The Things We Keep

Tiny Scraps.... Or Dressing the Bed....

Even though there are still unfinished parts of the painted murals in the Chinoiserie Bedroom, Dear Readers, I could not find the right mood to continue the painting this past weekend. Rather than ruin what had already been accomplished by painting when not in the mood, I did what I often do when Indecision strikes... I worked on something else entirely unrelated (or so I thought) to this Project! I have been planning to make the bed for the Folly Bedroom simply by adding a mattress to the platform under the Gable at the front of the room. And I have known FOREVER the exact fabric I would use to make this mattress..... because I knew the first moment I saw the scrap ... oh years and Years ago.... that it was Perfect for dollhouse mattress ticking!! Here you can see my scrap... a lovely striped cotton seersucker fabric! It is not large... enough for two or maybe three dollhouse mattresses if carefully pieced....

 Here below, you can see the mattress already mostly finished...

I forgot to take pictures.... 

it is entirely stitched with my antique Singer sewing machine....

And I added the tufting with embroidery floss.....

And tried it in the Bed Nook....

Where it looks So PERFECT.... 

it nearly takes my Breath away!!!

Of course, the mattress will not be visible when the bedding is completed... 

and since I want to look at the mattress... 

I will not be making the rest of the bedding for a while!!!

And then it occurred to me .... that while I am making Mattresses.... 

I might as well make the one for the Tree House Bed...

And see what the ticking looks like at that scale...

Here you can see the beginnings... not yet turned right side out... 

stitching across the corners so they will have a vertical corner shape...

And here you can see it being tested on the bed....

And then I thought it really Should have some tufting added....

Oh I think it is Perfect!!!

But I couldn't stop there, Dear Readers.... 

and the irony is that you will never see this perfect mattress again...

Because I had to cover it with lovely old Linen sheets....

And then I got carried away with Dressing this bed.....

(and forgot to take pictures..)

The top sheet had to have a border of delicate lace edging....

which is really the edge cut off another larger scrap of lace... 

because nothing else was small enough...

And the blanket is a scrap of green velveteen ...... 

scraps left from a dress I wore as a flower girl... 

in my Uncle's wedding when I was eight years old.... 

(and I still have a few tiny pieces)

I LOVE that cloth....!!!

And then the pillows...!

The pillows themselves are really plain... 

but the Pillow cases I stitched from a piece of cloth that has 

a few Tiny hand embroidered flowers scattered on it.... 

(poke the picture for a closer view!)

and I added a piece of tiny trim to the edge..... from a scrap I have...

And I made two...

And then I thought of the Bed Curtains....!

Made from the most Incredibly fine Gossamer piece of lace....

That I have only a Tiny scrap of....

 That is Exactly the right height.... for curtains on this bed!!!

I added a piece of edging to trim the side of the curtains...

First one curtain...

 

And then the other....

Isn't it just Amazing how these scraps I have saved for Years and Years 

are so Perfect for this little Bed????

And I suppose you want to see it in the Tree House....

(Well, I Do!!)

Of course... it is Really difficult to photograph this well....

I don't know about you, Dear Readers, but I LOVE those Tiny scraps!

And I LOVE finding the perfect place to use them....

And Knowing there is a Reason for the Things we Keep!!!

Paradise Is A Garden

Spring Will Come.....

I left you, Dear Readers, with the very beginnings of the Chinoiserie wall murals, and I must confess, that they are taking longer than even I imagined they would to paint! They are not quite finished, but I must show you an update on their progress! I was on vacation last week and did almost Nothing besides paint these TINY walls... and at the end of my extended week off... all I could do was look at the walls and think "Is that ALL I have accomplished?"!! Because they are So Small! Well... let me show you how it went...
To begin with, I added the "glass" panes to the Balcony doors with my favorite painted mesh treatment...

You can see them below....

And then I began to add to the painted walls.....

And the interior of the doors is still not completed here....

 

And then tested the look of the decorative trim around the door...

I think it will make the Balcony feel like a little Pagoda from inside....!

And I started to paint the details on all the walls...

The back wall and the window wall shown here have most of the basic trees done 

and  the birds are underpainted for positioning...

And the above walls with the planters painted and the other wall too....

There is some overlap in the walls on the sides which will be trimmed 

when they are ready to be glued in place.....

And more details.... 

Here you can see the walls being tested in place in the room to see how the placement looks...

And the beginnings of the Peacock over the mantle...

And here the doors to the Balcony are shown....

With most of the birds painted.... 

and the "Gazebo " trim attached....

 

And here you can see the doors to the Balcony open....

Even though the door is still detached from the Tree for painting.....!

 

And then I decided the lower part of the wall needed some added shrubs...

