Quarter scale glamour

I am fortunate enough to have four of Cynthia Howe's shops: 'Posies' the flower shop, the Chocolatier, the Patisserie and the Dress Shop.  So I've been putting them together, but not doing the filling part yet.  I have been 'talking' to a couple of people lately and promised them that I would post photos soon so here they are.

Each of them is done in the same way for the body and lighting so after the first one I was familiar with the procedure even though I did of course follow the instructions to make sure.  And the fronts are similar in their dimensions as far as depth goes but each has significant variations.  So here they are, first the Chocolatier or chocolate shop, with the front on.  The raised engraved panels on the door and below the window as well as above the windows is so delicate and pretty.  I have lightly brushed it with white to bring it out but didn't do as good a job as Cynthia did on hers I'm afraid.  I also have to tidy up the bronze paint on the columns.

For all of these shops I used sample pots of  Dulux Colour Solutions interior/exterior paint.  For the Chocolatier I used Placid Blue for the exterior and Bright White for all white areas.  Being sample pots these paints have a low-sheen finish, so they are not quite matt but not shiny.  For the bronze parts I used craft paint.

For the base of all the shops I used craft paint, first painting them with Ceramcoat Hippo Grey, then while that was still wet, using a coarse bristled brush to dab randomly with Americana Mississippi Mud, Americana Light Avocado, Apple Barrel Country Gray and Ceramcoat Norsk Blue, dabbing them so they meld together to give a mottled effect.  When the paint was dry I gave them a coat of Jo Sonja Satin varnish.

And now with the front open.  Isn't it pretty?  The wallpaper is so elegant and delicate at the same time.  The flooring is marble.

 I haven't added the hinges to attach the fronts to the bodies of any of the shops yet.  And no, the shop is not 'wonky' ;)  I must have been holding the camera at an angle as usual so it makes it look as though the shop is uneven.  I thought I had corrected it but apparently not.  I am also disappointed that having the shops against a white background has washed out the colours somewhat.

Here is another shot with the lights on.  It shows the pretty lightshades.  Each of these kits comes with a full lighting kit: all the LEDs needed, grommets to put in the ceiling to put the lights through, battery and switch unit.  The wires for the lights go into the top section of the body of the shop, and the top lifts off to allow access.

Then the second of the shops, the Patisserie, with the front on.  See the pretty panels under the front windows?  And the gold lettering on the sign?  I love the door too, and the trim around the large window and the door.

For the Patisserie I first used Dulux  Fairy Wings, which looked just the soft pretty pink I wanted when I did the first coat over the primer coat.  But when I did the second coat it was too bright and 'fairy-floss-like'.  So we went back and bought another pot of Fairy Wings half strength and that was perfect.  Again, I used the Dulux Bright White for the white parts.

And here is the inside. The pretty faux 'office' at the rear of the shop is built-in.  Isn't the fretwork shelving around the top delicate and pretty?  I seem to be using those words a lot but that's exactly what they are. The flooring for this shop came as self-adhesive squares that were put on individually.

And here it is with the lights on.  You'll note that there are four lights in this kit: two in the mirrored display unit at the rear of the shop and the two lighting the shop itself.  The glass in the door by the way is frosted, and engraved with the word 'Private'.  I think the 3-D effect of the wainscotting is very attractive too.  The area was first painted white and Sylvia had included the laser-cut wainscotting to go over it.

Now 'Posies', the Flower Shop.  Somehow I've managed to lose the little flower decoration that goes on the left upper section, which is a bother.  If worst comes to the worst I'll have to stencil another one on, using the outline of the original that was removed from the backing.  The decorations are 3D and really charming. It's annoying when things go 'walking'!  Don't you love the awning at the front?  Cynthia included some fabric and instructions for painting one's own.  I reduced the width of the stripes by half the suggested with, and used the same Reddish Brown that I used for the trim and name of the shop instead of the shop colour as Cynthia did.  I actually did two awnings because there was sufficient fabric for that, and did one with the green and this one.  I compared the the look of both and Peter and I preferred the appearance of this one.

If you look closely you might see that the window and door are both engraved.  The window has 'Flower Shop' on it and the door has a nice little stylized floral motif.  I tried hard to get a photo of the engravings for you last night but they kept coming out really blurry.

The green I used for this shop was actually chosen by Peter.  I had several dark green sample chips in my hand and couldn't decide.  He chose this one, Dulux Highland Green,  and I'm glad he did - it's really nice.  The cream is Dulux Pollinate (half strength) and the brown is Dulux Reddy Brown.

 And here it is with the front open, showing inside.  I notice now that I haven't put the trim around the window and door, so will have to do that.  The border around the top is optional but I thought that it was really appropriate for the shop and very attractive too so I was more than happy to use it.

And with the lights on.

Lastly, the fourth of the shops is the dress shop.  And yes, the trim on the large left window is missing.  As I removed it from the plastic bag that the trims were in only half of this one came out - and the other half was not in the bag, nor had it dropped out as I removed the sheet of trims because I opened it over something to make sure I caught everything.  I will write to Cynthia about this and one other item as well.

This shop is again painted in the Dulux Placid Blue and at first I did the trims in Dulux Pink Tulle, a soft peach colour.  However it looked washed out so I re-did it in Dulux Surprise which is the next darkest one on the colour chip and I was surprised when I was looking at the dresses supplied to go into the shop that the blue and the apricot ones match my colours exactly.  I hadn't taken them with me when I chose the paints, and only looked at them together last night.

And now with the front open.  Don't you love the trim around the windows and the shelves under the windows?  I'm not happy that the piece across the front doesn't meet the cover in this one - for most of the shops I realized that this was the case early in the process and moved the ceiling up a bit so that this piece would meet better.

And here it is with the lights on - so pretty.  I love this wallpaper.

I am really happy with the shops despite their shortcomings.  Being a perfectionist means that nothing is ever good enough really because nothing is ever perfect.  So I am never really totally happy with anything.  But I am learning to be accepting of a reasonable result.  Sort of.  They certainly do look pretty and if you don’t look too closely you don’t notice their shortcomings.  I have been 'talking' quite a bit to Sharon Goldsmith lately and her advice was to just be happy that things are done.  So Sharon, I am putting that advice into action ;)

I am also re-instating the quote for my email signature that I used for a while - and it prompted quite a bit of discussion from people who have the same problem as I do.  It says "Better to get the project done with plan B, than to never start because of 'perfectionistic paralysis'.  And that expresses me perfectly - I often avoid doing something because I think it will be hard or that I won't be able to do it well enough, and then when I do gather up the courage to attempt it I find it is easier than I thought it would be.  Or that it comes out better than I had thought it would.  And as I said above, I am also working on doing things even if the result is not the standard that I want it to be, and on being happy just that it is done!

Cynthia Howe shops are not cheap but they are just so well worth the money.  And remember, I pay a lot for shipping to Australia, and they are still worth it.  She includes so many beautiful details that the finished result can't help but be something special.

I have also worked on quite a few of the pieces of furniture to go in each of these shops and tomorrow or the next day I hope to show these to you in situ.