Decisions, Decisions

I spent a lot of time this weekend planning, looking for furniture in my mini stash, and looking for the right wallpaper.  I plan to have purple drapes, so it can't clash with them.

I couldn't find anything that I liked at a reasonable price.  I looked at some miniaturized versions of real wallpaper but I couldn't justify spending so much money.

So I turned to scrapbook paper.  None of mine would work.  I need something in either the perfect shade of purple or in a neutral that's striking enough to be a bit gothic looking.

Enter Hobby Lobby.

I think it'll work pretty well.  We'll see how long it takes to arrive.  It was only twenty five cents per sheet which is great.

I felt like last year I took the easy way out with my floors.  I was concentrating on books and the stairs and railings and making everything look real.

This year I want to do a more interesting floor so I've been looking into herringbone, parquet... and I still haven't completely decided, though I'm in love with how Marion's floor looks.  I ordered some popsicle sticks since I'm almost out of mine.  I don't want the wide plank floor look like the WQRC had in the stillroom/workroom.  I need something narrower so the popsicle sticks will work better.

I'm also researching gothic looking fireplaces and trying to decide if I want to use my House of Miniatures Fireplace kit and bash it or make one of my own from scratch.

I showed you the new door last week.  I had some pediments that matched it so I microwaved the windows and removed the tops of them.  Then I added the pediments and on the smaller window I turned it into a six light to match the larger one.

It gives the windows a more cohesive look.  I'll add a knocker and handle to the door.  I'm planning to paint the mullions black.  The rest of the window and door trim, I'm not sure.  I might try to do an aged paint using a crackle finish.  Not sure about that.  Something to consider.

But the door has to be black I think.  Something moody.

I had my walls cut out and my floor.  So I glued the ceiling and two walls in.  One of them is hinged on the book cover which is handy.

Knowing that I'll have the fireplace and bookcases on one wall I started to plan out my ceiling details.  I learned the hard way last year that ceiling embellishments can't go to the walls or they'll run into the crown molding.  And having the 'plaster' ceiling medallions and corner details looks ridiculous without crown molding so I can't skip it.

Finally having gotten them situated I glued them down.  But I'm reasonably confident that I won't have to pry them up and move them this time.

I want cornices over the curtains, but nothing frothy and delicate the way NOLA House had.  So I got some of my trim and cut it into lengths to go over the windows.  My ceilings aren't as high as NOLA House so I can't get too crazy with them.

I'll cut some small pieces and angle the ends of the fronts to make them stand out a bit from the walls.  But I don't want to do that because I'll want to paint or stain them and I can't until I determine the color of the bookcases and the rest of the trim.

I want to add wainscoting but I'm not sure about how elaborate I want it.  So I'm still thinking.

But I did add the 'plaster' to my ceiling.  I used the same method as last year.  I added a lot of the texture medium and very little paint in an effort to get a plaster effect.  It's subtle but it worked pretty well.

I deliberately used some lumpy paint in places to give it a slightly rougher look.

Then I found the desk I plan to use and got my bookshelves.  The box is meant to represent the fireplace.

I'll end up building up the bases of the bookshelves and adding panels to mimic cabinets.  I have a corner bookshelf but I'm not sure I want to use it.  I'd rather build out some wide simple wood panels between the walls and fireplace and bookshelves.

Whatever I decide to do about the wainscoting I need to decide before I begin the bookshelf/fireplace wall because the trim has to look the same.

From the above angle I know a herringbone floor would look gorgeous.  But I don't want to do a million and one angle cuts so I'm still debating that.

On the plus side the ceiling looks pretty cool from this angle.

So I'll be spending time looking for different options for the fireplace and floors and wainscoting.

I've been going into the office, all of last week while my husband worked from home.  This week he goes into his workplace and I'm home tomorrow.  Luckily I have a printer from work and several things I can do once I log into my work computer from home.

Let's hope that works because it didn't when I tested it Friday night.

I hope you're all staying safe and healthy.  We'll all get through this, even if it seems insurmountable now.  And terrible as this is, I keep comparing it to the Spanish Influenza outbreak and realizing that we're really lucky to have the medical knowledge we do.

So I'm counting my blessings.  Which includes all of you out there who keep me company just by sharing this hobby with me.