Status Update

Hello everyone! I know I've been quite absent of late, and I've really missed working on minis and keeping up with all of your great projects. January and February are always my busiest months at work. I thought I'd start working on my minis again in March, but a beloved pet was diagnosed with intestinal lymphoma and, while he seems to be doing really well on the chemo, the emotional rollercoaster of caring for and worrying about him has left me a bit uninspired, I'm afraid. I've also been working a lot in my garden (here in Houston, Texas, spring and fall are the primary gardening times; few dare to do so during our hot, humid summers) and on a few projects around my real-life house (I painted the walls and installed a chair rail in my guest bedroom - a LOT more difficult to do in real-life than in miniature, lol!). In addition, my laptop has finally bit the dust, so I'm unable to upload photos for the time being.

Notwithstanding all of my excuses, I am planning a return to minis in the near future. I'm attending the Chicago International miniatures show next week and taking a workshop (my first show and workshop!), so I'm certain I'll return from that really inspired and with lots of ideas. I'm really looking forward to the show and workshop (and seeing Chicago, as I've never been there before). I'll try to take some photos and post them here (assuming I am able to either resuscitate my laptop or just buy a new one). Are any of you planning to attend?

See you soon!

What I've Been Up To

Hello from Cairo! My husband and I are currently in the middle of a three-week trip to Egypt and Israel. Since I like to keep this blog strictly miniatures-only, I've created another blog to journal my travels. If you'd like to visit it and see some photos, click here.

We'll be back in a week or so; I can't wait to catch up with everything you've all been up to!

Foyer Walls

Here you can see I've built a wall for the foyer.
Click here to read the rest of this entry...
Actually, I built two walls at the same time (and the assembly-line process really helped speed things up a bit). Here's the other one:

Here's an overview shot for some perspective.

The front door will be in the wall near the bottom of the photo. To the right is the doorway to the dining room, which I'm almost finished with. To the left is the doorway to the parlor, which I've not yet begun. Toward the top of the photo is the ballroom. Eventually, there will be a grand curving staircase in this foyer, leading up to the second floor.

I'm pretty excited about the crown molding I created for the entry. I used some leftover molding I already had for the top portion and some quarter-round for the lower portion, but for the decorative molding in between, I used some braided trim I bought at the fabric store. This what it looked like prior to painting.

And this is a detail shot of it after painting it.

This first time, I glued on the trim before painting the entire piece, which was a bit of a mistake. It took a long time, and probably about 10 coats of paint, to get in all those nooks and crannies. Next time, I'll paint the wood backing separately, and then maybe dip the trim in paint to get it all covered before assembling it. If that works better, I'll let you know.

Dining Room: Pocket Doors

When I decided I wanted double doors leading into Myrtlewood's dining room, I didn't know exactly how I'd design them. There isn't enough clearance on either side of the doors - they would block the staircase if they opened into the foyer, and would interfere with the cabinet doors and furniture if they opened into the dining room. After mulling this over a bit, I came up with the perfect solution - pocket doors!
Click here to read the rest of this entry...
Installing pocket doors required me to tear out some of the framing I'd already erected, so I put it off for a while, but I've finally finished them. I built the doors out of prepurchased panelling and door frame molding, although I did have to do some modifications to get the top panels sized correctly.

I rigged up some window frame molding I had lying around to create an upper track along which the doors slide. Here's a picture of it from the back (as you can see, I haven't started on the foyer walls yet).

Of course, once I painted everything, the doors didn't slide very easily at all. This is the same problem I've had with the windows, but I think I've found a solution. I used a bit of Slip It Sliding Compound (purchased at Woodcraft) to lubricate the track, and the doors slide much more easily now. I'm definitely going to use this stuff on the windows, too.

I wasn't sure what hardware I'd use; all the standard dollhouse hardware seems to consist of doorknobs, and what would be the point of doorknobs on sliding doors? But then, in the woodworking section of my local Hobby Lobby, I came across a package of clasps. I think their actual purpose is to be used on wooden boxes, but one side looked a lot to me like a door handle. There were four in a package for US$1.49, which is a lot less than what dollhouse stores charge for their doorknobs. I had to cut off the ends and file them down a bit, but I think they work perfectly for these doors.

Let me know what you think!

I'm Still Here

Well, it's certainly been a while since I've posted! I spent several weekends working on the dining room windows, then taking them apart, redesigning them, putting them back together and taking them apart yet again. I despise them now. I think I became really uninspired for a while because of those silly things.

Anyway, I think I've finally figured out how I'm going to finish them, but I've lost my energy and patience for them for a while, so I've turned to other projects until I feel like tackling them again.

