La Recamier

Learning As I Go.....

I am Rather pleased, Dear Readers, with the results of this Tiny furniture experiment! I have wanted to make a Mini version of the Iconic Recamier sofa ever since I can remember! There are many commercial versions you can buy, and I think someday I might even try making one in 1:12 scale, but I just could Not resist attempting one for this Tiny Tree House bedroom! The sofa has many variations in form, some with a low back rest on one side, some with equal height curved ends, and some with a recurved foot like the one I have made. I did not make up this design, I saw a picture somewhere on the Internet and knew at once that I wanted to copy that design! I will confess right away that my version is Not perfect... there are things I would do better if I were starting another one.... But  nonetheless, I started with a Tiny to scale sketch...

Which is Very faintly drawn here.... 

I refined the sketch on the right... and cut out patterns.... 

and started to cut the tiny pieces from thin plywood....

The pieces are Very Tiny.... 

and I used my small files to refine the shape more....

and attached them to the seat.....

I did not file the curved end down enough... 

it ended up getting thicker than I had imagined especially after the upholstery was added.....

But I thought at the time that it matched my drawing well enough... so I kept going....

I added cardboard for the shaping of the curved ends....

and cut tiny legs from the tips of spindles...

 

I Really love the profile.... 

but ultimately think the foot curve should be smaller in proportion to the whole sofa.....

Of course, I had to test it in the Tree House.....

And then it needed painting black.....

And Upholstering!

Which took quite a while!

I have the PERFECT pale green silk.....

But I wanted to have tufting like on the original...

 

I used manilla folders for the paper base..... 

punched a pattern of holes....

I used a layer of felt as the stuffing....

And carefully stitched it together....

And glued it to the outside of the foot of the sofa!

And did the same for the head.....

The seat section is covered with an un-stuffed layer...

because there will be an additional tufted cushion covering it.....

As you can see, the upholstery is making the curved end much thicker than in my drawing....

But it is also because I did not file it down enough...... 

the whole foot should be a bit smaller.... and a little less incurved.

Perfect or not, I also wanted it to have lovely gold trim.... 

which I made by gluing gold thread....

One tiny section at a time....

On both sides.....

It is starting to look Almost as I had Imagined Dear Readers.... 

but what Recamier is finished without a bolster pillow?

You can see the beginnings below.... 

it was the most time consuming part of the entire sofa!

Because I wanted it to have tassels... 

Gold tassels.... 

and the first pair I made with the same gold thread I used for the trim... 

but they were much too coarse and large. 

Fortunately I found some gold sewing thread and made a much smaller pair!

Here you can see I have attached them to the ends before gluing the cloth to the bolster....

And here you can see the completed bolster....

What a lot of trouble just for a bolster!

But I really do think it makes the piece!

And while I might wish the foot was a smaller curve... 

I think it works Just Perfectly in this room!

Talk about a Learning Curve! 

It may not be Perfect, 

but I LOVE my first Recamier!

The Wardrobe

A Foray Into Fine Furniture......

I left you, Dear Readers, Wondering about the Ceiling in the Chinoiserie bedroom, but I found myself taking a Different Direction altogether last weekend! What I had not shown you previously was my Terribly Disappointing Attempt to construct a Mini Wardrobe with Hinged doors....! Alas, I was so disappointed that I tore the hinges off and deleted the pictures! So You are going to have to believe me when I tell you that the hinges when first installed on the door panels ended up causing a Huge gap between the door and the side panel when the doors were in the "closed" position..... while they opened up to a tightly closed flat seam. (I know it is difficult to understand the description!) It was so glaring a fault that I was about to abandon altogether the idea of a Wardrobe with beautiful Hinges! But after several sleepless nights... (sort of) and Much pondering, I decided to re-examine the Science of the hinged door. Most hinges have their pivot point off-set from the plane of the surface they are fastened to.... ie the bolt sits above the surface when the hinge is open flat.... so when the hinged pieces swing.... they either swing in a tight arc or a wide arc from the pivot point.... depending on Which Face of the hinge is contacting the surface!  So in order to get my doors to swing in a Tight arc...(and therefore showing little to no gap) I needed to set the pin pivot face Down between the flat sections of the door and the side panel not face up as I had first thought!! I am Sorry to bore you with this incomprehensible description.... but I was just So Excited by the discovery that I wanted to share it with you! Go ahead and try it yourselves!

So thus encouraged I commenced with building the Mini Wardrobe.....

You can see above the beginnings.... I stained all the pieces Before gluing them together, and if you look closely you can see the hinges attached with the pin side Down ... requiring a space between the door and the side panel.... but if you envision it swung closed..... the door and the panel have no crack visible!

Here is a closer shot and a view of the base section as well....

One of the panels (on the left) cracked as I was attaching the hinges 

so I had to start over with a new panel....

