My New Arrival!!

The last few weeks have been very busy, and I have just found a moment to post. I am so happy to report that I have given birth via c-section to a beautiful 6lb 9oz, 17 1/2inches, baby girl named Elora Dawn on May 11th. She is absolutely breathtaking. I am recovering from the c-section well and my son Aidan has adapted wonderfully to his new little sister. At 2 1/2 years old he's doing great with the addition to our family. Obviously during these few weeks I haven't completed any miniatures and with the restrictions during recovery I won't be accomplishing anything large. I am enjoying my time off from work and absorbing as much time as I can with my babies before returning to work. However, I do have new pictures to post, but as it is late and Elora will be up soon to eat I will have to wait till some time tomorrow to upload them.

CLEANING CLEANING... JUST A LITTLE MINI-ING

Well, It's been awhile since I've posted any work on the Gloucester but I have been busy trying to clean and get the nursery and Aidan's room ready. Only two months left, and I am panicking, so much to do so little time. I couldn't quite stop mini-ing though so I started going through my smaller kits. I figured at least this way I wouldn't take up too much room building while I'm trying to keep things clean and it would be easier to work on if I can fit a house in the palm of my hand. I found a NESM Queen Anne dollhouse in 1/144th scale that I had started at one time but stopped when I realized I was missing part of the foundation. The company was really nice and sent me a replacement part. By the time I got it my attention must have wandered because the poor house sat in a draw barely started and forgotten. I pulled it out, thinking I would be good and finally finish something I started, guess I really should have paid attention to the first missing piece more. I had the whole house papered, floors stained and the house built all the way to the tower roof. .. .then trouble started. .. I was also missing the roof parts to the tower. So once again the little house is sitting unfinished while I wait for my pieces to arrive. However, I promised myself as soon as it does I WILL finish it this time. All that needs done is the tower roof pieces, paint the roof all the same color and landscaping. I like the color it comes with so I'm thinking of blending fine sand in with Charcoal Grey paint and texturing the roof pieces with that. I will post pictures of this house as soon as my pieces arrive. It will be a nice feeling to have something completed to display.

This scale is really growing on me. I have quiet a few kits hidden away for days when I really need something that I can finish relatively quickly. I have been stocking up the past couple years whenever I find 40% or 50% off coupons from http://miniatures.com. . .Just received the 50% off coupon last weekend and I used it on the 1/144th Beacon Hill and my mom received the same coupon through email and bought the 1/144th Victorian Mansion for me (April 1st there is a coupon for 40% off and I already found another kit to use it on). I found wonderful inspiration from Lori over on http://ohminiofmine-loshcosh.blogspot.com. Her work is just beautiful and really got me in the mood again for these tiny creations, check it out if you haven't already. . .

One room down, 5 to go!

And the Dining room is complete! Yeah! Finished the banister, installed the stairs and corner moulding this weekend.

Then I decided that I would much rather have a stone type floor in the kitchen and used a tutorial online to simulate flagstones. They are in the rough first stage right now. Once they are completely dry I will sand them done some so they aren't so lumpy-bumpy the start the wash stains to get the coloring I want. I think this will match the wallpaper much better now.

As my house progesses I feel that I have completely lost anytype of era. I have given up on having a "Victorian" or "Georgian" style and have gone with "My dream home" as a theme, an eclectic mix of the two. There will still (hoepfully) be no items in the house that would date later then 1900. However a specific year before this is wiped clean. Maybe after it is all finished someone out there will be able to tell me what it closest resembles. : )

Here is a photo showing the roof on, it is just sitting on top and I am dreading installing it. The front fits beautifully but there is a nice gap in the back that you can see if you bend down and look inside. Crossing my fingers that I can sand edges or stick skewers in the cracks before papering to make them unnoticable. The ceiling is vaulted to 8 1/2 inches but it's very hard to tell in photos.

This last photo shows the top of the stairs leading to the living room and the door between the two rooms.

LIGHT!

And we have light! Woohoo! I had a heck of a time getting this light to work. I was trying to use the adapter so I could plug straight into my tapewire. Mistake number one, I tried it out on the chandelier that I really liked and wanted for the dining room. Not a good idea as I've never worked with electrical, either real life or miniature. I couldn't get the wires stripped properly, everytime I tried the wires just fell apart. I have a sinking feeling I've ruined that fixture. If you click the photo to the left you can see it sitting in the shadowss SOOOO. .. I moved on to the other light fixture I had set aside for the living room. Originally my plan was to use this fixture in all the rooms, so I guess it's not too bad. I will order another chandelier later and replace this one with that but untill then I have light. : ) It's a great feeling of accomplishment. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it at all and now that I've got it up I'm thrilled.

One room down 5 more to go! I'm looking forward to it. The round piece on the floor will actually be my table top. I was just seeing how the size looked.

Better pictures. . .

