iseecerulean

Another Monet...his colors seem to be working for me in this house.  I am going to have to work in a Van Gogh somewhere though, as Van Gogh is my favorite artist.  I've seen both Monet's and Van Gogh's works in museums, and while a Monet is very soothing there is something about a Van Gogh that reaches out, grabs me around the chest and squeezes.  I can 'see' the emotion in each brush stroke...it's amazing.

The drawer pulls are really yellow beads that matches the bed linen...there was a lot of shine reflected off the picture on the drawer fronts, and when I edited the picture to remove the glare it took the color out of the beads.  I did have to give the beads a coat of matte gel medium after I put them on, as they were so shiny it was distracting.  The gel medium may not have been dry yet when I took the picture yesterday afternoon.

I wasn't sure I would like the grid of the spaces between the drawer fronts breaking up the picture, but it didn't turn out too bad.  I used a wood stain instead of paint on the grid thinking it would be lighter thus less obstrusive, but it turned out almost exactly the same color as the paint.

I built a shallow dresser so that it would fit in front of the stair railing and leave enough room for a walkway between it and the bed.  When I close to being done I added some detail to the back of the dresser, thinking that another place to put the dresser could be on the fourth, open wall, so that the railing around the stairs wouldn't be obstructed.  It looks silly on the open wall though, so it will sit in front of the railing.

My present was waiting for me when I got home from work today.  Brae worked her magic finishing a bed and vanity for me.  They look great in the Chantilly.

I love the two mattress setup with the different fabrics...I didn't think to do that when I made the twin bed.

She also sent three cute planters and some extra fabric in case I want to make curtains or more pillows that match the bed linens.

Thank you, Brae!  You're very sweet.

I have to ask, since you work in 1:12...did working in 1:24 feel like dressing a baby bed?  I  know when I worked on the mill I felt like I was making it for giants.

After I placed the artwork on the headboard I repainted the bed.  Green suits the Monet better, the white was too bright.

I still don't know whether this will be a boy's or girl's room.  I almost held off on building the bed until I decided, but this project is all about an organic flow of creativity and purposefully not planning ahead, so I proceeded.  I picked the Monet because it is both masculine and feminine.  I'll finish dressing the bed with either a pink quilt or navy blanket once I figure out the gender of the room. 

Hmmm...what I should do next (after I clean my worktable, it's a mess!) is sort through my stash of accessories to see what I have to fill the room, perhaps that will decide for me.  Or maybe I'll wait until I get my present from Brae that's in the mail, it could be something suitable to the room...or maybe it will be something for the kitchen or living room, which won't help the decision at all...either way I'm excited.  Think speedy thoughts for the mailman please!

The pillow and pillowcase were the hardest part of the bed.  (I don't like to sew!)  The first pillowcase was too wide and long so had to be resewn...then the pillow was too fat so I had to snip a corner to let some of the salt out.  It's not easy to stuff an itty bitty pillow into a itty bitty tight fitting pillowcase!  It's still a tad long but giving it some shape instead of laying it flat on the bed disguises that...it makes it look more natural too, I think.

The Jack Russell is one of three I purchased from Miss Sally World about a year and a half ago.  The whole reason for building this house is to give them a home.  I also have three of her cats and a basset hound in my stash.  One or two of the cats may end up living here too, we'll see how the project evolves.

I'll finish it tonight...I need to let the paint dry while I'm at work today.

I made a dresser for the child's room.  I painted it blue to match the color scheme of the house, but the room hasn't told me if it's a girl's or boy's room yet.  Once I know I'll add clothes peeking out of the open drawer.

I was going to build the dresser out of wood, with working drawers...then I read on Antique Daisy about Daisy making a faux open drawer on a dresser, so I did that instead.

As a means of adding to both my skill set and supply of (free!) building material I constructed the dresser from thin cardboard.  The only wooden pieces are the square uprights on the corners and the connecting strips at the top and bottom.  It was a good exercise.

I went for a hike at Beaver Pond yesterday instead of working on the Chantilly.  It was warm and the sunlight was particularly beautiful.  The autumn color is almost gone and there is snow forecast for later this week...I needed to get outdoors while I could still enjoy it.

I shortened the washer/dryer and made a longer, shorter table.  I like how it looks now.

The washer/dryer is too short to be accurately in scale now, but it fits under the table, and the table is short enough to see across to the cabinet behind.

I also made the handle on the refrigerator skinnier and the bar across the front of the range larger.

I'm done with the kitchen for now.  I need to make a table and another chair but I haven't decided what I want yet, so I'm moving up to the small bedroom to work while I think about it.

I made a washer/dryer for the kitchen, and a table that it sits underneath.  Either piece is okay on its own but I don't like them together, and I especially don't like them in place in the kitchen.

I didn't put a tremendous amount of detail into the washer/dryer because it's not going to be seen head on.  Its dimensions are exactly to the proper scale, but I think it looks too tall.

The table and washer are too tight of a fit, they don't look natural together.  I kept the table narrow so that I didn't block the window, but I don't think that was the right decision.  I also don't like that it is the same height as the rest of the horizontal surfaces because it makes everything look too uniform.

I think I'm going to cut down the washer/dryer just a bit and make a  new, longer, shorter table.

The refrigerator was a quick and easy build...I made it from small pieces of craft plywood from my scrap box.  I'm not quite done yet, it needs a coat of satin varnish to finish it.

The space between the door and the body is the gasket, painted white, but you can't tell now that the door is glued on.  The grill on the bottom of the front is a snippet of fine white toile.

I made the shelf supports with more pieces cut from the widow walk railing I didn't use on the roof.  The shelf is a piece of craft plywood trimmed so that you can't see the edges.

The shelf isn't glued to the wall, but to the top of the refrigerator, with a piece of black edged basswood between them for a spacer.  This way I can take it out of the house while I work on the rest of the kitchen, or can move it around if I decide to rearrange.

I think I'm going to replace the handle on the refrigerator with a skinnier one.  I know I need to put a fatter bar across the front of the range...one that stands away from the body of the range so that I can drape a towel over it.