Diary of an Edwardian Dolls House

A new year and finally some progress !

2012-02-04T08:10:00.000-08:00

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 !

2011-06-22T13:39:00.000-07:00

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

2011-06-12T23:59:00.000-07:00

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 !

2011-05-09T10:17:00.001-07:00

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

A wee bit of progress....

2011-01-24T12:18:00.001-08:00

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 !

2010-12-11T00:23:00.000-08:00

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

2010-10-21T03:28:00.001-07:00

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

A miniature train set for Trimble's Toy Emporium !

2010-10-08T02:47:00.000-07:00

Firstly ,its a long time since I posted here. Thank you to allmy followers for being so patient and not jumping ship !
My Toy Emporium is madein my "hobby " time and this year I have had very little time to spare. I have been working so hard for the miniatures shows , but at the last one, Miniatura last weekend, my friend Jax from www.ceynix.co.uk was there with the little train set I had asked her to make for me . These littletrains are just lovely.They have a socket at the back for a battery pack or adapter and the train chuggs around the track beautifully !

Here is my train set after I decorated it. I used my Valerie Anne Casson toy castle as a centre piece and added some scenic grass scatter . I also made a few trees with tiny twigs from my garden ! The track comes with spaces to fit legs, so I added legs and a tablecloth to match the shop curtains.

I am delighted with the effect .
Here it is inthe shop,which as you can see still has very empty shelves which I hope tostart filling soon. It really is a wonderful centrepiece for the shop and I can pile lots of toys around it.
I am now eager to get on with the Emporium so really hope I can find the time and that my next post wont be so long arriving !

julie xxx

Welcome to Trimble's Toy Emporium

2010-07-17T08:23:00.001-07:00

Welcome to Trimble's Toy Emporium . Established in 1880 by proprietor Mortimer P. Trimble !

Finally I have finished work on the outside of my shop and the finishing touch was the shop sign.
"Trimble's Toy Emporium ? " you may well ask , "isn't the toy shop called Belle's Emporium ?"
Well that is the name for the stories I am writing set in this very special old Toy Shop.
Belle lives there with old Uncle Mortimer , but of course Uncle Mortimer has owned this shop for many years and it is his name above the shop.
But, more of that later .
For now lets talk about the building itself.
My cunning plan to disguise the wiring worked............eventually !
I've never kept it secret that I am a bit of a bodger. Things usually come right in the end but through sheer luck rather than miniature building skills. I do learn from my mistakes and you might too, I certainly made enough of them this week !

Here we have the first step of the cunning plan. I decided that foam board would be the best material for the back panel which would hide the wiring of the house . I cut it to shape with a stanley knife and pebble dashed the top to match the rest of the house.
So far, so good !

I glued the out house in place on the foam board and cut a hole out for the wiring to come through inside.

I then taped all the wiring in place ready for me to glue the panel on.

While the foam board was flat on the table I glued on the brick slips and left it to dry over night.
Problem one soon made itself known. The glue had warped the foam board which dried with a definite curve.

Not one to be beaten I glued the back of the panel as planned ( pulling the wires through the hole in it and into the outhouse) and attached it to the back of the house. I had some very small nails and knocked those in round the edges and magically all warping dissappeared and I ended up with this rather perfectly fitting back panel.

I was thrilled and left it to dry.

This is when problem two reared its ugly head.

Now when I was taping my wiring down I checked every one to see that the lights and sockets all worked.

Yet now when I plugged them in nothing at all worked !!!

I couldnt figure it out . Then I unplugged them all and plugged in just one and that worked.

I tested every one in this way until I got to the wire leading from the kitchen light. There was a blue flash and everything went off again.

I unplugged it and everything worked . I knew right away what I must have done, I must have knocked one of those nails though the kitchen light wire !!

Of course now the panel was now glued firmly in place . I have had to remove the kitchen light and now need to replace it.

However I have a cunning plan to hide the wire when I finally get one sorted out ..............

To cheer myself up I did a little work inside the work shop. It is still quite bare but taking shape and I am very happy with it so far. I have a huge list of things that must go in here but for now this is how it looks.

I used a piece of balsa wood tomake a tool rack for the back wall.

There will be an old stool at the table where Uncle Mort sits to paint the toys.

This is the shop now completed from the front. I love the shop sign. Its slightly wonky, and a bit distressed and exactly what I wanted ! I simply used word art in my microsoft word programme and some free clip art then printed it out on linen paper . I glues this to the sign board and then stippled on a little burnt umber paint with a dry brushing technique to age it up.

Here you can see the street light is working ! I need to hide the base of this with some greenery as I dont like it but the rest of it is just right.

You can also see here my lovely St. Bernard pulling a buggy. This is from Roberson's and I fell in love with it when I saw it at Scottish Miniatura so had to buy it .

Finaly here is the back of the house with the grouting in place and the roof tiled. I have just glued on the moss and it needs to be brushed off a bit when dry sowont be quite as obvious as this when I am finished.

The bricks , tiles and grout were from http://www.minaco-uk.com/ really lovely products to work with at a reasonable price and Graham who runs it is very helpful.

Just a few finishing touches now to the interior decor and the Emporium is ready to be filled up !

julie xxxx

Interior Decorating and Parisian Goodies !

2010-06-27T06:58:00.000-07:00

I feel like putting the flags out and celebrating as I have now finished the interior decorating !!! I will show the results in two blog posts as I have made so much progress .
In the last month I have visited 2 wonderful miniature fairs and stocked up lots of goodies for the Emporium and that really spurred me on to decorate so I could start the best part............filling it up and bringing it to life !

This is Uncle Morts room on the top floor of the building. Uncle Mort is the eccentric old fellow who owns the Emporium and makes all the wonderful toys that will line its shelves.............you will be meeting him very soon !

This is the kitchen. I finished it off with a wood panel behind the sink and a plain dado . I have made interior trims for the windows in the house and didnt give this one a window sill as the sink goes underneath it.

I discovered the most wonderfully talented maker of my kitchen cabinets at the Paris S.I.M.P.show. Alexandra Cantatore of Alemikimikri .

I am thrilled to bits with the cabinets and accessories bought from her.

The tall meat cupboard is from Apollo Miniatures here in the UK and the wonderful apple pie board is from Betsy Niederer .I have had this piece for a few years now and it just looks perfect here. I need to find the perfect kitchen range cooker and will build a fireplace around it when I find it .

I just love the kitchen so far. Although tiny I can still fit a lot in !

The shop floor is filling up ! I moved the counter over to the window as I want to pile the toys up around the floor . Most of the new toys were bought atParis S.I.M.P. The Unicorn hobby horse and book with fairy are by Jain of Giddy Kipper Dolls, bought at York fair.

