Catching up

I can't believe I haven't blogged for more than a month! Just shows how busy I am, but I haven't been totally lazy. I have built some more Chippendale furniture, and I will show it soon. Moreover, I have been buying Chippendale kits like mad. I am a gambler by nature, which is why I never ever play any games of risk; and I am a bit of a maniac, easily getting obsessed. I have set my mind on collecting all House of Miniature kits. So far I had only been buying bundles of ten or fifteen. They are hardly ever available in Europe, and shipping from the USA is expensive, but if you buy a bundle it isn't that bad. However, when you start getting to less common items they probably won't be part of a bundle. So for the past few weeks I have been hunting and chasing. There are about ninety kits, and I started with about thirty, but now I only need seven more to have a full collection. I also have many duplicates. Some of the rare objects I had luck with and got cheap; some went quite high in bidding, and a couple I missed on. The last bundle is on the way. And you know, I don't feel the least guilty about spending all this money because I have such fun making these objects.

I haven't done a lot on the house. Frankly, haven't done anything, although there is a lot of work left. Somehow, there is no urgency. However, I now have a good reason to go back to the house and possibly do a lot of reconstruction. I was in Stockholm last week and went to my favourite shop, the Golden Angel. It was a bit disappointing because there weren't as many things that I passionately desired as last year, but I picked up a few items, including a lovely Jugend table that doesn't fit into any current project, but was too good to miss. When I had paid and was about to leave, I expressed my regrets that I hadn't found anything nearly as gorgeous as the two chandeliers from last year, to which the lady said: "Wait a minute...", and a minute later I had the most amazing chandelier, even more amazing than my old ones.

Plus a fabulous brass petroleum lamp that was broken so I got it relatively cheap (I will need my son-in-law to solder it), and another ceiling light that for some reason isn't in this picture.

The consequence of this is of course that I will now replace some of the existing chandeliers, which implies removing floors in rooms above... So I am looking forward to a busy summer.