The Start of the Renovations for Sea Shells!

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all well and keeping yourself busy. I am really happy, finally the kids are off from school and having them home is a bonus. Hearing them laughing, chatting and arguing does fill the house but I wouldn't have it any different. The weather is getting warmer and hotter although I have to say last week Mother Nature through a fit. We had one hell of a rain storm but it seems everything is back to normal.

Before I start wanted to welcome a new follower Welcome Lulu Pirate!

As we are in Summer it was ideal to start working on the renovation of my dolls house called Sea Shells. Sea Shells was actually The Summer House back in the year 2000 by the Dolls House Emporium. I am also pleased to say that Sea Shells was my second dolls house and the first kit I built by the Dolls House Emporium.

Sea Shells - The Summer House

I always liked this two roomed property. I think I have always liked the front porch and balcony. I remember I was lucky enough to have found it and got it on ebay as it was already discontinued. 

It is quite small and has a lovely stair case inside. I had decorated it with a kitchen on the ground floor and a simple bed room upstairs.

Inside the house

kitchen

Bed room

It has been for months now. For some reason the Summer House was begging me for a change. I don't know how it happens but it does. I liked the little house dearly but somehow there comes a time when it needs a change. As I do listen to the voice of the dolls house a few months ago I did change the bedroom and added a few more to the kitchen.

The latest Changes in the Summer House

Re decorated the bedroom

Even if I did make some changes still I wasn't overly joyed with it. I knew what it needed a total make over. 

Even as I will be renovating this dolls house the outside appearance will be the same. There is no way I want to change the color or decor on the outside. I will be changing the roof paper and I will be doing roof slates instead.

So I started by clearing out the furniture and accessories. The lady moved out and I highly doubt that she will be moving back in. She is thinking of looking for an adventure in some caravan. 

Removing all furniture and accessories

Then came the ripping off of the wall paper, flooring and removal of the stair case. That is the worst part when you are renovating a loved house. Once that is done you can't look back but only focus on what is best for the project.

Removing all papers

I sanded it down, gave it a new coat of paint. The stair case has a nice white paint job but I will be adding some more detail to it.

I started working on the ground floor. I went for a nice tiled flooring which does speak Summer to me and the walls were covered in a very light grey paper.

The new flooring and paper.

I have ordered a compact kitchen made to measure for the space underneath the staircase from Elf Miniatures. Elizabeth never lets me down.

I have gone for a nice blue with some natural wood which matches perfectly the floor tiles.

New Kitchen counters

I am thinking instead of adding a table with chairs. I will be making just a breakfast table. This will help hopefully to have more space to add more accessories and furniture. Still I am not sure about it but this how it looks so far.

New living area

So this is all for today. I hope you like what I have done so far. I am sure I will be changing it and adding some more stuff.  Keep tuned for the next update  on the renovation of the Summer House called Sea Shells.

Take Care and see you soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

The Toll House makes it on print on DHMS

Hello everyone,

How are you all? Hope you having a great week. Finally it is officially Summer and yes it is getting hotter. We are getting a few rain showers that we have missed during the winter but nothing big. I am so looking forward for the children's summer break. I love it when they are home. 

Before I started I wanted to welcome a new follower to my blog. Welcome Anita Van dam Louw.  I am also pleased to say that My Miniature World Group on Face Book has reached over 800 members. Thank you so much everyone for joining in. 

I have another big announcement to make. I am proud to say that My Miniature World will be having it's own premises...... Yes it is official! Finally all my dolls houses will be exhibited for the public. So this summer I will be extremely busy making the premises more suitable for all my work.. If I am lucky it will be all done before Christmas! I will keep you updated with the progress of it all.

Also I would like to announce our Winner of the Free Give away. The Miniature Book called Happy Birthday to you by Dr. Seuss goes to Elizabeth MacCullum Stillion. Please send me a private message Elizabeth with your postal details so I can post it over to you.

Like I promised, Here is the article about the Renovation on my Toll House on The Dolls House and Miniature Scene on June's issue.

It gives me great joy to see how this project has started and finally how it turned out to be. It was my first experiment into renovating a dolls house. It was a hard decision but definitely worth it. 

Article on the DHMS

For those who are interested to read it  here is the Article The Toll House Before and After. Sometimes it is good to look at the past projects and look at past photos. When I look at the pictures of how I first built it, I end up asking myself "What on earth was I thinking????" but then again I didn't know any better. 

Here are some pictures of how it was. It wasn't bad and I actually liked it at that time.

But like I always say; time, practice and experience are the keys to perfection. Trial and error are always a benefit to the hobby. Today I am not afraid to make renovations. In fact I am working on my Summer House Sea Shells at the moment. I have to admit though that there will be no extreme renovations like I had made the Toll House.

The beginning of the renovations in the Toll House

Here are are a few pictures of the Toll House now. I never tire looking at it..

This is all for today. Hopefully on Saturday, I can share with you some progress on the renovations of Sea Shells so keep tuned for the next post.

Take Care and see you real soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

The Retro Caravan

Hello everyone,

How are you all? Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Like always I am always keeping myself busy in My Miniature World. I wanted to thank you friends, followers and fans for all your Birthday Wishes. I really appreciate it. Well I guess tomorrow I will be turning 37 years. I also wanted to welcome 4 new followers to my blog Mandy Lynne, Kianna, Mica' and Kikka. Welcome! I also wanted to welcome the new followers from Google +. 

