Fancy a Pint? The Swan Inn Gets a New Punter!

Ah! Spring is FINALLY here!! After what seems nothing short of a new Ice Age, we have suddenly arrived full swing into spring! The sunshine of the past week or so has brought out all the lovely spring flowers, so the garden is filled with colour once again, the birds are getting frisky, and the butterflies and bumble bees are embracing the early sunshine.

What better time to take you by the hand and take you through the changes at the Swan Inn?

You might notice Fred, the new customer seated on the settle at the back of the room. It's another Woodside Doll, from their cheaper range. He does have a slightly similar look to the barman, so maybe they are related (well this is a country pub!!).

You might also have noticed the little canine companion, which was a little stocking filler a few months back. And what else? well, there is the table and chairs, picked up from The Dolls' House in Northleach, as I felt the pub needed a bit of furniture in it. I'm not entirely convinced that it's right for the pub, but I love the chairs that go with it.

Charlie has seen a few changes also; gone are the narrow benches (there's one still under the window)  to be replaced by a lovely settle (from Northleach again!). I seem to have misplaced his dominoes somewhere though! I have also been thinking of dirtying the fireplaces a bit too, adding some soot, to make things look more realistic. What do you think?

Behind the bar there is a new swan! the old one was really a white duck, and when I saw this little china swan, I thought it might look a little more graceful behind the bar. 

I also got some new things for the kitchen. The mixer was another of those 'heart over head' purchases that I was discussing in my last post. I think I can just about get away with the period, but it doesn't really matter, as I do love it! The knives, jars of pickles, utensils and bowl of eggs were all purchased at a dolls' house fair just a few miles away near Milton Keynes.  I think the maker for most of the items was called Dollshouse Delights (sorry if this is not the case!!).

I also got the little broom, dustpan and brush from the same maker. I like little dolls house brooms and brushes, they remind me of Beatrix Potter's Tale of Two Bad Mice.

My next little project will be to make some little curtains, or perhaps just a pelmet in gingham fabric for the window above the sink. 

Recent Purchases (and a Note of Caution!)

Hello! I was going to post a few pics of some recent purchases I had made at dolls' house shows and shops over the past couple of months. It occurred to me as I was taking the first few photos, that despite the fact I love all the things I have bought, I had mixed feelings when I actually got home and tried to place the items. I realised that I had been buying things simply because I liked them, and not because I had a place in mind for them in my dolls house. To put it another way, I was buying with my heart and not using my head!!

Take the first item I have shown you; the bonheur-du-jour, made by Escutcheon who had returned to Miniatura in Birmingham after a long absence, I saw a similar one in a book of dolls' house miniatures and had loved it, so when I saw this one, I snapped it up! It only really occurred to me later, back at home, that I didn't really have anywhere to put it!

 I have put it into the main bedroom, in the corner, but I had liked the arrangement I already had there, and the pink upholstered chair just didn't look good next to the bonheur-du-jour, so that meant rearranging the bedroom even more.

I have put the pink chair next to the dressing table, but am still not happy with the result, I think it doesn't work next to the chinese Chippendale chair. Or am I taking this whole thing way too seriously!?!!

I also purchased this exquisite hand painted china plate (the photo really doesn't do it justice!) which came from Escutcheon too. Again, I have absolutely no idea where to put it! It still hasn't found a home and is currently sitting on the floor of the bedroom!

Another purchase made at Miniatura has ended up in the library, after much placing and replacing in different rooms! Can you see what it is?

It's a beautiful pie-crust edge table, made by John Hodgson. I have an almost identical life sized version of this table in my bedroom, so knew I had to have it, trouble is, where could it go? Fortunately, I am happy with it being in the library, though it is hard to see all the fine detail on the table when it's so far back in the room.

I bought a few more miniature books by Ellie de Lacy. You may have noticed the book shelves need a lot more filling!! I hope the picture above isn't too dark for you to see one of Ellie's books on the desk, which has a sweet little silk page marker!

This chair was also added to the library recently, after sitting in the attic for months with nowhere to go! I bought it in a sale at a nearby dolls' house shop. It was only by chance that I noticed it matched a chair I had in the library already. so it made sense to put this with the other one!

I suppose this is really just a little note of caution, to think about where things are going to go perhaps, before rushing in to buy them. There will always be things that you buy simply because you love them, but you need to keep an eye on the practical side of things too sometimes!!

