Wednesday 13 January 2010

An idea !............opinions please ?






Shannon commented on my previous post and gave me an idea !
Shannon's suggestion was to put a wall into the back of the shop to deperate the tradesmans entrance.
Now this was my original idea , but when I tried it I realised the stairwell was narrower than the tradesmans door so the wall ended up joining the centre of the door ! ............not good .
I forgot allabout the idea until reading the comment this morning. here you can see I have simply used an extra corner shelf to block out the tradesmans entrance completely. This gives me a really nice shape to the shop, exactly how I had pictured it with the wall there.
BUT there is no wall. I wouldnt need one.
I would simply attach some architrave to the top of the shop shelves so you wouldnt see the small gap and the shop itself would look perfect.
The tradesman's door opens into a small passage way as you can see in the photo.It looks fine, a nice little oddly shaped corridor which I could put a light into and add some bits and pieces to make a little cubby hole.
The only problem is the fact it doesnt actually lead anywhere. You wouldnt really know that, but I would LOL and think it might annoy me.
So I need to decide what to do, does the shop shelving make up for the fact that the tradesmans entrance leads into a cubby hole with no escape ?
I could call it a storage area rather than a cubby hole, I have a door like this on the side of my own house that leads to what was once used as coal storage and where we now store the rabbits hay and straw so it is feasible.
Or I could pretend it leads somewhere and put a little desk in the back with a ledger etc. for taking stock and a little lamp.
I would love some opinions on this !
julie xxx

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, your blog is fantastic. Dollhouse you make is lovely and so realistic. Good luck!

Ara said...

You could make that corner shelf hinge or pull out and make it a little secret passage through the display cases! I love secrete passages so this is always my automatic thought - haha! You could even make some faux scrape marks on the floor to give viewers a hint that the shelf moves...

Michelle said...

LOL Ara has already beat me to the idea! I was busy logging in to my blog and then there were two comments! lol The corner unit I was going to suggest as a 'hidden doorway' to the tradesman hallway and vice versa a bit like they have in stately homes. Or put a wall in behind the units (at the back) and turn it into a cupboard. ;o))
Michelle xxx

Tabitha Corsica said...

OOOH! I love Ara's idea!! Otherwise I was going to say that I would probably just "pretend" the tradesman door led to something and furnish it as you said. It's all an illusion anyway, isn't it? I think all the shelves look really nice.

Tabs

Julie said...

Oh i like aras idea lots!!!
julie
xxxxxxxx

Kim said...

I love Ara's idea- the shop looks sooo good with that shelf there. What if you put another door inside that area (I can't remember if there was room or not) so that it looked as if there was a storage area and then you could turn and go through the door down to a basement? Is that a dumb idea?

Lirael said...

Or you could stuff as much as you can into the little space you have left and make it look like a storage room.
The rest looks great too!

Julia and Hywel said...

I love this way of putting the shelves, it adds more character than just a straight run. We had the same dilema in the bank (coxswold) so made it into the bankers back office. You can just make it out in the pics. I love the idea of a secret door/passageway and a basement, or could you perhaps add thin mouldings to the back of the shelves and make their backs look like a wood panelled wall with a doorway? It's coming along wonderfully :0) Julia xx

Jain Squires said...

What about having the little desk and lamp and putting a trump d'oeil on the back wall. I like Aras idea too! Jain xxx

Tallulah Belle said...

Oooohhh you work so quickly lol.

first off I love that arrangement of shelves...it does give the room a wonderful shape.

As for the tradesmans entrance not going anywhere that would annoy me too lol. But Ara's idea is a very good one :-)

Sans! said...

Secret passage is fun and a conversation piece . Bravo, Ara! :) But I also like the table with the ledgers idea. It is after all a store. I love the arrangement of the shelves :

julie campbell said...

Fab ideas thank you all !
Ara I love the secret passage way idea but I also like the idea of a fake door in there leading down to an imaginary store room and I think thats the way I will go.
I wont be doing this part for a wee while though, first to finish the outside ,only another thousand bricks to stick on LOL
julie xxx

Sandra Morris said...

Why not put a false door at the end of the narrow passageway from the tradesman's entrance? You could pretend it leads to another part of the shop, perhaps down to an unseen basement area.

The shop is looking brilliant by the way....!

Mike said...

Julie
Very impressive!
Having worked on a 1930s house I know the sort of problems you have encountered!
By-the-by where did you get the stair carpet - we used a similar one (and it's a bookmark!) take a look at http://www.1930s-dolls-house.co.uk

julie campbell said...

Hi Sandra, I have indeed used the fake door plan and its shaping up nicely :0)

Hello Mike, love your website, very interesting :0) My stair carpet was an inexpensive dolls house emporium one but it really looks the part, now why didnt I think of using a bookmark !
julie xxx

Anonymous said...

Julie
Thanks!
The Website needs updating, home and health pressures have delayed that! The actual house is almost finished.

Mike