Dolls for my Fairfield

I haven't been blogging in a while as real life gets in the way of miniatures from time to time. I've been re-inspired to work on my Fairfield. I have lots to do and lots planned. Over the next few weeks I will be working on the exterior and doing some more finishing work on the inside.

I'm so excited I received my Victorian Dolls from Pat Boldt! They're just amazing. The detail is exquisite. Pat made me a Victorian Man, Woman, Little Girl, Little Boy, and a Baby. I love them so much! They have already moved in!

Victorian Lady, Baby and Little Girl

Victorian Man and Little Boy

 I will take more pictures and post them. I was just so excited that I wanted to get a picture of them out there.

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom was the next room to tackle. I wallpapered it with a burgundy wallpaper but it need something else. I added an extra piece of wallpaper at the bottom of the room.

Extra Wallpaper Detail

Then I added some molding to highlight the patterns in the wallpaper.

Molding Detail

Master Bedroom Windows

I'm very happy with the final outcome. Next I will need to work on the upstairs hallway and bathroom then I will be ready to add the attic floor. 

Completed Master Bedroom

This side of the house is really coming together. I'm happy with the progress.

Overall look at parlor, dining room, library, and master bedroom

Creating a half scale working Grandfather Clock

So I thought I would try my hand at creating a half scale working, yes I said working Grandfather Clock! This project has been a great challenge. I started by looking for clock kits as my thought was that I could do some modifications to make it 1/2 inch scale. In my hunt I came across the House of Miniatures Grandmother Clock. This clock is less than half the size of a 1 inch scale clock so its perfect.

House of Miniatures Grandmother Clock

The next step was to find a small working clock that I could take apart. I found a cheap one that I didn't mind disassembling. I had to be very careful removing the hands as they were extremely fragile. I wasn't sure at this point if I was even going to be able to get it back together.

Disassembled Working Clock

All the parts and pieces

I then had to drill a small hole through the face of the metal piece of the clock. I replaced the original clock face with the face that came with the House of Miniatures kit. The clock hands were the next challenge. I wanted to use the clock hands that came with the kit but the holes in the hands are slightly different sizes than then original ones. My solution for this was trim the holes off of the kit hands and then glue these ones to the original hands. This worked well but was a bit tricky.

New clock face that came with the kit

Assembled new working face!

Next I started to glue some of the pieces of the kit together. Being careful to follow the steps in the kit.

Assembled pieces

Next I started the staining process. I started by carefully sanding the pieces as smooth as possible. Then I did a coat of stain. Once it was completely dry I lightly sanded again and did another coat of stain.

First coat of stain

Now that that is drying I have started to put some of the interior hardware pieces together. The kit includes a pendulum that has to be assembled and 2 chains with weights that also have to be assembled. This is as far as I have gotten for today. I am patiently waiting for the finial coat of stain to dry so that I can assemble the clock. Final pictures to come soon!

Interior clock pieces (non working decorative only)

A little of this, a little of that

I was able to spend a lot of time on the Fairfield today. I worked on all sorts of different areas. I started by putting together a House of Miniatures mirror kit. The kit is actually 1" scale. These kits are not made anymore. You can find a lot available on ebay. They're really easy to put together and finish nicely.

House of Miniatures Kit

The mirror seemed a bit big in its original configuration so I turned it on its side. I changed were the trim pieces went. Now it fits nicely above my fireplace in the parlor. It does look quite grand!

I used the same stain and mantel so that it matches

Today I also worked on painting the embossed plastic ceiling sheet for the kitchen. I first cut the pieces to size.

Main kitchen piece and bay window piece

Next I painted the pieces with a copper leaf paint. The paint went on really easily. To protect the paint since I was concerned with chipping I put on a coat of mod podge to seal it.

I love how this turned out. It really makes it look like an authentic tin ceiling. Next in the kitchen I have to decide what I'm going to do with the walls. Most of the wall space is going to be covered with my cabinets.

I also finished wallpapering the master bedroom and installed the hardwood flooring.

To finish off the day I spent sometime working on the upstairs hallway and bathroom. I figured out how I'm going to do the railings at the top of the stairs. The below picture is just a dry fit. I still need to paint and stain the balusters. After staring at the picture below for a while I'm not sure that I need the set of railings that go against the wall. It looks like its too much. What do you think?

