Holiday Greetings! Progress on my House!

Hello to all my friends and new followers!  Welcome to you all and I hope this note I offer finds all of you in good health and enjoying the Holiday season.

Wow, five weeks since my last chat with all of you.......my apologies......work in the real world and two ailing Whippets have been taking up a good deal of my time.  The good news is that my dogs are finally on the mend and I have had a small amount of time to work on my house.

You will recall in a post long ago that I made an intricate curved staircase for the "Foyer" of my house.  I took some time to finish the front hall portion of the "Foyer".   Here it is.....



I chose a Silk Damask upholstery fabric for the walls that I have kept for myself for many years.  It is long discontinued and I knew one day I would have a use for it.  It is a cream background with pale khaki scrolls. I did a faux marble floor with contrasting border to match the "Checkerboard" pattern floor of the rear stair hall.  The sconces are a pair that I did not make but altered greatly.  They always looked too large and the changes I made in them have made them considerably smaller and better suited to my plan.  The "Pier Table" is one I made by cutting down an old "Bespaq" dining table. This space is narrow and could not support much in the way of furniture. I faux painted marble for the top and applied gold leaf to the base.  The chairs are pieces from my friend "Sophia" of  "SmallTreasuresMiniatures.com".  I re-upholstered them in a "Navy-Gold-Khaki" silk plaid from my personal fabric stash.

This is a closer look at the chairs and pier table...........I bumped the left lamp hence the crooked shade...

the maid will take care of that!  Speaking of the lamps, I made them from a pair of "Jeanetta Kendall" cherub candlesticks.  I drilled holes for the candle tube, which is brass tubing, and then added a shade assembly from TEC Innovations, then painted them bronze/gold .  The railing will be continued once I have made the stairs from the "Ground Floor"

Here is a "Crooked" view looking straight in from the front.  The door to the right is the service door to the "Breakfast Room"

I have long been a fan of "Bespaq" because of the limitless possibilities the pieces offer.  All you need is a little imagination and you can turn a "Ho-Hum" piece into something you can be proud of!  This chest is photographed in my "Salon" post prior to my working on it.  I sanded off all the applied carvings and painted the base "Tuscan Red".  The "Chinoiserie" designs are from a "Natasha" decoupage kit that I purchased in the 90's.  Since I am not a "Painter" I had to figure out a way to make a believable piece, so I cut and fitted these patterns to the chest.  Natasha designed them for another piece but by re-arranging them I was able to make them work.  When they were completely dry I painted on a coat of "Mod-Podge" gloss finish. When that dried I antiqued the entire piece with "Liquin and Burnt Umber" oil paint.  A few findings later and this was the result.  This chest will live in the "Curved Stair" hall.

This is the "Faux Marble" top I painted for the chest.  I used black as a base coat and sponged on (sparingly) some charcoal gray.  When dry, I used a white "Color Pencil", sharpened many times during the process, to do the "Veining" . I sprayed the finished top with a coat of  "Hi-Shine Glaze" from Folkart.

My next project was to tackle the "Front Entry Doors" on the ground floor.  I wanted a design reminiscent of those of a "Paris" building and what better place to look than "Google".  I Googled Paris doorways and about 150 examples popped up.  This is how my design evolved.  I used wood and jewelry findings to create the pattern.

Here are the doors painted and installed on the ground level of my structure. I will be adding "Bronze Urns" on the pedestals flanking the doors.  You can also just see the blue enamel house number on the upper left side.  I chose "2" since this is the second structure that I am doing for myself.  My first house and was sold to a well know collector many years ago to fund my entry into the miniatures world.   Sorry for the electrical box in the right of the photo.............

I decided that I had to have a "Paris" street sign on both sides of the building so I found one online I thought would be good.  I printed out two copies of the sign and glued them to black matte board.  I sealed the paper and then sprayed them both with "Hi-Shine" glaze so that they would look enameled.

This is a close up look at the house number

I know some of you have not looked back at the beginning of my work on this building so I thought I would share some photos of the structure as it is today.  I still have much to do on the exterior including the roof and window railings.  I plan to make the "Shop Entrances" on the left and right sides of the structure and keep the center doors as the main entrance to the apartment above

This last picture is for my friend "John" of "Merriman Park".  John asked a while back where I got my door handles.  So, John, here they are.  These findings came from "Hobby Lobby". You can see in the picture, the back plate. I remove the "rings" on either end.  The "Fleur De Lis" made the lever.  I used the larger end and removed the ring.  I bent the piece into a right angle and inserted it in the top hole of the back plate.  John, I hope you have recovered from your eye problem! You are missed........

I was also asked about my bath tub...........what is a "Cooking Ramekin".  Well, a cooking ramekin is a dish that you can bake a real souffle or pudding or casserole, in your home oven.  The one I found was oval,  porcelain, and the perfect small size for the tub.  It was made by "Libbey" and available at "Bed Bath and Beyond" a big box store here in the US.

Well my friends if you made it this far I am forever grateful that you were interested in what I offered here.

I want to thank each and every one of you who comment and communicate with me, for your kind words and for supporting me here.  I wish all of you a splendid Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year!

Good wishes to you all from Ray W