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.

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 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 Kitchen Update

It felt like the countertops on the cabinets were too similar a repeat, and more grey than I liked. I touched them up and they are warmer looking. This is how the countertops looked - this corner one was more obvious with the repeat than the others but I toned it down and stippled some beiges and creams.

I finally decided on the neutral wallpaper and got that installed. I have been working on the ceiling beams and its clear that what is throwing me off is one side where the ceiling starts is higher than the other. I've attached the ceiling more permanently and fixed the spot where the wall met the ceiling - so that entire wall is now the same surface. 

The embossed border I bought is also now up, and I had to add a strip of wood on the side that opens to make both wall heights the same. And I framed out the window! 

The ceiling beams have an arch, and I won't go into all the challenges I faced doing it. Let's just say that balsa wood was the way to go - soft enough to trace and cut an arch of sorts. I'm in the process of painting them, and may need to fiddle a bit with them to get at least the right side to snug up to the ceiling. 

The ceiling lights I selected are Ray Storey - I got this one for the 2nd floor landing, but it's much larger than I expected, so I got a 2nd one and will be hanging them in the kitchen. 

Chateau Conservatory

What is it with my obsession with flooring?? I decided to purchase the terra cotta embossed paper that is the same brand as the kitchen paper tile. I had briefly considered this terra cotta for the kitchen, something about terra cotta clay for kitchens is stuck in my brain. But I did that in the French Country and think the kitchen will be better in the tile, and the new cabinets.

So I am now contemplating using it for the conservatory. It seems to flow nicely with the wicker and the probable wallpaper. I am not keen on the 2nd tile floor I made for it - I posted a picture below so its easy to consider each. Funny, I was stoked about getting enough marble tile to do this large floor. There's a couple of things that just hit me wrong - I had grouted them but not every tile is adhered flatly to the floor, so its kind of bumpy but because its shiny, its more obvious.