I think its going to take some time to fill the shelves, but its going to be fun :0)

And finally my favourite buy .I still get a thrill justlooking at this as its exactly what I imagined when I began to plan the work shop.

My wonderful work bench ! Made by Jan Grygiel this is so perfect. The
handles actually turn and the vices open and you can really hold wood in it. There is room for tools in the drawers and I just love it. I bought lots of tools too togowith this and each one is perfect , the saws actually cut .

The workshop still needs some work but these are going to be just right !

Also from Alemikimikri is this amazing paint box. Just what Uncle Mort will need to paint his wooden toys !

The workshop lamp was bought from the lovely Ray Storey at York fair, he also supplied the light in Uncle Morts room and others you will see in my next post of Belle's room and the Parlour.

I hope to work on the back of the house in the evenings this week, bricking and pebble dashing and sorting the wiring.

Hopefully my cunning plan with the outdoor loo will work...................watch this space !

julie xxxx

A skivy day and a cunning plan !

2010-05-28T10:44:00.001-07:00

Well, after my get up and go got up and left me yesterday, I decided to take a skivy day today !

I should be busy making dolls , but instead I decided to work on the Emporium instead, they say a change is as good as a rest and I do feel much better now :0)

So here we have UncleMort's workshop.

The first picture shows it undercoated and half assembled.

I have been painting it, one coat per night this week and today the final coat was dry and I was able to distress it a little.

I didnt want it to look too distressed, just a little worn and dirty round the edges on the outside.I will take some proper photos of the outside when the roof section is finished.

The inside is still clean for now, I will be adding workbenches and shelving and will dirty up the inside when that is all in place. I will also be putting in skirting boards with sockets for lighting.
In this picture I have just stained the floor and it is still drying out. There will be sawdust on the floor when the workshop is completed.

As the paintwork was completed, I attached the workshop to the back of the shop.
You may remember the tradesmans entrance leads to a cubby hole with a door inside.

Well that door leads to the workshop !

So I have placed a corresponding door on the outside of the shop and inside the workshop.

This pleases me, I know the door can't actually be opened but in an imaginary world it would open and thats good enough for me .

I am delighted that the whole building with workshop attached can still turn 360 degrees . From the front it looks like a shop, then you turn it round and surprise ! Its a workshop !

I love that it is almost two different houses now, front and back !

The roof will be tiled to match the roof on the shop and it hasnt got its windows in place yet but I have balanced it on just for show :0)

And now for my cunning plan.................................

Ta da ! here it is !!!

Hmmmm not very cunning I hear you say, its just an outdoor toilet, now what is cunning about that ?

Well take a look at the next photo.......................................

As my house is viewablefrom the front ,sides and back I was a bit worried about how to do the lighting.

My other dolls houses have lighting strips and wires on the back , this is fine when the back is against a wall but would look very ugly in this case.

Then I was tidying the shed and came across my miniature outdoor toilet................... the cunning plan was hatched :0)

I would simply hide the socket strip inside the toilet and the wiring would be hidden under the bricks that will go on the back of the house !

I havent attached this to the back of the house yet.

I want to purchase all my lights and make sure there are enough sockets on this strip, it may need an extra strip in there yet.

But I have taken a photo to show how it will look in place on the back of the house.

I love this plan as the living accomodation above the shop has no bathroom.

I know this isnt real LOL but I just have to have things with a sense of realism and Belle and Uncle Mort had nowhere to "go " !

So the addition of the outdoor toilet solves both that problem and my wiring one, a cunning plan indeed !

Tomorrow I will be back in the shed making dolls, I am exhibiting at ScottishMiniatura in just 2 weeks time so I am going to be very busy and may not post here until after the fair , but after that I have a little time when I can work more on the Emporium and I am really looking forward to finishing the building work .

julie xxx

Heading Upstairs.........progress at last !

2010-05-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Okay , I give up LOL my blog has put its foot down and try as I may it will not let me move these photos around to the correct order !

I blame the heat , summer has arrived at last, but the one benefit to our garden resembling a building site at the mioment is that I dont want to sit in it .

So instead I have been working in the cool sitting room and finally have some progress to show you all !

This is the upstairs hallway :0)

This can be accessed through the side opening door of the dolls house, but otherwise can only be seen through the open doors of the kitchen and parlour.

I cant access it again to redecorate so I had to make sure it was exactly how I wanted it.

I love it ! I used a washed out pink and cream wallpaper above the dado and the same muted green stripe that I used downstairs so it flows nicely .

I had some issues with the house kit. The main one being there are no interior door or window trims. You can see here I improvised with some scraps of dado and cornice to make window frames and sills. I am pleased with the results.

I used some ivory silk
tulle to make nets for the windows and made the curtains
from some silk brocade fabric. Both from The Silke Route.

Here is the full stretch of the back interior hallway wall.

This will never be seen again from this angle ! Once I fitted the dividing wall into the house it is quite closed off .

Here you can see how I decorated the hall side of the dividing wall before sliding it in and you can see the wall from the other side once in place with the doors inserted from the hall side so they open into the rooms as in real life .

I had already decided what each of my rooms would be. This floor has one large room and one small room , so the small room just had to be the kitchen and larger room the parlour.

I will be fitting a chimney breast to the inside of the dividing wall , but havent chosen a fireplace yet so will wait until I do. The cooker will then go on the back side of that in the kitchen .

Finally, here is the kitchen with the wallpaper on !

I really love the paper I have chosen. When the front of the shop is open I want all the rooms to harmonise with each other and I am using soft greens and muted pinks and browns as my pallette as I think it has the right feel for my Emporium !

I have added the cornice now to the kitchen, more pics in another post ! But wont be adding the skirting boards or dado rail until I have my sink unit and cooker in place. I will be building shelved alcoves around the cooker on the back

side of the chimney breast. The sink will go under the window and I can then arrange my drainpipes on the outside wall of the emporium to look authentic !

As I have not found a sink or cooker or fireplace yet that I like I will leave these rooms now and move on to another part of the building.............................

watch out for my next post, I will be doing some special work on the back of my house, I have a cunning plan ................................. !

julie xxx

Wonderful Goodies for the Toy Shop !

2010-05-20T01:04:00.001-07:00

Firstly,my apolgies for the recent lackof posts .
Life has been very hectic preparing for the run of spring and summer shows, but I finally have a little time towork on the Emporium again.
I have been trying not to be tempted with things to display in the shop ........................ I wanted to complete the decorating and building work first,
but one of the perks of exhibiting at Kensington Dolls House Festival is the chance to visit other makers and purchase some special items.
The first two items are sheer perfection in my eyes !
Miniatures for my miniatures !!! Just look at the size of the tiny brass chairs on the book and look at the tiny dolly in the brass bed, she even has a face and the whole thing is no bigger than my finger nail !
These stunning items willsit on the shopcounter and are made by the fabulously talented Deb Jackson www.debjacksondesigns.com she makes all manner of wierd and wonderful items, not just toys and books, visit her website to be amazed.

