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! 

 

Or Maybe the Tree House....

 

 

Do You Even Remember The Tree House....?

It has been a while, Dear Readers, since I visited The Tree House, let alone did a post about it. And I will admit I was really shocked to realize it is nearly ten years since I last worked on it! Yikes! How does that happen? There it sits, half finished on one side of The Folly Landscape, wires dangling and doors and walls taped together... how could I ignore it for so long? Walk right by it daily and not look inside? Well, I will admit that I do occasionally open the doors and look wistfully in... Gosh, I do love those tiny rooms! But Time, that elusive, fitful collaborator goes whizzing by and off I go to complete the Castle ceilings or the Lilac blossoms or another chapter of whatever Story is ruling my dreams...! And still it waits.... is it next.... Well, I really don't know... but we can visit if you like! And I must admit, Jodi's current project on her blog My Miniature Madness has inspired me to think about it again....

The Tree House is designed to be a series of rooms

 stacked within the hollow trunk of an ancient Tree beside The Folly.

So far there are six stories, starting with the kitchen

 which is partly below ground level.

All the rooms have doors that close for the fourth wall.

This allows the tiny interiors protection 

and a feeling of secrecy when viewed from outside.

And they are lit with small LED's and battery packs.

But it has been so long... they are not lighting....

But with new batteries and a new battery switch unit,

 they work! Hooray!

The kitchen was the beginning of my foray into tiny...

 this is a 1:48 scale build... and I built everything from scratch!

I fell in Love with making tiny furniture.... chairs in particular...

 you will have to visit my side-bar to find the posts with details...

And every floor has stairs that lead up inside the walls to the next level.

I know it is too dark to see properly... 

but on the right side is a twisty root hand rail for the steps going up....

To the Salon! The stairs land at the hall

 seen through the door in the back wall.

All the doors open and close on tiny hinges!

Yes.... I am nuts... but I love to make them open and close!

And I had barely gotten started when I realized

 the ceiling needed to be domed and painted too...

to make room for that grand chandelier.... (1.5 inches tall)

And the elegant window in the opening wall needed to have shutters...

(to hide the light from passer-by outside the tree....)

which had to have hinges.....

Yes, they open.....

And close!

(It makes me giddy with delight!)

And to the left there is a little alcove...

With a rose arbor painting and a tiny settee and a harp....

So hard to see and almost impossible to photograph...

nestled under a "lost marble" window!

And the matched suite of furniture in this room

 is the one and only foray into matched furniture I have ever done!

Again... you will have to visit the sidebar to find detailed posts.

And I don't even show you the marble stairs

 going up inside the wall to the next level...

(But they are there!)

And they bring us to the Library... 

A gothic masterpiece that I wish I had in RL!

 

 

And too many details to begin to show you...

 And the collections it inspired....

a "coquillage" box made with real tiny shells

 (the babies of the North Atlantic Whelk)

Tiny butterflies and Terrariums in bell jars... 

(made from gelatin capsules!)

Tiny open books, shelves full of closed books.....

 

In cabinets whose doors open....

 

And close! (Of course!)

But for these I made pin hinges....

reasoning they would be sturdier 

in the small dimensions of these shelves. 

And that secretary desk...!

Whose doors and drawers open and close... 

along with the hinged slanted top!

Oh, I had fun building that!

And the chairs....

Not to mention the "Tiffany " lamp!

And the stairs go up in the walls to the next level...

To the Chinoiserie Bedroom!

Again.... I got utterly carried away!

Painting the walls by hand.... (took weeks!)

Making the furniture.... 

the Pagoda Bed ....

(with the hand embroidered curtains

 that took me over a year to complete!)

Lets have a look with the lights on and the fire lit....

The bed curtains a bit closer, stitched with antique

 (my grandmother's) silk sewing thread

 on lovely dupioni silk cloth in a shade

 that perfectly matches the wall paint!

 (And so hard to get good focus at this scale!)

And let's not forget the ceiling...

Domed, gilded and bossed......

and so so difficult to see, let alone photograph!

But I know it is there!

And the Recamier under the gothic window....

with the tiny crystal wall sconces...

And the Pagoda Door on the opening wall...

Which leads out to a Juliet balcony

 overlooking the stream below...

And yes, the doors open and close!

 

And by now, Dear Readers, you must realize

 I have no restraint with this project!

 

A residence this magnificent must also have

 opulent bathing facilities!

And so we have the Abalone shell bathroom!

 

With that beautiful seashell tub!

 

Surrounded by pearl pillars and pearl dotted net curtains...

As if it is afloat on the blue "pond"

(another abalone shell)

And real scallop shell sconces and an art deco fireplace!

 

And lest you wonder where in all this splendor the "loo" is located.... 

never fear.... 

There is a closet to the side....

painted with Lilac bush murals!

 

And a still incomplete chamber for dressing...

 

 

 with wall murals of sea horses in the foaming waves...!

And here you see the open door wall... 

with the abalone shell tiles and Scallop shells too!

And is there more....?

Well, the next floor up is the Nursery...

 

 Or the beginnings of the Nursery....!

The outside of the Bed nook shown here....

Walls still incomplete and taped in place...

The inside of the Bed Nook.... in the opening door wall...

with those real lace curtains that open and shut on the curtain rod... 

and the windows hinge open too!

The nursery "Scandinavian Tile Stove" is lit and warm...

but there are no lights...  nothing is finished.

The Nanny's room is through the door on the right...

Just the bare bones and nothing attached....

 (all the walls fall down if bumped!)

Oh, and I forgot to show you the tiny

 Dressing Room off the Chinoiserie Bedroom...

It is impossible to get a good shot because

 the Dollmaker's Studio Project is in the way!

But I had a lot of fun painting the murals of roses on this one!

(You can look it up in the side bar of my blog to see more details....)

Well, once again, Dear Readers, 

I have gotten completely carried away 

just reviewing this incomplete project!

I worked on it almost exclusively for more than two years

 from May 2012 to Sept 2014!

And yes.... there is a lot more still waiting to get built!

When the Spirit moves me....

We shall see!

But Someday I know it will look like a Tree....

 with these amazing rooms tucked inside!

So, did you even remember the Tree House?