Realizatons...

 

And Remembering...

As I have been laboring over those rocks, Dear Readers, and Dreaming of bedrocks and geology and the ice ages, and wrestling with the way the rocks must nestle against the Tree House's Roots, I have found myself looking up at The Tree House again and again! And the key word is looking "Up"! I am not a tall person and am used to looking up at things... but if you are trying to build it... it is very frustrating to not be able to see the project from above! It makes it quite impossible to see how things are fitting together....

The Tree House Nursery is right at my eye level... and I can't do anything without standing on a chair or a step stool! And as I looked around my many unfinished project this spring, I realized I had "maxed out" on all my buildings and everything was getting above eye level for me! No wonder I was having so much trouble with building them! And because I am no longer as young and spry as I was fifteen years ago... I don't trust the step stools or chairs.....! So I finally bought myself a new "trusty" step ladder with  a safety handle! (see the top photo if you haven't already noticed it!) I can't tell you how reassuring that handle is! And while we are talking about the Tree House...

  I am Sure there are a few of you, Dear Readers, who actually remember the Tree House way back at the beginning of building it in 2012! Has it really been that long, I hear you ask? Well, the first six rooms consumed nearly all my attention from May 2012 until September of 2013, with a few distractions along the way. And I think it was sometime in the summer of 2014 that I began the construction of the Nursery with it's curtained bed nook and the ceramic beads stove, but I didn't get terribly far with the construction and was distracted by all my other buildings and stories. The Tree House has waited patiently ever since for my close attention to resume. 

Well, DO You remember the Tree House? All those 1/48th scale little rooms tucked inside the huge old tree (still so incomplete!) beside The Folly? Perhaps you would like a reminder....

 

It is quite challenging to get all six stories

 (so far!) into one photo... 

and I am sorry the pictures are a bit dark. 

In this hot summer I keep the blinds closed a lot...  

but perhaps you want to come closer....

 

Here are the lower three rooms

 with the outer doors open and the lights on....

 but still, you need to come closer...!

 

Here is the kitchen at the bottom

 tucked between the roots underground.... 

I am sorry it is so difficult to get good photos.... 

I will show all the rooms first without flash....

they have more "atmosphere" that way. 

 

And above the kitchen is the Salon,

 the first ground level room...

 everything in these rooms is entirely hand made by me... 

you can read all about it in the blog archives...

 just click on May of 2012.... and keep reading forever!

 

Oh, and there is a painted domed ceiling too.....(of course there is!)

 

The next floor up ....

( and there are staircases winding up to each level inside the walls...!)

 is the Gothic Library... and all its many collections...

 

This room took me months to complete!

 August through December of 2012...

 

And the next floor up is the Chinoiserie Bedchamber.... 

with the hand painted wall murals

 and the Pagoda Bed with the hand embroidered silk bed curtains...

 (embroidered by me over several years...)

 

Here it is showing the fireplace wall and the recamier.... 

alas, it is so dark.... 

I will do another batch with the flash... 

but it washes out so much detail in its own way.......

 

And the next level up is the abalone shell bathroom.... 

a complete fantasy of seashells....

Here you can see all the rooms with their doors open and the lights on.....

 

 

And the incomplete Nursery level....

 really just barely begun.

 

 

Oh, and I almost forgot to show you

 the tiny Dressing Room off the side of the Bedroom... 

with the rose garden murals....

 (hand painted of course....)

 

And how could I forget the tiny toilet cubicle... 

and the seahorses dressing room... 

also on the side of the Abalone Bathroom

 and not quite complete!

 

So, Dear Readers... 

I have promised you the flash views....  

so here they are....

 

The Kitchen.... 

with the stairs curving upward to the right side... 

you can't see the fire properly with the flash on...

 but you sure can see the other stuff! 

Remember this is all approximately 1/48th scale.

 The entire room is about 4 inches wide and 4 inches tall.

 

And the Salon with the flash..... 

I had to angle it so the flash wouldn't reflect

 in the mirror over the fireplace...

 

And the Gothic Library..... 

so many tiny details... 

collections in all those glass domes...

and all those cupboard doors do open...! 

 (But the flash destroys the ancestor portraits on the walls...) 

 

And here is the Chinoiserie Bedroom with the flash.... 

it does make terrible shadows... 

but you can clearly see the embroidered curtains...

 and the hand painted wall murals...

 

And the Abalone Shell Bathroom....  

with real beach shells gathered over the years....

 including the tiny scallop shells..... 

and the curtains for privacy.... 

well.... it is a fantasy after all!

 

And the beginnings of the Nursery... 

with the ceramic stove and the window bed nook...

 just waiting...

and waiting...... 

 

And the Tree House beside The Folly with the flash..... 

(just so you can see how closely together they are fitted.)

 

And has there been any progress at all with those rocks...?

 

Well, it is slow going!

The rocks need several layers... 

first primer then paint and polyurethane varnish... 

and each layer needs to dry when I can open the windows to ventilate the fumes.

But bit by bit the rocks are taking shape... 

and meanwhile I am climbing the new stepladder

 and fidgeting with the Nursery walls! 

And I am Realizing, Dear Readers,

How good all those memories are!