. I got thin flexible strips of basswood and bent them into the arch.

Second floor hallway

I ended up with a nice neutral paper here, and hung a Ni-Glo lamp in it.

The birdcage has a yellow bird:

Second floor bedroom

This room is set to be more gender neutral, not sure if its a boy's room or just a guest room. But it has come together nicely. I snagged another great dressed bed - one that works nicely here. Here's what's interesting about this bed - the paisley duvet is very similar to a real life duvet I had for my own master bedroom!

You will notice flooring done, braided rug, baseboard, and some other furniture from shows and stores.

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom has gone through its 2nd wallpapering and I'm much happier with it. Previously I had a grey and yellow toile in it - saw it done up in a room. But I didn't plan it well - was short on paper when I tried to match the patterns. So I was going to have to fix that anyway.

So off it came and I chose a completely different color -  Brodnax Gathering Red, and am now happy with it. Notice too the flooring is stained and placed there.  I got a fabulous dressed bed for it.

Here's a peek at the other furniture for the room, along with the chandelier and ceiling medallion:

Foyer

The stairs are now stained and painted - starting to get a finished look here. Crown and baseboard are up too, and you can see the lovely french settee in the corner.

Study

The study floor got ruined when I tried to add a second coat of stain, so back to square one. I have had success with Brodnax parquet so I went that route. It turned out very nice, almost too shiny. 

Here you can also see the ceiling beams I put up, and baseboard I've cut. I decided white was too white for this room, so I went with a tan color. 

This picture shows the beams and crown and they are painted tan. You can see the lights I temporarily placed to get a sense of what the finished look will be. 

Chateau Exterior Makeover

I've begun working on the Chateau over the spring and summer as well. My plan was to paint the exterior a grey, and in order to do that, I had to remove quoins, trim, window trim. Wow what impermeable glue was used. I knew the individual quoins wouldn't be salvageable but I also was thrilled to get those from a fellow miniaturist who wasn't using them on her Chateau.

Prying off the quoins was an exercise in patience, elbow grease, a mixture of products to remove quoins and glue, and scraped hands (okay a screwdriver gone awry).

The next step in order to remove the glue was to take my palm sander to it. Outside it went, on a nice spring day, and first I tried several solvents, to no avail. So on with the sanding!

Once sanded and patched, it was time to give it a coat or 2 of paint. I chose a Benjamin Moor paint, and painted. Looked much better, and I let it sit for a few days while pondering.

It was nicer than the blue but not quite grey enough for me. I had a photo of one done by Lawbre years ago, saying on the catalog sheet they used the color I purchased from BM....but it still didn't look like the photo.

On the hunt, I found this newer paint - Coastal Texture Paint from Folkart. I applied it to a sample and this is what you see above.  I decided to give it a whirl. My first coat, I used a sponge brush and it was not easy to apply without getting brush strokes and inconsistent texture. I let it dry and then bought some texture tools and applied a 2nd coat...much better!

Here's the tools:

Here's the finished effect. I added a sealer - Mod Podge Ultra Matte.

Items from the 2017 Miniatures shows

I went to all 3 shows, taking Friday off and going to both the 3 Blind Mice and the The Miniature Show. Saturday I did the Bishop show and then went back to 3 Blind Mice to complete cabinets I needed for the kitchen.

This doll from Lilli's Littles called to me. I don't usually buy many dolls but I had to have her. She's sitting in a JBM leather chair also purchased at the show.

These bedroom pieces seemed perfect for the 3rd floor girl's bedroom. They are from The Cutest Things LLC.

The red leather chair and some canes will reside in the study.

Here's a much better photo of the canes (and the stand), handmade from a gentleman from France.

I selected 2 pieces from BB Miniatures - I love her work.

An unfinished bookshelf, and a cute basket. 

Some of the kitchen cabinets I got from M&R Miniatures. 

Flooring and Wallpapers

The foyer wallpaper was put up, and I wasn't happy with that, there were wrinkles. So I stripped it and put up another, and I'm happy with it.

The kitchen tiling got laid and grouted. These tiles are from Romney in England. I did them on a template and had the tiles extend beyond the template, I wasn't entirely sure how well these would cut to size, and attempting to cut each individually along both long sides seemed daunting. I went with their advice, cutting with my miter saw after they were glued down. 

Here's a picture of the upside down floor as I sawed off the extra. 

Living room flooring is laid, awaiting stain. You can see my finished fireplace, chimney breast, and the chandelier I will put in here.

Dining room floor got laid on template, awaiting stain also. Temporarily hung the chandelier - love this one!