Chateau Bathroom

The Chateau's bath is on the 3rd floor and it's a nice large room. Since it's the third floor, it has attic ceilings and presents some design challenges. I have been envisioning this room for months and purchased some Reutter porcelain - tub, sink, and toilet for it - simple white with gold accents. 

While looking at Les Chinoiseries wallpaper and the tile in particular, I was intrigued by 2 patterns. One became the kitchen floor, and the other I knew would be the bathroom floor. I also had to work out wallpaper and kept envisioning wainscoting. I never jump into these design decisions fast, and they marinate for months sometimes. So the size of the bathroom would be determined by the wallpaper tile, and it has a border. I went through one iteration of this floor without the border, thinking I would cut down the border a bit. Seems it was really too small of a border, and had to order more paper tile. I got the wainscoting and chair rail but before beginning that, I knew I needed to build a dado wall to cover the angled wall on one side. 

The window dormer presented some interesting challenges. I first thought I might paint it but the surface wasn't smooth enough so I decided I'd paper. A bunch of templates later, I could paper in the recess and am very pleased with the results. 

I also knew that I wanted the finished floor to be able to slide in and out, so if I needed access to the chandelier wiring in the room below, I could do it easily. Cardboard templates led to thin basswood pieces and it all came together. The flooring was a challenge, as I had to also cut it so it slid up to the dado wall and had a section in the center that went into the dormer space. 

Today I installed the chandelier and the wall sconces and soldered them. It's coming together! I have some baseboard quarter round and some chair rail to finish, and the mirror should be arriving next week. 

Here's the room with the finished floor cut out and borders applied.

Chateau Conservatory - morphing into a room

I made enough arches for the kitchen and the conservatory, as they have the same cathedral ceilings. I've changed my mind several times about wallpaper for this room. I chose a Les Chinoiseries paper that has muted florals. 

First up was mimicking the adjustments to where the walls meet the ceilings - building up the outer edge just a bit and attaching the inner roof/ceiling, filling the gaps. It meant removing wood strips along where the ceiling meets the walls. These were 1/2" square strips of the room's length and were intended to support cross-ceiling beams. I had forgotten the fun of prying out nails, sanding, filling, and priming. I had to re-route some tapewire in the process. The lighting would be similar to the kitchen so it would need a path up to the very top, and then out to the roof. 

The wallpaper went up like a dream, as has been my recent experience with Les Chinoiseries paper. Once the paper was up, I attached the arches, and the lighting. The Ray Storey lights I used in the kitchen are no longer available as he has retired. I got similar ones from Lighting Bug, though they are smaller. I also have 3 LED can lights in the peak of the ceiling to add more light. Those are really hidden but provide more ambiance to the room. 

The Sue Cook corbels - they got held up for months. Just as Sue shipped them, the Royal Mail had a cyber security attach and everything leaving the country got halted. They have now finally arrived and are now on my to do list.

Update on Chateau Kitchen Floor

 The kitchen floor that I made using Les Chinoiseries wallpaper tile came with a border attached and I couldn't decide if that border would be too much so I had cut it off initially. I had also glued it to a piece of thin white acrylic, which I thought would be more sturdy than the posterboard I had used with some tile that I had played around with early on. 

Subsequently, I went back to it and decided I needed to use a better base - the glue was coming off of the acrylic. Turns out crescent board is too thick and I went back to a bristol board I'd used in other houses. So next was figuring out which part of the border (or all of it) I wanted to use. I ended up using the smaller border. It's probably not a big deal, because most of it is covered by cabinets. 

Success with Chateau kitchen

 Finally I pulled it all together today! I'm very pleased with the results and have a sense of satisfaction. 

I knew I had to spray paint the new arches, and went on the hunt for low-odor spray paint, as it's 30 degrees here in Chicago. I landed on PintyPaint  (comes from Spain) - I researched it and wanted to buy local, so I could work on this week while I'm off from work. Turns out JoAnn carries it so I scooped up 2 cans and started. At first, it seemed a bit strong, but I opened the windows a crack and had the fan on. It's dry enough in 30 minutes to do another layer.  I got a nice soft white that is matte. 3 coats and it was perfect. 

Hanging the  Ray Storey chandeliers was a challenge, I had to ensure the length of chain was the same for both, and I scrounged my old jewelry and patiently attached them. Needed to drill a bit up in the peak to ensure I could feed the wire through to the exterior roof. 

Gluing the Sue Cook corbels, the custom arches and the Unique Miniatures trim...all coming together. It's been a long time coming and I've invested lots of time (and money) into this room, and I'm happy it's done. 

New Cricut Maker 3

I decided it was high time to step into the tech world with my miniatures. My attempts at making an arched ceiling beam for my vaulted ceilings from basswood sheets for the Chateau haven't been going well. My dear husband stepped in and made a much better version using basswood strips and a pre-shaped arch I found. These took him hours and are much more uniform than my attempts. I sanded and painted them...and was getting ready to install in my kitchen. 

