A new year and finally some progress !

I was shocked but not entirely surprised to find it has been 7 months since my last post here.
It has been busy and I didnt find a lot of time for my hobby last year but this year one of my resolutions was to find time to do the things I love and this I have done :0)
So finally we have a little progress on the living quarters above the shop and as I have thought more about the characters who will live here i have changed things round a little and probably will do again before things are completed !
So here is the parlour, I think I will have a sideboard on the wall behind the sofa and definitely a picture or mirror above it but for now although not complete it is at least pleasing me .
The thing that is pleasing me the most is my baby house !
I bought this in bare wood and have painted it cream with grey accents. The inside I have decorated with silk fabrics , I wasnt too particular here as I want it to look very much like the antique baby houses I have seen in museums and not brand spanking new.
In my stories this has been built for Belle by Uncle Mort and decorated by the young Belle.
However it takes pride of place in the parlour !
I am gradually filling it with 144th scale furniture :0)

Finally we have curtains throughout the house. I have added windowsills and sat some tiny ornaments and a doll on this one.

I bought a lovely chair which I distressed and added a throw . I then covered the seat of the sofa with the same fabric as the throw and will be making some cushions for this soon as it is still to bare for my liking.

You can see the little west highland terrier here too, to remind me of our dear suzie who we no longer have. This one is a boy though called Barney !

I have also been working on the bedrooms , I will be posting again very soon .........

julie x

The Grand Bedroom Botch - up begins !

I have been working hard on my plans for Uncle Morts bedroom , as mentioned in my last post.
Here you can see where I have taken out the bannisters around the stairwell. This was dead space in the bedroom as the gap either side of the bannisters was too small to put anything into .
I wanted to make a built in bed with drapes to free up space in the rest of the room that would otherwise have been mostly filled with bed !


As in all the best botch ups I just got stuck right in and made a framework over the stairwell with square balsa wood strips. I then set in a small door which matches the rest of the doors in the house. I filled the gap above the door with various strips of spare wood I had in my "useful " drawer ! Then I replaced the skirting board, notice my antique cooking weights holding it in place till it dries, they have been a great help building this dolls house !

Here you can see the bed. I simply glued a frame around the wall to support the thin balsa strip I used to make the bed. Because there is hollow space under the bed and over the stairwell you are still able to look up the stairs from the lower floor without the top of the stairs looking blocked.

When you look though the new doorway in the bedroom you can just see the top stair and it looks as if you can easily walk down the stairs ! it is of course just an optical illusion but it will do for me .

The bed is now almost ready to dress. I still have to attach a piece of trim to the left hand inner side and then refit the cornice around the top. There is a space behind the upper wood strip (which I have now wallpapered ) to attach the drapes .

I wasnt able to remove the wall light as its wiring is covered in brickwork on the back of the house, but I think it works effectively where it is , lighting up the bed side beautifully.

I'm very excited now to dress the bed !

More photos soon ..........

julie xx

Inspiration in Chicago

I was in Chicago this April exhibiting my dolls at the Chicago International Show. While there I couldnt resist visiting the wonderful Thorne Rooms exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute. These photos are just some of the miniature rooms there. They are all behind glass so it wasnt easy taking good photos so please excuse the quality.
This first photo in particular really inspired me......... more of that later first here are some of the miniature rooms I liked best.

You would be forgiven for thinking this was a stately home ! The miniatures on display were really beautiful and the needlework in the rugs was amazing .

I loved this kitchen, the wood work was beautifully carved, very simple and oh so realistic.

I loved the way the rooms all had windows with light streaming through and open doors where you could peeek into imaginary rooms beyond !

Now back to Trimbles Toy Emporium .

I am a bit of a stickler for detail in a dolls house. I like to know that my dolls can actually walk up the stairs, open the doors and get about the house in a logical fashion if they so wished !

Sometimes though we have to use illusion and I am going to be doing this in Uncle Morts bedroom.

Uncle Morts room is up the stairs and there is a bannister in the room taking up a lot of space.

Belle's room is accessed by walking up the stairs and right through Uncle Morts room where there is a door to her room.

I really dont like this arrangement and have been dithering about how to overcome it.
However the first of the Thorne room photos shows a really lovely built in bed with curtains and a door leading to steps going up.

My cunning plan is to adapt this idea ( my room is much smaller than the one in the photo ) so that Uncle Mort has a built in bed over the stair well and a door next to it leading to the stairs.

he can then draw the curtains on his bed for privacy as Belle has to pass through his room to get to hers.

It also frees up tons of space in his room for all my other cunning plans !!

