Minor Repairs & A Project

My Building Inspector (otherwise known as the calico Tali Zorah Vas'Normandy) has been very busy trying to inspect, investigate and... well demolish isn't quite the word but it's close.  So my husband got me a grill cover. 

Oh yeah, you read that right.  A very large, waterproof, sturdy, grill cover. 

The first night I used it, Tali climbed up on top of the dollhouse and looked a little confused.  That's what I want.  Confusion to the Building Inspector. 

There was just one issue.

You recall I had hooks on the balcony posts to hold hanging plants?

 

They're stuck on with Sticky Tacky glue and since they're metal they're pretty unforgiving of movement. 

Yep, you guessed it, the grill cover knocked them right off.

So today when I started work I decided I was going to do something about that.  Drilling holes through the metal wasn't easy but I managed it.

And now the glue is drying and the screws are in. 

I'll prime them and get them painted black metallic so the screws don't stand out too much.  But the important thing is that when I put the cover back on the house this evening I didn't hear any ominous clangs of metal hitting the table.

I also have been wanting to make a French Press coffee pot like Elizabeth did.  I had to improvise with a few of the pieces but all in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

See?

 

Not bad for my first attempt.  I need to get some more metal and try again if I have time.  It's one of those details that I wanted but didn't have time for until now. 

And that wraps up October for me.  Tomorrow is my wedding anniversary which will be celebrated as usual by giving away candy.

Candy I cannot eat.  Husband and I are doing South Beach since we're both quite overweight and our doctor has said firmly (very firmly) that we cannot continue as we were.  So, no carbs, no sugars for us.  At least not for another week.  We started this while we were on vacation which felt like the worst vacation ever.  But he says he feels better and he's definitely sleeping better so even if I'm not losing weight as rapidly as he is, we'll keep going with it.  We're definitely saving money since we can't eat out yet.

So wish us luck. 

And have a Happy Halloween!

Bedroom & Bathroom

The big push for the rest of the week and this weekend has been to make the bushes in the flowerbeds look a little more overgrown and to get all the accessories and furniture into the bedroom and bathroom.

So I added some greenery to the bushes and some moss to the edges of the steps and flowerbeds.  I plan on getting a knife and gouging at the wood a bit then using some watered down black paint to age them a bit more.  But that's for tomorrow.

Here's what I've gotten done so far regarding the landscaping.

So I think they look a little less...manicured. If that makes sense?

Now the bathroom... It's such a small space that I didn't want to throw a lot of color in there in the way of towels or laundry, so I stuck with white there.  The toiletries have enough color that they show up against the shelves and sink pretty well.  And I added some posters to liven up the walls a bit.  They're cut out of some scrapbooking paper and I thought they were appropriate for a New Orleans house considering they're in French.

I used one of my rounded jewelry pliers to curl the edges so they'd look like they'd been around moisture for a while. 

Last minute switch up was me adding the orchid to the shelf near the window and putting the potpourri up above the bathtub.

In no particular order the bath tissue and holder were from Reutter Porcelain and I got them off Ebay.  The toiletries are from SyreetasMiniatures and Villa Miniature.  The towels on the shelf and cosmetics on the sink are from Villa Miniature as well.  The folded knit blankets on the bottom shelf are from Fabulously Flawed Mini.  I could spend way too much money in her shop because everything is so cute!  The orchid is from Diane Paone Miniatures.

Remy LeBeau is sitting in the laundry basket as cats tend to do.  He's from the incomparable Maya Schippl.  She sells on Ebay generally and you have to keep watch for her.  Now and then she'll offer commissions for auction.  That's how I got Remy and Marie.

The bedroom was a little dark so I made another lamp using one of the LED bulbs and some beads and jewelry findings.

I added the lamp, accessories and cosmetics to the bureau and glued them down.  I got the bureau and matching mirror from Ebay and can't remember the seller I'm sorry to say.

The beads are from Keli and the jewelry box is from UOLHKscalefurniture.  The nail polish and cosmetics are from Villa Miniature.  The iPhone is from LiLu Miniature.  The tissue holder and portrait are from Reutter Porcelain and the candy dish is from Chrynsbon.  The candy dish is being used to hold bobby pins and other miscellaneous beauty supplies.

Once I got everything situated on the bureau I put it into the bedroom and got all the artwork set up on the walls and the bed, chair and lamp cabinet added. 

The bed I've show you before and the sources for the bedding and afghan are here.  I made the chair and lamp cabinet.  The lamp is from Reutter Porcelain and the battery is hidden in the cabinet.   The Eiffel towers are jewelry findings with the loops snipped off.  The books are from LDelaney (who is based in New Orleans, LA, interestingly enough).  The designer purse is from audretsatelier who sells on Ebay.

The Mardi Gras masques are from Reutter Porcelain and the fan is a brooch from my grandmother made out of mother of pearl.  The rug is from kathiecrisan.   Lounging on the bed and looking quite comfortable is Alistair.  He's very dapper and sweet, another of the wonderful Maya's creations, and he likes to hang out wherever there's a nice soft place and feet he might be able to sprawl across.  And sitting by the door, after having knocked over a shoe or two is Marie.  She's also from Maya and arrived along with Remy who's favorite spot (as we've seen) is the laundry basket.  Marie likes to hang out on the balcony and she's just waiting for the doors to open.

