House meets basement

Is it love at first sight? Not really. My first, spontaneous, thought was Ough?

Today is the first day the house and basement finally met. The basement is both deeper and wider than the house. But symmetry is not all in life. There is more. The basement, without the front, makes the house look HUGE. Well, I have not seen many houses so practically every house is the biggest I've ever seen IRL. A basic issue is the grey base that goes with the house, it is glued on (my father did a very good job) and wont budge. And it's a bit to late in the evening to venture into battle with hammers. The operation will have to wait. But then the house will drop maybe 2-3 cm and it will be better fit.

When you are feeling down...

After a few days at home with migraine, I am back to my mini-work. Tomorrow I will return to my other work, where there is lots and lots to catch up on. Stupid migraine. I thought it was something to do with my eyes, so I went to the eye doctor. An excursion that took five hours. But, now I know that there is nothing wrong with my eyes. Or my blood pressure. Just a stupid migraine.

Yesterday, when I was feeling miserable, Jane Harrops book on how to make create edwardian furnishings arrived in my mail. A blessed beauty of a book with nice instructions and great inspiration. I really want her kit to make a revolving bookcase as seen on her website. I remember seeing one in Lizzie Bellamys bedroom in the original Upstairs, Downstairs (my favourite show btw)series. The colour on the cover of Harrop's book also match the colour on the intro for Upstairs, Downstairs.

Now all the floors are done! Hopefully this weekend I can put some vax on them. I usually vax on my balcony, since it gives of an unpleasant smell. Nice weather during daylight is really hard to come by these days.

3

Work has begun on the house. Three floors done, three more to go. I was having coffee in my number three cup, so I thought it fitting to include it in this post. I have been thinking a lot about how this house will look. I had an idea during the summer but that has changed now. I knew I wanted a house set in the early 1900's but still Victorian. Now I am feeling inspired by Edwardian styles and arts and crafts. I think what I am looking for is a home that is a mix of all, some new and some old.

Damaged goods?

My boyfriend is a great fan of Dr Who, and this is in my opinion also a way of time travel. Since when looking at this picture it seems that nothing has changed since I started renovations in June! I got rid of the panels in the morning room, those that I painted and painted over and over. And the floors, they came out faster from the house than they came in... A lot of work out the drain, but I want to be more than content with my house. I want it to be perfect.


Let's see how that goes...

When things go wrong

I unpacked my house today and examined the damage. Well, the paint in the morning room is a perfect example of me being a lousy painter. It will have to be altered. And the wallpaper in the green room is too bright, and is falling of the walls. Poor quality of it all. I will need to go back to planning again, since this will not do.

Small and big news

It's been a while. But since my last post I moved to a new flat and started a new job. And yesterday I was at my parents and picked up my yellow house so that it can be with me in my new flat where there is plenty of room! It will take a few more days of arranging things in the "big" world until I can start work in my "small" world again. Looking forward to it!

Fixing here and fixing a little there

I slowly started to work on the roof today, well selecting a piece of wood. I found this in my fathers garage, a sign he had used when he sold his old car. It says "For Sale" in swedish, but rest assured, my house is not for sale!

Feeling rather daring, I painted the clock. The result is not perfect, but maybe they contracted a bad uninspired painter to decorate the case? I made sure to write "Mats Margit 1842" on it, it's time they got married. Then I can fast forward a few years so they can have some children. But I have decided to have this part of my cottage set in the 1840's.

And the windows are finally in place, properly fitted with logs to cover up the cardboard.

A lovenest is the making?

It was when making this piece of handy equipement that I cut my finger. Still scared of doing some serious carving in oak, and my finger, I decided to change material and use a thick kind of matchstick instead. It's a very handy thing to have in your house, since you can hang your wet socks above the fire. Then they will be nice and cosy when putting them on again.

Margit wanted you to meet Mats, her sweetheart. She says that he might not be a looker but he has some spiffing cows and is very very kind to her. He is dressed in the male folk costume. Special for his clothes is that they are made from the same cloth that the real ones are made of.

