Dining Room

Pretty sparse right now. You can see the what-not stand in front of the staircase. Wanted to share the photo.

Beef Stew & Potatoes ~ Naomi O'Farrell

I bought these prep boards by Naomi O'Farrell in 2008. They are very dear to me. I am not sure if Naomi makes these anymore, but I wish I had more of her work in my collection.

Kitchen Shelves and Copper Pots

The shelves that were assembled over winter break are now in the Garfield kitchen. The two shelves are in the back, and the spice chest is beside the stove.

I bought a set of old copper pots for $5.99 on eBay. They came glued to a display shelf which was too big for the dollhouse.

I love the aged patina on them. They look like they are regularly used in the kitchen! My favorites are the two karahis on the top; they are traditional south Asian cooking pots, and fit in with the Asian theme of the dollhouse.

Chrysnbon Furniture

I love the details on Chrysnbon furniture kits. I love painting them, assembling them ... I love it all!

Months ago, I bought some Chrysnbon furniture from eBay. I bought the prebuilt tea-cart and china shelf for $3.74 and got the kit for the what-not stand, phone and spice chest for $8.50.

The what-not kit was old, and the paint that came with it had dried up. Also, the preassembled tea-cart and shelf came unpainted.

So I used chocolate acrylic paint, and when the paint dried, I used a thin coat of wood varnish to bring out the wood-grain texture of the furniture. I used a darker brown on the tea-cart.

Then I remembered that my aunt had given me a plastic dollhouse shelf a long time ago. It probably belonged to my baby cousin at some point, but now she is a beautiful young lady, and has no use for plastic dollhouse furniture I assume.

It was a pasty tan color, and had plastic tabs that extended out from the back of it.

I decided to cut off the extra plastic bits so that the shelf could be glued flat onto the wall. I used the same chocolate paint, so that the color would match the Chrysnbon furniture. With the carved details, this random shelf blends right in with the rest of the furniture.

Courtyard: Moroccan Tiles

Instead of the black and white marble tiles that I had planned originally, I now have contrasting Moroccan tiles on the courtyard! The muted colors of the tiles go nicely with the river-rock foundation around the courtyard.

I used Photoshop to resize some images of tiles that I liked. Although the tiles look gray, they have a slight sepia tone. I then decoupaged the tiles over the existing paperclay layer. Instead of adding a glossy varnish, I liberally smeared wood-glue on the tiles, giving a matte aged finish which photographs nicely.

The tile surface is uneven to the touch, since the paperclay layer below was textured. But I think the slight sheen and imperfections add to the old tile feel.

If you click on the image below to magnify it, right click and "View Image" you should be able to download and print the high resolution version of the tiles for your own projects.

Courtyard

I thought I would create a simple checkered courtyard with paper clay. It would mirror the checkered wooden floor inside the manor. My plan was to paint the individual tiles in contrasting colors as you see in the inspiration photo below.

Inspiration Photo

Because of time constraint, I had to work in sections, and in the beginning it was looking OK. Not perfect, but I was fine with it.

However, cracks began to appear once the sections dried, and although I tried to patch the cracks, I am really not happy with the end result!

I think it's time to move on to "Plan B."

For the Kitchen

It was my birthday and I bought a few things for the dollhouse kitchen as a pat on the back for staying alive for 32 years! These are tiny and so cute!

I have started keeping track of how much I paid for the miniatures in my collection. Years from now, I might wonder how much I spent on them ... just thinking ahead.

The measuring spoon cost $4.31 (no shipping); the measuring cup cost $1.56 (+ $2.50 shipping); and the rest of the accessories cost $2 on eBay.