The Dressmaker's Cottage: the last additions!

The very last things I needed to do to the Dressmaker's Cottage before decorating were to finish all the curtains, painting the furniture, and installing the lights.

I was stalling on the curtains for weeks as I didn't have anything suitable in my stash.  Eventually, I buckled down and found a piece of pink lace from an old slip, and ordered two more blinds from Etsy.

 Bedroom dormer window, three layers of lace glued to a small piece of card:

 Bedroom window blind (Mini Maison Miniatures):

Kitchen blind (Mini Maison Miniatures):

Once the blinds were done I moved on to finishing up the furniture.  The bed and wardrobe were both bare wood, so I painted them with an undercoat of pink, followed by crackle glaze and a white top coat.

The hat stand, ironing board, pie crust side table and bookshelf were mahogany but they needed the shabby treatment, so they got an undercoat of grey and then a top coat of white, before they were lightly distressed with sandpaper.

I decided to add pretty paper to the inside and outside of the wardrobe, and I replaced the handles with crystal knobs.

Finally, I decided to add battery lights as they are so simple and easy to install!  The sewing room got a chandelier, and the kitchen a textured dome shade, and I was pretty happy with those so I ordered a wall lamp for the bathroom, and table lamp for the bedroom and a floor lamp for the sitting room.

Ta da! Everything in the house!  I'll do a pictorial review tomorrow to look at everything properly.

ModPod: Feature wall and lighting

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am really liking the "timber" effect of the balsa sticks, today I continued the sticks up the lounge room wall.

I've decided I will line the rest of the walls, but at this point I ran out of balsa sticks, so I moved on to the lighting!

I was originally thinking of using some LED light kits which I have, but after looking at lots of pics on Pinterest, I decided that simple is often the best and decided to use a string of ready-made battery powered LED lights.  I bought a set for $3 in a discount bin and removed the plastic heart-shaped covers from the lights, leaving the bare bulbs.

I then measured out 10 equidistant spots on the ceiling - 2 rows of 5 - and made holes with a drill bit, just big enough to poke the lights through.

And voila!  Downlights!

For durability, I am looking at lining the interiors of the holes with large metal eyelets, but I haven't been able to find any the right size yet.

The Bunker: Thoughts on lighting

I've been thinking a lot about whether I want to electrify this house. It has quite deep rooms - with no windows once the facade is taken off - and it would be quite dark I think, without lights.  However, I found the 1:24 scale lights I used for my last build to be very fiddly and frustrating! They are easy enough to install, but putting the plugs back on the ends of the tiny, brittle wires drove me insane, and as a result, they are still sitting unfinished.

Besides which, there are very few commercially available lights in Art Deco style, and none that I liked in half scale.  So that leaves the option of making my own.  Small LED lights are relatively inexpensive and can be plugged into a small 3V battery pack which would be convenient as I wouldn't need a transformer and a power point nearby.  Also, the wires are much thinner and smaller and can be more easily hidden behind the false walls I plan to install.

Chip LED light kit for 3v battery

The problem is of course, that I have never made anything even remotely like a miniature light before, and I worry that my imagination outstrips my actual ability!  I guess it worst comes to worst, then I can leave them as "down lights".

I have very few pictures of the lights from the Supernatural set. There are Art Deco style pendant lights on the ceiling in the library, plus two different types of wall sconces, table lamps and downlights inside the top of the built-in bookcases.

One of the wall sconces in the library

The other rooms seem to be a combination of task lighting (desk and floor lamps) and wall sconces.  Anyway, I have ordered a few 1.8mm LEDs and a few LED chips from the US and I will see how I go!

The Fairfield: Lighting

I haven't been working on the dollhouse for a few weeks because I got fed up with the teeny tiny fittings on the 24th scale lights, in particular fitting the bi-pin bulbs. I need a magnifying glass on a stand so that I can see what I am doing properly!

The first light I fitted was the foyer chandelier which is actually a small 12th scale light and has a larger plug on the end. I had no trouble taking off the plug and refitting it. The second light was a 24th scale light and I couldn't for the life of me get the plug off, so I cut it off, and then could NOT get the plug refitted. I did eventually get it on, but after the trouble I had getting the bi-pin bulb fitted, I haven't yet checked whether it actually works.  It was at about that point that I decided that whether the lights actually work won't worry me - I just want them fitted, and if they work, then hooray! I have a very low patience threshold, so I need to move on before I get fed up with the whole project and shelve it, lol.

Anyway, I moved onto fitting the lights in the lounge room, work room, and the second hall way light. I then got out all the remaining lights and double-checked where I want to put them all. My current lighting schedule is:

Fitted:
Foyer: chandelier
Living Room: double hanging gas light
Work Room: swag light
Hall: two single candle wall lights

To fit:
Entrance: coach lamp
Living Room: gas lamp
Kitchen: single candle stick on oven*
Bedroom: double candle wall light next to french doors, and single candle stick on mantelpiece*
Study: Tiffany hanging light and matching lamp
Library:  double candle wall light next to french doors, chandelier from (attic) roof
Attic: two single bulb lights

* I'm thinking that perhaps only one light in the kitchen may not be enough, so I may take the candle stick from the bedroom and put it on the work table in the kitchen.

