Sunday, August 11, 2013

New/Old House


Hello all and welcome to my new followers.

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago I almost tripped over this very cute and I think coastal looking Dollhouse in the thrift store, it had a $40 price tag and there was no way I was going to leave it there!

It has been sitting on the table in the family room and I have plenty of time to think about what I might do with it. All sorts of fresh summery looks have come into mind and I am itching to make a start. I promise I am still working on Ambrosia Place but I thought you might like to here my ideas for the new one and I would welcome any thoughts from you.






As you can see it is a we bit dusty and dirty too, I think you can see the odd cobweb in there I didn't notice but I think it will be a bit of a fun project. The ceilings are a bit low and the rooms a little small but there are plenty of them and they all have interesting possibilities. I love the room with the French doors that open out to the patio, I have always wanted to do a little terrace garden and just look how the sun shines through into what I think will be a sitting room, perhaps another sitting room below, it also has a door onto a veranda. I dont think that will be the main entry as I want to put a front onto the house, so the middle room on the ground floor will be perhaps some kind of entry, I was thinking casual dinning above it but logically should it be next to the kitchen which I think will be bottom far right, it has a nice big window I would like to put the sink under.






Under the roof line will be the two bedrooms, one with a ladder that leeds into the attic storage, I think I can have all sorts of fun with white boards on the ceilings and floors of the bedrooms, I have collected some great inspiration images from  pinterestif you care to have a look at the direction I'm going in.


I love the look through the doors to the coastal grasses outside.



 This I think will be the bathroom, I like the idea of putting a bath inside that lovely little arched alcove and a sink under the window ( I think I have a thing about sinks under windows)



This is a view of the kitchen window and I'm not sure if you can see through the RL window a very sleepy dog enjoying the winter sun.



A close up of the entry and dining upstairs....hmmm I'm still not sure about the dining area? Think worn old elm table and faded chairs, hts and bags on hooks in the entry?

I'm thinking I may have a separate blog to a passion for miniatures and make it more coastal like the old one.

Well let me know your thoughts and I will leave you some images of some of my orchids and the winter sun in my garden yesterday the bad weather finally cleared to a fresh morning and bright sunshine. I hope your not all too hot over there!

ML Fi XXX









Monday, August 5, 2013

A New Life



Hello Everyone,

Two weeks since my last post and I have been very busy bringing new life to an old Dollhouse. I mentioned in my last post I have acquired a couple of extra Miniature Dwellings, both have possibly seen better days and are in need of some love and attention. 

Today I would like to show you the house my sister in law and I bought through an online auction for my niece Brooke who has developed a love for miniatures, (welcome to the club Brooke) each time she comes to visit she loves to explore Ambrosia Place which lead us to work together on a room box for her. Recently I was fortunate enough to come across a house exactly the same as Ambrosia Place and couldn't resist, it came fully furnished with nice quality furniture and was a third of the price we purchased ours for fully assembled, so we snapped it up.

Once home I realised that the original description of excellent condition was not quite so, it had been in storage for a while and was quite water damaged, I'm sure the Lady that previously owned it saw it as perfect but not perfect enough for my niece. So I set to work and who doesn't like a before and after??





The windows and doors were not in good condition, unfortunatly  I pulled out the doors before I took photos, but they were water damaged and falling apart and the windows had yellowed glue smeared all over them, painting every window frame took some time but it was worth the final result.





As you can see the inside wasn't too bad but I couldn't resist making a few changes to the decor, I hate to tell you though, with all the excitement and rush to have it ready on time I didn't take photos of the interior but I am happy to say that I put to good use the green leaf wallpaper and rug for the nursery and  lots of other extras and it looks lovely. I will hopefully take some pictures next time. There was quite a build up to the presentation, children whisked away on other activities while I snuck in and set it all up only to be revealed from under a sheet on arrival. When Brooke arrived home I said "oh it's your Birthday???" and I forgot to bring a present....but perhaps you would like this instead???? Jaw dropping disbelief was what followed and we couldn't tare her away from it!! 






Now I wish I had taken some better photos but I was cutting it very fine between completion and arrival but this will give you the general idea. I took these just before she arrived and the lighting wasn't the best. Modern colours to suit the decor of my Sister in laws house and a red door I think any little girl would love, number 10 for ten years old and if you look closely you can see a topiary tree with gardening tools and a little puppy watching on, a good example of the little treasures inside that came with the house.

Well thats it for now, I hope you enjoyed, the experience has given me lots of ideas for Ambrosia place not to mention the new/old Dollhouse, but more on that later.

A big welcome to my new followers thanks for taking the time to have a look. 

Ta,Ta for now!!!

ML Fi XX