They "ground" the composition more... 

and bring in more of that magical blue....

But I must confess I have No Idea what type of flower they are!!!

I try to paint plants I can identify.... 

but I did see a plant like this on one of the antique wallpapers....

So I am convinced it must be real...

and added some to the dressing room wall too, along with a peony... 

even though they will be mostly hidden behind the bed ...!

For the longest time I could not decide what to put over the Fireplace... 

and then I decided it was the only place for a glorious Peacock.....

You can see the beginnings here...

 

But then I looked closer at the real birds ... via the internet....

And amended my versions....

If you look closely you will spot the differences! 

I think they turned out rather well!

So by now we Must test the walls together in the room again....

It is really difficult to get good pictures of these walls in place... 

it  is SO hard to get the lighting and the focus even....

But it gives you an idea of how it is coming along....

This is a little further away....

 

And the back wall was still missing a whole lot of details.....

I could not decide what to paint on the door to the hallway....

And eventually decided to go with the herons....

 

And here is a closer view....

Usually they are shown standing in water... but this is a Tree House! 

So if you need to imagine them in water... 

it is right behind the shore they are standing on....!

And the side wall has had the window added.... and the birds painted....

 

So must we see them in place again...?

But it is Winter... it is Late and Dark... 

and the pictures are not lighting well.... 

Unless we add the Glaring spot lights.....

Which washes out the colors.....

And reveals all the flaws...

Here you can see the outer door open too...

 

And the side wall....

And maybe a better view of the whole room....

Unless you prefer the moodier shot from through the Balcony doors.....

Here .... come closer......

There's the Peacock.....

 

And the Herons too.....

I don't know about you, Dear Readers, 

but I Believe that a Garden is Paradise...

And even though this one is rather small... 

I think I will just sit here Dreaming...

Because the Snow is still deep outside my doors...

But inside, I Know that Spring Will come!

Painting Up A Storm!

Dreaming of Spring in the Depths of Winter.....

I hope you can forgive me, Dear Readers, for showing you a whole lot of Half Finished work this week, but I could not wait to show you the Progress on the Tree House Bedroom! I have been "Painting up a Storm" (which simply means painting a lot!) as I work on the Chinoiserie murals, but progress is slow, so you are going to have to use your Imaginations! These walls are a Long way from done! But Unlike the Huge Snowstorm we have just survived here in New England, the murals have Nothing to do with cold, white Frozen worlds.... however beautiful those can be... but are the most Ideal portrayal of Perpetual Springtime that I know of! And you are going to have to forgive my crude attempts to render this deliciously delicate style of wall decoration in miniature on my Tree House walls.

I am afraid the trees are ending up a bit stockier than is ideal..... 

I started by under-painting with white where the trees would go....

And then painting the dark gray base coat.... but I think the white under-painting was not necessary in this case and ended up causing the tree trunks to be stockier than I had imagined them being. But I think it will be okay that way... each part that gets added changes the entire balance of the composition....

Here I am beginning to add the secondary plant forms.... 

the lacier trees that twine with the darker ones...

And adding layers of gray to define the trunks better....

And filling in the Ground and adding the "planters" ...

and under-painting where the birds will go....

I apologize for the lousy pictures..... 

it is really difficult to get the colors to show well...

Here above is a closer view of one of the planters partly done....

This is on the outer door of the Room which has been removed for painting....

And here above is the Dressing Room door..... 

painted as one with the wall to make it invisible....

And then I added another planter to balance the first one....

These are SO difficult to photograph...!

 And they are SO Far from Done!

But I wanted to show you my progress!

On the left above you can see the Dressing Room door in place in the wall...

Where it will be almost invisible!

But that is not all I have been painting, Dear Readers! 

You may remember that I had started to build the bed for this room...

Well, I decided that it was not the right shape at all!

So I started over with more delicate spindles for bed posts....

And added a decorative "Fret-work" headboard....

Made from cut off slices of woodsies...

(left over from making the library books!)

Which then just needed some painting.....

And then I confess I got carried away with this project...... 

and decided it really Did need a Pagoda Roof for a canopy....

 This is made from manilla file folder paper and a delicate gold braid trim...

And I forgot to take pictures of the next dozen steps......

Ta da!!!

I know, it IS a Trifle Over The Top....!!!

But it is Not unprecedented.... 

the inspiration came from the Bed made for the Duke of Beaufort

in 1754, as seen below...

So you will have to forgive me for trying to copy such an Iconic Bed....

In such a small scale!!!

It barely fits in the room!!!

So even though Spring is a Long way off, 

and my Mural is a Long way from done...

I have been Dreaming of Spring....

And Painting up a Storm!