Tuesday, April 5, 2011

In The Eye Of The Beholder

From The Ridiculous To The Sublime

Dear Readers, I hope you will forgive me if I take you on a small detour on our way to visit the little Cottage that is my current project. This detour will take you, briefly, to my workplace where some new equipment was installed yesterday morning. After the technician had finished the installation and had cleaned up the mess and left, I glanced down at the floor beside my desk and noticed that he had left behind some pieces of the protective wrappings that came with the equipment. This is what I saw........

Do YOU see what I see??? Do You?????

I held them up for my co-worker and she immediately said "Those look like little chairs!"
"That's EXACTLY what I thought!" I replied. I couldn't bring myself to THROW them away, so I set them on a table near the door, just curious whether anyone else would also see them as mini chairs.

The next person to come into the office was my BOSS... he took one look at them and said..... "Those look like little chairs!" And laughing, he put them on MY desk and said "Do you have any little people to put in them?" "You should check in that box of toys you have.....!" (A box of toys that once belonged to my boys and now lives in the office to entertain any children who come with their parents...) And he pulled it out and found the little stuffed lion........! I dug a little deeper and found the construction guy....! They make me SMILE every time I look at them!

Now that we have visited with the Ridiculous, we can move on to the (hopefully) Sublime part of this post! I have been working on the little Cottage and made some good progress last weekend. The basic house is finished except for the Dreaded Shingles. I also want to attach it to a base before I send it to it's new owner. So you can see there is still a bit to do before I can call it done. But I think it is looking very sweet with the window box and the seats on the front porch......

And you can see I added a lovely doorknob to the front door.....

And because I just couldn't leave them the way the kit was made, I added vertical dividers to the large bay windows on the downstairs....... the windows just looked too Modern to my eye without the dividers. Here you can see the outside of the bay window on one side......

And here you can see the inside of the front window where I also added the vertical dividers.....

And for the front door I made "strap" hinges out of black leather glued in place. The wood of this kit is much too thin to use actual metal hinges with screws.... so I have improvised..... the leather is strong and flexible and looks rather good in MY eyes!

And for the bay window opening I have added a window seat or bench or deep window sill..... whichever you think you want to call it! It is a bit narrow to actually be a SEAT, but I think it LOOKS good and could hold a cushion or flower pots. The little corner shelf is a piece that came with the kit..... it included some VERY rudimentary pieces of furniture which I have assembled and painted.

Here you can see one of a pair of settles.......

And a better view of the whole Cottage with the rest of the furniture in place. Downstairs is a table and two settles and the corner cupboard......

And upstairs is a bed and a small bench........
I have painted them the same sky blue as the ceiling downstairs and upstairs as well........

And, of course, if you have cherubs flying around on your Downstairs ceiling, you can hardly avoid having them on the UPSTAIRS ceiling as well!

Here is a closer view of the roof panel ceiling before it was installed......

I wonder what he is seeing, don't you?

Maybe he is thinking about what a sweet little room this is....
Or maybe all he sees is his sleeping friend.....

She looks to ME like she is Dreaming Very Sweet Dreams!


But perhaps it is ALL just in the Eye of the Beholder!

14 comments:

  1. You have me stumped on the cottage. I thought Honeymoon cottage or even a guest cottage, now I'm not sure. I remember a time when i would have taken the cardboard and covered it with fabric to make chairs :) I love the ceilings on your cottage.

    Victoria ♥

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  2. I was pretty sure it was you who made these chairs!;D
    Love all the little angels you paint, they are so sweet and it is easy to see they feel like home in the cottage:)

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  3. The Little Cottage is just charming and even although it's small there's still a lot of scope for detail. The ceiling is very clever.

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  4. Bets, I really like your choice of colours for the facade of the cottage. I think I may have this cottage as well. I definitely recognise those furniture. They are 1:24? I think they are called Woodcraft Construction Kit or something ?:)

    Are you making sofas out of those cardboards?

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  5. Love the leaded windows; the furniture; love everything! Hope Mandy loves it too. Yesterday I sent her the doggie.
    Lots of love,
    Mom

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  6. Betsy, I though chairs too when I saw the card board scraps ! great minds think alike ;o) the new roof is wonderful !!
    You are right about wallpapers, they are ridicolously expensive!! I could never afford to cover the whole room and, to be truthful, I can hardly afford my three rolls. But I am not good at painting :o( I cannot hold a brush for my life sake, if I were like you I shold have painted it myself.
    This paper is really stunning anyway, the background has a soft shimmering while the drawings look as if they were watercolours, you can even see the brush strokes.
    Of course I shall show it to you, I shall show off till you'll ask me to stop !
    Have a nice weekend, minihugs Rosanna

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  7. Thanks, Victoria! I will reveal all soon...! Almost finished!

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  8. Thanks, Ewa! I feel like I am just getting started.... I might have to find some more places to paint the cherubs! They are fun to do!

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  9. Thanks, Irene! I gave some thought to dividing the single rooms into two but realized it would really be too cramped that way. As it is there is room for some decoration. I'm glad you like the ceiling!

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  10. Hi Sans! I'm glad you like the colors.... I ended up using the colors I already had.... the orange is the SAME one you have seen on the Folly exterior AND the Chinoiserie Bedroom!! Can you believe it? I am always amazed at how different a color will look depending on what color it is NEXT to! The orange with the brown is so much earthier than with the blue and purple trim of the Folly.
    As for the little furnishings... they came with the house and I think they are a little on the small side for 1:12, but they are larger than 1:24. I think these kits, or similar ones come in the 1:24 size as well. This one is made by Greenleaf and is called the "Sugarplum". Someday I will have to do one all in a Christmas theme....
    And the cardboards are going to stay at my Office for now.... so little children can play with them.... and so I can smile when I see them!

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  11. Hi Rosanna! I was amused at how many people saw the "chairs" right away!
    I am REALLY looking forward to seeing pictures of your wallpaper! Not Bored at all! I have resorted to my paintbrush to get a similar effect... but really I don't get the results I am seeing in my mind.... I would have to devote YEARS to the painting to get that! Soon I am going to start to paint the birds in the trees of MY bedroom.... 1:1 scale.... I might even show some pics if they turn out okay!

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  12. Love the painted angels, hope you have now put some legs on the chairs.
    Dave

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  13. Thanks, Dave! Welcome to my blog! So far the chairs have no legs.... they are at my Office and I will have to give some thought to what would make good legs..... hmmmmm...... and not take too much time...... we'll see! Thanks for commenting!

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