No new progress to report really, just wanted to show some better pictures. . . I'm still trying to decide on wallpaper for the kitchen. Not really liking the choices I've come across. I don't know what color to put with the flooring I chose. I'm almost thinking of laying a different floor just to make it easier. These pictures really show what I mean about my phone muting the colors. The picture of the blue and white wallpaper is a last resort diffinitly think it is too checky especially against the floor. Any suggestions or color advice would be great.

OOOHHH pretty!

First of all I apologize for the quality of the photos if you poke them. I took these with my camera phone and the walpaper came out muted. I didn't have my camera available and was too excited to wait. My husband came home last night around 11pm and first thing he said when he saw it was "WOW it looks like a room!" Guess that's as good a compliment as any. made me excited, at least someone could tell it was room rather than a box with scrap paper inside LOL!

This is a picture of my dining room. I still have the moulding for around the arch to complete and install and a little bit of white molding to install in the corners of the room. There is the slightest of gaps that really bothers me but with a little trim it will be fixed. I'm loving this room! The staircase is only being held in place with the clamp, it's not installed. I have all the spindles to finish painting and the room above to wallpaper and do moulding for before I can install these stairs. The chandelier I ordered came in, however I have to order an adapter so I can plug straight into the tapewire. I had to wait till the light came in as I didn't know what size I needed. It's a very beautiful 5 arm palace chandelier. Sounds too fancy but it looks really nice, I can just see it above the table and chairs with a cabinet in the back to hold the china. OOOHHH the excitement!

Here is the flooring I finally decided on for the kitchen. I really like the looks but haven't found the wallpaper to set it off. I have a black colonial swag light for this room and will be getting a black wood burning stove. I love the blue just not sure what I want on the walls. Originally I thought this would be the easiest room to finish but the dining room proved me wrong.

The wallpaper to the bottom left is for the parlour. I jumped for joy when it came in and the color matched the fabric I'd chosen for the sofa perfectly. It's not installed just cut to size. I was too impatient to wait for the installation before showing it off. This picture shows the top of the stairs to the bottom right side. That might help explain why I have to wait to install the stairs. It is also the reason I changed the other side of the staircase. There was supposed to be one of those boars for the other side but it looked very trange. Not like a nice staircase should lol. That is all the eye candy I have to show for now. Will continue working on the wallpapering of the rest of the rooms. Still undecided if I will have a bathroom or a small library in this house. . . decisions, decisions. . .

And we have a shell!

Well it's been long enough since I've posted last. Real life has definitly gotten in the way of dollhouse building, in the greastest way possible that is. I am now 18 weeks pregnant with my second child. I am so excited, but with the nesting already taking control I haven't spent much time on the Gloucester . . . until recently that is. I now have a rough shell put together. This was extremely hard as I have added legs to the bottom of the house. I stained them to match the furniture in my RL living room. Because of the legs I used about half a roll of masking tape to hold it together while the glue dried. The proudest moment was when the tape was removed and it didn't collapse! I have a nice celtic knot wood trim that will go around the base of the house to give the appearance of it resting on a real table. Unfortunatley that won't be added untill later as I am restricted from using stain till after the baby is born. I abandoned the skinny stick flooring and splurgered on wood veneer flooring. I am so much happier with it now. Just wish I had done it sooner as I think that would have made me work on the house earlier than I have.

The bottom right room's floor, soon to be the kitchen, still shows the skinny sticks that I laid. I want to add either slate tiles, marble tiles or linoleum to that room but just haven't found the right one. Electrification is already in progress, I've found it soooo much easier to do this as I go. And guess what?! It actually works! This takes some of the monoteny out of the shell building. Wallpaper is still eluding me. I have so many choices put aside just waiting till after the Christmas bustle to order it.

The stair case is not installed yet, just wanted to see how it's going to look. Out of all the house this is the only thing that dissapoints me. The stair case when put together like the instructions show is very ugly to me. i like a nice dainty banister and spindles so have taken off the left side of the stairs to incorporate this and make it seem more traditional. Also the treads do not overlap the risers which gives a very boxy look and the steps are very steep to fit in the area designated. I am trying ways to make this less apparant with the white risers and stained treads. It seems to help, plus I plan to add staircase runners. As the staircases face front this should make it easy to accomplish after I've wallpapered and chosen the color schemes for each room.

Painting all of the little spindles, banisters, and need to construct the second floor staircase still. Then I will finish working on the roof and the front trim that will hold the door.

Originally this house was supposed to reflect a very authentic mid-victorian interior but as I started building and choosing furniture it has morphed into my dream home, with pieces from early to late victorian taking hold. I figured this way I get to have all the pieces that I have been drooling over and if I accidentally put something in that wouldn't have been available in 1845 my excuse is the lady of the house is from later in the century with a love of the old. We'll see how well this slides. : ) Hopefully I will have more to report soon. . . .