I also cut the hardwood flooring for the hallway and the "tile" bathroom flooring. I feel very accomplish today with everything that I got done. It was great to have an all out mini day!

Bead board in Fairfield Library

In an earlier post about the Fairfield Library I had mentioned that I was considering adding bead board to the walls. Well I decided to go for it. It has really dressed it up and added even more interest.

Stained Pieces

I started by prepping the pieces. I used the same walnut stain that I had used to make the walnut mantels. I used two coats of stain.

Bead board is in place and I've started adding the molding.

The pieces around the fireplace were a bit difficult so I decided to cut them and then glue these pieces together before installing them. It made the process a lot easier. No matter how hard you try it seems that the rooms are never perfectly square. You just have to find a happy medium.

Completed Molding

Fireplace

 

The fireplace is taking shape. I still need to do some touch up and to add the hearth. I have to paint the pieces and decide if I'm going to do a brick hearth on leave the wood showing.

Feels great to make more progress on this house. I can't wait to get everything finished. Who am I kidding we are never truly finished! LOL

Parlor Ceiling

Its been a while since I've posted an update on my Fairfield. Summer is always busy and since its so short in New Hampshire I do everything I can to get out and enjoy it. What I have had time to do is to work a bit on the parlor ceiling. In the parlor I decided to paper the ceiling. I then added extra details by cutting some other papers to create an edge and four squares in the corners.

Parlor Ceiling

I also added trim to create some depth to the ceiling. I'm debating whether it needs just a little bit more detail. I haven't decided what that might be yet.

Trim added

The baseboard is also almost all done in the parlor. Next I will have to finalize the fireplace mantel and glue it in place.

Look the light works! Thank goodness!

Lots of finish work still to do to cover the edges!

Bespaq Piano

 I love the picture above! The Bespaq Piano looks great in this parlor. I'm going to be making curtains for the windows. They will be rich, elegant and totally Victorian. Still tons to do! I love this little house!

More dining room detail work

Today I spent time continuing the work in the dining room. As I posted earlier I have put a lot of detail into the ceiling. I added more trim detail to finish the ceiling work.

Trim pieces for the ceiling and baseboard pieces

Ceiling before edge trim

Some edging added

Completed Ceiling!

I also spent time doing the baseboard around the room. The small pieces have been a challenge to cut and to paint. I think by the end of this project I will have 45 degree angles down to a science!

Of course I had to see how some of my furniture is going to look!

New photos of entry hall

I've taken a few new photo's of the work I've been doing on the entry hall. It's coming along nicely.

I still have a lot to do! More trim, figure out the front door colors, and lastly details and accessories.

Fairfield Entry Way Work

I decided to do some work on the entry way to the Fairfield. This tight little spot is certainly challenging. I have closed off the second door that leads to the kitchen. The kitchen in the Fairfield is pretty small and I needed the wall space. I also added a window.

Closed off Kitchen exterior door

Adding additional window to small entry way

Completed window

Adding the window has helped to brighten the hallway and has added another view. Looking through the window you will be able to see the staircase and right into the parlor. I'm really happy that I made this modification.

Window lets in lots of light

So that I can get my hands in the tight space for wallpapering I did glue just the bottom half of some the the walls. Now they are in place I have wallpapered and put in embossed ceiling paper. The ceiling paper comes as bright white. I painted it the trim color so that it will blend in with the moldings. I'm going to do as much of the trim as possible in this hallway, crown molding and window trim. I'm also going to cut all the of the baseboard to size but wait on installing until the walls are glued to the base. Just in case I need to hide any imperfections.

Window trim and baseboard not glued yet

The front door of the Fairfield is very important. Again because this is such a small space I wanted to make sure that you can see into this room. I did a little modification to the houseworks Victorian door. I loved the feel and look of the Victorian door but it really closes off the space so I actually combined two doors. I took the houseworks oval door out of its door frame and placed it in the Victorian door frame.

I started with these two doors

Took the doors apart

This is how the completed door will look

I did run into a catch with this though. The oval door is quite a bit narrower than the Victorian door. I had to take some balsa wood to fill in the gap. Next I will have to decide what color I will paint it.

Added balsa to fill the gap

For lighting in the hallway I'm going to have a hurricane lamp on a table. The wiring for the light will run under the house.

Now that the entry way is complete (for the most part) the stairs need to be permanently placed.