At last, an update!

I've been a terribly bad blogger of late, reading posted updates of all your blogs and telling myself I'll post comments later and of course later didn't come.   I'm trying to catch up and will do so eventually but suffice to say you're all doing great things and I will comment - honest!

I've not been idle in the mini department.   My problem lay in trying to decorate a space at the top of Netherton - definitely the wrong way to do it as I had to work on the room below first in order to get the lighting fitted underneath the flooring above.   What a palaver that was in terms of waiting on deliveries, waiting on inspiration and making time to deal with it all, especially as I was itching to see a result.

Do you remember me showing you this?  

It sits below the Upper Hall, like this -

As you can see, the top space is slightly bigger than the one underneath so I decided to create a family bathroom in the lower space and had great ideas for the space above.    It was the flooring on this space above that was holding up proceedings as I couldn't lay it because I didn't have the lighting for the bathroom.    In order to get the lighting in place, I had to decorate the room first as it would have been a tad awkward putting paper in place with a light fitting dangling down!   Of course if I was going to paper, I had to paint and if I had to paint I would be as well fitting cornices and trim, etc.   See........a palaver!

I'm pleased to say that all that is behind me now and I can now show you the fruits of my labours - well, at least some of them.   Here is the decorated bathroom.    I have the suite but it needs a bit work and I have all the accessories to get and that will be my next project (after finishing the main Hall!) but it does at least let me get on with the rooms I started and really need to work on.

The "tiling" was purchased from Jennifers of Walsall on my trip to the York Fair in November and the lighting is by Ray Storey.   The flooring was purchased from an online seller.

You may recall, in an earlier post, I was going to do "something else" in the space above the bathroom well, that something else was to divide it into three.

This would give me a Housemaid's Closet, a Servant's Passage and "another room".

First, the Housemaid's Closet.

Here, we have the benefit of a hot water heater, all the Housemaid's necessities are to hand, cloths are drying on the little rack, there's a slop bucket under the sink, the keys to various rooms are on a nearby hook and her mop and bucket stand ready for use.   Her pinny hangs on the back of the door and there's also a clock to make sure she doesn't take too long over any job.

Moving through the door to the Servant's Corridor........

This is a very plain space providing no distractions.   Once I'd finished it I then decided some sort of surface was called for, useful for laying things on while attending to other matters so I came up with this.   A half round fold down table.

It's not really a fold down table as I couldn't work out how to deal with the bracket and at the same time enable it to move sideways in order for the flap to drop.   At the moment it's there by sheer luck and I think I'll fix it in place because how often will I be moving the thing up and down?    Never!

Purchases from York Miniature Fair, November 2015

I have just returned from a four day jolly, with my sister, in York which included the Miniature Fair and some Christmas Shopping.   We had an excellent time and I managed to pick up some (I think) excellent pieces.

1. Wall tiling, dado rail and wall panelling -

2. Pretty obvious - two side tables and a desk

3. Assorted must-haves:  light fitting, ceiling rose, pictures, tatting and a handkerchief

4. More assorted must-haves:  Documents, tea tray, gramophone, door handles, statues, a mix of kitchen items and door handles

5. Some undecorated vases and pots, little findings and flowery things (no idea where they'll be used but I'll think of something!)

6. These next two little items were at the top of my list - Georgian silver butter shells.   I love them!

7. Finally, while not a mini, it's a RL Advent Calendar showing the Palladian Dolls House, Uppark, West Sussex and not purchased at the Fair.   When it's done it's job as an Advent Calendar I thought it might look quite good in a frame - I'm thinking about that.

The Upper Back Hallway

More photos for you all.   Well, I did say I would be able to really get on after the trip to Miniatura, didn't I?

After the grandeur of the Dining Room, we're shifting socially today and are now in the Upper Back Hallway at the top of the house.    This space would not be visited by the owners of Netherton and is purely the domain of the servants hence the drab paint colours.

 

This is the only time anyone will be able to see the whole of this space as a wall will be fitted in front.

 

 

 

You can see the "stops" below where said wall will go.

Close up detail of the "stained glass"

I keep checking and double checking this space before committing to putting the wall up because once I do, that's it and I'm really anxious not to make a mistake and find I've forgotten to do some little job or other which would mean taking it all down and besides, I can't do it yet because I've got to fit another light in the space below and I can't do that yet because I haven't bought it.....................see what I mean?

 

I've no idea what my next job will be as I need to get my head around the order of things to come.

The Dining Room

As promised (some time ago!) here is my finished Dining Room.   I thought a lot about whether to add a tablecloth or not and even considered a halfway measure in the form of table mats but the shape of the table meant they didn't sit as well as I'd like so in the end I decided to go without.   There were a few bits to add and a few bits to tweak before getting to this stage but it's all done now and given that I had no preconceived idea of what this room was going to look like when I started, I'm pleased with the way it's turned out.

 

Going round the room from left to right

The drawers are lined with green baize and the top drawer contains cutlery, napkins and napkin rings.

 

Tablecloths in the bottom drawer but nothing, as yet in the middle drawer as I was struggling to think of something but it will get filled, I'm sure, eventually.

 The servant's entrance/exit leading downstairs to the Still Room

 



The green baize door and dumb waiter

 

The china closet



The centre decoration on the table is my gift from Jeffrey's give-away.   

