Different furniture

Hi again,
I've been rearranging the furniture in the cottage, trying out other pieces. I haven't glued the front on yet, I really want to hinge it but just can't work out how. The front is rebated to fit the sides and I can't get a hinge to fit. So, in the meantime, the front is lose and tends to fall flat a lot if nudged...

However, I am really pleased with the brick effect. I ended up using acrylic paints to touch up some of the bricks so that they were a little less regular. I've noticed real brick houses are uneven in colour and so I think it looks better now. (The photo makes it all look a lot more yellow than it really is- I cannot get better lighting for photos at the moment, it is so rainy and gloomy we have the electric light on all the time and it makes for awful photo colouring.)




I have changed the cupboards around , I want to put some jars on the shelves and they fit better on these ones, though I think they are not quite so impressive to look at... Well that's the good thing about these houses, I can change the furniture as I please.




Until next time
Gillian

Painting the furniture

Hello again,
I've started putting some base paint colour on the bare wood furniture I bought. I'm using some left over wood stain from when we painted our garden planters. It went on well though I feel I need to do something else just to lift the final result. I also used some basic acrylic paints. These look good too, and give a deeper finish. More work is needed on both, but I like the effect of coloured furniture in the house.

Here is Thalia looking over her new furniture. I keep rearranging it at the moment but it now feels more like a proper little cottage fit for a young modern witch.



Until next time
Gillian

My little people

Hello again,
So the question is, who will live in cottage?
I found two pleasing little people who needed a new home.
This is Thalia- don't you love her name. It's from a character in a Rick Riordan book, the Heroes of Olympus, and it suited her straight away.




This is Maia, Thalia's best friend.



In the meantime I've also papered the floor with a tile effect finish. Then I cut a platform for upstairs and placed a dowel support at the corner, so now we have a small platform above where the bed will go. Maybe as a potions store, or as a place for an extra bedroom space with lots of cushion- I haven't really decided yet.

This is another try out photo...


Until next time
Gillian

Making brick walls

Hi again,
The next step for my cottage was deciding how to do the exterior walls. I wanted a textural effect so a paper finish wasn't for me. A quick google search led me to Bromley Craft Products and their realistic brick effect. Basically you apply the brick texture through a stencil to give a brick finish. My photo is a bit jaundiced (its difficult to get decent light for photos in an English winter) but I hope you get the idea. It looks much better in reality.








Over the past few weeks I've been collecting bits and pieces of furniture from Ebay. A couple just because they are brilliant as they are, and a few more as job-lots so I don't spend too much and don't have to feel guilty when I chop and paint them!
I still keep trying out the furniture. Not all will be going in this house... Some will be for other projects further down the line.
Until next time
Gillian

A new house

Hello again,
So, did you work it out? -no, it's not baking ( I do that often enough anyway). Yep, the house was the clue...
My other new house is...




This is a kit from Dolls House Emporium, the Garden Pavillion. I like it because it is small and pretty versatile. I am not the sort of person who will buy a complete dollshouse and furniture to go inside... Where is the fun in that? No, I'm going to do it all myself.
I've started with a kit and some bare wood furniture so that I can make my own style up. I'm thinking modern good witches cottage. I recently read the Modern Witch books by Deborah Geary and I want to fit in a world like that.
I plan to make a upper platform at one end of the cottage and will probably make other adaptions as I go. That is as far as my planning goes at the moment. This my dry build, a test of how it all goes together.




I also tried out the furniture to see if I had enough and to work out what else I might need- I think an cooker/Aga would be a good idea and a wash stand.




Until next time
Gillian

Another clue

Hi, Happy Christmas to you all,
Here is a Christmas clue to my new hobby...


... A project that includes many of my crafting likes and is very varied....

Soon to be revealed.

Until next time
Gillian

A new project

I have a new project that I have wanted to do since the summer... It takes me back to my childhood. John bought it as my Christmas present, but I have been naughty and, when he was in hospital recently, it "accidentally" fell open as I went by! Since then things keep happening, and a couple of additional bits have been bought, and I think it is sort of accepted that Christmas came early for me. Are you curious yet?

All will be revealed soon, I just need to take some photos in good light.

Until next time
Gillian