Hardwick Hall Attic....

Fidgety Bits......

It has been so long since I last worked on Hardwick Hall, Dear Readers, that I couldn't even find the posts that last showed the attic in it's partly completed state. So I have no idea what you recall about my plans for this part of the property! The above photo shows the attic in it's most recent incomplete state, with the temporary styrofoam fireplace and the unfinished stairs and windows. This is a "Witchy" house, so I have allowed my decor ideas to develop way past what a real House would find acceptable. But at the same time, I have tried to stay true to some of the architectural norms for houses of this era. One of my favorite features of many "Victorian" houses is window alcoves with window seats built in.... and this attic has three alcoves just begging for built-in window seats! Also, while this kit did not come with any "Cupola" for the top of the roof, there are many houses in my town where there are lovely cupolas, so I decided to add one to the top of this house. Since I was adding a cupola, I had to add the stairs to the cupola.... hence the spiral staircase.....

I apologize for the dark night-time photos.... 

it is an eternal problem to get good pictures at this time of year!

Here you can see the attic without the fireplace and chimney... 

while I am trying to calculate the best position for the stairs 

to access the tiny cupola floor platform......

Which you can sort of see here with my cardboard 

floor mock-up sitting across the rafters...

It is a complicated geometrical problem... 

where to start the bottom stair so that the bottom step is accessible 

in all the clutter of this room 

and the top step lands at an angle where 

you can step off into the tiny cupola floor! 

(And don't forget there also needs to be "head clearance" on the way up!)

The answer is it's very very tricky... but doable!

The spiral has to start just off center below the cupola floor.....

which happens to be right at the side of

 the stairwell from the floor below... 

and right behind the only place 

the fireplace and chimney would naturally sit 

(based on where the other fireplaces in the house are located... 

because I get hung up on that sort of realism)!

And some of you might recall that

 the poor placement of the original kit chimney in this attic 

was one of the first things I had to change about this design!

The top photo shows you the mock-up

 of the fireplace in styrofoam that I have been using

 to determine placement and size options

in relation to the stairs and cupola.

I think the fireplace can only go in this spot beside the stairs... 

but that ugly styrofoam mock-up has been bugging me for ages!  

The shape is all wrong for this room!

So I started to build a better hearth....

With more elegant lines... 

similar to the two other hearths in this house,

 but fitting for this room... which is to be 

the "Book Room" or "Reading Room"... 

the gathering place for the Witches... 

the place for researching spells 

and even brewing the odd potion or two!

There was an awful lot of fidgety cutting and fitting 

of that arched surround.... 

because my original cut-out is a little bit uneven too!

 

But I am getting ahead of things, Dear Readers.... 

First, I had to start on the alcove bench for the back of the room....

because I have realized that this area will have to be all finished

 before any of the "foreground" pieces are completed!

 

So I built a simple fitted platform....

 

 Then stained the wood

dark walnut to match the rest of the trim.

 

But I must test the look of the new hearth....

I am Loving how it echoes the window shapes!

Once the alcove bench is in place, I can start on all the fidgety trim.....

 trim that will cover all those ugly joins in the alcove...

And it is a weekend during the day 

when I can actually get some photos that you can see!

It was quite challenging to get the trim

 notched correctly to fit behind that arched "beam"....

(Don't look too closely please!)

And the facing pieces on the angled part.... 

which covers the worst of my gaps.

The vertical section will end up being covered 

by the built in bookshelves...

I am just waiting for the lumber to be delivered!

And then we simply must get an idea of how the curtains will look....

A Beautiful velvet that is a shimmery blue and green...

And I will also use it for a cushion on the bench...!

I know this is a dark room....

 but I love how this velvet adds 

to that dark mysterious feeling!

Meanwhile I am also continuing to work on the fireplace.....

It will eventually be painted to resemble carved stone...

Just testing it in place.... 

with the back wall section where the chimney will go

 up through the roof at an angle 

so it doesn't interfere with the cupola in the center.....