Here you can see the draperies I've made for the dining room. They were a lot of fun to make, and have kind of reengergized me and renewed my creativity. Please ignore the partially-finished windows behind them.
Click here to read the rest of this entry...
I've learned from lots of online reading that the best fabrics to use for miniatures are silk and 100% cotton. My favorite place to shop for small-scale cotton prints is my local quilt shop. They have so many adorable or beautiful scale prints that my difficulty lies in choosing between them all!

Now if only I could find a similar source with a huge variety of tiny trims and laces! I can dream, can't I? (By the way, if you happen to know of such a place, please, pretty please, let me know.)

These were so much fun to make, I've been designing miniature draperies in my sleep the past several nights. I do so wish I could just snap my fingers and have the entire Manor built, so I could spend all my time working on the fun stuff!

One-Year Blogiversary

Today it's been a year since I started this blog and the building of Myrtlewood Manor. At the time, I just wanted an online site to journal the building process. I never guessed there were so many of you out there doing the same thing! Over the past year, I've had the opportunity to meet (online) and be inspired by so many fellow miniaturists. I've really developed a lot creatively and technically, and that's thanks in no small part to all you kind folks who so generously share your miniature endeavors and techniques. I look forward with eager anticipation to each new post by all my new friends.

Year 1 Progress Report:
In the first year of building, I've managed to build the base, frame the first floor, brick the front porch, complete all the floors on the first floor, build all four walls for the dining room, and build a wall of bookcases for the library. When taking breaks from construction, I've built some furniture from kits, as well as tried my hand at a number of other accessories. I've also worked out most of the color scheme for Myrtlewood, which was not easy given my indecisive and perfectionist nature, and amassed quite a few of the fabrics, paints and wallpaper I'll need to decorate the various rooms.

Grand Plans for the Future:
Since the planning stages, I've estimated the building of Myrtlewood as about a 10-year project. In Year 2, I hope to complete the library, the parlor and the entrance hall and tackle the wiring. In Year 3, I plan to build the kitchen and butler's pantry, the music room, the ballroom and the grand curving staircase in the main hall, as well as install the ceilings and light fixtures for the first floor. Years 4 through 6 should see the completion of the second floor, as well as the building of the grand front porch with columns and some work on the exterior of the Manor. In Years 7 through 9, I plan to complete the third floor and start work on the roof. Finally, I'll use Year 10 to finish the roof and exterior of the Manor, as well as any final interior or exterior finish work still needed.

Whew! After all that, I figure it will take me at least 10 years to make all the furnishings and accessories. And then? Well, I can't think that far in advance, but if I'm still into miniatures in 19 years, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with some other project to tickle my fancy.

Oil Paintings

Okay, I know I'm supposed to be working on the Manor, but these were very fun to make and took very little time (and I do need something to do while waiting for paint to dry, don't I?).
Click here to read the rest of this entry...
These are just printed from my large file of saved images of art. I think these particular images came from Christie's site. I like to use lesser-known or unknown works of art, because I don't want it to be immediately apparent that these are fakes.

The frames were very cheap; I can't remember exactly what they cost, but I think it was around US$3 for both. They were sort of a dull gold color all over, so I "antiqued" them with some burnt umber paint.

Once I'd sized and printed off the pictures, I texturized them to make them look more like oil paintings. I'd read about a gel medium you can paint over a print to give it texture, but it was late at night and I was impatient to try these out on my wall. So I experimented with Aleene's tacky glue. Using a small brush, I painted the glue right over the prints using short, choppy strokes to build up texture. I'm quite pleased with the results, and happy I saved myself some money, too. I won't be buying that gel medium after all, because glue works so well.

Dining Room Wall 3

As you can see, I've completed the third wall for the dining room at Myrtlewood Manor.
Click here to read the rest of this entry...
You may notice there are small spaces in the corners and that the moulding doesn't quite match up in each corner. I haven't permanently installed the walls yet (it's much easier to make minor adjustments while I can still remove them); once I do, I plan to correct these imperfections with wood filler.

I still have to install the windows; I've been working on them but they may take another few weeks to finish. Painting all those little parts can get a bit tedious. I find myself taking frequent breaks, which means that my progress has been quite slow. I'll post more pictures when I finally complete them.

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.

Pedestal Tables

I found these beautiful egg stands on Amazon - about US$8 for two - and thought they would make really ornate pedestal tables for Myrtlewood's ballroom.
Click here to read the rest of this entry...


These are made of some sort of metal and a very nice weight; I guess they have to be heavy enough to hold the marble or stone eggs they are sometimes used to display. They were a little too shiny right out of the box, so I used some burnt umber paint to tone them down and age them a bit.

I made the "marble" tops from polymer clay.

I made two of these for the ballroom. I also bought a few ostrich egg holders; they're shorter but wider around. I haven't decided exactly what to do with them yet - maybe an entrance table or a chess/game table? Let me know if you have any ideas.