You might remember how the window looked in this room. It was so wrong, and yesterday I could not sleep thinking about how odd and horrible it looked. So I came up with the idea that I could make one myself. The picture is of course of the worse quality but it shows that the old window has been knocked out and something smaller has replaced it. The glass is painted but the paint is supposed to be lead. Well, this improvement might help me sleep tonight. And I have no idea why Mats is on the floor...

And now to something completely diffent

My thumb is better but for a few days it was horror. I could not do any sewing, no crafts, no nothing. I felt I was going mad. But, I found some books about furniture at the library and started reading. Well, mostly looking at the pictures. Yesterday I covered up my split nail so I could do some work.

I started with this bed before the "big" injury but was not pleased with it and was ready to just toss it. But, I could be a very nice bed "Lit à la Polonaise" and in the books I have been reading there are some very nice examples. So I wanted one! And it gives me a great excuse to look for fabrics and reading books about pretty furniture.

The Brown Cottage?

Today is my birthday, I am now 26 years old. And to celebrate this I almost cut my finger off with a scalpel trying to carve a piece of oak.

Been of miniatures for a few days, my boyfriend came to stay so we did the grand tour of this area. Nice being the tourist sometimes instead of the guide doing all the talking. But back to buisness. I am thinking of calling my cottage brown instead of red. The ceiling is now covered with wood and makes the room even more brown. The floor needs some work. They are too light.

The shelf in the corner is new, stained and ready and rests on the bensch. I tried making a small stol just for the fun of it. I have difficulties writing this since my fingers are wrapped up in bangages. Well, one have to suffer for art. Until tomorrow!

Bensches

In yesterdays post I wrote that I would "trim" the table. Trimming that table meant that I would glue two pieced of wood to it. As the picture show, I have added three bensches. Two of them are very simple, firmly attatched to the walls. Simple and rough, just like their real size counterparts. And very easy to reproduce in scale. The third bensch is a moveable piece. For me, it's quite easy to make this kind of furniture, but making them in full scale with the tools they used and material - strong solid wood. It must have been quite an ordeal.

Margit sat alone in her, almost, furnished cottage and told me she was feeling lonely. She wants a man. And some children.

Oh la la!

The cottage looks like a cottage now! Margit's given it her approval and decided to move in. So I made up one of the beds for her with a nice embroidered blue woolen blanket. And brought some smalls things to make it more like a home. I stained the walls yesterday, but the ceiling leaves lot to ask about. I have to cover it with wood. It's starting to look like a wooden box, but that is what it is about. Everything were made out of wood. Except the stove, mine has had a go-over with coffee to get some more colour.

And this is the table I made today. Mind that it's not trimmed and stained yet and is just a very raw piece of furniture. Will fix it tomorrow!

A stove in the making day 2

I have decided to take a break from The Yellow House for a time. After working on one room for more than two weeks I feel I really need a change. Lucky me I have The Red Cottage!

At work (an open air museum with old cottages) I sat down and had a proper look at the stoves and made drawings on how they were costructed. The picture is from a cottage from the 18th century, there is one cottage from the 17th century (we also have one cottage from the 13th century) but the lighting is very bad in there so no pictures. It is such a delight to have opportunity to make such close observations when creating a miniature based on an actual object. Even though the result can vary...

Making a more detailed study of the real thing made me compare with what I had started to make yesterday. If I had put some thought into it and not just run away with myself yesterday, I would have put the oven on the other side of the stove. There is a place for the open fire, used for both cooking, heating and light, and should hence be more centerplace in the room. My stove has the open fire section facing into the outer wall, and will bring little heating. Luckily for my house, heating is not a big issue and any attempt to follow historical accuracy has already gone out the window.

And this picture shows my progress with the room. I placed my cupboard bed in the corner and the wall that is supposed to be cut wooden logs I starting to build. They will need a bit of staining. And the floor needs to be more uneven. And the stove needs to be painted and blackend. I love this project!

Bam! There goes the wall!