The shoes, of which there are many, are from YinyingO.  I seriously have a problem resisting these gorgeous little things.  The joke is I need them in miniature and also in RL size nine.  They're that gorgeous.  See?

They arrive in adorable little shoe boxes with tissue paper just like real shoes.  Here are the other two pair that are in the room.  One set will probably get moved to inside the front door in the living room.  Our lady tends to kick them off when she gets home from work and put them away later.

You may have noticed I've also gotten the wall that opens cleaned up inside, the wood and tape doesn't show and everything is framed off in white.  It looks a lot cleaner now so I'm pretty pleased.  So where are we with the list?

Glue in curtains
Roof
Age Roof
Trim (bedroom ceiling and outer walls)
Gutters & downspouts (paint and age first)
Eaves & Age Eaves
Roof of back door
Light for back door
Add flowerbeds & vines.
Add Rust
Add Moss to flower beds & foundation.
Wire living room lamp to battery in table.
Clean up the inside of the opening wall so the raw wood and tape doesn't show,
Finalize furniture arrangement-bedroom
Add bedroom and bathroom accessories.
Finalize furniture-living room
Add living room accessories & stick down.
Add kitchen accessories and cabinet by sink.
Make cushion for purchased balcony chair
Finalize balcony and add accessories.
Get base cut down and add concrete texture.
Glue down landscaping and steps to doors.
Mostly little things to finish up.  It looks like more than it is since I split out the rooms.

That's my progress for the week so far!  Hope you're all having a great weekend.  They're never long enough but they're fun while they last.

Vines & Balcony Table...And a Few Other Things

Fair Warning. 

This post began on Monday.  And I got to dollhousing and never posted it.  So it's a bit long.

Vines Part I

Okay... so I spent some of today looking up how to make miniature flowers for the flowerbeds and the possible flower boxes I might have on the balcony railing.

And I'm still not sure what I'm going to do there...but I did get another table made for the balcony.  The first one I made was nice, but it was too tall next to the chairs.

I like it but it doesn't work where I intended it to so I made another one that's a bit shorter, same style, and I think it looks much better as a side table for the mint juleps.  See?

The adorable chair and Mardi Gras beads Keli sent me! Love how they look.

I got the mint juleps from Everyday Gourmet and the other chair from MiniEstates. 

I also sanded down the moss on the roof so it looks a little less green. 

Slightly better.

Keli suggested I age the foundation a bit since it looks newer than the rest of the house.  Since I'd added a poly coating to it after I added the grout I was a bit worried about making the new wash of paint stick.  After a little thought I added some Elmer's glue to the water and paint and that seemed to do the trick.  I did the same thing to the front steps since they looked a little too shiny to belong to this old decrepit house.

The foundation isn't super obvious but it does make a difference when I compare it with the pictures from a couple days ago.

I still need to add some rust to the downspouts and utility boxes but I dripped the glue/water/paint mixture all over them so they look like they've been out in the weather.  You can see that a bit in the picture below.

As you can see I also made the flower beds...  They are deliberately of a size that I can pick up and put inside the house. 

And I've added my vines to the side of the house.  I had to use hot glue to make them stick which is always interesting.  Burnt fingers and strands of glue every-freakin'-where.  I wanted a lot of vines because down south its very easy for them to overgrow.  They'll root in the gutters and climb over the roof sometimes.  I've seen oak trees growing out of gutters.  Down in Orange TX and Southern LA if it's not growing its molding.

Vines Part II

That was how I left it to get some much needed sleep. 

When I woke up this morning, this is what I found.

Yep. That's right. Five pieces of vine on the table, pulled off by a certain Building Inspector who shall remain infamous.  And people wonder why I'm hesitant to make my own paper flowers or put anything like this on the outside of a dollhouse...

This is the reason:

Yes. That is a dollhouse she is inside. 

Husband is ordering me a grill cover to use for protection since I am not up to making another plexi-glass case to protect the vines.  I'll end up covering the house and part of the table each night and using my dictionary and thesaurus to weigh it down.  He thinks she won't be able to burrow or claw through it without us hearing.  We'll see.

I added some rust to the utility boxes and pipes as well as the gutters.  I used my patented glue and cinnamon method with sticky tacky glue since I wasn't trying to adhere to plastic.

Some cinnamon on the ground there... thankfully it blows away easily.

I've also added flowers and bushes to the flowerbeds. 

And made the flowerboxes for the balcony.

They're also removable since I have a cat that likes to attack things. 

I got some adorable little potted shrubs from Brae's store and they look so cute on the front stoop and back steps.  They make me want more flowerpots.

I'm going back and forth on one thing.  Tomorrow, (assuming there is no further destruction of the greenery overnight) I'm going to start putting in furniture and accessories...

Right now the couch looks like this:

Does it look like it needs piping?  To me it looks as if it's in better shape than the green chair did before I added the piping, but I can't be sure.  Opinions?

I'm excited...I'm in the home stretch. I think...  Let's check the list.

Glue in curtains
Roof
Age Roof
Trim (bedroom ceiling and outer walls)
Gutters & downspouts (paint and age first)
Eaves & Age Eaves
Roof of back door
Light for back door
Add flowerbeds & vines.
Add Rust
Add Moss to flower beds & foundation.
Wire living room lamp to battery in table.
Clean up the inside of the opening wall so the raw wood and tape doesn't show.
Finalize furniture arrangement
Add all accessories & stick them down as needed.