You can see the scale of the book here on my hand. It really is perfect.

As is my other main purchase............... this sleeping cat looks very like my own cat Pepsi, who came to us as a stray and brought so much love with him.
I couldnt resist the chance to have a miniature version so this one caught my eye immediately. If you look you can see he even has tiny whiskers !
He is made by the very talented Sarah Schiff "Pocket Pets" She makes the most wonderful animals , they are so real they almost look at you, I am delighted to own this piece.

Here he is now, asleep on the shelf in the shop in a spot that I know the real Pepsi would definitely love to sleep on !

I think he adds a lovely touch to the shop window :0)
I am now working on the upstairs hall way of the emporium which must be completed before I put the interior walls in as there will not be full access to them after that .

I hope to have progress and pictures up here very soon.

Thanks so much for your patience waiting for the next step, at least nobody will think I rushed this LOL

julie xxx

Almost time to stock up !

2010-04-09T10:25:00.001-07:00

Well, as you can see from these photos the shop floor is ready to start stocking up !
Apologies for the lack of posts recently, I am busy making dolls for the Spring miniatures shows here in the UK and most of my time has beem taken up with that.
However in my spare time I have been adding little touches here and there to the Emporium and I hope you like it so far !

Here you can see the blind I made for the window with silk striped fabric and fringed ribbon.
I painted and disressed two little pie crust tables and the curio cabinet. I also lined the back of the cabinet with matching toile wallpaper so it blends in with the decor. It was tricky positioning furniture with an opening door there . I like the cabinet here as it would distract customers from trying to open the door, yet still give access forBelle and Uncle Mort !
( I hope to be introducing Uncle Mort soon,he is quite a character.....................)

Here you can see the shop counter with its many drawers. These will be filled with all manner of tiny toys, but for now they sit empty and expectantly .

I have very few toys in the shop , you can see here amongst them a wonderful pull along tiger cub by Sandra at tower house dolls, a mini bear by josephine parnell, a horse and cart by chris sturgess lief and a humpty dumpty who falls off his wall when the lever is pulled by L & A. St. Leger , Humpty was one of the first miniatures I ever bought and I always knew Iwould have a wonderful toy shop to display him in one day so he has pride of place on the counter !

This is the side wall of the shop which is still waiting for guttering and a drainpipe. Whilst exhibiting at Miniatura last month I came across this wonderful theatre advert by Corner Shop Designs and just had to have it. I knew it would be perfect for this wall and it was !

Next I plan to work on decorating the rest of the house.

julie xxx

Window Shopping !

2010-03-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

As you can see from this photo , I have been very busy working on the Toy Shop and have made some progress with the shop window.

A huge thank you to Sue from http://pastmastery.wordpress.com for her wonderful work making my dummy board. Little Belle on her Rocking Horse takes pride of place in the shop window. She is hoping some toys will join her soon to keep her company !

Sue, I think you will agree she looks just perfect !

This side of ths shop front is a little busier. Sandra of Tower House Dolls will recognise this little lamb pulling a cart which I bought from her at Christmas . Thanks Sandra, I love her to bits :0)

The toys in the window are some I have had for years, and some more recent additions. The tiny jack in the box was made by my daughter, thanks katie !

I will be adding more toys soon as I want both windows to be very busy and full of wonderful things.

I am very pleased with the backboards I made for the windows. They simply slide in and out so I can easily add to or totally change the displays whenever I choose with minimal effort.

This is the display board for Belle's side.It has a higher raised platform so I can put lots of toysin front of it and still see most of Belle. She sits on the bottomshelf and I can put more toys behind her on the topshelf.

I simply used balsa wood strips and some coving ! Imeasured the window openings and then once my pieces were glued together and dried I sanded all the edges, tested for fit , and sanded a little more LOL

There is an extra shelf on this side .
Once dry and sanded I painted the shelves and sides cream and then when the paint dried I covered the back and front with toile wallpaper tomatch the inside of my shop. I also used some turned dowels to add more decoration between the shelves.

Here you can see them before they were put into the shop windows.

In my next post I will show you the inside view. I also used some olive green striped silk to make curtains for the inside of my windows and finished off with a fringed braid trim at the top which just shows from the outside.

I'm really pleased with everything so far !

julie xxx

Finally Floored !

2010-03-14T13:16:00.000-07:00

Its been a hectic few weeks here.The run of Spring Miniature shows has started in the U.K. and I have been busily preparing for them. I will be exhibiting at one per month until June and all wonderful large fairs. The first being Spring Miniatura in just 2 weeks time !
So most of my time has been spent doll making but today being Mothers Day I finally had a free couple of hours to finish the Emporium floor.
It feels like I have been waiting a terribly long time to put the last few strips of wood into the parquet floor but this morning I did just that and was delighted with the results.
Then tonight I found time to wax the floor. You can see here the wax I used, beeswax and it is simply a case of wipe on, leave to dry and then polish up.

Here is the finished floor ! I am very happy with it. By just using one thin coat of paint I was able to achieve an old worn look and you cant quite see it from this photo but the wax has given it a sheen and it looks as if the floor has been worn and polished many times over the years.

The one thing I didnt want is a new looking shop. Although it was once rather grand, time has taken its toll and although Belle keeps her shop as clean as a new pin, it hasnt been decorated for many years.

I am making some shelves to go across the side window. It is rather awkward , being two arched windows side by side.The Kit doesnt come with interior window frames and as I am no expert with wood work I wouldnt even attempt to make my own interior arched frames !

Instead I will have three shelves on metal brackets stretching across the windows.

That way the toys displayed there will be visible from the outside and the light will set them off beautifully from the inside.

The shop counter will also be in front of the window. I want to have some little tables with toys piled high in front of the shelves.

There is a fabulous little animated film called "Alma" which I have watched many times . Its quite a creepy little film and features a doll shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPNJU9bQtzo

I love the way there are little tables etc. displaying the dolls so want to use that here, but not in such a creepy way !

julie xxx

Something special for my shop window and floor progress!

2010-03-01T11:53:00.001-08:00

I am so excited that Sue from Pastmastery has agreed to make a very special dummy board for my shop window. Visit Sue's blog http://pastmastery.wordpress.com/ to watch the progress of this ! You have all seen the little girl on her rocking horse in my side bar. This is the inspiration behind the dummy board which will sit in the shop window and form a beautiful backdrop to the window display.

Sues blog is fascinating, if you dont know much about dummy boards you will learn so much and if you have a dolls house I just bet you will want one of your own !

