Yesterday was a creative day – Don was recording music all afternoon, and I was working on miniatures. I stained the table that I made a while back. It’s going into the kitchen at Hummingbird Cottage. Photos will be coming. And I painted and wallpapered the bedroom in the English Cottage.

Wallpapering these little cottages is a wee bit difficult as there are nooks and overhangs and eaves and whatever name you want to call them. In other words, they’re very much like our real life upstairs rooms.

Now honestly, I forgot about that wicker table and did not choose these colors so that I could use it in this space.

But I can and isn’t that nifty?

There are different ways to wallpaper a dollhouse, but I do – for better or worse – what I did for Hummingbird Cottage. I grab a piece of paper – usually something I’ve pulled out of the printer – and I place it against the wall and trace each section, including where the windows are. I place the pattern on the wallpaper and trace it once again, making sure to include the windows and doors. Then I cut it out, and tweak it a thousand times as I try to fit it to the actual wall. This was much more finicky than Hummingbird Cottage. By the time I did the last wall, the one on the right, I was over it.

I wanted to pull out one of the colors in the wallpaper for the sloped ceiling (is that what you call it?) And I wanted to do it with paint I had on hand. So I mixed a color that echoed the green-gray of the vines but was a bit brighter, because I didn’t want it to look too gray.

Now, for the floor…

I have no furniture for the bedroom yet. I do have that wicker table and I have my eye on a bed. I’d also like to find a narrow wardrobe and a smallish chair. And maybe a narrow fireplace.

I want to share a movie that I think you’d love. It’s on Netflix and it stars Sophia Loren. It’s called The Life Ahead. It’s the first movie she’s done in ten years (she’s 86) and it’s directed by her son, Edoardo Ponti. It’s wonderful. The cast is uniformly excellent. The story centers around a young boy named Momo played by Ibrahima Gueye. Gueye is simply extraordinary in this role. Words cannot express how talented this kid is, how natural and moving. And it’s beautifully directed. There’s much I could say about it but I don’t want to spoil your experience if you haven’t yet seen it. Watch it. Your heart and soul will be full.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.