Messy kitchen, part 2

The second part of my messy kitchen project was focused on details. The joy of a project like this is thinking of all small things that add to the authenticity, as well as tell a story. This scene tells a sad story, but it cannot be helped.

To begin with, I removed all objects from the box and added mold in the corners and dirt on the floor.

I made this really disgusting green mold by applying a thin layer of glue and rubbing in green oasis foam. I think the result is very convincing. Dirt is simply diluted brown paint.

Next, I put back the units, the fridge, the table and the cupboard and started playing with small objects. I put them in and removed and moved them around. Some items I initially was sure would be there proved superfluous, for various reasons. Some were slightly wrong scale, and you could see it. Some just didn't feel right. Also while I wanted chaos I didn't want to overload the scene too much.

When I thought I had found the right place, I fixed the item with a glue dot - it can be removed if needed. 

After a couple of intensive hours, here is what it looks like.

Of course, you cannot see all details in this picture, so let's have a closer look, clockwise from left bottom corner.

 

There is a garbage bin, a shopping basket, a dustpan and a pair of rubber boots. More or less tidy. Maybe not used too often. The bin is a shampoo bottle cap; the rest are commercial items that came in different lots. I have painted the basket.

A flattened package of cereal. It was already flattened when it arrived in a lot, and for once I didn't have to mend it. An empty bottle of juice - eye-drop container with a label cut from a catalogue. Quite a few objects here come from my retro kitchen, now demolished. The towel rack is made from a cooking-oil bottle cap, and the towel is a bit of a full-scale towel.

I showed the arrangement on the cooker, corner unit and sink in the previous post, and I haven't added much. The kitchen towel rack is commercial, and the brush - doesn't this pink colour speak volumes about its owner? - is from a larger lot. It is a perfect finishing touch on the hob.

The clock on the wall is made from a spice-jar lid, and the clock face is cut out from a catalogue. 

I have added a few things on the table, including a shoe and a roll of toilet paper, neither belonging there. Another shoe has somehow got into a fruit bowl on the floor, and there are bottles everywhere. Only a few bottles are authentic, with real labels. They are in the foreground, to catch attention. The rest are eye-drop containers, painted green. There is also a food magazine on the floor - an ironic or even sarcastic detail.

On the fridge, an ice tray - almost all ice has melted. A bottle and a can of coke. And you cannot see that the fridge door has been mended, can you?

On the chair, there is another whisky bottle, a fake bottle and a cap - whose cap? In the foreground, another shoe, another bottle (nice wine, can this person appreciate it? Maybe someone gave it to them), another crushed package, an old cassette player, a crumpled newspaper - and a fire extinguisher! At least if there is a fire, maybe it can be stopped.

The cupboard is relatively tidy, with plates and cups and groceries, but there is another empty bottle and a tooth brush. And what is a champagne bottle doing there?

There are of course many further details I can add. A full ashtray. A withered plant. A half-eaten bread roll. But I will stop for a while. A project is never finished.

One final thing I made was a LED-strip over the cooker. It is not essential, but can be nice for display.

I am pleased with the final look.

Messy kitchen

It has been a while since I did any upcycling projects. I had planned to upcycle this kitchen for a long time.

It is good quality, but a dime a dozen, and my idea was to paint it with chalk paint, maybe distressing a bit. But as I started painting I suddenly felt I wanted to use it in a scene. Working on the book nook has made me eager to create more living environments. Some comments that I have received pointed out that the book nook very clearly told a story. I don't think any of my projects tell a story, not even the largest dollhouse. They are static, frozen in a moment. I want them all to tell a story, or many stories, but I haven't got there yet. I want there to be broken tea cups, spilled milk, dirty clothes, opened books. Tokens of presence.

This is why I decided to use the kitchen set in a scene of a messy kitchen. I haven't yet decided how messy, but I'd like to create an impression that someone has just left it in haste, and maybe this person hasn't been very tidy to begin with. The time will be vague 1960s-70s as I have many objects from those days.

I had already painted the kitchen units when I got the idea, and there wasn't much I had to change.