I'm on tenterhooks waiting to see mine :0)

I have been working on my parquet floor this week. I have painted each tile with a thin layer of paint so the wood shows through and laid most of them. Just the tiny jigsaw pieces of the centre detail to paint and glue. To be totally honest I havent a clue how the bits fit in LOL they are tiny and I am baffled so will leave it until I am feeling very enthusiastic ! I will wax the entire floor once its all in place.

I glued each piece down despite the instructions to use doublesided sticky tape. I dont trust that to stick forever ................ Of course the parquet tiles are very thin wood so they immediately curled at the edges. This is where my antique weighing scales came in very handy ! They have metal weights which I used to weigh down the tiles as I went along . The result as you can see is really nice, just the effect I wanted and I think it lends a fairytale touch to the toyshop. I just cant wait to fill this up with gorgeous toys !!

julie xxx

So much I want to do,so little time !

2010-02-26T06:12:00.000-08:00

Sorry this post has been so long in arriving ! Life is hectic right now and I am busily preparing for the Spring run of Miniature fairs which kicks off for me this sunday in Glasgow. My doll making has been taking up much of my time , so what bad timing for this to arrive , my wonderful longed for Orangery kit which I want to transform into Uncle Morts workshop.
All the doll making though has had an unexpected bonus for my Emporium. While shopping for fabric I came across this lovely item :

It is meant to be used for 3d card making, but as soon as I saw it I immediately thought of my shop shelves and how lovely this would look as trimming. At half price I bought three packs , ready for a moment to work on my shop.

First though it was high time the windows went in so with the help of a paper template and some heavy duty acetate I set to work.

Hind sight is a wonderful thing and I do wish I had made my templates before I put the house together.It was a bit tricky but once the pieces were cut I simply ran a bead of PVA glue round the edges and popped them in place.

This is the front of the shop . You can see I have used the card kit to make a window trim, I love the effect it gives. You can also see I have had to remove the shop doors ! They were such a tight fit they would not open with the parquet floor I am planning to lay, so they are removed and waiting to be sanded down.

This is the door into the house. I am most likely going to have shelves across these windows as the shop counter will go across this corner allowing Belle easy access to her house and stopping any customers from wandering in there accidentally !

Heres a close up of the window trim. There are long strips which will go across the top of the windows but I need to finish wallpapering first. So little time, so much I want to do !

This is how it looks so far, I think you can just see how I have trimmed alternate shelves with the paper trim.

I have already started work on the actual flooring. I have some lovely maple parquet floor tiles which looked all wrong with my colour scheme. I have decided to paint and wax them so am busy in my spare moments painting each and every one . Very time consuming !

I am doing just one coat of paint so you can still see the wood, its more of a colour wash, in the cream of the shelves and the green of the woodwork. Then a coat of clear wax and fingers crossed my shop floor will look beautiful.

Wish me luck !

Hopefully my next post willshow the floor and maybe my ceiling and light fitting sorted out too !

julie xxx

lights, passageways and the shop wall in place

2010-02-06T11:54:00.000-08:00

Two posts in one day ! This is the beautiful light I have bought for the shop from Ray Storey. I have bought single versions of the same light for the passageways . I am delighted with them and cant wait to get the electrics sorted out !
But that will have to wait a while as am busy making dolls for my upcoming fairs .

Here we have the cubby hole under the stairs. It will never be seen from this angle as the back wall of the shop pushes up against the stairs. You can only see a glimse of it through the open side door , the tradesmans entrance . I will probably just store a bit of junk under the stairs.
So finally I was able to get the back wall of the shop in place. I am delighted with it and very relieved that it still fitted after papering and painting ! You can see the side window frame with the aubergine paint. I will be repainting the inside of this frame the soft olive green I have chosen for the woodwork before I fit the "glass".
The soft distressed green is so easy on the eye and gives a lovely feel to the place.
I have almost finished the passageway behind the door, just some skirting board to put in place and then I can start to think about how best to do the flooring.
julie xxx

Inside at last !

2010-02-06T02:22:00.000-08:00

I am waiting for my orangery to arrive so while I wait I have started work on the inside. First of all I had to decide once and for all the layout of the shop floor and what to do with the tiny passage way that would appear if I went with my preferred layout.
Much plotting ensued and a cunning plan was decided on !
First then, to tackle the removeable back wall which must be decorated first. I cut off the thin piece that went over the right hand top edge of the wall and then using the wall as a template cut a piece from MDF to glue into the stairwell cut out on the back wall.
While this dried I searched my bits and bobs box for spare doors and found two identical ones ...........perfect !
Here you see one of the doors glued under the stairwell. This will "lead" into Uncle Morts workshop................the Orangery ! I will fix the other door to the back of the house in the same position inside the workshop and it will appear that it opens .
The tradesmans entrance will open into this tiny passage way through which the tradesmen would be able to deliver goods directly into the workshop .

This next bit involved 2 days and much huffing and puffing and tea drinking ! I put my newly filled wall into place and arranged the shop shelves
to ft then measured up a back wall to go across the corner which in turn was glued to the back of the right hand corner shelf.
With some ( well okay.... lots....) sanding and numerous trials for size I ended up with a wall that fit perfectly into the shop and permanently attached shop shelves which you can see I painted antique white...............and a few gaps too. I filled these then added a little decorative trim that covered the join and strengthend the whole wall.

this is the back of the wall decorated already . This is the decor for the downstairs passage way and entrance to the living quarters. I chose lovely muted green william morris paper from Sid Cooke .The striped paper is also used in the tiny passageway at the other side of the house.

This pic is a "Ta dah ! " moment for me ! I antiqued the shelves a little more. The shop is to be old one and a little bit dilapidated. Uncle Mort let things run to rack and ruin and although Belle has cleaned it up a lot the furniture is still aged with time .

My preferred method of ageing is to simply paint some wood stain ( I use ronseal ) over the item and then rub off immediately with a soft cloth. The stain settles into the corners and detailing and leaves a soft colour wash which looks like the patina of time .

I am using the most beautiful grey toile wallpaper for the shop , you can see it here. I will be painting my parquet floor tiles in dove grey and cream to match and it should all look really beautiful with a slightly fairytale air to it and a fine setting for the wonderful toys .

I will post the final pictures of the small passageway soon, I am almost finished working on it and then I can put the shelved wall permanently in place.

I will also give you a peek at the fabulous lighting I have bought for the Emporium courtesy of the fabulously talented Ray Storey, they are simply stunning !

julie xxx

Why Dolls House doors should be kept firmly shut...........

2010-02-03T08:42:00.000-08:00

Hmmmmm, was measuring my walls today for wallpapering and decided a nice cup of tea would spur me on .Imagine my surprise when I came back to find this staring through my dolls house window !

