More red and green

Progress Inside & Outside

More geraniums - this time in a hanging basket.  That front door called out for a basket of colour hanging there.  For now it is geraniums. 

 It might change in the future, but for now it is geraniums.  They can be unhooked and changed in the future if I want to. But I think the geraniums look nice. 

 And I'm particularly proud of the little hanger - I made it out of the strip of metal edging from the metal rose leaf sheet that I made the climbing rose for Rosebud Cottage.  It had a thin edging around all four sides and I kept it.  One of the strips was perfect for this little hook.  It could be curled around into shape with my fine tweezers, cut with scissors and glued with plain white wood glue, with a spot of tacky glue for a quicker grab.  I didn't use any superglue though I thought I'd need to, and was pleased about that because superglue and I don't get along very well no matter how careful I am! 

So that's the outside.  I've also been busy on the inside though I would have liked to have had a lot more completed.  First there was the lighting.  I fed that through the back wall and across a groove in the ceiling, which I then filled with wood filler.  I just have to figure out how to get the light shade that I want to use over the light - the hole is too small to have fed the wires through and drilling a larger hole just resulted in destroying the shade, which is a jewellery finding.  I think I'll have to resort to another alternative somehow.

The walls are done with a wallpaper that I printed out from a book I bought from Sandie Burchell.  I have all of her printable books for miniature wallpaper, fabric and quilts etc.  I printed the paper out on the option for 6 to a page to reduce it.

It has a lovely subtle pattern, in a pretty green.  I also printed some out on silk organza from Crafty Paper for curtains but that wasn't very successful - it was too fine for the pattern to show. 

The rug is one of Sandie's patterns as well, printed on some cotton lawn from the same source.  It also came out a bit light once I peeled the lawn off the backing so I added some of the scrap lawn to the back of it and it looks okay.  The edges are folded over and glued underneath. 

The fireplace is the Victorian style one from Petite Properties, and there is another one upstairs.  I have just painted the surround brown for a wood finish, then the interior is black as is the wall behind it.  I was tempted to do little tiles on the sides but ran out of enthusiasm for doing that because I wanted to get on with furnishing the room.

So here it is, with a 'trial run' of furniture - some of which will probably change.

The green wing chair to the left of the fireplace still leaves room for a book case in the alcove.  I'm pretty certain the entertainment unit will go, and I'll probably put a smaller dining set in there - I always worry about leaving a decent pathway for my mini people to move around in the house lol.

I had the lamp from the 2007 Sydney mini fair and it was the perfect colour.  The green wing-back chair is a kit from Karen Benson.  It still needs a bit of trim to cover the raw edges on the sides - being a plain fabric, they show.  The lounge and chair are from Pam Junk - I  really like her kits and have a lot of them.  They are covered in my own fabric.  At first I did a cream set but they looked too formal.  So I made up another kit and this time I made both the chair and the sofa shorter and covered them in this print so they look more 'cottagey'.  I've done some cushions using the cream patterned fabric but forgot them in the photo.  I'm really happy so far with this part of the room and will be even more so once  more accessories are added.

Not so happy with this side of the room though.  I did another rug but it needs one that is much larger, to cover the area under all the chairs and the table - I really don't like chairs scraping noisily on floors.  And I think a smaller table is in order here too.  It might just be because two of the chairs have arms, but this one takes up a lot of room.  And if one of the mini people falls on this hard slate floor it will be very painful.

Also it is quiite difficult to arrange such a small space so that anyone sitting in the chairs can actually see anything on a tele if I have one in the entertainment centre where it is.  And I can't move it to the other wall because there will be a door in the wall and there needs to be somewhere for a table and chairs.  More thought needed on this matter, obviously!  I will consult the owners of the cottage and see what they prefer - and introduce you to them as well.   They will be moving in as soon as the rest of their furniture arrives, or so they told me today.

On the outside of the cottage some roof work has been done.  The chimney has been moved over to the left of the scullery, where it should have been in the first place.  So new tiles are needed where it was removed.  But overall I think the exterior is looking quite nice.

Yes, the kitchen/scullery will probably be set back a bit from the cottage rather than being level with it - so that the door from the cottage can be at the rear of the side wall rather than smack bang in the middle.  But until things are done, they can always change - that's the way it is with me!And at the moment I am experimenting a little, thinking about how to set the completed cottage on the base that Peter has kindly cut ready for me.

Keep tuned - I'm on a roll now, and will move on to the first floor tomorrow while I make decisions about the ground floor......