And testing the placement of the spiral stairs for "clearance issues"....

It clears with millimeters to spare!!!

I know.... you could barely see the bottom of the stairs...

 here I have shined a spotlight on them...

 because it is night-time again!

Well, it feels like a huge amount of progress, Dear Readers, 

but all I really did was cut a lot of fiddly little pieces of wood 

at odd angles and glue them in place!

But I love how the Hardwick Hall attic is developing!

And before I forget... 

I promised you a view of the finished Christmas Card....

So here it is Dear Readers, my attempt at rendering in two dimensions 

that which I spent much of the year rendering in Three dimensions!

 The Secret Christmas house is drawn at actual size... 

I traced around the building onto the paper!

The card is 8.5 inches by 11 inches, 

watercolor and pen and ink on watercolor board.

Yes, those big claws are my attempt to draw my own hands full size!

(And you might notice that the Secret Christmas House is Still Not Done!)

On A Midsummer's Night....

 Whereof Do You Dream....?

It is that Magical Night, Dear Readers, the Longest day is slowly fading and a Full Moon is rising to cast it's silvery beams over all below. Fireflies are winking in the hedges and and birds are chirping their evensong as the breezes rustle in the trees. Is there time for sleep at all? Or do you find yourself gazing out the windows and Dreaming of all things Magical? Have the Fairies whispered in your ears or rubbed potions on your eyelids? Are you led down the paths of the Forest Mysterious by the calls of your Lover? Have you set out for the Midsummer's Eve Ball, prepared for an evening of Enchantment? Do you wish to Dance until dawn in the Gardens under a bower of Roses? Whereof do You Dream Dear Readers?

Yes, Magic is in the air and even the Tiny Lady Evelyn

 was not quite prepared to find herself and her Sisters 

wandering in a Strange Enchanted land!

Alas, Dear Readers, I cannot tell you

 whether they are on their way to the Midsummer's Ball.... 

Or whether they have strayed into another Enchanted World.....

the Night is still young.....!

 

But I can show you where My Dreams led me the other night....

It was probably because I had mentioned making all those bricks 

for the Foundation of Hardwick Hall 

along with mentioning that I was going to finish

 the Trims on the Porch Foundation.... 

that I Dreamed of that Porch. 

And  when I awoke I realized 

that there would have to be some serious changes.

The porch foundation was all wrong! 

In this part of the world where houses are made of wood 

and sit on a brick foundation, 

the porch is always built with wood not brick. 

And wooden foundations need "ventilation" 

to prevent them from rotting right away. 

And that is usually provided with inset panels 

of latticework between the supporting posts.

I was going to have to revise the porch structure!

I had intended to start making those egg carton bricks 

for the house foundation.... but the porch came first.

Here you can see I have cut away on both sides.

And then I painted the interior wall of the house foundation 

to look like brickwork 

(rather than make the egg carton bricks 

where they would not be visible...)

I also added back in a central "post"  

so that there would be two lattice panels 

on the front side and one on each end.

I made the lattice panels from small coffee stirrers...

Here you can see I am testing the fit of the first panel.... 

and you can see I have also finished painting the trim for the porch posts!

And while I was painting all that lattice work and waiting for it to dry,

 I also finished painting the bricks on the kitchen fireplace!

A Task which I should have done ages ago!

Here you can sort of see it in place... 

the hearth still needs painting.....

Here you can see the lattice on one end....

There will need to be trim added to cover the porch corners.

Both the front panels being tested for fit....

And the close-up view....!

Here is the other end of the porch.

I carefully carved away at the bottom trim board 

where it would be likely to rot a little...!

And I painted a hearth for the kitchen fireplace!

The kitchen side wall.... the porch just looks so much better now!

And who knows.....Something might even live under there!

As for Lady Evelyn and her Sisters, Dear Readers,

Their Stories are as yet untold!

Because Who knows What Adventures they encounter 

while we Mortals are sleeping... 