Or maybe I really am taking this whole miniatures thing far too seriously!!!!?

Book Review

Hello,

For my first book review I have chosen two books by Brian Nickolls; Making Dolls' Houses and Making Character Dolls' House, Both published by David and Charles. My reason for choosing these books first is that there are the books that all three of my dolls' houses were based on plans taken from them. If you have a keen eye, you will probably notice the houses I have built on the covers of the two books.

Making Doll's Houses contains the plans for the Tudor building, David's father built a copy of this house, and later I furnished the inside as a 1930's shop.

The second book, Making Character Dolls' Houses, was where I got the plans for my Georgian House and The Swan Inn.

The books both contain detailed plans, and written paragraphs telling you how to complete each house, step by step. And there are pictures of the completed projects on most pages too, which helped me to visualise how it would all look when I had finished.

Building a dolls house following plans from a book has plusses and minuses; on the plus side, you can adapt and change things, you have all the measurements required along with the correct shapes the pieces that make up the dolls house should be, and a fairly useful guide to what has to be done, and how to do it. The minuses are that you have to measure and cut each piece (though commercially made doors and windows could be used instead and plans adapted accordingly), some of the instructions aren't so clear as they could be to a novice builder like me, and some of the projects require a level of carpentry skills that may surprise you (for example the Georgian House pillars and balustrades need to be turned on a lathe).

One thing I would strongly advise you to do is check the measurements and plans well before cutting, on the Georgian House  I routed out a groove in the base of the house, following the plan, only to find that the position of the groove was wrong, and should have been 9mm further forward, fortunately I spotted this before assembling the dolls house. The plans for the Swan Inn project also had a mistake in the position of the smallest window on the first floor.

Despite these small errors, both books give a wide variety of projects, and cater to newbies and experienced house builders alike. The projects are presented well, and are fairly easy to follow for the most part.

I would recommend these books to anyone thinking of building a dolls house from scratch. If you already have a kit house to build, these books won't be much use, though do give some useful tips on construction and tools required. They might also provide inspiration for current and future projects.

I believe that these books are now out of print, but many second hand copies are on sale. There are both hardback and paperback versions of these books available.

I hope you enjoy these books if you find them!

Who Knows Where The Time Goes?

Can it really be the 8th of April already? I saw with some surprise that my last post was back in February, what happened to March? It really does only seem a week ago since I was last posting on my blog, but the past month has rushed by in such a blur, I find myself plunging deep into April!

I had a lovely birthday, and had lots of little treats all of that week (not least Fi's wonderful little birthday post, and her Pineapple mug she sent me; once I had worked out it was from her!!).  AM sent me a copy of Le Grand Livre De La Maison Miniature for my birthday too, which was so very kind, and is a lovely book! (What HAS happened to AM, B.T.W?)

I also visited two dolls house fairs and went to a dolls house shop in the Cotswolds last month. More on all of those another time.

I promise to do the first book review I promised to do ages ago, as soon as possible! I have managed to keep up with most blogs I follow, and apologise if I have failed to leave a comment, I will do my best to rectify that as soon as possible also!!

The video above is one of my favourite songs, sung by Sandy Denny, who was a singer in the band Fairpoint Convention, until her sad, untimely death. I am sure you'll agree that she had a fabulous voice, and the song is both beautiful and moving. (Nina Simone has done a nice cover version of this song too!).

(I don't think my blog is an appropriate place for politics, but the tune above could just as easily have been Ding Dong the Witch is Dead from the Wizard of Oz!!  Ding Dong! the Witch is dead, which old witch? The Wicked Witch! Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is dead!!!!')

Bibliophile

I love books! I have collected quite a few over the years on the subjects I am interested in; art, architecture, history, dolls' houses etc etc. Some of my library ( if it doesn't sound pretentious to use that word!) are pictured here. Most of my books on Architecture and dolls houses are stored on these shelves down in my work dungeon (AKA the cellar). The bookcases aren't very good, so the shelves sag a bit with the weight of all the books, but they fill the space down here in the cellar very well, so I live with them!  

I get most of my books from second hand bookshops or charity shops. I like to have a good rummage along the shelves, and sometimes find a real gem amidst all the Catherine Cookson paperbacks. 

So, why am I showing you a shelf full of books? Well, partly it's to show you part of my work area you may not have seen before, to satisfy the current vogue for showing off work spaces in Blogland; and partly because I have been thinking of using some of my books to do little book reviews. Nothing profound or enlightening, just whether I like them or not really, and how they might help a fellow miniaturist (Elga did something very similar on her blog recently!).