Obviously, the oven had to be black inside, and the front white. I painted the knobs and taps that were far too shiny. I added a drain in the sink (jewellery finding). I distressed a bit, not too much yet, it will depend on how the project develops.

I had saved a good cardboard box, exactly the same size as wine boxes that I had used before for room boxes and that are impossible to get these days. I made the first tentative layout.

I wanted a door in the back because a door always creates a sense of extra space. This door has been used in several earlier projects - I am sure this is not the last time. I can make a door of cardboard, but I happened to find it as I was looking for something else, so I can just as well use it.

The lovely fridge needs a door so I will have to figure out how to make it.

The cupboard is not quite in the same style, but it will work if I don't find anything better.

I think I have mentioned repeatedly in my posting that when I work on a project I like to put in as many details as possible from start, even if I then need to take them out again. It gives me a better sense of what I am doing. So after I had painted the walls and ceiling and attached suitable floors, I put in the furniture and dozens of objects that may or may not be part of the final scene, but play a role in the process. For instance, one of the chairs got knocked over unintentionally, but I saw immediately that it would be precisely like that in the final scene.

I mended the fridge to my best ability with what I had at home. One day when I can go to craft shops again I can make a better door, but it will be in the background so will work for now - or so I hope.

I haven't yet decided how messy my messy person will be, for instance, will they leave the fridge door open, but in any case there must be at least some stuff there. I will also add fridge magnets and such.

Next I "dressed" the sink.

This is something I would never, ever have in my kitchen, but that's the point of miniature-making, isn't it - creating something you would never have in real life. I didn't want to use my nice vintage plates in this project, and they wouldn't even be fully visible. Instead, I made plates from egg cartons, gluing them together at random and adding some disgusting food remnants. The knives and forks are cheap ones from Tiger, but they were far too new and shiny, as pointed out by someone with whom I shared this step, so I aged them a bit. Soap bottle came with a lot. From the cabinet, a garbage bag is falling out. But I am most proud of my mold. I had never seen a mold tutorial so I asked one of my miniatures groups. I got plenty of suggestions, but as often happens, others' advice can push you toward an original solution. Lint from tumble-dryer! I want patent on it.

I am quite pleased with this assembly. It looks truly disgusting to me.

Next, I did the corner cabinet. I didn't bother putting stuff into it since it won't be visible at all. But the counter must be crammed and untidy. 

The objects are a mix of commercial, mostly from large ebay lots, and handmade or upcycled by me. For instance, I added labels to wooden playscale bottles. To make spilled milk I used Tipp-Ex. Few people today will even know what it is. In the Stone Age before computers, it was used to paint over typos in typewritten manuscripts. It dries fast and is perfect for mock liquids, but it is the first time I used it. I recently got a bottle from a friend who had apparently saved it for the past thirty years - thanks a lot! The baking trays come from an eye-shadow box, and I put some unidentifiable food there. The rotten fruit is some dried berries I had in my grocery stall project. 

The next step was the hob. I had a little pan with eggs and black pudding that I used as it was. I put some couscous in a pot and covered with mold since I now knew how to make it. There is also some general dirt and coffee stains.

Setting the table was exciting. Here I wanted spilled coffee, and to make it I used grey chalk paint mixed with brown acrylic. For the right effect, I filled the cup, then tipped it so the liquid ran out in a natural way. What was left of the coffee, I poured into other cups, then almost emptied them to leave a bit at the bottom. I made some stain rings as well - in real life, they make me want to yell. For cereal, I used a few fennel seeds and covered them with Tipp-Ex. I had made all the bread from Fimo at a workshop some time ago. The whisky bottle completes the image of the person who lives here.

I will stop here for the time being and consider further details. I don't think this scene tells the whole story yet.

To be continued.

Ongoing project

 

This concludes, for the time being, the story of my modern dollhouse. It is far from finished. I have "repaired" the facade with new bricks and painted the door, but it probably needs door posts. I have made a lantern from a bit of a perfume spray bottle.

The interior decoration is an ongoing project, and I will share all the improvements and details.

Windows

As you may have noticed from the pictures, I put in windows in the modern house. When I bought is, it had no windows, although the window openings were nicely painted in various colours. Still, there was something unfinished about the house, even with curtains.

