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You are here: Home / Archives for decorating

Planking, Mixing & Meeting Us Halfway

December 8, 2013 at 9:18 am by Claudia

After shuttling back and forth between the two of us this morning, Scout planted herself here:

scouthalfway

Exactly halfway between her dad’s chair and mine.

She’s had it with us.

We’re due for some snow this afternoon. How much, I don’t know, as the last forecast was off by a more than a few inches. It’s COLD. I’m wrapped in my crocheted throw as I type this. Bundle up, everyone! I know that this frigid air mass has covered much of the country. Stay safe, stay warm. This is when I realize how much more efficient our new oil burner is. This particular delivery of oil has lasted much longer than it used to. Yay! We’re saving money! (We’d better be, after the cost of that new burner!)

This is the idea that I was pondering for the the dollhouse craft/studio/office space. I finally bit the bullet and worked on it yesterday.

dollhouse plank walls

I thought it would be neat to have a plank wall. It’s not finished yet and I have to do some touch up painting and work with the trim, but I’m pleased so far. This kind of work takes several hours. Trimming the craft sticks, painting, measuring, fitting, gluing, and my neck gets sore from contorting my body so that I can work in the rooms. It’s darkish outside this morning, so the photo isn’t the best, but it will give you an idea of what’s happening.

Now, I’m wrestling with whether I do this all the way around the room, which seems especially daunting, or whether I go for a contrast on the other walls by using wallpaper. I’m leaning that way. Maybe those plank walls were original to the house and the owner decided to keep them because she has a funky, artistic side. I’ve already got my eye on some striking wallpaper – a bit more vivid than that used in the rest of the house. Maybe the top half the remaining walls will be wallpapered and the bottom half will be planked? Hmmm. I already have lots of ideas as to what I want to hang on these walls.

The great thing about a dollhouse is that you can decorate, experiment and re-do for a small amount of money – unlike a real house. Redoing anything in our real house is beyond our means at the moment. But a few bucks for wallpaper and sticks and craft paint? That I can afford.

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday:

dhmixer1

Eeeeek! I am swooning here.

dollhouse kitchen aid mixer

You can’t see it, but it even has a cord.

dollhouse mini kitchen aid mixer

We have the life-sized version of this mixer in yellow. I much prefer this color.

Can you stand such cuteness? Don couldn’t get over the detail. I’ll tell you one thing, it sure is a lot lighter to lift and carry than our life-sized version.

Some of you may be getting rather tired of all the dollhouse posts but, hey, this is what I’m doing at the moment. My creative juices are shouting out “The dollhouse, the dollhouse!” And so, that’s where I’ll be.

If I’m not shoveling.

Happy Sunday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: decorating, dollhouse, Scout 79 Comments

Making a Snow Globe

December 2, 2013 at 9:46 am by Claudia

When to decorate for Christmas? Some start decorating before Thanksgiving. Others wait until December. My dad’s family didn’t put up their Christmas Tree until Christmas Eve. Each of us has a tradition, a preferred time to start in all the hoopla.

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I have a rule: absolutely no decorating until at least the second week of December. I don’t like the bleeding over from one holiday to another that seems to rule the world of commerce and even our world of blogging. October = Halloween. November = Thanksgiving (and my birthday.) December = Christmas. I like some breathing space between my holidays. If I decorate too early, I find that by the time Christmas actually rolls around, I’m so used to seeing all the decorations that I don’t really see them anymore. The magic is long gone.

Anyway, when it’s time to decorate, I avoid themes like the plague. We use our vintage and beloved ornaments. We hang a wreath on the door. We decorate our little white tree in the living room and the big tree in the den. Simple.

Yesterday, I put together the only Christmas decoration that will be on display until I officially start decorating. It’s something I created a couple of years ago, when I  found a vintage Necco candy jar in an antique shop. I made a snow globe. Or as I called it at the time, a Necco Snow Globe.

Making a Snowglobe

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I started with the jar. It’s quite large, about 13 inches in height, and is in the Art Deco Style. It’s one of my favorite finds.

mon2

Because of its design, I am able to turn it on its side.

mon3

It’s very simple. Buy some Kosher Salt or Epsom Salt.

mon4

Decide what you want in your display. In my case, I’m using these fir trees.

mon5

And this little Putz house.