I dont know what surprised me more, the fact that he was in there or the fact that he actually fit in there at all LOL as you can see from the last photo of my dainty little she cat Mitsy ( taken last night while pepsi looked on, obviously plotting to try it out for himself ! ) , Pepsi is quite a big boy !

julie xxx

The Emporium is expanding !

2010-02-01T14:01:00.000-08:00

Belles Toy Emporium is expanding !
The photo is the Orangery. I almost bought this at xmas to add to the side of the house but my measurements just didnt add up and the whole thing wouldnt have fitted where I wanted it to go. The garden isnt included, just the actual building which is wide but not too deep.
Now that the house is built and on its turn table on the old chest of drawers in my sitting room I have measured up again and realised with delight that there is a place for the Orangery............... the back of the shop ! I ordered it today :0)
It is to become Uncle Mortimers workshop and the place where the toys are made.
It also solves the problem of the side door. The tradesmans entrance that leads nowhere if I stick to my shelf arrangement.
I will add a fake doorway in the back wall of the shop that "leads " to the workshop. The tradesmans entrance door will be rehinged on the opposite side and when opened lead into a little corridor with the fake doorway leading to the workshop for deliveries !
The workshop will also conceal the wiring that will come through the back of the house and be a lovely "surprise" when the Emporium is turned around on the turn table.
It feels like a great plan !
I have started to alter the back wall of the shop already and will post pics if it all works out.
A bit of bodging may be called for ................. my wood working skills are minimal but I'm sure it will all work out...........................
watch this space !
julie xxx

Tiling extravaganza...............and a wee mistake...

2010-01-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

The last week has been a tiling extravaganza !

I've been busy working on my dolls during the day but evenings have been spent laying the roof tiles and paving stones needed to finish the outside of Belle's Toy Emporium.

The roof tiles were very easy to lay.

They are made a from soft easy to cut material and I found I was able to shape tiles carefully with scissors, or score them easily with a craft knife when I needed to half a tile.

I havent yet decided what to do with the back of the house. My wiring will be visible here and I am toying with the idea of either bricking over the wires or making a flase back to cover them and bricking that.
I tiled the back of the roof first as it was an easy flat roof with no details.

The front has the attic window roof and the chimney stack so I knew this would take some time and much tile cutting.

You can see the mistake from the finished roof photos....................... I ran out of tiles ! The tile manufacturer advise that you buy all tiles needed together so they will match but I just assumed 1000 was plenty for a roof. A third of the way up the front roof panel and I ran out and had to send for more tiles.

As you can see they most definitely dont match !!!!! I will be working a little paint magic on the tiles later to match them up........................

The roof looks so lovely though with the victorian ridge tiles finishing it off perfectly.

I really enjoyed working on the roof !

The paving slabs are made from real slate and look lovely.

They were quite difficult to cut though so a very tiny bit of pavement took some time.

I used random flagstones from Richard Stacey

which are all different sizes and you lay them in a pattern to suit , a bit like doing a jigsaw !
Once they are all glued on you then grout them like bricks and they lookjust like a real pavement.

I used a tool for ceramic tiles which has a scorer and an edge to snap the tiles. Fiddly but worth it in the end as the "street " looks perfect.

I will add some moss to it for more realism.

The outside of the Emporium is now almost complete. I need to do the sign writing and add the shop sign . I would like to add drainpipes and will be adding moss to the pavement outside the house entrance too.

I need some more door furniture but theres no hurry for that, I havent seen what I want just yet so will wait until I find the perfect letterboxes .

Next for the bit I have been looking forward to..............................the inside !!!

julie xxx

Banisters, bricks and modge podge to the rescue !

2010-01-20T03:21:00.000-08:00

Progress has been a little slow in the last week .I'm busy in my studio working on dolls for upcoming fairs and also have some other miniature projects to work on so my Emporium has been a treat to work on in the evenings.

As you can see my bricks arrived and I was able to finish the brickwork on the left hand side of the house.

I think I will definitely be adding some drainpipes to the building but this will be done after I get the pavement finished.

I have ordered some lovely slate paving slabs which should be here at the weekend and cant wait to get them on.

Once the bricks and pebble dashing were completed it was a really simple job to attach the turntable. The black plastic disc with rollers simply sat on top of the base board and then both were attached to the bottom of the house with a long screw through the centre of them both.

I love this part of the kit, the house looks lovely raised slightly from the table and its really nice being able to turn it to see into the side doors.

As you can see Pepsi has decided to supervise work on the house from now on.......................

While working on the house I have noticed my "pebbles" dropping off at an alarming rate ! Rather than end up with any bald spots I have now sealed it with matte mod podge.

This wonderful stuff comes in useful for such a lot of things .

I used my pastry brush to apply it as its large and very soft so wouldnt dislodge any more pebbles.

Although it looks a bit worrying when first applied it dries to a clear matte protective surface which can be wiped clean.

While my modge podge dried I finished the banisters and stair rails for the house.

After the struggle with the stairs I was relieved that this was a very easy job, the stairposts fitted easily into the pre made holes in the base strips and the banisters fitted easily over the top.

I couldnt resist trying them out in the house.

Although they arent fixed into place yet you can see how lovely they look :0)

The next job on my list is the roof. I will be tiling it with real slate tiles and then the outside of my shop will be almost complete !

julie xxx

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

2010-01-13T02:27:00.001-08:00

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

Day Twelve , Stairs and Plans

2010-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

As I am still waiting for my bricks and want to work on the sides of the house before finishing the roof I have been making plans for the interior and working on the stairs .

Hmmmmmm, I have no idea why it is, there must be a reason , but the kit instructions assure me the stair board IS the right size and just a little sanded off each stair will ensure they WILL all fit on.
For the life of me I cant find the reason, but I sat for an hour sanding each little step until eventually they did fit.
They look lovely but life would have been easier if they had just been cut to fit in the first place !!!

Here are the two sets of stairs. I used ronseal wood stain which gives a beautiful effect without
un natural gloss and build up of varnish which might need even more sanding.
While I was at it I stained all the doors and bannisters and left it all to dry .

The next part seemed simple enough, simply glue a banister into each hollow on the staircase and allow to dry.

Apparently a small sanding on each banister would ensure a good fit.
The holes were more like shallow indentations so sanding didnt make a lot of difference but I glued them in/on and after a lot of fiddling to make sure all were straight and pointing in the same direction left them to dry.
So far ,so good !

I was very happy up to this point, the stairs look great dont they :0)
Then I simply had to glue the stair rail on ..........................
You have to sort of push the stair rail firmly over each bannister and make sure its straight.......................
there was an audible " ping" and bannisters shot every where !!!!!!!!!
There then followed a very frustrating battle between stairs, bannisters and rail !
But I was determined.............. I would not be defeated............. I only snapped one bannister in half................. and happily I had 2 spare :0)

Eventually I had them all in place and I have to say it was worth the effort. With stair carpet in place it looks perfect .
I may yet make some stair rods, watch this space , but for now I am happy.

So now for some planning.
As you know this shop will be home to the characters in the stories I am writing.
Old Uncle Mortimer and his neice and companion Belle .
Uncle Mortimer is a bit of a recluse and doesnt stray far from the two rooms at the top of the shop.His workroom and his den, where he sleeps and eats. The hatch above his workroom leads to the loft space .
Belle has her own room above the shop and a small kitchen .
I can already envisage these rooms and am really looking forward to working on them.
The shop floor though is a bit more difficult.

This is the shop with the back wall and door temporarily in place,

The space under the stairs is pretty much dead space. The trade entrance opens into it so it doesnt work putting shelves in there as Ihad first intended.
I have plenty white wood shop shelf units so have been playing round with these but the room is a very awkward shape with the window on the side wall and the door to the house next to that .

I tried the units in tofit the walls and dont like it at all.

I then tried the units with a corner unit added.

Although I lose space behind the corner unit I gain space in front of the stairwell and tradesmen can still enter LOL

I quite like this option but also have some floor display units and need to fit a counter in.

All ideas welcome !!! I could build up my own shelving but I really like these shelves .

Couldnt resist adding this pic of my lovely old tom cat Pepsi.

Think hes figured out the only way to get any attention in this house is to be on my work table LOL

julie xxx

Days Ten and Eleven, A tight fit but shaping up nicely !

2010-01-10T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well it has been slow progress over the weekend. Firstly I am awating supplies. I have no bricks left and need to finish the left side of the house.

I have also ordered some lovely wallpaper for the passage ways and shop from Sid Cooke and the most glorious parquet floor kit.

I had intended to tile the roof this weekend but my time was taken up by the windows.............................

Simply glue the plastic window frames into the openings said the instruction manual.

Well the small windows fitted like a dream and I just popped them in with a touch of pva. Then I came to the large windows. Quite simply they didnt fit ! The window openings were 2 mm smaller than the plastic windows !!!!

There was only one thing for it.................. sand papering .

If you have never tried sanding a tiny rebate on a window opening of a built dolls house you have never known true frustration !

In the end I rolled my sandpaper round a slim pencil and then rolled the pencil round and round the rebate.

Eventually I managed to widen the gap slightly but there was just no way I could find to satisfactorily increase the gap.

I managed to wedge the windows in tightly,. So tightly that they wouldnt come back out . If forced too much I think the plastic would snap .

So my two windows on the front of the house are ever so very slightly bowed. Nobody who has seen it has noticed but I know it is so, which is a bit frustrating.

Never mind, I will put it down to character !

I decided to attach the front with the hinges provided which was easy and then stand the house upright and attach the chimney.

Despite the window problem I have to say it looks perfect. I think I will add a drainpipe down the right hand side and some guttering .

Hope my bricks arrive soon !

julie xxx

Days eight and nine ..........mostly bricking !

2010-01-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

I have spent the last two days bricking away to my hearts content ! 2000 brick slips later I
have completed the front, right hand side and the chimney of the house and its looking lovely.

First of all I attached the two gate posts to the side door walls . The final pillar will go on when I have the floor decorated and am ready to put the railings up.
I bricked the outside of the wall to get back into practice, its some time since I last used brickslips.

They are so simple to attach, its time consuming but also therapeutic LOL and I did a lot of planning as I sat there sticking bricks.

Once I was in the swing of things there was no stopping me. First, as the house was lying on its side post pebble dashing, I tackled the right hand side of the house. This is the largest wall space of the whole building so I knew once this side was done the rest would be plain sailing.
Its very simple to do.
Just paint a section of your wall with pva, dont coat too much or it will dry out.
Then start to lay your bricks with each row staggered to give that familiar brick pattern.

This is where you really need a ruler. A clear one like this is great as you can see the rows of bricks beneath it.
The first time I used brick slips I was sure I didnt need a ruler. I could easily lay my bricks in a straight line..................no problem...................................
about 6 rows in I realised my bricks were starting to slant upwards .

By then the lower layers were already dry so it was too late.

Lesson learned, I armed myself with a long ruler !

Carry on working in sections until you reach the end of your wall. The brick slips can be easily snapped in half or trimmed with scissors at the edges for fitting around window and door frames.

You can see just how nice the wall looks all bricked.

As I was enjoying myself I carried on and bricked the shop front.

Its most important when bricking a wall with windows to check that you have the same number of rows either side of the window and that they are level. Your ruler is your most valuable tool here.

I learned from my mistakes on a previous house !

I wasnt happy with the shop door surround so decided to brick that too.

There is no architrave around the door and I think this makes it look very "dolls house".

I wanted my toy shop to look like a real old building , not a dolls house.

So improvation time again ! I had an old piece of dado rail which fit perfectly around the door frame so I painted this and attached it before bricking the rest of the frame.

I think you will agree it looks better with the architrave.

Here is the finished front with architrave painted and bricks in place ready for mortar.

I knew I didnt have enough bricks for the left hand side of the house so instead I bricked the chimney stack, taking care tomatch the rows of bricks upon all four corners.

I think it looks lovely !

Now for the bit I like least.
Applying the mortar. The powder was mixed with water and pva to a stiff paste.

This is then rubbed over the bricks pushing it down between each brick with a soft damp cloth.

Its gritty and messy and you have to work carefully one section at a time .

Here is the first section of the wall with mortar applied.

I found this quite scary the first time I did it, all your hard work seems to be covered in muck !

Next you take a damp cloth and a bowl of water and start cleaning.

You want to get the bricks clean but leave the mortar in the gaps .

If you have too damp a cloth you will simply wash the mortar away so the trick is to wring out well, fold your cloth into a fairly flat shape and carefully wipe over the top of your bricks.

Keep wringing out the cloth and wiping , rinsing frequently . It does take some time but as your bricks emerge it really does look very effective, just like a real wall !

This is the wall half way through wiping clean.

This is the finished cleaned up wall and doesnt it look fabulous !
I tipped the house over onto its back as I still had loose pebble dash on the top section which I have caught to re use on the left hand side.

I will leave the house on its back until I have attached the front panel with hinges once my mortar is dry.

Here is the completed front and chimney looking very nice with the mortar drying out.

As the characters who live in this building are not rich the building will look a little aged, not exactly shabby but a little worn .

When rinsing the mortar I left some showing around the edges of the window trims and sills which gives a lovely slightly dirty effect.

I will be distressing the chimney stack a little and dirtying it up around the pots . I want this to look like a real building rather than a toy and so far I'm very happy with the way its turning out.

julie xxx

Day Seven.... Improvising and pebble dashing !