 

This is how I blew the budget

I arrived back from Miniatura this afternoon laden with goodies!    The fair was smaller than past fairs but that in no way reduced the quality or selection of what was on offer.   There were some really lovely pieces I was sorely tempted by but I managed some self-control and only purchased those items which were needed for work at presently underway. 

 

Firstly, the much needed wood - cornices, skirtings and trims.   Unfortunately I forgot to get plain cornice and dado rail but no matter, I can get that online and there's enough in that little bundle to let me get cracking.    Iron-on flooring, lights, a radiator and two pineapple finials.

 

 

Second pic, paper decoration (to go between cornice and picture rail), bottle of port, wine label, silver wine coaster, Visitors book, two clocks, Parker pen, cigars, lamp, picture and (in the little bag) some wine glasses.

 

 

Third - a sink, some soap/cleaning products, a couple of brushes, mop and bucket, "stone" hot water bottles, cleaning cloth, a picture and lastly (and not for Netherton but the "finished" Tenement) a bowl of nuts - and I said The Tenement was finished?   Who was I kidding?

Finally, and my favourite two purchases of the day, two lamps and two silver salts.   I love them!

 

I'd better start saving for the York fair now!

Something to keep me amused.

Thank you for your lovely comments on my previous post.   I think I'm almost "stared out"!

As you know, I've been putting off placing orders for supplies in view of the long awaited trip to Miniatura this weekend with the result I can't crack on with anything of any great consequence but I still wanted to mini so I did a bit of research and came across a good photo (complete with measurements) of a Post Box for the Netherton Hallway.   I've always fancied having one of these in RL just for decorative purposes so until I find one, I'm happy with the mini version.

 

It's constructed from card, painted then varnished and the detail is embroidery thread.

 

 

The little table was put together using balsa and spindles and lives in the Dining Room.

 

 

On another note - I don't think I've given any background to this property, which helps me when I come to dress the rooms, especially as I don't put in any "people".

 

So, in "Irene-land" Netherton is the Town House of a big wig who sits in the House of Lords.   Think more Upstairs Downstairs than Downton.    He has his country pile elsewhere!   I struggled for a while over this given the size of it but having the pavement settled that question and I know a Town House wouldn't have had a Dairy, especially one situated under the "area" but it was such a good idea (I thought) that I just had to put one in - especially as I had the space and all the necessary bits.

 

It dates from 1901 until pre-World War I.   I'm still a bit woolly on that, it'll all depend on what minis I find and I'm not sure yet if he has any offspring but there's plenty of time for me to make a decision  on that one.

At last, some progress.

It has been some time now since any progress was posted here and I had to read through what I'd mentioned last time to bring myself up to date.   Things have been slow with this property in my bid to finish the Tenement but that's all behind me now and I'm cracking on with Netherton.   I have so many ideas there are scraps of paper and post-its everywhere with notes on and I'm spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to get more out of the spaces I have.   As this house was custom built there are no removable walls (other than the two created in the design) so making rooms bigger or turning walls around to get doorways to the front or back is nigh on impossible.

 

I know I said last time that I would be updating you all with new pics of the Dining Room but I'm not!  I still have some accessories to add and I'm holding off until after my trip to Miniatura at the beginning of next month before showing you all the completed room.  It's maddening really as it's only two weeks away and I'm desperate for supplies but can't bring myself to do anything about that in view of the imminent trip.

 

So, while I'm marking time for the major spree I know I'm going to have, I thought I'd whet your appetites with progress in the Hall.

 

 

The Hall covers four floors and has a grand central staircase on the lower two floors.   The third floor has a much plainer staircase but not as basic as that used by the Servants in the Still Room.   This is due to the fact that the owners of this property will have to look at it as they access two of their own private rooms and the bathroom on the third floor but it will primarily be used by the servants.

 

So far I've papered and painted the central hallway and up to the third floor.   The fourth floor has also been papered but will be decorated in a plain basic manner.   If you look closely at the photo below you can see wooden "stops" on either side of the room and two just at the stair well.    There is a wall that fits in here and the space forward of this will be devoted to "something else"!   Also, and because I'm a bit anal about all this, I've decorated the corridor side of the wall, all in keeping with the rest of the space (well, you have to, don't you!).   That goes for the other side of the Bathroom wall too.

 

 

 

There is a similar arrangement on the floor below which shows the wooden "stops", the stair well and my cardboard template for the flooring (on the list for Miniatura).    This is a narrower space than the one above and will become the family Bathroom.

 

 

The whole Hallway is quite tricky to do and will, I can see, be very time consuming as all lighting has to be taken into consideration as well and I'm having to really think about the order of jobs before diving in.

I had a look at the lighting arrangement today and it took some sorting out, I can tell you.   The issue lies with the two removable back walls because once they're in, I wont be able to access anything behind them (and like the issue with the Dining Room wall, I'll be fixing it as I doubt I'll want to remove it at any time providing of course that the bulbs in the fittings on the very back of the upper Hall keep working!)    My solution to that little problem will be to remove the fitting and pull them through whichever doorway is nearest and change the bulb that way - I think!

A lot of staring is needed with this one.