Mackintosh dining room

Since I’ve taken the furnishings out of the Newport to pack away until the next modern build, I decided to play tonight. Another incentive is the wonderful modern mini contest over at Minismodernas. :D

So, I set up a high end contemporary dining room with the Mackintosh dining set I had never taken out of the boxes. The Mackintosh ceiling light and dining set are from The Dolls House Emporium.

The curtains are a Marimekko design printed on regular paper, folded and tacked to the sides of the window.

The orange dahlias on the table were made from a Bonnie Lavish kit and placed in a Manor House Minis vase, borrowed from Baxter Pointe Villa. The runner is a piece of real life silk wallpaper.

I stitched the needlepoint rug after adapting a real life rug design called Parasols by Thomas Paul. The flooring is borrowed from the Heritage bedroom.

The two autumn prints are Crimson Dusk and Today by Edward Raymes. I printed them on Art Canvas by The Crafty PC and made frames for them. I built the McQueenie miniatures plant stand from a kit some time ago.

The elephant was purchased at the Bishop Show from Patricia M. Wehmeier Miniatures. The turned brass box is by C.W. Lubin.

The sideboard is also a Mackintosh piece. The bird print is Plum Tree Panel III by Rodolfo Jimenez printed on Art Canvas.

The candlesticks are from Patricia M. Wehmeier Miniatures and the squirrel bottle is by Jane Graber, both purchased at the Bishop Show. The green vase is by C.W. Lubin. I made the books for the Heritage library.

I think this perspective looks like it was taken from atop a flight of stairs.

I loved setting up this scene. There will definitely be more modern minis in my future. :D

Categories: Roomboxes and Mini Scenes
May 29, 2012 | 0 comments

Jasper Inlet Light – it has a nice ring to it

The Woodline Victorian House kit is growing on me. After a night’s sleep and some thinking about the lighthouse, I think it would be a rather nice project. I had a look through my nautical image file, too.

I found so many great options for nautical decorating. Recreating this staircase would be a challenge, but it would be worth the effort, especially if it had a reading nook instead of a closet.

Yes, there would be a lot of bashing, but I can now see this…

…as this. More chimneys to make! :D

It’s still going to have to wait quite a long time, so who knows if it will ever come to fruition. But, from the looks of my inspiration photos, I’m going to need a five gallon bucket of white paint.

Categories: Jasper Inlet Light
May 25, 2012 | 0 comments

Woodline Products Victorian House kit

I’ve finally snagged my own fantastic craigslist deal on a vintage kit….a Woodline Victorian House for $12. No, that’s not a typo.

It’s a huge, gorgeous thing. Here’s one for reference called Pop’s Dollhouse. Yes, I am still selling the Newport for being too large, so this one is going to sit for a long time.

I actually had no idea what it was, just that the box said Woodline Products. For $12, it was worth the gamble.

I was hoping for the Prairie Manor, but this was a good result, too. It’s just not a house I was looking to find.

The kit is still packed the way it was shipped, though the outer box was falling apart. I unpacked it in the garage to make sure there weren’t any nasties lurking inside and packed it in a new box.

The foundation pieces have these tiny holes…from the little bit of research I’ve done online, looks like powderpost beetle activity. All other wood in the kit is pristine, and this looks like a long dormant issue.  Still, I’m inclined to pitch the foundation boards and cut new ones. They are simple straight boards, and I’m not keen on treating a dollhouse with harsh chemicals (I have small pets not to mention caring about my own health). Yes, it’s still in the garage. I’m going to watch it the next couple of days to see if there is any change, but I doubt there will be.

Of course, I could do something like this with it.  :D  Oh, I don’t know…

Categories: Jasper Inlet Light
May 24, 2012 | 0 comments

Photographing minis without a room box

When I post photos of new minis, I don’t usually photograph them in a dollhouse or room box. I do a quick setup on my dining room table.

Here’s my Halloween 2013 scene, for instance. It was set up on the kitchen counter. I used a sheet of unfinished wood flooring, a scrapbook paper sheet clipped to a piece of plywood and held up by a can of paint and miscellaneous miniatures to create the scene. I have a box for balancing the camera in low light for the nighttime photos and a piece of white foam for diffusing the overhead light in normal lighting conditions.

I start with either a small box or a sheet of plywood on top of canned goods from my pantry. High tech all the way! I then put a sheet of unfinished wood flooring on top of the box or plywood. I use another can to hold up either a scrap of foam core board or plywood and place a sheet of scrapbook paper in front of that.

I place a long piece of baseboard trim in front of the wallpaper to finish the “room.” If it’s a table top item, I borrow a display table – usually this EuroMini’s island I painted for the Newport. Along with the item to be photographed, I include my wheat back penny on a wire stand for size reference.

I use the standard macro setting on my Canon PowerShot G9 with its standard lens. If I need to steady my hand, I’ll stack more canned goods to the proper height or use a box in front of the display table. I also use only the overhead lighting of my dining room fixture, which can be adjusted with a dimmer as needed.

For non-table top items, I just use the scene as is without a display table. In this next photo, I’ve used a piece of finished flooring.

With this kind of quick setup, I can change the wallpaper and baseboard between photos easily. I can also add other props to the display.

If I am in a hurry or just need to photograph one thing, I don’t bother with any of the setup. I grab a clean plywood board, put my item on it, hoist it up in the air so my dining room wall is the backdrop and click the photo! :D

But, even with this on-the-fly setup, I can still put a piece of flooring on the plywood board beforehand.

For the Navajo rug, I place the stitching frame flat on the table, prop up wallpaper on the side and back, and include props.

Categories: Roomboxes and Mini Scenes
May 24, 2012 | 0 comments

Fancy bow front dresser, part 1

What I like most about the Heritage bedroom is while all required pieces are accounted for — fancy bed, nightstands and vanity — nothing matches exactly. I don’t mind a bedroom suite, but I rather like the idea that grandma has chosen pieces simply because they spoke to her not because they made up a matched set.

To that end, grandma still needed a dresser. I picked up a furniture and accessories lot from craigslist some time ago, and in it was a Houseworks bow front dresser kit.

I made no changes to the base kit, though I did add a mirror made of frame strip wood.

To fancy up the mirror, I added laser cut embellishments from Heritage Laser Works. They have such great things!

I made sure the dresser wouldn’t be too tall for the corner with the added mirror. I plan to angle the dresser so I can see more of it when looking into the room from the open back. Here I’ve used The Chair from the parlor as a stand in for the one I plan to make. I think everything will fit well in the room without seeming crowded.

I wasn’t keen on wiring this corner, so I picked up a battery operated LED lamp for the dresser. It’s been noted on other blogs and forums that these lights have a blue cast that’s not like candlelight or incandescent bulbs. A Greenleaf forum member, Debora, found a wonderful fix for it. She dotted some peach/orange glass paint on the tip of the bulb. The complementary color softens the blue and makes for much better light. The light from this lamp is actually a bit green.

The paint I had on hand for glass and ceramics wasn’t transparent, but I used just a little bit of it so it didn’t block out too much light. I had to mix red and yellow, but it worked! :D

The red paint on the bulb is somewhat visible when the lamp is off, but I’d rather have a closer approximation of candlelight when the lamp is on, so it’s not really an issue for me.

Categories: Furniture, The Haunted Heritage
May 23, 2012 | 0 comments