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!