I hope to start work on this tonight and will post pictures as I go.................watch this space !

julie xx

The Thorne Rooms Exhibition at Chicago Art Institute

Belle's Bedroom, work has begun !

First of all thank you for your patience, its been a long time between posts !

I have been so busy with my dollmaking I havent had a lot of hobby time this year . After exhibiting at Kensington Dollshouse festival this weekend I will finally be able to step off the treadmill and find some of that elusive time to work on my Emporium .

I have done a little work though, and this is Belle's bedroom so far. Belle is 12 years old and although she works very hard helping her Uncle she is still a child and one of the perks of living above a toyshop with a toymaker uncle is having wonderful toys.

There will be some quite magical toys in Belle's bedroom although right now it is fairly empty.

I dressed her bed , it is a phoenix kit I painted and assembled, very simple to do and it looks wonderful. I spent ages dressing the bed to make it look slightly shabby yet still pretty and cosy.

The room needs curtains, a chest of drawers for Belles clothes or possibly a small writing desk.

Decisions, decisions !

I am looking forward to finishing this room.

The room next door belongs to Uncle Mort who is rather a strange fellow and will fittingly have rather a strange room.............. I am planning some minor adjustments to the structure of the room and will post more when I get time to try out my plans.

Welcome to my new followers, I hope I wont keep you waiting quite so long for another post :0)

julie xxx

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A wee bit of progress....

I havent posted for a while, but this doesnt mean I havent made a wee bit of progress on Trimbles.

I am slowly starting to furnish the rooms and was able to spend some time over the holidays making up a few kits and doing a little internet shopping !

First the kitchen. I am awaiting a phoenix kit range which will fit nicely inside my fireplace . I had planned to make a fireplace but came across this Dolls House Emporium one which was reasonably priced and exactly what I had in mind !

I printed the rug onto cottonand fringed the edges. The kitchen chair is a Chrysenbon kit which I painted cream and the lovely basket of blackberries on the chair isby the lovely Mags of Mags-nificent Miniatures.

I need to make curtains but the kitchen is shaping upjust as I imagined it would.

I then made a small start on the parlour. This roomis still quite empty but as it is going to take some time to fill it up I thought I would show it progressing.

First I tried to make a fireplace ! Of course being me I just bashed it up out of bits of balsa and painted, then stencilled it.

it is probably more suited toa bedroom but again being me I glued it into place before realising this ! For now it will stay there as I am sure Iwill be making a few changes as I go along.

The lovely chaise is exactly what I wanted. With some cushions it will be perfect !

The painting and chinoiserie cabinet were internet finds fromthe USA, I love the cabinet manufactured by Hanson and will be filling it with dolls in keeping with the toyshop !

The mirror was an ebay find and the rest of the furniture I made up from kits

As you can see I still have a lot of work to do in the parlour , but you can see the character of the room forming and I am certainly enjoying looking out for special pieces to go into it.

julie x

A Xmas tree for Trimbles !

Christmas is almost here, so like all good toy shops Trimble's has marked the occasion with a festive window display !
This year has been a very hectic one for me both personally and for Bellabelle Dolls. I am putting the finishing touches to the last of the xmas doll orders and looking forward to a little hobby time.
Not a lot has changed at Trimbles since our last visit. Maybe there are a few more toys on the shelves,we will see on the next visit !
The elusive Uncle Mort and his spirited young niece Belle have yet to appear ............
There are empty rooms waiting to take shape and a workroom waiting for work to be done..........
But from the outside all is well and Christmas has arrived courtesy of Sue Newstead from Pastmastery !
Sue is sadly no longer making her wonderful dummy boards so I was eager to visit her stand while exhibiting at Kensington Dolls house Festival last weekend.
I bought the most wonderful Christmas tree to stand in my shop window and a delightful young lady who will stand at the doorway to encourage passing children to stop to see if she is real !
Doesnt she look perfect standing here looking so wistful ?
Sue is also making me a basket of kittens for the inside of the shop.
I hope on our next visit to Trimbles we can go inside and see some developments. I am working on Belle's bedroom now,a very pretty girls room where Belle has some very special toys to keep her company .........
In the mean time Merry Christmas to all from both myself and Trimble's Toy Emporium !
julie xx

Tiny zoo animals painted by my talented son

I had to show two photos of these little animals. They are cast metal miniatures and my wonderfully talented son has painted them for me with so much detail you would be forgiven for thinking they were much larger than they are on the first photo !

My son is a warhammer enthusiast so used to painting tiny figures. He doesnt even use a magnifying glass !
I'm so pleased with these and have more still in progress including a gorilla and an elephant :0)

They will look wonderful on Trimble's shelves :0)

julie xxx