As you can clearly see, there are nineteen windows. Because the dollhouse is home-made, the openings do not match the standard 1:12 windows, and it took me a long time to find a solution. I bought a 4-pack when I was visiting a dollhouse shop; unpainted and unglazed. At least I would do something myself. When I was sure I could use them, I ordered the rest from ebay.

Obviously, I began by painting them, which was quite a job. Then I cut panes from transparent file holder and glued them on the inside of the window frame

 

I started with the removable walls because they were easier to handle First, I fixed the frame on the outside. It covered the opening neatly, but on the inside, the opening was about half a centimeter too small.

 

I had to saw off half a centimeter of each inner frame bit. In such situations, you bless the inventor of the mitre box.

 

Just see what a difference it makes! 

 

On the inside, I added window sills for flowers and decorations.

The gable-wall windows were much more difficult to put in, but by then I was a considerably better miniature carpenter and glazier so eventually I managed all the nineteen. 

Modern drawing room

The remaining room in my modern house is the ground-floor drawing room. The front door of the house opens into it, which is not uncommon in English houses, and there is not much I can do about it. I didn't want the door to open into the kitchen.

 

This is a very early stage, as you can see the empty kitchen through the opening. I painted the walls yellow, but the floor is still covered with paper. The heater is made from a candy box. I made the sofa from cardboard, covered with fabric. The coffee table is the lid of a souvenir box made from California readwood - the souvenir shop swore that no tree was injured. 

The standard lamp is made from bits of an old fridge shelf, with eyedrop containers for lampshades. The base comes from some old toy. The Penguin books come from a party game; a friend gave me the leftovers after Christmas. The self-adhessive covers are wrapped over a piece of cardboard. I only chose titles that I liked. The picture on the wall is cut from a magazine, and the frame is made of grill sticks.



Although I don't like fitted carpets in my own home I got a bit of furniture fabric from a friend, which made a nice carpet for this room. I put in a mirror because mirrors always create an interesting effect in a dollhouse. The tiffany lamp in front of the mirror came with a lot from ebay, and I don't even remember where the table and chair come from. Some further features of this room include a coffee table, which is another upside-down carndlestick, and a television set, made from a plastic jewellery box, in the same manner I made the computer screen. The remote is cut from a catalogue.

Modern kitchen development

This is what the kitchen looks like today (I have tidied up a bit, just as you do when you expect visitors). The chairs are made from champagne wire, which I learned from a friend. I thought they fit perfectly in my kitchen.

I made most of the details and utensils myself. I made kitchen shelves from bits left after I made a big bookshelf in another room. I made the coffee machine (that looks a bit tired) from a bit of plastic, a dead battery and a bottle cap. I made the orange press from a bit of a perfume spray bottle. I made the kitchen towel holder from an unidentifiable wooden peg, and the kitchen towel - from kitchen towel. The pie trays come from an eye-shade box. I cut the front of the micro from a catalogue and glued it on the front of a little box I made from card. I also cut the clock face from a catalogue and pasted it inside a spice jar lid. The fridge handle is a bit of a ball-point pen. I made all the jars, tins, boxes and bottles in a variety of ways, which I will explain in detail shortly.

Likewise, I made most of the utensils on the table. The big black bowls are cut from chocolate boxes, and the Japanese bowls, from medicine cards, painted black on the outside and red on the inside. The square Japanede plates are air-drying clay. The mugs are cut from a pencil, with half of a plastic bead for handle. A grandchild made the sushi. The eggs in eggcups, the caviar tube and the Coke are from ebay, and the sausage from a German toyshop.

 

The right side of the kitchen is more like a utility room. The fire extinguisher comes from a key ring. The garbage bin is a pencil sharpener. I made the bucket from a hotel milk container. The flower pots are thimbles. And the heating element is cut from a chocolate box.

It is very hard to take a good picture of the inside of the front wall because I can only do it through a door opening from the other side. Since it is a removable wall you can't put heavy things on it, but I made a semi-flat shelf with groceries.

Here is the wall removed from the house, just to give you an idea of how it works.You may have noticed that I have put in windows, and I will tell you how I did it in due time.