Mortimer trimble takes up residence in the toy shop

It has been some time since my last blog post. 
There have been lots of things happening in Trimbles Toy Emporium !
As you can see the Toy Shop doesnt really look very different ...............................

The street light is still lit at the side of the building and the old Saint Bernard dog is still waiting outside , harnessed to the carriage..............

 

The shop window still has the wonderful dummy board of Belle sitting astride her trusty rocking horse, but things have changed a little here, a beautiful doll by artisan Lea Frisoni  is there to tempt you into peeking inside, and some precious old wooden toys by the sadly missed artisan Chris Sturgess Leif.
The biggest change however is standing behind the shop counter, take a peek through the open doors............ I do believe Mr. Mortimer Trimble himself is now in residence and waiting for you to enter his wonderful Emporium !

 

As most of you know I am a doll maker, my miniature houses are my hobby but doll making is my passion. When I built this toyshop I already had in mind the old fellow who owned the shop . It has taken me some time to actually get round to making him but to my delight he turned out exactly as I had imagined .

Let me introduce Mortimer Trimble, proprietor of Trimble's Toy Emporium and inventor of wonderful and magical toys !

 

Mr. Trimble is delighted to make your acquaintance and hopes you will enjoy your visit to his Emporium.

 

The shop is now beginning to fill up nicely with beautiful toys, although there is room for lots more !
I have also been working on the rooms upstairs and will post more photos soon as there have been a few changes and I have a special project in store for the attic .
julie xx

All change for Trimbles Toy Emporium

Once again it has been some since my last post. Life has been busy and the toy shops doors have been mostly closed. This week however I found time to work on some ideas i have had and finally I have trimbles exactly how I want it and ready to fill with lovely things !
You can see I now have the shop counter in. This needs a till and the toy shop shelves need filling but there will be no more changes to the layout now.
You might have noticed it all looks slightly different.....

I blocked the doorway from the shop to the house with a wall and then placed shelving in front of the wall. The door was never used but I felt the need to leave a clear path to it as you would in real life , so space was wasted.

Now I have lots more shelves and the view in from the side window is lovely . I will be stacking that toybox high with toys and really love the way it all looks now :0)

This little room is a new addition ! I have always been unhappy with the deep rooms in the roof.

The rooms above the shop both have doors in the back leading to the landing. Upstairs there had been a stairwell in one bedroom which had a door leading to the other bedroom..... a most impossible arrangement ! I tried to solve this by hiding the stairwell and making a built in bed in Uncle Morts room, but it really did not please me and I couldnt live with it.

So I have blocked the doorway between the two rooms and added a wall in the back of each room with a doorway leading to extra rooms and an imaginary passageway !

Belles room looks so sweet with her little writing / dressing room !

Uncle Morts room will have a bathroom in the tiny room. I think the house needed one and I am left with a lovely sized room ready to fill with the furniture of my choice for Uncle Morts bedroom.

The trunk is just biding time in there until I get my bathroom furniture :0)

It all looks right to me now and authentic to the rest of the building, and I am very much looking forward to filling it up !

Hope you like the way it is turning out,

julie x

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