Ok... So what happend here? Papa and I knocked out a wall in my red cottage. Why? So that I could have room for a proper stove, and create a room, separated from the hall. And this needed access from the back. I will put up a wall at a later point. The pictures are very bad, there was no light but I just wanted to get them up for you to see. There is a strange smell in the house now. It got a bit hot during sawing and the house started to smoke, I was afraid that it was going to catch fire. Stared working on the stove, it doesnt look much at present but that will change. Picture also show the "door" that will lead to the new room.

Fourth time a charm?

Gertrude said her morning room looked like a hospital. And I agreed with her and repainted, for the fourth time, the room in a pale shade of yellow. When it was done she invited that nice Miss Nilsson for a cup of tea, letting her sit in one of the matching chairs. I bought the chairs on ebay many years ago, white and dressed in pink. But with a little sanding and vaxing they turned out quite nice.

Chippendale sofa, take three

I did it again! The poor Chippendale sofa from House of Miniatures... The fabric was too dark, and it felt out of place in the now white salon. Gertrude was very pleased when she set her eyes on it. "But it wont be in the salon, what salon are you talking about? It will be in my morning room, even though I will spend most of my days there." So be it. It has a femenine, chintz feel to it now. While I was downstairs doing some vaxing, she made herself comfortable. It's a good sign when the lady of the house likes a piece of furniture just as I do. So, three time a charm? I hope so!

Three times a charm?

The walls have haunted me. First they were screaming at me, then they were sighing to me. My attempt to salvage the situation turned in to anothr bitter failiure. The colours now clashed with the floors. Why did I not think of this before?! I was close to tears today. The floors were getting ruined, the ceiling was a mess and even the open fireplace was blue. So. Paint it all white. So I went to a proper store today after work and bought a large can of white paint and went to work. It works better with the floor, and there is no harm in white. I will probably think other tomorrow, but I will have to let it rest for a while.

I have continued working on my cupboard-bed. It's been trimmed and vaxed. And fitted with mattresses and pillows stuffed with raw cotton. Raw cotton gived a heavy feel to them. No fluffyness allowed! The clock was factory made, but I did some sawing into it and gave it some new paint. Clocks were usually painted in bright colours and wild patterns. But I did not dare to do anythin much artistic, I am a bit shy when it comes to painting.



And also, I would like to introduce Margit, she will live in The Red Cottage and is dressed in local costume. I have one just like hers.

NO NO NO!

I did alot of work on the salon yesterday and was very pleased with the result. Until I installed all the panels. It reminded me of the finnish flag, very blue and white. If I lived in that house I would not have liked to have a salon that looked like something out of a tourist brochure. If I had only thought about it more. I knew it would be tricky, wallpaper is much easier.

So what to do? I thought about it, and found the best soliution was to cover it all in paint. Brilliant! If you were in a place where you could buy some paint. And my current location is not one of thoose. Sigh. I almost had a fit in one store, since they had the brand I normally use, but strange selection of colours. Tons of glossy lime green instead of plain white? Priorities?! I found the last tube of white in the back of their store. It was part of a set that cost me 150 SEK.

This is the result. Brighter yes, but I wish I had had more paint to fix things up. It just feels so messy and disorderly. I need paint! I cant work in theese conditions! (note to self: dramatization must end here.) And I ruined the wallpaper in the room next to it. My boyfriend will have to forward some paint later on...

Until later, L.

The cupboard bed

Now this is something new! At work today it was raining "cats and dogs" and there were no people at the museum. So I walked around and started thinking. About this bed... It's easy to get inspired when working in such an environment.

It's a traditional bed from the region where I was born in, typical for northern Dalarna. The straight translation is "cupboard bed". It can be one or two berths, most common is that one berth for sleeping and one for storage. This one does has two berths for sleeping. The one on top were reserved for athletic youngesters who could climb (or jump) to reach it. The bed looks smaller than it actually it, since the cupboard is centered, leaving a pocket for the feet. Every day, I explain to tourist how this bed works.

