Window boxes

 The Thornhill needs window boxes on the upper windows  (see photo below also) and I found 2 packages of unfinished ones in my stash recently. I could do white ones, but thought having terra cotta ones would look nice. I also stumbled upon another texture paint at the store the other day. 

I painted using this Suede texture paint, and located some terra cotta paint (turns out its "Lawbre Brown", one of the colors I used in my color wash of the exterior of my French Country house). The idea was to play with the suede texture paint...and then color over it with the terra cotta.

Here's the preliminary results:

Fun thinking about landscaping

I had forgotten how much fun landscaping was! Its been many years since I did any. My Newport was the first (and only) house with landscaping. I went all out, bought all sorts of materials, trees, shrubs, landscaping turf, gravel, flowers etc. I really did a remarkable job. 

I have all the remaining supplies stashed away in a couple of bins, and just started going through them...its like its Christmas morning and I'm a kid!

I've attached a picture of my finished Newport, and then some of my Thornhill with some of those trees just to get the sense of what it could look like.

I'm thinking it needs a vine, and perhaps a stone edging like I did with the Newport. I threw the lyons in there....could mebbe use them!

The pots are hand made by an artist - Julie, I think? I got them from my local shop and have larger ones for the French Country Manor. 

I just realized I never added the keystones to the Thornhill windows...hmmm. 

Here's some brick wall I found...not sure I will use it here but wanted to capture it for later - for ideas on what I could do with it.

My Miniature Village

It's finally happening! I'm planning out my village in my basement where 3 of my houses live. Okay yes I'm a packrat, and hubby is too. We've been in this house for 20 years and several floor layouts as our needs have changed. We have downsized on furniture and moved some of it up to first floor. This has opened up the space in the basement. My workspace for my dollhouses is to the far right of this space, the other side of the room.

We have this modular desk set that fits into a corner and then has side pieces. Its long been vacant, collecting stuff and dust, as we have moved away from computer towers to laptops and offices now in our extra bedrooms. I removed some modular shelves the desk had for monitors etc and it will now be housing my dollhouses!

I got a board cut at HD today and bought wool/felt from Joann's and have placed the board on the space. My plan is to put my Thornhill on it. Not sure if it will go on the angle or on the side. I can add a second desk end on the right  - we have one more. Since the Thornhill opens on the sides and very front, I don't need access to the back, don't need a turntable. I want to do some landscaping, but on the sides it will have to be short shrubs, so I can still open the sides. There will finally be room for the steps!

The Seaside Villa Bed & Breakfast has its own turntable table, so I don't think I will move it off that.
The third house is my French Country - I haven't made any real decisions but I may keep it on the TV cart.

A work in progress, as they say. The file cabinet will be moving and boxes/tables will be gone of course.

Old and New Projects

I'm winding down on the Thornhill  - it needs to find its new location in my home. Once set up in the new location, I can begin filling it with all the wonderful furniture and accessories I've acquired over the last several years!

On 2 older dollhouses I have to build dust covers for them - between dust and the cats, they have seen moments of battle. On my Bed & Breakfast (Seaside Villa model) I found out today I can use roof ridge molding I have in stock. It will be glued to the underside of finishing strips on the house at the base. The plexiglass will slide under the eaves, and the roof should keep it from falling.

It will also nicely adhere to the underside of the middle support roof sections and if need be, I can paint a side strip black and attach to the roof vertically beyond the opening of the roof.

Bed & Breakfast:

Thornhill 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

• 2nd floor guest bedroom - Itsy Bitsy Mini - Bird Toile 704A
• Bath - Itsy Bitsy Mini - Rose Toile 656
• Man's Study - Itsy Bitsy Mini - Wildlife Collage 302B
• 2nd floor Hall - Itsy Bitsy Mini - French Kitchen 590A
• 3rd Floor bedroom - Itsy Bitsy Mini - Curtain Toile 710A
• Kitchen 'tile'  and overlay is World Model (2 1/8w x 2 5/8h)

Flooring

• Wood - 3/8" Cherry strips from S.H. Goode & Sons 
• Kitchen & Dining room tile - Le miniature di Eurosia terracotta
• Foyer hall 1st and 2nd floor - Brodnax parquet
• Sun room/Conservatory - Lawbre tile adobe
• Bathroom - cut tile

Built-in items

• Kitchen cabinets - M&R Miniatures
• Fireplace Living Room
• Fireplace Man's study - Braxton Payne
• Fireplace back wall Man's Study - Lawbre AE925 - Wall Panel

Furniture

Bespaq

JBM

DeCava Interiors
BB Miniatures

Paint/Finishes

• Living Room/Hall - color wash - Ceramacoat Antique White base, wash of McCloskey (Valspar) Raw Umber Glaze
• Dining room
• Kitchen
• Master Bedroom
• Exterior - spackle and color wash
• Kitchen cabinets - Folkart Teddy Bear Tan 419, and a color wash or Burnt Umber color wash from 
• Kitchen counter - Fleckstone
• Chimney - DecoArt Sandstone Light Brown
• Foundation  - Duncan Granite Stone - Sand

Interior decorating to do

I need to make window treatments for:

• Living Room
• Dining Room
• Master Bedroom
• Guest Bedroom

I found this great tutorial on making draperies - http://studioeminiatures.blogspot.ca/2013/10/bed-curtains-tutorial.html and I think I will give it a whirl.

I'm going to have to go through all my stock of fabric and see what pops out...finally get to use some of them!

I've been thinking about the palladian windows.  I think perhaps simple side draperies on brass rods that don't cover the windows, and hang just below the arch portion. Living room may be downplayed, blending with the walls. Maybe yellow with blue?