Retro Caravan in 1:48 scale

Today I will be sharing with you what I have done in the last three days. This week I have received very, very sad news. It has really hit hard as I wasn't expecting it. A very special dear friend has been taken ill and she has quite a tough battle to fight. 

I have known her for years now through our hobby and she has always been the dearest of friends. Even if we live in two different countries we knew each other well. She spoiled me rotten. Always sending me little gifts and surprises. Last year for my birthday she had sent me this sweet little kit of the Retro Caravan in 1:48 scale by Petite Properties.

 

I always thought to add this caravan to the garden of my Lydia Pickett Collection when I get to finish it. I think it will look cute with it. 

Being miserable and sad with the news, frustrated that I can't do absolutely nothing to help but send my support and prayer I always tend to go to my miniatures for comfort. My head was full of her so I thought to bring out my caravan and work on it.

It was quite easy to build. I started of by printing some wall paper and flooring for it. I down sized the wall paper for a 1:48 scale and I think it looked perfect.

Wall papering the caravan

When that was done I built the furniture for it and painted it to match with the inside.

1:48 scale caravan furniture

The furniture fitted in perfectly in the caravan.

Fitting in the furniture

As Lydia Pickett house will be basically in green and creams I thought of giving the caravan a different shade by painting it blue and white.

I added the windows and trimmings and some details to make it look a bit more realistic. I could not help myself not naming the caravan after my friend 'Elayne'. It will be a constant reminder of her and I am sure she will be thrilled to see it all done and finished.

The Caravan named Elayne after my friend.

 Then I added more details inside. I have printed more paper  to make the covers of the seats. As the walls had a floral pattern, I went for a stripped print. I think it has a nice contrast. Eventually I will be adding a few hand made miniature that I will do with polymer clay when the time comes. I also added a few lace trimmings for curtains. 

Here are some picture of the inside of the caravan.

And here it is all ready and done. 

I am sure that she will love it. I will be sending her some pictures of it.

So this is all for today. Just a small reminder about our free give away. Be a follower of our blog and leave a comment on this post and you will get a chance to win this miniature book. Closing date is 13th June and the winner will be announced shortly afterwards. So don't miss out.

So this is all for today. I hope you have enjoyed this post. I have started working on the renovation of my Summer House called Sea Shells. So keep tuned for the new update on this house.

Take Care and See you Soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

Closing the curtains to the Tudor Manor

Hello everyone,

We are finally in June. June is my favorite month.  I just love it! June means the beginning of Summer which brings so many warm days by the sea. My kids have their long break from school which means I get to spend great quality time with them. June is also the month where I celebrate my Birthday.

The Tudor Manor

Today will be the last post on Tudor Manor. Yes finally I can say that we will be closing the curtains to another wonderful project. I just loved every minute of it. I am sure that the founders of the Dolls House Emporium would have loved it too. Amy Purser was thrilled to see it all done.

So I finally got to make all the curtains for the rooms.. I think the rooms look much better with curtains. Here are the photos of the finished curtains on railings.

For the stair case window I made a simple lace curtain and the one next to it is the one for the main bed room. I used the same material that I used for the arm chair.

Main Bed room and stair case

These pair of curtains are for the sitting room. I used this floral patter which has the same coloring of the sofa set. 

Sitting Room

The next curtains are for the dining room which are the pair with floral blue and the curtains in the green gingham pattern are for the kitchen.

Dining room and kitchen

 Finally the pink floral curtains are for the nursery room which the same material was used for the arm chair of the same room. The green roller blind is for the bathroom which by then started becoming fashionable in the 1930's

Nursery and Bathroom

I got to add the last hand painted miniatures my father did for me. The flying ducks for the stair case and the new collection of the Toby Jugs in the Dining Room for the hanging cupboard.

Flying ducks in Stair Case

Hand Painted Toby Jugs

Toby Jugs in hanging Cupboard in Dining Room

Then finally I got to add the lights to the room. As the rooms where already decorated with wall paper and flooring I had to improvise. The bathroom and main bed room I used wall lights. The nursery I gave it a pink children's table lamp shade. The stair case also had a wall light which looked great. The lower rooms were slightly trickier. For the sitting room I used wall light at the back wall but for the dining room and kitchen I had to use a false ceiling as I wanted ceiling lights for these rooms.

Here are the pictures of the lit rooms.

Bathroom

Nursery 

Staircase

Main Bedroom

Sitting room

Dining room

Kitchen

And here it is all lit,

I totally love it. I will be missing not working on it but I will be still spending time going through it, wondering if there is more to add.

I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have.

Coming back to June. In 5 days I will be celebrating my Birthday. Yes folks I will be turning 37 years next Sunday 12th June. So I guess it is time for a free give away.

This time I will be giving out the Newest miniature readable book that I just made called Happy Birthday to you by Dr. Seuss. It is a lovely poem with a sense of humor but then again with a good lesson behind it.

Free Give-Away Miniature book

Readable book

All you have to do is :1) Be or become a follower of our blog and 2)  leave a comment on our blog.  
Closing date will be 13th June and the  lucky winner will be announced shortly after. 

Who will win this book will be the first person to own a copy of this miniature book as it won't be on sale for the next few weeks. So don't miss out your chance to get it.

So this is all for today. We will be staring the renovation on our Miniature Summer House Project. I think it needs an uplift so keep tuned for the next installment. 

Take Care and see you soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx