Going For The Gold....

 

Nano House and Nanny's Room.....

The Last you saw of The Nano House, Dear Readers, I had just completed the Tiniest Pagoda Bed Ever, and realized that it might require me to raise the ceiling of the room the tiniest bit in order to fit the pagoda top without squishing it! The solution for this problem is the same as the solution for this problem in the original Tree House bedroom.... the ceiling needed to be "domed" to give the top of the bed enough space. And for the Tree House bedroom, that ceiling became a "coffered bossed and gilt wonder of its own (you can read all about it int he archives... waaaay back in the 2013 season) which of course, means that the Nano House bedroom ceiling needs to suggest the similar features with out copying slavishly. So for starters, I needed to carve away the underside of the ceiling framework...

 

 Here you can see that piece of wood with

 the shape to be cut away already started. 

The wood itself is 3/16 inch x 3/8 inch stock... 

the same as I used for the Tree House Library shelving. 

It is sturdy but not too thick. 

But I had to be careful that my "dome" remained

 fairly shallow so as to not weaken the wood too far.

 

Here is the rough cut with the piece removed.

 

Here you can see it has been sanded,

 (as best as I could for such a tiny piece!) 

to smooth out the imperfections and 

emphasize the shape of the central oval. 

 

Here the ceiling has been painted 

prior to testing the fit with the bed in the room...

 

Which, if you look really carefully, you can see 

the bed does not quite hit the ceiling!

 

Next step... adding the gold trim! 

Here I have glued on the finest gold thread in my collection... 

to outline the oval shape, as was done

 with the Tree House Bedroom ceiling.

 

And here the second gold edging has been attached.

 

Here you can see the ceiling in place on the Nano House.... 

and yes, the gilded trim is visible 

if you look up at the right angle! 

(The tree House has this same problem, 

those ornate ceilings are hard to see!) 

And because the ceiling looked good just like this,

 I decided not the add more details. 

This was enough.

 

And as for the Nanny's Room, Dear Readers,

 it has been a while since we paid attention

 to that lovely painted ceiling!

 

You might recall the Cherubrats that adorn the cloudy sky

 and are looking curiously down from above! 

And because this ceiling resembles the one in the Dollmaker's Studio

 where I used that very elaborate gilded trim for the cornice,

 I wanted a similar effect in the Nanny's Room, 

only it needed to be smaller and quite a bit more "refined" in style.

 

Months ago I had painted a regular small piece of trim with the gold paint....

 but it needed the addition of some form of three dimensional decoration. 

Then I remembered a string of small beads

 in a delicate rosette arrangement that

 someone had given me as a teenager... 

those Hippy years, you know,

 and they were somewhere

 in all my accumulated supplies...!

 Yes, I found them!

 They would make just the right sort 

of decorative swag glued onto that gold wood.

 It was a slow process to get them glued in place...

 one swag at a time.

 

And they just fit the length of painted trim I had already prepared...!

 

Which then needed several coats of primer....

 

And then the gold paint....

 

Three coats of the gold paint to achieve

 the level of brilliance desired!

 

And then trying to see how it would look against that ceiling.... 

(All the walls and the ceiling are still not attached

 for the Nursery and The Nanny's Room.... 

they wiggle and fall down at the drop of a hat!) 

But I think the look is going to be just what I wanted... 

so now it is just a matter of cutting to fit the mitered corners....  

and testing in place....

 (Hold your breath)

 

Aahhh.... That is what I was looking for.....!!

 

Although I still have to cut and fit the other sections... 

and test it with the bed in place and the candle lit.... 

but I do believe it has just the right amount of decorative detail! 

 

Oh, yes, Dear Readers, we are 

looking up and Going for the Gold 

in the Nano House and the Nanny's Room! 

Curtains, Window Seat Lights, Gilded Trim Etc....

 

 

Details And Distractions...

I Hope you won't mind, Dear Readers, that I have a Lot of details to show you this week! And even though I am now Retired and (in theory) have all the time in the World for minis, it hasn't exactly worked out that way! My younger son came East for two weeks and has been back and forth between my house and his Dad's (an hour away) so there has been more than a usual amount of distraction! It was absolutely Wonderful to have such a long visit with him, the first here since covid shut travel down in 2020! We talked and talked and ate and ate and consumed pots of tea (me) and coffee (him) and he helped me get some necessary projects accomplished too. Tonight he is headed back to Alaska. So here I am trying to put a sense of organization into the many little things I did during the past two weeks. For starters, I decided to grapple with the "difficulties" I was having with the Gilded trim for the ceiling of The Doll Maker's Studio. You can see a lovely picture of one section partly painted in the above picture.

Here you can see it really really close up, 

and if you look carefully you will see all the "white" spots

 where the gold paint has not quite covered over the primer.

And even where it has covered, it still needs several more coats of paint.

I did lots and lots of painting!

This section is the long side that you don't ever see

 unless you are looking in the windows.

And if you look carefully on the left end you will see a little cherub...

One of the troubles I had with this trim, from the very beginning,

 was that I wanted cherubs in the trim and couldn't find any that would work!

So I decided (at least two years ago)

 that I would have to try to make my own from sculpey.

This little guy was among the first of my attempts,

 but I thought he was too small.

So I made some others, and I didn't exactly like them either!

But if you know me, you will understand that I couldn't just throw them away!

(These guys take on a life of their own!)

I dithered and debated forever.... 

and eventually decided I had to try to make them work.

 

But here I must show you that I did get the second curtain made

 and here I am testing it with the first one.

And if you look closely at the gilded trim right above it

 you will see some very "blobby" parts amongst the swags.

I'm sorry I don't have better pictures....

 but there is a cherub sort of wrapped in the ribbon swag...

 he has a rather homely face 

and his wings had to not bump into the ceiling... 

(which is removed here).

And on the other side of this trim is the other fellow...

 but he is facing toward the wall so his fanny is what you see...

 along with his wings and the back of his head.

I decided that people would probably be too busy

 looking at the window seat to notice them up above.

They also needed lots of touch up with the painting.

I will try to get better shots of them...

 they are kind of cute in their own way... 

But first I have to show you the corner piece of trim

 that needed to be adjusted....

Here you can see I am trying to make the final piece of  "corner trim"

 fit into the corner properly and meet up at all the other sections correctly.

And you might recall me mentioning that 

the curtain rod needs to lift out of one of the hook eyes

 so the curtains can be removed.

But this corner trim was preventing the rod from lifting out!

Darn!

Here the corner piece has been pulled out 

(none of the trim pieces are glued in place so far!)

and I have taken my pliers to the pieces at the bottom and pulled them apart!

There is the evidence of my destruction!

With a great deal of taking it out and putting it back again,

 I was able to figure out where exactly the trim needed to stop.

 

And meanwhile, Dear Readers, between visits with my son,

 I had also decided to add the electrical outlet to the back corner of this room....

Here I have run the outlet through the wall

 and need to get it hooked up to test the wires before I glue it down.

I have been endlessly debating the lighting for this room.

The chief light source is the chandelier in the middle of the room.

 There is also the battery operated lamp that came with

 the original kit and will sit on the work table.

I have always thought the front window would look lovely

 with a string of Christmas lights 

rather than anything as bright as sconces.

I needed to test my theory!

Outlet works! Check!

But in order to hang the lights there would need to be hooks....

Made out of wire and poked into the wood frame.

And testing the lights in the window....

And with the curtains.... I think it will look just lovely!

And meanwhile, I have repaired the corner trim....

And repainted it....

I don't know why I sweated so much over this corner...

 it is absolutely Not visible!

But, yes, I will know it is there!

And more layers of paint.... 

you have to look from every angle....

 and I'm sure there will still be "missed spots" 

when it is too late to fix it.

Okay, so maybe here is a better view of the cherub...

can you see him there sort of swathed in the ribbon? 

He is supposed to be trying to hang the garland on the ceiling....

And the other one... carrying the other end of the garland... 

can you see his wings and fanny?

Well, never mind.... 

 I will know they are there 

and I am glad I included them after all!

There was still more painting to do...

And here's the first little cherub...

I'm glad there was room for him too!

Here's the last view of all the trim sections together....

And the last view of the walls without the trim.....!

Yes, I started to glue it in place!

One side at a time, but adding the next section 

before the glue was dry so it could be adjusted if necessary...

And with the ceiling in place (temporarily)

the morning sun is reflecting off the floor 

(protected by a sheet of paper)...

And with the paper out of the way....

I just have one small adjustment to make

 on the trim for the opening side wall....

 the piece you will hardly ever see...

so it has not yet been glued down.

And the ceiling is still removable....

 but not for long!

So, In spite of a lot of Distraction, Dear Readers,

 I have managed to complete a lot of little details

 and made a whole lot of Progress!

The Doll Maker's Studio....

 

Just A Quick Little Project....

I Hope you will understand, Dear Readers, if I return to The Doll Maker's Studio after all my dithering. It sits right in the way of everything else on the corner of my work table, and truly, there is nowhere else to place it while it is being constructed! My house is small and already has mini houses in almost every room on almost every table and chair and it is a juggling act to have visitors and to access materials. And the Doll Maker's Studio was originally just a cute very small "vignette" kit from Sandra Morris of Tower House Dolls in England. As soon as I opened the kit it "needed" to expand into a small building of three stories and infinitely more details! It quickly became anything but a "quick little project"! But in spite of all my other distractions, I am making progress!

Most of my attention for the past year or so

 has been on the second floor studio room. 

Originally this was made from the "Sugarplum" kit made by Greenleaf, 

and like all their kits it is made of very thin plywood

 with tab and slot construction.

There has been a great deal of "adjusting" 

required at every single step of the project!

Very little of the kit is as it was originally intended.... 

with the exception of the ceiling construction in this room.

This is because the tab and slot method is actually

 structurally necessary in keeping the house pieces together properly!

So even though it is elaborately painted with clouds and cherubs

 and is being "supported" by billowing gilded floral swags....

Those "tabs" still need to go into the slots 

when the ceiling is finally glued in place.

And at the moment, none of it is glued in place!

(I apologize for the glaring flash pictures... 

this room is too dark to see details without it.)

And as always it is a challenge to figure out

 which steps are necessary to complete

 before the ceiling is glued in! 

 

 The gilded trim needs more coats of paint,

 in particular on the opening wall side

 which you can't even see except when looking in windows.

 

 

And before the ceiling is attached,

 I want to get the curtains for the window seat done,

 so I can be sure they fit around the cornice trim.

And the window seat alcove can't be attached

 until the ceiling is in place because that wall 

needs to remain "flexible" so the ceiling tab can be slotted in place.

Yes, it's complicated!

And I thought I had the curtains all figured out, Dear Readers,

 until I was searching through my boxes of material

 and came across a different scrap of velvet....

 

Which would be a Much better match for the wallpaper in this room!

I won't even show you the maroon velveteen I thought I was going to use... 

it looks terrible in comparison!

Here I am testing the gold fringe trim which

 I have used on so many of my velvet curtains.... 

and I just don't think it is right here.

 

Especially when I found this

 much more opulent trim in my supplies!

No Contest!

These drapes need the bold gold to balance the cornice trim!

Then it was just a matter of making the curtains.... 

and I like my curtains to be able to

 "open and close" as real ones would.

This means sewing hems and attaching

 curtain rings to go on the curtain rod.

I stitch florist wire into the hems

 so I can "shape" the curtains somewhat into pleats.

I didn't hem the lower end until the rings were attached

 and I could measure the actual length of the curtain.

Here I have pinned the gold braid on

 and am testing it in place on the curtain rod.

I use coat hanger wire for the rod

 and run it through two small eye hooks, 

one of which has been bent part way open

 so the rod can lift out to slide the rings on and off.

(In this case the partly open hook is the right hand one.)

Here the first curtain is done 

and I am beginning the second one.

Here the finished curtain is being tested in place.

I think it will do!

And when the other one is done, 

they will probably be positioned so they are mostly open... 

because one will want to see into the window seat alcove!

This will compress the trim into tighter folds.... 

We will see how it works!

Yes, Dear Readers, 

The Doll Maker's Studio

Was meant to be 

just a Quick Little Project!