I think the Dining room needs some pop though - maybe a dark burgundy/dark red small print. That should bring out the adobe tiles and the red check. 

Second floor guest room - I've toyed with the idea of a bed canopy, semicircular at the top and draping out over the sides of the daybed. I'm thinking either a toile or the monkey fabric. Window treatment could be swags or draperies.




Master bedroom - this one is still flexible. Probably a silk, draperies that puddle on the floor.

Exterior work

The shingles are done, quoins are on, the chimneys are on!

I have 2 upper dormer walls to finish with texture - visible from the sides of the house.

I'm still thinking about some sort of crown/dentil molding at the top peak on the front. 

Remaining things to do on Thornhill

Back a few years ago I had a list - updating it more now. Getting pretty close to complete!

First Floor

• Kitchen baseboards, doorway to dining room

Third Floor

• Finish painting inside roof of peak/gable

Exterior

• Dormer dentil 
• texture for side of dormers

Kitchen Cabinet Makeover

For a few years I've been postponing completing the kitchen in my Thornhill. I have struggled with the cabinet colors and the wall colors, and what tile to put in for a back splash. So the last several days I was researching and playing around with back splashes, and then while I thought I was getting close yesterday, I was still wavering. Late last night I had another twist on it, that was one step better.

But today I finally figured out that it was the cabinets that I was not really happy with. Out came paint, color wash, etc, and back to googling. Later today, it hit me. Yep, that aha moment. It came to me as I recalled an armoire and chairs that I bought that were customized by Maribeth Leidinger Inch by Inch), and I was going to put them in the kitchen too. Bingo! Back to pulling out paint, and I found a base paint that is a really nice match. Folkart Teddy Bear Tan 419 is the base paint, and then antiqued it with Burnt Umber color wash.

I really love the results, and can't wait to coordinate with my back splash ideas and get it all put together!

Before, along with the armoire that inspired me.

Here's after the first coat.

And the antiqued version, next to the armoire that was my inspiration.

Here's the room now, with counter tops, wallpaper, and island.

2015 Miniature Finds Placed in House

I finally got all my furniture back out and placed it in the Thornhill, along with my recent finds from the Bishop Show and the Estate sale.

Here's the JBM tapestry chair I purchased at the show.

Here's the 3rd floor bedroom - with the cabinet and needlepoint I purchased from the estate sale

And in the game room, the JBM leather tufted chair and the Bespaq leather chair I got from New England Miniatures.

The dining room has the newly replaced Bespaq chairs (due to disintegrated foam), and the custom built stained brown corner cabinet I snagged at the estate sale.

The bath has a shelf bought at that estate sale, and needlepoint rug I got at the Bishop show. 

In the man's study, the Rocco chair and stool I got from New England Miniatures are tucked in by the fireplace, and a rifle/gun waiting for a rack on order.

This chest is from BB Miniatures - hand painted - she does beautiful work.

I got 2 of these palm trees from the Bishop show - they are Bill Lankford. They are placed in Lawbre urns.

Here's a Jeanetta Kendall  cane, and a waste basket. I've been filling up the bookcases with books etc. 

Exterior Changes

I had burgundy window frames, mulled it for months, ripped them out and put in white painted ones. Yes, it was both costly and time consuming. I may still add some burgundy architectural details. 

Baseboards

My stock of baseboard ran low and I had to order more to complete the 3rd floor. Man, not even online shops have stock - I needed like 10 strips. I ordered them - these are nice Houseworks ones and they got backlogged.

They arrived mid-week so my plan was to get them done this past weekend - sometimes you have made a decision and all you want to do is get it done. To my dismay, 3 pieces were warped badly - on both the horizontal and vertical planes. The graining was much more course than stock I've had. So I was not terribly happy, but managed to eek out enough satisfactory lengths to stain and install.

It feels good to plan it and then actually do what you plan - allowing you a sense of accomplishment.

Changed finish of exterior windows

Funny how time changes your mind on your previous choices. I just kept rethinking the dark red burgundy exterior color on the windows. I bit the bullet and re-painted them white. Yes, from one extreme to another.

Of course I'd already glued them in, and fortunately that wasn't too much of a challenge, with the exception of the 2nd floor arch window. That bit the dust when I attempted to remove it. Repainting white over the dark of course took 2 coats, not to mention that the windows were pretty much painted shut the first time. I kept all the 1st floor ones, and ended up trashing the 4 2nd floor ones and getting new windows. Odd that not all of those 2nd floor windows had the removable wood, allowing you to paint without the acrylic.

I'm still not sure about if I will change the front door. I am thinking maybe a combo of white and burgundy.

3rd Floor Nearing Completion

Wood floors done, wallpaper and bead board in 3rd floor bedroom! Can start work on baseboards and doors now.

3rd Floor Goings On

While waiting for the 2nd coat of polyurethane to dry on my wood floors, I finished the bead board ceiling pieces and attached them in the bedroom.

I also got most of the wallpaper hung, just need to trim up and then add chair rail.

Staining and wood floors

I located some hinge locks at Rockler and while they are expensive, they are exactly what I wanted. Once installed, they made working on the 3rd floor a pleasure - no more posts holding the ceiling open.

My flooring strips arrived from Earth N Tree and yesterday I commenced cutting and fitting for all 3 of the 3rd floor rooms. Today I stained them, and once dry they will get polyurethane.

I also am working on bead board ceiling for the far right room - this will be a bedroom. Its cut and stained and when its dry, I will glue them to the template base and then attach to ceiling.