Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Mahogany Chippendale Secretary

Here's a little secretary I finished recently from a kit.

I just love these House of Miniatures kits; they go together so nicely and the end result looks great, I think.

I've been piddling around recently, working on furniture and accessories rather than building Myrtlewood. The truth is, I'm mostly building the Manor to have some place to display my furniture and accessories. But now I'm going to crack the whip on myself and get back to my construction duties. Sigh.
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10 comments:

  1. doraJuly 16, 2009 at 4:05 AM

    Es precioso este mueble. Me encanta.

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  2. AraJuly 16, 2009 at 7:42 AM

    I am right there with you on making the accessories before the actual house!! haha. But I think it helps you build the house by having a plan of what goes where :) The Secretary looks great!! I need to check out those kits! -ara

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  3. Amanda S.July 16, 2009 at 8:40 AM

    It's super cute! You always do a meticulous job on the furniture. Well, everything really.

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  4. Tallulah BelleJuly 16, 2009 at 3:38 PM

    It looks wonderful...I've never seen a furniture kit but this is really great. Lots of detail in it.

    I do think you at least need the house so you know what to make but it all has to be done and no one says there has to be any order to it :-)

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  5. kaydeeJuly 17, 2009 at 12:43 AM

    Oh what a lovely piece!! How long did it take to put it together? I always wanted one like that...only life size. :o)
    Great job!

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  6. Heather Cutting-RaylJuly 17, 2009 at 11:34 AM

    Hey Texas Belle! There's an award for you on my blog! Come on over and get it! Love your house!

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  7. TuuliaJuly 18, 2009 at 8:28 AM

    This looks very nice like everything here in your blog!!

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  8. smalltownsentimentsJuly 19, 2009 at 4:50 PM

    I found your blog a few weeks ago and am really enjoying the process of how you are building this dollhouse.

    What did you use as the 'chicken wire' in the doors?

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  9. Sans!July 27, 2009 at 11:55 PM

    You and me both, Belle, accessories before house..lol. When I read this post, I realise how long I have been away from the blogosphere, cos you know, how I always want to be one of the early birds to see what you have been up to!

    As usual, you did a great job with this cupboard. I saw a similar one in Bangkok and was so tempted to get it but it was S$25.00! Maybe next trip.

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  10. Texas BelleAugust 10, 2009 at 10:24 PM

    Thanks all! The kits, by the way, are House of Miniatures by Exacto. I highly recommend them - they come with very good and easy-to follow instructions. You'll probably have to buy them on eBay or Craigslist, as they haven't been produced since the 80's.

    I estimate that this secretary probably took me 5-7 hours total to put together. It's hard to know exactly, because first I sand and stain, then wait a day or so for the stain to dry, then glue some parts, wait for those to dry, glue more, wait again, etc. Then I put a few coats of polyurethane sealer on it, and of course have to wait for it to dry in between coats. I put this together over three days, but I worked on lots of other things in the interim.

    For the "chicken wire," I found some netting at the fabric store that just happened to have hexagon-shaped holes. I couldn't believe how lucky I was when I found it! I painted it with acrylic paint (a mixture of soft black and burnt umber) to stiffen it before cutting it out and gluing it in the cabinet doors.

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