For me, it's also a personal story. I used to sleep in such a bed with my grandmother when we visited her summer house when I was a child. She in her turn slept there with her grandmother, during the 20's. My grandmother passed away, aged 94, last christmas and I feel the need to make miniatures of the things she liked. And it will be perfect for my little red cottage (not yet introduced in this blog)

To return to the subject. Since there were no tourist to guide, I went out and measured the bed, made a drawing and later sat and calculated the scale of the model. I ended up making a blueprint. Feeling very proud of this, I made the bed when I finished work. Mind, it's only a sceleton so far and lots of work need to be put in for it. Gosh, such fun!

Kits & Miss Nilsson

I have been working on some kits today and yesterday. The sewing table is from Mini Mundus, the rest are House of Miniatures. Kits are wonderful! I used a kind of vax called "georgian mahogony" to get the look I wanted. Never used vax before so I quite liked it.

Little Dagmar liked the furniture too, and she has, according to Gertrude, been playing (jumping) on them while I have been at work. She has been trying to pacify the girl and when she was about to fall of the Hepplewhite Huntboard, she had had enough. "GET ME A GOVERNESS OR SELL THIS CHILD ON EBAY." Ok...

So she was introduced to Miss Nilsson, a very sober but kind young lady with a strange hairdo. Gertrude was quite taken by her, asked her down to sit on the Lyre Back Chairs with her. Florence came as well, and Dagmar offered her some cabbage (that she probably stole somewhere).

General progress 2

It took a night for yesterdays plaster to dry. Fine. But it said one hour on the tube. Today I finished the floor, and started work on one of the panels, three more to go! I think it looks spectacular!

Possible plaster panic?

I feel like I have been cutting 300000 coffee stirrers, a work that would not have been possible without my new xacto saw :) But I needed a break from the floor so I started work on the ceiling. Thoose plaster ornaments that can be bought in miniature shops can be expensive. But also, I dont want to order any since I want it done NOW and not wait for weeks until my order arrives. So instead of using some fancy plaster I took four wooden decorations I picked of an old project before I sold it... But it needed something more than a total of five pieces glued to the ceiling. Plaster! Lovely thick plaster thats easy to apply and just heaven to work with! But no.

Yesterday I went to the store and bought a filler of a brand I have never used before. Right now I want to jump in a time machine and tell myself to stop being so impulsive! After I took the picture, it started cracking. Sure, I wished for some of that effect. But not like this! The filler is also lumpy, and dripping. I hope that some paint can save it. If not, I have to take my broken knife, remove it and make my boyfriend send me some of the good old filler on the mail.

And, I just stained the floor.

General progress 1

I started work on the salon today.

Dagmar

Gertrude has now a second daughter named Dagmar, age eight. Now Gertrude has said she wants no more children but please find them a governess asap so she does not have to bother too much about the two.

Demolishion?

I present to you... The Yellow House! It was a gift from my parents when I was twelve and it's gone through many different stages. But it's time for a proper make over. So today I stripped the floors, removed wallpaper, the inner walls and removed the stairs. The house is so small and the stairs take up too much space. So gone they went. The spaces where they went is now covered with cardboard.

I broke my knife, but in it's broken state it is a very good tool for removing floorboards.

Gertrude shows her colours!

Gertrude was very severe when she told me that the wallpaper in the servants quarter would not do, too dreadfully boring. She is the mistress of the house and responsible for the welfare of the people employed. Lucky for me, I went shopping yesterday and found a striped paper intended for scrapbooks. Gertrude approved. And she was right, it looked a bit more cheerful now. Gertrude reminded me that the servants were not slaves, they could very well murder their masters in the beds if they were not happy about terms of conditions. Oh dear!

And here is another bad picture of more bricks. Funny, I had never done any bricks before I started this project, and now bricks seems to be everything I do. The bricks on this particular picture is darker, I forgot to add orange when I painted the cartons... Or I can say that the clay they used for building this wall was different from the rest, from up north or something.

This is the last work I will do on my basement for a very long time. I will go work in my home town as a museum guide, living at my parents house. I have my two houses there. The yellow house, where the basement belongs to. And the the red cottage. I will bring my tools along with me and intend to do a lot of work. It's been ages since I did anything on them and I have lots of plans! Until Sunday, happy midsummer!