Here I am testing the door panels for size 

( I needed to shave off a slice from each door... 

I had forgotten that the hinges in this position would mean 

the door did not overlap the side panels at all and so did not need to be so wide) 

Also you can see the drawer mostly constructed.

Here above you can see the nearly completed Wardrobe next to the rough (and very faintly drawn) sketch I made for an initial design... the size discrepancy is mostly due to the perspective.... the actual is quite close in size to the sketch!

And here you can see the doors open... 

with the bar for hanging clothes.... sorry it is a little crooked! 

But as beautiful as this was, I thought it lacked something.... 

so I added a decorative crown pediment....

and also added all the door pulls and tiny finials made from beads....

That is So Much more Elegant!

Here you can see the drawer open too....

The whole cabinet is just under two inches tall!!!

Which makes it a quite Large almost Eight feet tall in the Mini scale!!!

And then we Have to see it in place in the Tiny Dressing Room.....

Oh Dear.... is there room???

I measured So carefully, Dear Readers... Yes, it fits! 

But Alas, it covers so much of the painted walls....

Can we Forgive it...? 

This is the Dilemma posed by Painting the murals to begin with.... 

we have to hide the paintings with the furnishings...

I should be used to it by now....

But did I stop there, Dear Readers......

I had to make at Least ONE thing to go inside the Wardrobe....

Can you see it...?

And Now can you see it...?

I'm sorry the picture is blurry..... 

Besides.... I couldn't stop there either.....!

I had to make a Lacy Negligee.....

Of course it is really Difficult to photograph it well....

This Tiny little gown tucked into a Tiny Little Wardrobe....  

stuck into a Tiny little corner of this Tiny Little Room.....

Of this Tiny Little Tree House!

I am So glad I was successful with this Foray into Fine Furniture, Dear Readers,

Because what Dressing Room would be complete without a Wardrobe?

The Other Wall of the Side

More Painting Roses...

You will probably not be surprised, Dear Readers, to see that the outer wall, the Door of this Tiny Chamber, is also Painted with Roses!  It is Such a Tiny space, this Dressing room.... that there is barely room for the furniture I have planned. Nevertheless, the Garden wall on that side was crying out for an Arbor with a seat... so I started to build one.....

It is made of cardboard and thin wood  only one quarter of an inch wide. I know that this translates into only a one foot wide seat... but I decided the compromise was necessary given the small dimensions of this room!

And of course, I had to paint the walls before I could paint the roses.....

You can see that I am "Building" the bench to surround the "window" in this room... 

(one of my found marbles!!) 

At first I left the area behind the bench open... 

but then I decided it needed to be brick too....

Here you can see the background being added....

And starting to paint the Roses... 

they need to be under-painted with several coats of white before adding the color... 

this is so the color is not influenced by the color it is covering....

Then finally adding the color....

And lastly adding the bench....

Which conveniently covers some of my uneven painting!

(Yes, the glue is still not dry so it shows here...!)

And then attaching the door so we can see the effect....

Except that we really Can't see it because the door is swung open.....

 

And if we try to look in from the Bedroom side....

It is barely visible....

So you will have to use your Imaginations with this Little Room!!

Meanwhile, now that both sides of the Bedroom wall are painted, 

it is Time to glue the walls in place! 

Except that I needed to make an adjustment in the 

Wire framework which supports this Tree House!

Here you can see the structure showing the wires with several of the walls removed....

The wall placement was such that the wires were ending up inside the room.... 

and so they needed to be bent outward before continuing upward....

As you can see in this picture below.....

Which then meant the walls need to be notched slightly to accommodate the wires....

Which you can sort of see on the back side of the wall below...

And then a little patch needed to be made to cover the part of the 

wire still showing on the inside of the room.....

Can you see it on the back corner...? No? 

Great! I don't want you to notice it!!!

And here is another view from above.....

With the walls glued in place and the wires on the Outside!!!

(I do still need to patch the notch for the wire by the window...)

And now that the Walls are in place we can 

test the Lighting without Everything Falling Down...!!!

I have found a Lovely jewelry finding that has a very Oriental look.... 

and fits around one of those tiny LED's!

Here we are testing the fit..... 

and Here we are noticing a Problem on the Horizon....

Either the walls are too short or the bed is too tall!!!

I can tell I am going to have to get Creative with the Ceiling....

But I suspect we all know that was going to happen anyway.....!!!

So while we are figuring that out, Dear Readers, 

maybe we should just take Refuge in the Little Garden Room... 

and Dream about Roses....

Even though we can't see the Room from the Inside....

with all the Roses surrounding us....

Perhaps we can Imagine the other wall of the Side..... 

Sitting quietly in the Arbor....

And the Roses....

Always More Roses....

Can you smell them....?

I wish I were painting More Roses....