An Award and some new pieces

An exciting wee thing happened to me not that long ago.    I received a message advising me that Small & Stately had been given a "Top 100 Miniature Blog" award.   How cool is that?   I was so pleased.

The next good thing to happen recently was finding the kits created by Arjen of Arjen Spinhoven Miniatures    I love these.    Arjen is based in the Netherlands - and I must say, postage from there is very quick.  Great, because I'm not very good at waiting for stuff!

My most recent purchase is this Curule seat which is destined for The Great Hall in my other property Marsh Hall -

It is beautifully crafted and (once I got my head round it) very straightforward to put together.   As it's possible to enlarge the pictures on Arjen's site it is very easy to double check construction - very helpful when putting together this chair but not necessary with the other items I bought.

One of these "other items" was a pair of bookcases.    These have now taken up residence in the Drawing Room of Netherton

They have great detail and a lovely finish which can be varnished or painted.   The purchase of these little items meant I had to create lots of books which is in itself a very satisfying task.

Finally, my very first purchases from Arjen were this little Moorish stool and the umbrella stand.

I've used my favourite Metalcote paint on this and I'm very pleased with how it looks next to the main door of Marsh Hall.

The little stool has only recently been put together (today in fact) and doesn't yet have it's finish.

This is also destined for Marsh Hall.

I must add, I'm not affiliated in any way with Arjen or his miniatures.   I just wanted to spread the word and say how pleased I am at having found his site - thank you Josje of A Beautiful World blog for posting his link in the first place!

By the way - Arjen, if you read this - I'm not finished yet!