Window improvements

Here is an example of how even a very small detail makes a difference. I have studied images of architectural features of functionalism such as the shape of windows. Plain square windows don't look natural (I realised it when I put in windows in my modern house). Remarkably, it was just enough to put in a partition.

Funkis bathroom, part 2

My initial intention was to put in a wall with a door in the bathroom. As I was considering how best to do it I realised that I was planning to re-introduce the famous fourth wall, which makes it possible to look into the miniature world. Was I going to seal off the room, especially when I was so proud with my renovation work, including the details?

I am not quite happy with the toilet seat and will probably make a better one. The toilet paper holder comes from an ebay lot, but I have borrowed my own idea for a towel rack from a different project. It is a cooking-oil bottle cap. The rubbish bin is a paint container, and the toilet brush is a makeup brush. The shelf is recycled from another project. Anyway, I really like this room and don't want to hide it behind a wall.

This is a trial, but I have decided to have a door frame without a wall. It is bluetacked so far, not very neat.

Use your imagination and see the non-existant wall. The people of the house can use the bathroom without being disturbed. After all, I don't have fourth walls in my other bathrooms. The frame is a left-over from another project, and there is no door to come with it. I made a door to fit the frame with the same technique I used in the Georgian house.

What bothers me now is that you cannot see my pretty towel rack. And I am not sure this works. Maybe you can imagine both the wall and the door? What do you think?

By the way, for lighting I used a led spot of the same kind I used for my Dutch roombox. I just fixed it with bluetack to take pictures, but actually I think I may leave it there. It gives a nice, strong, but aoft light, filtered through baking paper. A dollhouse led light would be far too dim.

Funkis bathroom

For some reason, I started the renovation of the funkis house with the bathroom. In fact, the ground floor of the house will be a shop. The yarn shop. It will fit in perfectly. And the little space by the stairs will be a bathroom, for the customers and the shop owner. It could be a pentry or a storeroom, but I just felt it had to be a bathroom, and after all, it's my project, and I can do whatever I want.

I chose tile wallpaper from my favourite printie site, and I photocopied black-and-white chequered floor that I had used for Helen Hall that is now gone, so it's ok to use the same pattern. After Helen Hall where I could easily dismantle the walls and put in wallpaper before I assembled them again, here I had to work in awkward spaces. But I am very pleased with the result. The toilet and the washbasin are from ebay (cheap, for the toilet seat and one tap are missing), and the mirror is from a Barbie house and had been used elsewhere all this time.

Of course I must put in a wall and a door (with a sign), and of course there will be more details: a towel rack, a shelf, a potted plant. So please come back soon.

Funkis house

A couple of weeks ago I found a very lonely dollhouse at a flea market. Alhtough it had obvioulsy been newly painted on the outside, it looked neglected on the inside. It begged to come to me and be converted into something stunning.

My husband and some of my dollhouse group friends noted that it looked like a prison.  I agree that it does, but I don't feel that prison will be a particularly cheerful project. And in fact on the inside it is not that bad, other than being squalid. The bottom floor has interesting features (although the staircase is out of scale and a bit weird). It is a homemade dollhouse and therefore unique. The rooms on the upper floor are narrow and deep. It does feel a bit crammed.

The first thing I did was of course remove the horrible carpet. You cannot use real carpets in a dollhouse, they are far too coarse. And this is what I discovered under the carpet:

 

I wish I knew something about this person. He put a lot of love and care into this house. I imagine that he made it for his granddaughter who spent many happy hours playing with it. In any case, he cared enough to sign it. 

Now I had to put on my thinking cap. I have a Tudor house, a Georgian house, a Victorian house and a modern/retro house. Tudor and Georgian houses are strictly period-correct. Victorian style is eclectic, and there are lots of details, and the owner of my retro house is a writer and artist and collects all kinds of interesting objects. So the question was what style I should choose for the new house that would allow me to try out new ideas, new techniques. Again, some people in my dollhouse group suggested funkis, functionalism. I must admit that I don't know much about this style although there are some remarkable examples of it in the two big cities where I have lived, Moscow and Stockholm. Here was an excellent opportunity to learn about something new. I spent hours on the internet browsing through images, and I now have a vague idea of what this new project will be. Watch this space.

Helen Hall, final

Helen Hall is moving to its new owner soon, and I am putting the finishing touches, such as door handles. You can buy doorhandles on ebay, but I just took some plastic beads. There are three doors, six handles, on the inside and outside.

Not much else to be done, so here are the final pictures.

 

 

And yes, of course it feels a bit sad to part with it, but I never intended to keep it, just wanted to see whether I could make something interesting with it. It's done, and I am pleased.

Helen Hall, part 4

For the previous instalments, see here.

The final room that needed redecoration was the attic, and I left the roof as it was, but because it is so dark I wanted something light for the floor. I had a bit of paper flooring from another project that I copied and patched together, but I don't think it matters because real floors are also made of small bits, and there are so many things in this room that you almost cannot see the floor anyway. I have moved everything from the nursery room box to the attic, and it feels just right.

Mirror frames

This is a very simple project. I always buy small cheap picture frames, and today I found some good ones at a flea market. 

These can be used both for pictures and mirrors, and I needed some mirrrors for my Georgian house. I use tin foil for mirrors, and for a period house it's just as well that they are darkish.

My usual problem with heavy frames is that you cannot fix them with blue tack or sticky dots. But these frames had fixture for standing which I used to attach a piece of wire. 

This is what it looks like in the interior:

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