I've been trying to do some dollshousing every week, and have slowly filled and accessorised the sales counter, office cupboard and sink counter for my Willowcrest quilting and knitting shop. This is situated in the area which is normally the kitchen for the kit, only I cut out the wall into the hall to turn it into the office area for the shop.
This is the office shelf. The laptop and printer are from Jim's Printables site of free printies, as are some of the office products, the calculator and tape dispenser are metal minis I picked up somewhere and painted, the basket of quilting goodies on the bottom shelf came in a swap, the filing box is from Jim's site, I made the in-tray from coffee stirrers.
This is the sales counter. I put together the kit I bought at SIMP in Paris, which is boxes of little cards wound with 'Anchor' tapestry yarn. They are a bit out of scale I think, but look nice as a display in my shop counter. I filled the rest of the shop counter with a gift box display I made from a free cut-out in a magazine, and with ribbon wound onto some of the reels I assembled from a kit by 'Lisa's Little Things'. I glued a tape measure onto the top of the counter for measuring the ribbons at point of sale. Now I need to make a cash register and credit card machine, and paint my plastic telephone to go on top of the counter.
This is the sink counter, which fits under the side window. I had two fridge magnets that looked like a photocopier and a filing cabinet, so I have doctored them up (removed the magnet, covered up or painted out unwanted detail, added accessories). And I made a little curtain to go under the sink, which itself I ripped out of a cheap cabinet and glued on top of a whitewood open-shelf display unit.
This is the nearly completed office, although I have since put down a carpet which looks nice behind the sales counter.
You may remember (if you have been reading older posts) that I had an alcove under the stairs which was going to house the toilet until I realised there wasn't enough headroom. I didn't know what I was going to do with it after that, but looking through an online catalogue for something else, I suddenly had a brainwave and realised a washing machine would fit in there perfectly. Now the staff have somewhere to pre-wash their fabric, wash finished quilts etc.
And here is the state of play. As you can see the office and bathroom are largely finished, the knitting shop is pretty much finished, the quilt shop itself is still in flux, and the attic workshop area is awaiting attention.
Saturday, 18 July 2009
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Finally some work on this house
In the customer bathroom I 'frosted' the window glass by stippling it with Fabric Mod Podge quite thickly. Once dry it looks amazingly like frosted glass.
Inside I mounted a wall shelf accessorised with pretty 'bottles' and spare toilet roll, and added an ornamental 'liquid soap' container to the sink. I still haven't decided what I will do with the under-stairs closet - it may be a stockroom eventually, or I may just conceal it with a curtain.
Still loads to do on this house, on the ground floor quilt shop and on the top floor workshop area.
Monday, 2 February 2009
No, it isn't finished yet
Thank you, Erika, for prompting me to post again. I've been meaning to for a while, just hadn't got around to taking any pics. I haven't been doing much work on the house as my real job has been pretty busy, but I have now filled most of the shelves in the quilt shop. There are still loads of accessories to add, to dress all the nooks and crannies, but here are some pics of the work in progress so that you know I haven't just vanished into the ether.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
Still winding fabric bolts
Anyone still reading this blog is likely wondering if I have died. I am still slowly winding fabric bolts for the quilt shop, and probably have the shelves about 75% full now. I've also bought a few more things for the house at the big Miniatura show in Birmingham. And I made this cute Indian elbow basket from a kit.
Friday, 22 August 2008
Earthquake strikes house
Not my house, just the Willowcrest. I decided it was time to move it out of the kitchen, where it has been since I started constructon in October. The main construction was completed a few months ago and since then I am really only working on furnishing the inside. For quite a while the house was on the dining table and we were eating on the picnic table. Then the mostly completed house got moved to the picnic table and we got the big table back. And to be honest I haven't been working on it much, not least because I didn't have enough working room on the little picnic table (I am one of those people that can fill up any given worksurface with cr*p and end up actually working in a clear area about six square inches right on the edge.) So today I took the big decision and moved the house up to my bedroom, and all the tools and bits and pieces and RECLAIMED THE KITCHEN! Hilariously, neither Ds nor Dh have noticed yet, even though they came back to the house while I was in the middle of doing it. I think the mess has been there so long that we have all developed a blind spot for that corner. Needless to say, the kitchen seems enormous now that the massive blot has been cleared away. My plan is to continue to work on furnishing the house in my bedroom (which is also my sewing room). Here is a before and after pic of the kitchen.
The yarn shop is pretty much finished now, although I can always add more accessories. So now I have started winding fabric bolts for the quilt shop. I have cut white mount card into pieces 5/8" x 2 inches. If I cut fabric pieces a little under four inches wide, then fold them in half and iron the fold, I can wind that around the card a few times then glue down the loose end. It makes a fairly realistic looking fabric bolt. Luckily, as a quilter, I have a wide selection of cotton fabric patterns and colours to choose from. It's going a bit quicker than winding yarn balls, but I still need lots and lots of them.
Friday, 1 August 2008
What's happening?
Sorry about the long silence - my momentum has slowed to a crawl the last few months. I never thought that when I set up in our kitchen back in October, that the house would still be here nine months later. Luckily my family are being very supportive about it - they are so used to it being there now that I think it just blends into the general clutter.
I have been making a few furniture kits up for the shops, which I have blogged at my other blog here. I've also continued to wind dozens of balls of wool and have now filled all the displays in the yarn shop.
So the yarn shop is pretty much finished apart from more signage and accessories, and it is time to start creating fabric bolts for the quilt shop. Again, I want to go for a very well stocked look - I think a lot of dollshouse shops fall down because there isn't enough stock to be realistic - real shops are usually pretty crowded with goods for sale.
Dijon UK are having a 50% off sale this week and I have sent off for a modern sink to go in the office (what is normally the kitchen in the Willowcrest). I already have some cool fridge magnets that look like a photocopier and a filing cabinet.
Monday, 16 June 2008
Still winding balls of yarn
I am (very) slowly filling up the yarn studio with balls and skeins of yarn. I can do about 18 in an hour before I get bored. I want the shop to look very well stocked, so I need loads. Not much else is happening apart from I stained the assortment of whitewood furniture for the quilt shop on the main floor so that it all matches. I have sent off for some sewing accessory kits from Lisa's Little Things in America which will help to stock the counters.
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