And a tiny pine cone.

Fill the bottom of your jar with the coarse salt.

mon6

And add your scenic elements.

mon6a

And you’re done.

Oooh. Isn’t it pretty?

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It couldn’t be simpler. You can use any size jar, from a tiny baby food jar or salt shaker to a large jar like this one.

Who doesn’t love a snow globe?

I was a bit low on Kosher Salt and I’m going to buy some more today because I want that layer of snow to be deeper than it is.

Just like the first time I put the snow globe together, Don came in the door and noticed it right away. (This isn’t always the case!)

Do you make your own snow globes? And when do you start decorating?

I must take a moment to acknowledge the derailment of the Metro North commuter train yesterday. Four people were killed and many injured. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in this terrible accident. This particular line – the Hudson Line – is the train I have taken countless times when commuting into Manhattan.

Happy Monday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Filed Under: Christmas, decorating, DIY 47 Comments

Spectacular Sunrise & Dollhouse Decorating

November 20, 2013 at 9:05 am by Claudia

sunrise2

Yesterday morning’s sunrise. Barely awake and having just let Scout out, I stumbled back in the house, grabbed my old camera which sits at the ready in the kitchen for just this sort of thing, and got this shot. Timing is everything (something I seem to say weekly on this blog). A minute later, the spectacular colors were gone.

I used the same shot on my photo blog yesterday. (There’s also a link on the sidebar.) I started it with the intention of posting a photo a day in order to better my photography skills. After a hiatus, I’ve recently started posting there again. It’s on Blogger and I have to say that after wrestling with posting photos and tweaking the site, I now realize just how much I love WordPress. But on Blogger it will remain because I don’t want to hassle with a domain name or anything like that. At least not until I see if I can maintain my post consistency.

Last night was our coldest night so far, with temperatures dipping down into the mid-twenties. There is frost over everything this morning. Once again, I rescued the potted impatiens from the porch and brought them inside. I wonder just how long I’ll get away with this before the inevitable happens and I forget to check the weather forecast, waking up to shriveled plants? Any guesses?

Dollhouse noodling: a few things I had ordered from Miniatures arrived yesterday. Part of the order consisted of more chair rails and pieces of wood trim to frame the remaining two windows that I haven’t touched. But there were a couple of fun items as well.

I’ve had this idea for over a year and I finally made it happen:

copperpots

Eeeek! I’m swooning a bit here. The shelves are part of an inexpensive Michael’s cabinet that I took apart. In doing so, I lost the bottom shelf. Not to worry, I had an idea. I finally ordered a mini curtain rod and some copper pots and voilà! Now the little dollhouse kitchen has the warmth of hanging copper pots above the stove, with one ready to go on top of the Aga.

Dollhouses are such a wonderful way to indulge all your decorating fantasies. Barring a lottery win, I could never afford an Aga. There’s no space here to hang copper pots and it doesn’t really matter because I don’t have any. But I do in my dollhouse kitchen!

And I love, love farmhouse sinks. Maybe I will have one someday, but in the meantime:

runningwater

I have a farmhouse sink in the dollhouse kitchen. Yesterday, the faucets and handles arrived. Using my dollhouse plumbing skills, I installed them and now we have ‘running water’ in the kitchen. Double Eeeek!

Poor Don. He innocently sits in the living room trying to do his thing and I’m constantly calling him over to the dollhouse to look at what I’ve just done. Bless his heart, he gets up and peers into the kitchen and says all the right things. Yesterday, while trying to look into the kitchen, he accidentally hit this unit and it went flying out of the kitchen. I had a tense moment or two until I saw that there was no damage. Don’s hands are simply too big for this little kitchen. Actually, so are mine. Trying to glue that curtain rod into the shelf unit was a pain in the butt!

I’ve spent hours looking at dollhouse miniatures on Etsy. Oh my goodness. I did order a couple of small things and eventually they will be winging their way to me from…Spain! I can’t wait.

My friend Norma, who is a talented miniaturist, shared this link to her Pinterest board, chock full of great tutorials. You might want to check it out!

Happy Wednesday.

ClaudiaSignature140X93

Tagged With: decorating, dollhouseFiled Under: decorating, dollhouse, nature 40 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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