Sunday, January 31, 2010

Refurbished miniature tables for the dollhouse

Sanded, painted and distressed a vanity. Will figure out a mirror for it. The roses are paper Lavish Miniatures kit: Rose Granda Flora.
Sanded and ebony stained a hall table.

Dollhouse Fireplace idea

Found a cheap wooden fireplace and cut a frame in half to glue on the front of it. Painted it all white with acrylic. Took 3 coats.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Started an Etsy!

I couldn't find any miniature Aubusson rugs on the open market. So I made my own (printed it out onto fabric). I started an Etsy to sell them in case anyone else is looking for that cute, but classy, French look and doesn't want to go to the trouble of making one. Check it out at etsy.com/JenyaRose I hope to have other great items up soon - maybe some decoupaged furniture or mini knitted items.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Shabby Dollhouse bedroom is off to a good start. Reupholstered a mini bench!

I painted and re-upholstered this bench that I bought from FamilyRoomMiniatures.com. It was walnut and so inexpensive. The woman who runs the site is so sweet too. She and her husband both work full time as well, but plan on retiring into their miniature business. I wish them the best.
I made this quilt yesterday. The squares were supposed to be half inch, but I think my quarter inch sewing machine foot took a bit more off.

Experimenting with paper curtains. The cloth ones went awry. Some of this is just place-holder furniture. Going for a pink, brown, cream and white extravaganza.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Joined a miniature club!

We made snowmen out of Molding Magic. Really fun group!

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Dollhouse wallpaper, window trim and flooring: Things are looking up!

Got the wallpaper and trim on in Lolly's order: Crown molding first so it has primered wood to hang on to, wallpaper next (back wall first, leave an 8th inch bit on each side to go under the side wallpaper so you don't have a seam. Also leave a bit of space at the floor for baseboard to hang on to wood), then window trim.

Trim and window trim: a note on anything you’re doing mitered corners on (i.e. 45 degree angle cuts). They will not look perfect at first. Just try your best, glue them all in place and then add a dash of magic: Caulk. Yep, no jokes. A contractor friend suggested white caulk for all of the places the trim doesn’t meet the ceiling or windows or corners don’t meet up. It is a dream and has truly brought perfection to my crown molding and window trim.

I'm now putting a wood floor in the bedroom made of tongue depressors with the round bits cut off (cost me $5 for a box of 500 rather than $90 for 3 sheets of premade flooring). I'm not worrying too much about perfection. I will be white-washing the floor for a shabby chic look.

Tacky glue is really not working out for me. Everything I glue down comes back up within minutes, so I switched to super glue for everything (probably against some miniaturist code of ethics, but desperate times…).

BTW if you’re cutting wood with a Dremel just remember to keep the speed relatively high and let the tool do the work. If you push with your own strength to make it cut faster you could lose control and risk cutting something off of your body. Be careful and wear safety glasses! They look a bit nerdy, but much better than your new glass eye will.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Brookhaven: Finished the dollhouse exterior - siding, milk paint, carriage lights


Oy! After finally getting all the siding on properly I painted the entire outside with milk paint. Very happy with the results! It's milky (as the name impies) and has no odor and no toxins. So nice to be able to sit in the living room and paint instead of hiding out in the garage slowly poisoning myself. The milk paint is $14 for a bag so I only bought a White and a Creme. The outside of my house is pink so I just mixed the white with a bit of red acrylic paint. It didn't mix that well, but it gave a less consistent look which I think is more interesting.

I turned the house upside-down and painted all of the ceilings with the Creme colored milk paint. It took 2 coats to cover the electrical wiring (which, btw, was a really easy process - don't be afraid of the electrical - once I got going I breezed through it in 2 hours and it all worked perfectly with the current tester).

I also painted all of my windows and the front door frame with White milk paint - you don't use a primer--just straight on --2 coats and you're done.

I got the carriage lights at FamilyRoomMiniatures.com. They are heavy brass - really high-quality feel, but were very reasonable priced.

The shingles were looking a bit tired, so I ran a thin coat of stain over them to warm up the look - I think it was a redwood color. Love it.