Straying down Strange Paths...

Dreaming of Tiny worlds.... ?

And in the Morning Light....

Who could say whether they had been anywhere at all?

Certainly This fellow would never tell...!

On A Midsummer's Night, Dear Readers,

Wherof do You Dream?

Birds And Blossoms....

Dreaming of Spring.....

I have Finally Embarked on one of the Tiny petit-point pillow kits I bought years ago, Dear Readers, and I am determined to actually Learn the correct stitching methods for these tiny projects! This is a kit I bought from Janet Granger and it comes with everything you need to make the pillow (except Time and Patience!). I thought it would be easier if I started with something quite small so that finishing it would not take forever! Well, in spite of the very good instructions and diagrams that came with the kit, once I had placed the first ten stitches in dark red, I panicked! I had no idea  how to move from one direction to another, up, down or over or diagonally, or how far you could "jump" without starting a new knotted thread! So I put it aside because I knew I really needed to master the basic stitches first! So I pulled out a scrap of needlepoint canvas, and just started Sewing! I practiced the tent stitch and the basket stitch until I felt comfortable with them. Then I added in a piece of pattern, just to try working around different colors, and after a while I felt that I understood the basic stitching techniques well enough to try the pillow again! As you can see from the above picture, I am figuring it out!

Here you can see I have added the leaves and the border too...

All it needs now is the background filled in!

And the best part is that I am Enjoying it So much!

I have always loved to sew....

But I am loving this More than I thought I would!!!

But that is not All I have been doing Dear Readers, 

I have also been making Great Progress with the painted murals 

in the bedroom of Hardwick Hall!

Here you can see I have added two Blue Jays

to the trees on the front and side walls.

You might recall that I have not yet glued 

the outer or inside wall in place, 

just so I can still paint these small details on the front wall!

(I apologize for the blurry picture, It is really difficult to get the focus just right!)

I thought that if I can just get All the birds painted, 

I can at least glue the inner wall in place.

Here I have added the American Goldfinch

as well as a Red Breasted Nuthatch...

(The one climbing head down on the trunk....)

Their mates are on the opposite tree with the Blue Jays.

Then I painted a pair of tiny Wrens on the big tree beside the fireplace....

And a pair of Tree Sparrows in the lilac shrubs.....

Can you see them there... just under the sconce?

Then I added a pair of Rose Breasted Grosbeaks.....

the female is quite plain...

Here is a larger view of this wall.... the hearth fills the empty spot.

And you can just see the Sparrows when the hearth is in place!

(Yes, it was very dark and late by now....)

But I continued painting more birds the following day!

I added a pair of Baltimore Orioles to the outside wall....

And since I decided that the inner wall was ready.....

I GLUED it in place!!

Hooray!

The front wall was a little bit warped, 

so I had to turn the house on its side 

and add the weight (a paint can) 

to ensure a good glue connection.

But meanwhile I continued to paint birds 

on the outside, unattached wall...

I added a pair of Chickadees and a pair of Indigo Buntings.....

(The female Indigo Bunting is a plain drab brown.)

Here I have added a pair of Mockingbirds.....

He is on the tree top at right, 

while she is in the Quince shrub at lower left.

And once the Glue had dried sufficiently, 

I righted the house and glued the baseboards 

along the inner wall and the front wall!

But I still was not done adding birds....

A pair of Barn Swallows swooped in.....

And a pair of Hermit Thrushes joined the choir.....

He is in the lilac at lower left while 

She is scratching in the dandelions down below....

(Yes, it is a trifle hard to see them... it is getting late again!)

I am nearly done adding the Birds!

And as for the needlepoint....

I got started on the background.....

I am really so pleased with my progress, Dear Readers!

It didn't take me long at all to finish the background!

(And there were only one or two mistakes!)

 

It might still be Wild Winter 

in my RL World, Dear Readers,

But in my Mini World, 

it is all Birds and Blossoms 

And I am Dreaming of Spring!