The Fairfield: Lighting & The Secret Room

I decided it was time to put some more thought into the lighting since I need to put in the channels for the wiring before I do any more wallpapering or flooring. I drilled holes for the lights in the foyer, lounge room, work room and the hallway lights, and started making channels in the floors and walls to feed the wiring into the hollow chimney. It's not very easy I must say - I need to find the small, pointy-ended file I have misplaced, as I think it will do a better job than the Stanley knife I have been using.

Being Christmas Eve, and having almost everything organised (yay me!), I had time to send a lot of the day pottering away on little things for the house.  I wallpapered two of the secret tower room walls - I used this paper, which I think looks suitably old and grubby:

I did some painting too. I undercoated a few pieces and the new front door and round windows, painted the ceilings in the foyer and kitchen - which I totally forgot to do before I glued in the first floor - and the back of the stairs (which I also should have done before I glued it in; live and learn).

I also punched out the pieces for the bay windows ready for prep work, and then I started playing around with the roof around the library area - before the attic floor goes in, I need to decide if and how much of the floor I will cut out to create the double height space.  I was going to add a lot of details to the ceiling, in terms of exposed beams etc, but I forgot that there is a section of roof on the back side too, which will obscure a lot of that work. Hmn.

The Fairfield: Windows & Electrical Plan

I have yet to pop out any of the pieces of the frame for the windows because I haven't been able to make up my mind about using the Gothic windows. I mulled it over a lot last night whilst I  couldn't sleep, and (I think) I finally made a decision when I realised that I could probably cut the Victorian windows I have in half and use them for the secret room windows. Or I could cut down the Gothic windows too for that matter.  I have always disliked the round windows that come with the kit, but regular windows are all too tall for that room, and you can't buy half size Victorian Houseworks windows in 1:24 scale.  I think if I cut the bottom mantle off, shorten the sides and glue the mantle back on, they will look OK?

So for the moment, my layout looks like this:

Bottom Floor: Three double sash windows.

First floor: Two sets of French Doors, off bedroom and library. Two Gothic windows in tower.

Secret Room: Two cut down Gothic windows.

Attic: Two cut down Victorian windows on the front gable (above bedroom) and the rear gable above the study.  I wasn't going to put a window above the French doors in the library, but I will have one spare to put there if I decide to.

Experimenting with the Gothic windows

I hope I can manage to cut down the windows without butchering them! I'm a bit nervous.

Later:

I cut down one of the Gothic windows and it turned out OK, but the bad news is that it looks odd with the two bigger windows below it.  I will use them on the Attic windows now, but that means I still have to find windows for the secret room, as I think the cut down Victorian windows would also look odd. I may end up ordering two round Grandt Line windows which I didn't want to do. Anyway, I will think more on that when I get to that point.


Also at this point, before I begin wallpapering I need to work out where any electrical wires will go for lamps and light that aren't ceiling mounted.  They are - at this stage - the coach lamp at the front door; the wall-mounted single light in the foyer; the Tiffany lamp in the lounge room, the gas table lamp in the library; the single candle stick on the bedroom mantle; the single candlestick in the potion room;  the wall mounted single light in the upstairs hall; the 2 x double wall mounted lights in the study.

Current Lighting Schedule (subject to change):

Entry: Coach lamp on wall beside door. Run channel on wall inside.
Foyer: Chandelier
Lounge room:  Hanging Double light & flickering grate
Work Room:  Hanging gas lamp & single candle stick on mantle
Kitchen: Single candle stick, flickering coals. Run channels to ceiling.
Bedroom: Tiffany light & Tiffany lamp. Run channel to ceiling.
Study: Wall double lights x 2. Run channels across to chimney.
Library: Chandelier and gas table lamp
Hallway: Single wall lights x 2. Run channels to ceiling.
Attic: Bare bulb (a second one would be nice).

Obviously I am going to have to decide fairly early on where the table lamps and the kitchen candle stick are going to go permanently so I can run the wiring channels, but I'm not really going to be able to do that until I have the furniture for those rooms and have decided where they are going to be located. I can probably run them straight into the floor I guess, and across the ceiling underneath, which wouldn't interfere with wallpapering. Hmn.

The Fairfield: Thoughts on Lighting

If I'm going to electrify the house, I'm going to have to do that very early on, so I'm going to have to think about how many and where they will be.

After browsing many lights on many sites, I know for sure that I want a black coach light at the front door, but other than that, I'm undecided.  I'm loving the look of the wall-mounted candle-style lights, and hurricane lamps. I'm also leaning towards wall lighting only, with non-working, ornate chandeliers, so that the lighting is dimmer and therefore a little spookier.

There will also be four working fireplaces.

Parlour:  Ornate chandelier. Hurricane table lamp? Picture light sconce over fireplace?

Hallway (downstairs):  None? Single wall sconce?

Kitchen: Single hanging light; hurricane or gas lamp style.

Dining: Chandelier. Candles on fireplace mantel x 2.

Bedroom: Candles over fireplace. Chandelier.

Library: Picture light over fireplace. Double wall lights either side. Floor lamp?

Hallway (upstairs):  Single wall sconce.

Bathroom: Not sure if this needs lighting at all, but if so, probably just a single candle wall sconce.

Attic:  I would love single, bare-bulb hanging lights like those at the Lighting Bug, but I haven't any in 1:24 scale yet.