2010-01-06T05:57:00.000-08:00

After work today I dashed through the snow to Hobby Craft where I bought some strips of balsa wood to improvise on the missing parts of my kit . After much faffing on trying to find a solution to the short door/ tall door gap problem I had a Eureka moment !

Why didnt I think of it before ! I simply cut a piece of balsa to the same shape and thickness of the door frame and then glued it into the bottom of the door opening.

Hey Presto ! My door now closed perfectly leaving no gap and a nice flat finish both sides of the wall.

My door step was made with two pieces of balsa wood, one wider than the other, which I cut to the same width. Once glued onto the wall the door step hid the join where I had inserted the extra piece of wood into the door frame giving a neat strong finish.

I was now able to glue on the remaining trim and begin the paint work.

You can see here how neat my improvising looks !

While at Hobby craft I found some lovely fine gravel in the model railway section.

I had decided to use real brick slips for the main part of the house and paint the top section to resemble stone. Suddenly I had another Eureka moment !

Pebble dashing ! I bought 2 bags of the fine gravel one cream and one light tan as I knew the two shades would mix well to give a realistic effect.

I simply coated the top section of the dols house in a thick coat of pva. I did one side at a time leaving each to dry overnight but have shown photos of two sides to show you how simple this was to do.

Once the pva was brushed on I simply poured my mixed fine gravel evenly over the surface with the dolls house lying flat on the table and the side I was working on facing upwards.

I poured on a nice thick layer , making sure it was evenly spread and in every nook and cranny,

then patted it down with my fingers and left it to dry.

When dry I lay a plastic sheet ( a bin liner is ideal for this) on the floor under the table to catch the loose gravel. Then I tipped the house on its side
and gently brushed it with a soft brush to remove the loose gravel.The loose gravel can then be re-used on another part of the house.

You can see here how lovely this looks !

I'm delighted with the effect.

My house is really starting to shape up now and the next step will be to start sticking the brick slips to the walls. A long job but really worth the time spent for the lovely effect it gives.

My next few evenings will be spent gluing on bricks and I will post photos as soon as I have made some progress with this,

julie xxx

Day Six......... Mostly Trimmings

2010-01-06T05:35:00.000-08:00

Today I was officially back to work after my xmas holidays so most of the day was spent in my

workshop making dolls.

However I soon made up for lost time come evening when I relaxed by sorting out the trims for the front and sides of the house.

You can see here how beautifully the antique white trim complements the burgundy on the front.

I'm really happy with the colour and I think the windows will look fab with some toys displayed there. I will have curtains behind the window displays but havent decided yet wether to go for sheer or heavy curtains.

The left side of the house looks lovely with the trim but you can see here where the missing sill should be.

Ihave tried to contact the suppliers but no luck as yet. being very impatient I think I will simply improvise and make my own................

Here is the front of the house looking fab so far. The name sign will be the finishing touch and I want to give it some beautiful writing so will work on that when the outside is completed.

I havent photographed the right side of the house yet as I am still figuring out how to handle the short door !

I have a gap at the bottom that needs sorted .

Then as I glued on the last bit of trim leaving only the door step I realised I only have one step of two.

This is the reason why on unpacking your dolls house kit you should go through every piece and make sure you have it all.

Although I love this house, one problem I found with the instructions was there were no pictures to identify each piece. I did recieve a check list along with the instructions but every box had been already ticked by my supplier and after a quick look through the pieces it seemed as if all were there........................ So due to my being such an eager beaver and not returning the kit on finding the damaged pieces, I will also be improvising on the door step..................................... I am sure it will all be fine in the end !
julie xxx

Day Four.....just fiddling !

2010-01-02T22:59:00.001-08:00

Day four was spent mostly fiddling, doing a bit more preparation and trying tofigure out the best working order for me.

According to my trusty instruction manual I should now have my front and side opening panels hinged on and be attaching my finishing trims to the building.

Instead I fiddled..........................

Here you can see my living quarters above the shop. These two walls both slide out easily for decoration. I had to try them out for size and they do indeed come in and out with ease which will make the eventual decoration of the house a whole lot easier.

The back wall of the shop also slips in and out for decoration and is only permanently attached once the back wall and stairs are decorated. This wall was a bit tricky so I rigged up a makeshift "jig" of some books to ensure my walls were square while the glue dried.

This worked very well and resulted in a lovely back wall which fits like a dream.

Here you can see the attic space which I love so much complete with the dividing wall underneath.

This is a removeable wall too and can be placed pretty much anywhere giving choice as to the size of the upper rooms.

I have four rooms above the shop to play with and havent decided yet what they are going to be. The only room that is really essential will be a work shop where the toys are made so I am giving this a lot of thought.

I have stories to tell in this house and I need to think things out carefully before making my final decision and decorating the inside of the house accordingly.

I did some more work to the shop front, fitting the supports and then the shelves for the shop windows. I know I definitely want curtains
on the inside of the shop windows to act as a back drop to the wondrous toys displayed there !
The window surrounds and shelves will be simply painted cream.

I then began the prep for the windows and trims.

First I sorted out which trim went where, which
took ages. There are no pictures of the actual trim in the instructions, just sketches of the finished house indicating where each piece goes .

It took a little time to identify each piece and of course I had one piece missing !

I also found the long side pieces of trim to the upper part of the house were more damaged than they seemed at first glance.

I have contacted the suppliers to ask if they can replace these parts . I should be able to improvise if there are any problems but hopefully I wont have to ......... I haveto figure out a door step for the short door too !

I then gave the windows and window trim their first coat of enamel paint. I'm using antique white which looks lovely. Then I put the chimney together which you can see was a simple case of glueing together the parts provided and leaving to dry over night.

More coats of paint were added to the windows as the day went on and I am now ready to attach them to the house and put the whole thing together !

The instructions say not to attach the chimney until the roof is decorated but as I am using real slates on the roof and brick slips on the chimney I think it will be better to attach the chimney first.

As you can see from the last picture with the opening panels simply standing in place, its looking pretty good so far !

julie xxx

Day three, we have a house !

2010-01-01T05:05:00.001-08:00

Finally this is starting to take shape !

Lots of photos here so you can see how the house is constructed.

The plywood sides have grooves in them and the mdf floors are glued into those.

Mine did not want to go into the grooves but a wee bit sanding , a hefty dollop of wood glue and a bit of elbow grease eventually got the floors into the right side of the house and the left side was a much better fit.

The back went on perfectly and in less than half an hour my house was really starting to look like a house !

It is a lovely size building and already my mind is ticking over planning how I will decorate it inside.

The internal walls simply slide in and out making this a decorators dream. The stairwells are fairly small and would be very tricky to decorate otherwise .

The hole you can see in the bottom of the house is for the turn tablewhich is fitted last of all.

Once the base is glued on a plug is inserted through both holes to recieve the turntable screw .

