Furniture Painting

Back in the spring, I played with painting some furniture - using chalk paint. I have been wanting to do this for over a year and just hadn't gotten to it. With the majority of my French Country done, I was contemplating this. I bought several colors of Chalk paint from Joann's and pulled out some of the inexpensive furniture I have had for years.

Still in the works, I was experimenting with base colors and sanding, and top colors...I have also purchased some small wood and metal embellishments and have some ideas on adding them and then painting over them. I haven't done that yet....

Chateau Shingles

I had purchased cedar shingles for the Chateau and with the grey color on the exterior, I decided it would be best to have darker shingles. I had experimented with a few grey shingles, but I don't think it would have been enough of a contrast.

I finally stained these over the weekend (needed nice weather, no rain, not hot). I had read of other miniaturists adventures in staining and wasn't looking forward to it. I got some foil roasting pans and was going to do the sieve method - poking holes in the bottom of one so the stain would drip into the bottom pan. Turns out I got too large of a size, and the bottom of these pans was not flat, had ridges for juices. That really wasn't working for me.

I was on my concrete patio, using an older wrought iron table. I had brown craft paper on top of it and this was where I would lay out the wet shingles. As I was poking holes in the roasting pan, I knocked over the stain, and it did a fabulous job of making a mess. Quickly moping up and removing the wet craft paper, as I watched it drip down to the concrete patio...not a great start. Once I was ready to start again, I placed wax paper down first, then more craft paper and began. I gave up on the roasting pans and chose a smaller metal container. I finished the first of 3 bags and was nearly out of stain (1/2 pint). Off to the store for more, and then back at it. I got a rhythm going and finally finished all. Did a bunch of blotting with paper towels and really ran through blue latex gloves like they were going out of style!

I again laid out the 2 collections of shingles today to dry and they look really nice! 3000 shingles....count 'em! I used Minwax Red Mahogany.

Here's the original 3 bags - puts it in perspective about how many I have, and what the natural color was.

French Country Manor Bath

Once the wallpaper was up and window cut out, I began placing the furniture again....and the darn angled walls make that hard. So I decided I needed a knee wall. I poked around in my stash and came up with some stained wainscoting I had done and not used.

So I needed to make a brace for how it would be mounted. This picture shows how it will look, it hasn't been installed yet. I have to probably cut the flooring shorter, so that the knee wall doesn't permanently hold it down. I need to have access to the electrical tape on the floor, in case the wiring for the room below goes wonky (technical term). So the floor shows the 2 sections buckling, and once I cut the floor down, I will adhere it to a piece of cardstock to keep it flat.

I think I have a piece of chair rail or 1/4 round that I will stain the same color to finish the wainscoting. It does offer a nice contrast and makes placing the fixtures much easier - more realistic.

Bathroom Wallpaper and Floor

The French Country bathroom is the last room that I've waited to tackle. I bit the bullet and glued the 2nd floor wing onto the house. I previously had wired the Study and the tapewire was done on the bathroom floor. I had previously been planning on the paper and layout, just needed to do the work.

The wallpaper templates took me a few hours, and then cutting and gluing the wallpaper on. I'm very happy with the effect. Next, I tackled the flooring. I used World Model tile cardstock, cutting off the greek key borders, and since the room is large, pieced together 2 sections. I still need to glue it to a posterboard base, as I don't want it to be permanently attached in case I need to access the wiring.

Once the paper is completely dry, I will cut out the window.

Book making

I decided to try my hand at making books in quantity for my study bookcase. I did some research and found a blog post about how to enhance the realism of the books. I used this idea - color in a band around the inside edge of the paper cover.

Update: I located a video on this topic done by this blogger that I had watched also - if you are interested in this she does a great job.

All in all I think they came out well. One thing I learned is I need to keep a variety of markers on hand, different colors and tip thicknesses. And a glue stick came in very handy as well.

I need to grab my bookcase and start arranging them!

Kitchen finishing

Now that I've gotten all the windows and doors done, I'm moving on to the kitchen. I need to paint and install ceiling beams and crown like I have in the study. The 3rd wallpaper is up and I'm happy with it.

I bought this pot board and love the finish. This gives me some ideas on how to finish the cabinets.

Bathroom plans

I've been thinking about how I'm going to finish and furnish the bathroom in the wing attic space. All the angles are a challenge.

I love Sally Wallace's version of it, so I'm using it as inspiration. I'm not enamored of the turquoise floor but I love the dark wallpaper. I chose a Brodnax wallpaper that has those dark colors. I also love how she has a sitting room space, I hadn't thought of that.

I began placing things I've purchased and looking at flooring options. I was hoping to use some of the flooring I have. I have some 1" tiles but not enough - its a big floor. So I pulled out some paper flooring I had stowed away. I may try the beige one here...though I did order a marble World Model floor yesterday.

I need to figure out how to do a round shower curtain. The stand I bought doesn't include the round shower ring. I may have to rig my own ring on it, one I make from strong wire.

This is the floor from World Model I ordered. 

Possible flooring

Wallpaper for bathroom