The Garfield China: Cherry Blossom Collection

In 2007, I bought my first dollhouse food set, the salad and bread, from Amanda of Northern Miniatures. The pattern on those dishes eventually became the official china pattern for the Garfield Manor.

Over the years, I bought a few more food sets from various sellers on eBay: like the soup and the spaghetti with marinara sauce.

The Indian dinner was made by Fran. There is potato curry with rice, daal, naan, samosa and potato cutlet.

In 2008, I bought a number of porcelain dinnerware sets in the Cherry Blossom pattern from manorhouseminis.com, and requested Amanda to create a full course dinner to go with her salad set. She made soup, roast beef with asparagus, potatoes, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and finished with heart-shaped ice-cream served with chocolate syrup and cherry on top. There is also tea with cream and sugar to wrap up the night.

In 2011, I went on a buying binge and bought the rest of the pieces that make up the Cherry Blossom Collection. I might have gone a little overboard ...

Kitchen

This is the layout of the kitchen right now. The refrigerator is around the corner, but I might put it beside the china cabinet.

It is still very stark, as I have not started decorating it yet.

Working Sifter

I love collecting minis with working parts! My latest favorite acquisition is the tiny copper working flour sifter. It is a bit big for 1:12 scale...it is nearly an inch high. But when I turn the handle, the wire sifter turns inside!

The sifter and the double-boiler were bought for $9.28 (+ $3.47 shipping) on eBay.

Bathroom Remodeling: Complete

I have moved up the side screens to the front. Initially, I was going to hide the toilet and the sink behind the side screens and have the bathtub and vanity in the front.

But this layout is more spacious. I will leave the screens unglued so that they can be moved as needed.

I still need to add the smaller accessories like the toilet paper holder, towel rack, etc.

Bathroom Remodeling: Replacing Wallpaper

After removing the window and wooden moldings, I used the removed fabric "wallpaper" as template for the new wallpaper. The bathroom is a tricky room to paper after assembly because the wall is interrupted by part of the slanted roof.

I used a dark brown fabric to cover the wall, so that the cork sculpture would contrast against the solid dark background. I used the back of the brown fabric, because it looked like small brown tiles. I used this fabric also because I did not have a piece of the original fabric big enough to cover the back wall ;)

This is what it looks like after the wall was redone and the moldings back up.

Doesn't the cork sculpture look lovely against the dark chocolate wall?

Bathroom Remodeling

I have been watching Chinese martial arts movies lately with DH, and being in a militant mood, I decided to rip up the wallpaper on the back wall of the bathroom. And then I said, "Now what?"

The previous layout was fine, but it felt a bit exposed. Also, the oval window clashed with the mirror above the sink.

I decided to close up the window, and use a miniature cork-sculpture screen from my collection to create some privacy for the toilet area. I had bought the screen a few months ago for $14.50 (+ $5 shipping) from eBay.

I am still playing around with the placement of the fixtures. I will let you know how it goes.

Bathroom

This is what the bathroom looks like right now. I cannot say I am too happy with the layout. Right now, the sink and toilet are affixed to the wall. The bathtub and the radiator are still movable.

The Chrysnbon Victorian bathroom kit also contained a medicine cabinet, but if I put it above the sink, it conflicts with the window. I wish I could close out that window.

I wish I had planned out the lighting a little better. Since the room is so big, I wanted to move the vanity to this room to create more space in the bedroom. Because of the placement of the wall sconce, it makes most sense to have the vanity right under it.

But, I am not happy with the way the bathtub looks in front of the toilet. I feel like there needs to be some sort of partition between the two.