Here you can see the house with the base attached. I can't yet decide wether to use paper or actual tiles for the pavement.

Although I am using real brick and slate for the walls and roof I think it will be easier to either use a paint effect or paper for the curved pavement area at the side of the shop.

Plenty of time to think of that later though as it will not be done until all those wee bricks have been attached !

My trusty drill came in very handy again for the roof hinges. Within minutes I had my roof panels hinged together and ready to atttach to the house.

The back of the roof was glued and pinned onto the back of the house.

The front of the roof lifts up for access to the attic and 2 top rooms.

I especially love the attic section of this kit, although small it has a sweet little trap door and I will probably use this to store old toys :0)

Here I am fitting the trim to the roof which simply glues into the slots provided and finishesthe roof off beautifully.

This bit is a little trickier as the front of the roof is rested on the top floor of the building with glued edges and then the roof is lowered down to fit over it.

I did a dry run first and was surprised as what looked very tricky in the instruction book was really quite simple.

In no time at all I had a lovely roof !

You can see here how the entire roof section lifts for access to the top floor.

Once the windows are in and the trim glued around the openings this is going to look just perfect !

Belle's Toy Emporium is really starting to take shape now !

julie xxx

Day Two, mostly doors !

2010-01-01T04:37:00.000-08:00

My New Years Eve morning was mostly spent doing the doors . After so many coats of paint I almost lost count, they were finally dry and ready for their hinges.

Having sanded and sealed all parts, I was delighted when the doors fitted like a dream.
I used the dremel to drill pilot holes for the brass screws which are very soft metal .
This made life so much easier and in no time at all I had my shop doors fitted and their handles attached. Again the dremel came in handy for this.

The side opening door also went on beautifully and I was feeling really confident about my door fitting skills......................................... until trouble struck............................

You can see from the photo with the screwdriver what the problem was...........................................

My door is too short !

and slightly too wide !!

Now I have scoured the instruction book and online photos of the finished shop and the short door isnt mentioned anywhere, leaving only one explanation.................... it's the wrong door !

There is no other in the kit and as this one now has around 6 coats of paint I'm not going to send it back.

So after half an hour sanding it to fit inside the opening and a bit of constructive thinking I have fitted the door . Once the house is assembled I will fit a step on the inside and outside of the door ( and a small notice saying "mind the step " ! )

I then assembled the little wall and pavement section on the small side opening panel. This is such a cute feature to the house and I cant wait to get the railings up but as I plan to use real brick slips to decorate my house I will be leaving the railings until the very end.

I stopped work for a cup of tea and another perusal of the instructions..................all 19 pages............................

the afternoon was set aside to construct the house itself !

julie xxx

Day one.......Preparation !

2009-12-30T03:25:00.000-08:00

I have a confession to make.........................I'm a bit of a botcher ! Well, that should read I WAS a bit of a botcher. Having made more than a few kits up previously I have not been known for my patience. The excitement of a new kit usually results in a fully built dolls house by the end of the day, with more than a few accidents , a few nails poking out here and there and then weeks struggling to get into the nooks and crannys to decorate it all.

This time its all different ! I have prepared !!!!

In an unheard of move I actually took the sandpaper provided and sanded down the parts I was going to prepare.

I hate sanding ! The raspy sound of it,the feel of it on my fingers, everything about it makes me shudder so its a step I always skip but what a difference it has made doing this properly. Once my three outer walls with door openings were sanded I sanded the doors too then coated the wood on all sides and edges with sealer.

Feeling very proud of myself I then began to tackle the shop front window.

This went together very easily and as you can see, the damage to the corner of the top is barely noticeable after a little sanding.

Then my enthusiasm got the better of me and I started on the paint work...................................then realised

MDF needs priming too !

As you can see from this picture my lovely aubergine enamel paint just sunk right intothe mdf in a very uneven fashion.

Well you live and learn so once dry a coat of sealer sorted that out and I'm now busy painting over it with the enamel paint. 2 coats should have my shop front looking beautiful.

Before assembling the front of the shop I will be painting the inside of the window too, a lovely antique creamy white . The shop name plinth will be left till last as its almost impossible to decorate it without lying it flat.

I have the shop doors to paint too before I can start assembling the house. Double doors at the front, a door for the tradesmans entrance at one side and the side door leading to the accommodation above the shop.

All this preparation takes time but it will all be worth it and I have learned its almost impossible to paint the doors properly once they are fitted into the frames.

So far so good............................

julie xxx

Not so Grand Box opening !

2009-12-28T11:46:00.000-08:00

Finally I managed to claim the dining room table as my "work bench" and today I opened the box ! My initial excitement was instantly replaced by a daunting sight................... The supplier of my kit had opened all the packets to check everything was there and then packaged it all together. This was the box as I opened it with pieces everywhere and three damaged parts of my shop front.

Not one to be deterred I put the damaged strips aside and sorted the contents ...............

As you can see after half an hour I had a lovely neatly set out table of bits, I think they are all there but as the packages of trims were opened and everything had fallen out I am not sure really whats what with the smaller bits so fingers crossed !

Another half hour spent reading the instructions ( 19 pages ! ) and I'm almost ready to start.

First though for the repairs, the damaged parts were split but as I am planning to paint them and they are decorative parts I think they will fix just fine. I used a little wood glue and have placed a weight on top of them as they dry, hopefully they will be good as new.

Top Tip !

The first step with this kit is to attach the doors with the hinges provided. In my experience its always been best to paint the doors before attaching them . Its the only way for a neat finish without ending up with hinges covered in paint. It also means you can test the painted doors for fit and sand as necessary, thus avoiding "sticky" doors.

So work is halted for today as I dither over paint colours ! ( Burgundy is the firm favourite so far ............)

julie xxx

Welcome !

2009-12-27T00:04:00.000-08:00

Welcome and thank you for visiting, I hope you will stay a while !

I'm very excited about my project and hope you will enjoy watching it take shape .

I have recently bought a wonderful Sid Cooke dolls house kit, "Empire Stores".

it is the most wonderful dolls house shop kit and today I will be unpacking it and beginning to build it into the setting for the stories I have to tell................................. but more of those later !

I hope you will enjoy watching as the building takes shape from a flat pack into a beautiful shop with living accommodation above.

I hope to have some tips to share along the way , or maybe you will have some to share with me as the building progresses !

Once the kit is built and the outside decorated with bricks and tiles we will move inside and work on the interior . There are 4 rooms above the shop plus attic space so there will be lots to do !

Empire Stores is the largest of the Sid cooke shops and I have just fell in love with it.

It will be transformed into "Belle's Toy Emporium " and I hope you will enjoy meeting Belle and the other folk whose lives are entwined with hers and the Emporium itself as their stories unfold.

I cant wait to open the box !

julie xxx