Not too fast...the wallpaper in the kitchen just wasn't cutting it, and the flooring lacked umph. I found some fabulous tile paper from Les Chinoiserie that was originally for a bathroom and it was calling me to use it in the kitchen. So I got that applied to a base and then found another Les Chinoiserie paper for the walls...and I'm in love! 

Now to get back to the arches, well it hit me...Cricut can cut thin basswood. We had actually thought about it a few months ago when hubby was doing the 2nd version using basswood strips. Bit the bullet and got it last week. We spent the week on and off, he did the SVG, and then I did some test projects learning Design Space and using the Cricut to cut them. We did a trial on paper, then on cardstock veneer, and then finally on the 1/16" basswood. I'm doing the happy dance!

Here's the floor, wallpaper, and the old arch beam - while I consider the choices...before:

Now the paper is installed, and the flooring laid (I'm really grooving on it!)

First test of the basswood. 

This is when I realize the bottom horizontal is all the way across, unlike the original design. Still....I love it! This is only 1 thickness, and the idea is I will glue 3 of the 1/16" pieces together. 

Final version - and I'm now printing 3 on a 24" sheet. Just ordered more wood. I also decided that I will do the same arches in the other wing - the conservatory. 

Chateau Foyer gets new look

The Foyer wallpaper I chose originally - I had my heart set on the panel effect and spent a lot of time (and $) in finding the right paper, and then cutting the pattern to a narrower repeat (because the room was not all that large). I was pretty happy with it...but it had seams that were more obvious than I liked. And the outside coach lights stopped working, not even bulb replacements would fix that. 

So I bit the bullet and got more coach lights and found a fabulous deep elegant wallpaper from Les Chinoiseries. The crown molding in that room was different than the LR and DR, since I didn't have enough of that molding. But I really wasn't happy with the one I ended up using. So, it all came out. The new coach lights went up, and I wired them to the subfloor instead of the wall. This way, if the connection goes wonky, I can lift the floor and re-attach the eyelets. 

The wallpaper went up like a charm, and it dramatically changed the mood...its so rich and elegant. As I was installing it, the idea of using a dark/wood look in a crown started to form. I had purchased some Unique Miniatures crown molding I had used once before in another house. For some reason, once upon a time, I kept a small cutting of that molding and had apparently applied a stain/paint wash to it. I stumbled upon it in my stash, and it was just staring me in the face!

Before:

Visualizing new paper

Paper up, and old crown sample I found that I had previously stained/washed - looks rich!

Completed paper

Staining the crown

And final effect!

Chateau Bath

The bath is on the third floor and I bought white Reutter with gold accents. The sink is what sold me. The other day while perusing the Les Chinoiseries wallpaper site, I happened on tile paper that is so different and so appropriate that I bought it. Well, actually I bought 2 different papers and am thinking about a tile wainscoting. I decided to do a knee wall around the window and make a surface for the vertical tiling. 

I've been pouring over sites looking to see if anyone has used it in their actual dollhouse. I think the very tiny hex tiles with the small flowers will be the floor. I'm still not sure about using the yellow/blue as the wall tile, I may look for a more neutral tile. 

Pretty retro, huh?

Chateau Bedrooms Get New Wallpaper

It wouldn't be the same if I didn't strip at least one paper off and install another in the Chateau. Funny how you have an idea in your head but the result isn't satisfying.  

I've been pouring over the Les Chinoiseries wallpapers available. I have been very satisfied with the living and dining room papers that are Les Chinoiseries. I found a stunning yellow and blue stripe for the master and a complimentary blue damask for the other bedroom. Stripping the 2 rooms didn't take much time, and within a couple of hours I had both rooms papered. I'm very happy with the results - the character of those rooms has changed drastically. 

I also got crown up and cut the baseboards, just need to attach doors. I will need to decide on chandeliers - my ceiling roses are ready and the holes are drilled. 

Oh, see that beautiful yellow secretary there? A recent purchase, I was originally thinking it would work in the living room but it found its natural home. And the lovely bombe chest in the master is new, a JBM piece that I happened on and couldn't pass up.

Chateau Wallpaper and Wood Floors

 I took the plunge and wallpapered with the new Les Chinoiseries wallpaper I proposed in the last post. The quality of the paper is as promised - thick but not too thick. I completely forgot to spray with sealer before applying paste, as I always do with Itsy Bitsy Minis and Brodnax. Thankfully I had no problems with bleeding even when I wiped off excess paste. 

The upstairs hall got papered as well, sort of a marbled paper that blended with the foyer paper where it met in the stair opening. I was originally planning on papering it before I glued the floor in. Somehow I forgot that was my plan, and then had to adjust my papering plan so I could accommodate the height difference where the floor ended. 

Looking ahead, I pulled out the crown molding that I have been planning on using, and placed it up against the ceiling in the dining room. What to do with the fireplace chimney breast and the crown - to cut and miter all around or just butt it up to the chimney breast. The problem is that there is a small step inset on each side. If I do miter, I have to miter to the deepest spot and that's that.

Living room, dining room, master bedroom, 2nd bedroom and 2nd floor hall wood floors are all done, each strip cut, and attached to a posterboard base. They are ready to be stained with cherry stain.