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.

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. 

Chateau updates

 Since January 3rd, I've done some minor work on the Chateau. 

I decided to gild the doorcases I got from Sue Cook. They look very nice - helps when you have a tiny brush! 

The front door had a plain brass door knocker and that couldn't stand. I got the lion one I had been pining for and then located a door knob set at a hobby shop. They do bring a bit more class to the door.

I touched up the roof of the bay windows, copper antiqued. As I look at the last picture, I may go back over it with a bit more copper - its a bit dark. I started with a brownish base, went over it with some antique metallic copper, and then did a black wash over that. 

I've been thinking about my kitchen vaulted ceiling and was playing around with some things. Still not settled on what I will do.

Chateau doorcases

 I'm considering Sue Cooks's doorcases for this house. The ceilings are not as high as the French Country so I'm taking that into consideration. 

These would be on the first floor doorways, I would get 8 of them and most likely not use doors but leave them open like the French Country.

Which do you like better?

French Country upper level doorcases

 The grandeur that the doorcases added to the first floor have been rattling around in my brain for a year or so and I have now done a shorter version of them on the 2nd and 3rd floors. Sue Cook's work is so wonderful and I'm very pleased with the results.

Architectural Pizazz Part 2

I now have these beautiful Sue Cook doorcases installed and I love them! They add just the right flair to this magnificent house! I still have some filling and touch-up to do, but am so glad I bit the bullet and bought them.

Painting in progress.

Architectural pizazz

I've been musing for a year about whether to get these beautiful doorcases from Sue Cook. I looked for local alternatives but they just don't compare.

I'm happy to say I ordered these today and am pretty stoked about how they will look!

Here was the other alternative - Unique Miniatures.