I'm currently doing quite a bit of research for my next "Period Style' post (and there's a lot to be researched! it's taking ages!). The books I show may be on Architecture, history, furniture or dolls' houses, whatever I have that might be interesting to you.

I'll probably only do one or two books at a time, and will only appear occasionally, not every day I promise!! ;o). If you are able to see them ok, most of my dolls' house books are pictured above. Some have been well used as you may notice!

These are some of the books I have bought over the last couple of weeks. All of which will come in useful for my miniature projects and historical posts.

Sorry there are no miniatures today!! 

Look out for my first book review coming soon!!

Spooky Darling!

Anyone who has read my blog might be aware that I am a not so secret fan of Lego. When I saw this Lego Haunted House on sale last year, I had to have it! After a few quiet words in the ears of Santa's Little Helper, I got to unwrap this on Christmas afternoon!

It has lots of great little details and as it's a house, opens up to reveal its interior and is furnished inside, I though it deserved a place on my dolls' house blog! 

The house is supposed to look run down and derelict, which isn't easy with Lego bricks, but the designer did a great job on this! 

It comes with its own gates too. Inside there's a kitchen, a bedroom, an entrance hall with fireplace and a study, there are also attics in the Mansard roof, complete with old gramophone and of course all the resident ghosts! There's also a zombie chef and Lurch type butler.

More stuff!!

In Britain there is a phrase we use which goes something like this ' You wait all day for a bus, and then three turn up at once!'. Well, I think that is something like what has happened on my blog, I've don't do a new post for over a month, and then do three in a week!

This post is part two of my list of recent purchases. This one focuses on things used in or around the kitchen, so there won't be any fancy gilding or Chinoiserie!

The first picture is a rather shameless, as there is only one thing in it which is new, and you would never guess unless I told you (which I will soon!), I just happened to think this shot was a rather good one of my Georgian House kitchen; which rarely gets seen. I love kitchens in dolls houses, they are always rather special, but they take AGES to fill up! Not helped by the fact that the kitchen/servants hall is the largest room in the whole house! You can see all the empty shelves still on the dresser, and the table looks full, but that is more of an optical illusion than anything.

As I mentioned in my last post, Tony Hooper was exhibiting in London for the last time in January (though the website is still open for a while) he was selling all his items at half price. I only discovered this when I was about to leave, as there were great crowds around his stall when I arrived, and I really don't do crowds! So much of his stock had gone, as had most of my ready money (Tony's stall was one away from John Hodgson's, which explains my lack of crinkle!) however, I bravely stood my ground and picked up a few little things to go inside my kitchen (and a few other things for a secret future project). The only new thing in the picture above, which was from Tony Hooper is the large pewter dish behind the marrows and hour glass on the dresser. I actually bought two of these dishes, the other is under the kitchen table.

And just so that you get a more or less complete picture of the kitchen here is a photo of the opposite wall.

Ah! but wait, there is another new purchase lurking in the above image too, can you see it? It's another miniature from Tony Hooper...

Well, yes it's the kettle, which is an unusual oval shape, and I thought looked suitable Georgian (though it may not be!) The 'brass' kettle was purchased from Kristin Baybars' shop; I have no idea of its maker, but it is nicely detailed. It lives on the range in the pub, and keen eyed bloggers might have noticed it before on previous pictures.

Here is my miniature version or Where's Wally. Can you spot the new things in this room? Ok, here's a clue, they are on the tray next to the plates! Two divine little spoons! This picture by the way, is the servants' hall. The servants' hall contain old fashioned furniture that once had pride of place in the old manor house that was demolished to make way for the new house! Not nearly elegant enough for an 18th century gentleman's home, so consigned to the servants quarters! ;o)

Another new purchase in the Georgian kitchen is this marble slab with wet fish. Made by Et Cetera. The fish are beautifully painted and have very fine detail, I think they are lovely!

And here are some food items which are in the kitchen at The Swan. The toast rack has been mentioned before by some of you. It was again a miniature made by Et Cetera. The frying pan with full English breakfast on the go, was a nice find at Kristin Baybars' shop; I think they should have cooked the bacon a little earlier as it still looks a little raw, and the egg is almost done! Ah! I'm getting hungry now, and I don't even eat red meat!