Miss Leah's Bed Room

Good morning my dear friends,

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Here in Malta it is quite warm and sunny. The kids have finally finished school and now I get to spend the summer with them. I just love it. 

I have been very busy in this past week. Both with my miniature world and in my everyday life. Today I will be sharing with you what I have been up to with No 35. Miss Leah's new home. 

Miss Leah's Bed Room

Like the living area, I have also made and printed the wall paper and flooring for this room. It has a nice Victorian Warm feeling. I love the shades of green and pink together. When the flooring and wall paper were done I finished the posts and banister around the opening of the stair case.  I also added the chimney breast for the fire place to fit in. I still need to add the skirting and cornice to the room.

Wall papering the bed room walls

The room is quite spacious but when it is part of staircase landing and has a slanting roof....well space is quite limited. I have chosen some pieces of furniture that will actually fit in the room. This is the part when you imagine the room with a piece of furniture and then you realize that it just doesn't do.

My first piece of furniture was Miss Leah's Bed. The bed was hand painted by my father and I have made the bedding for it. I liked the combination of the colors, lace and frills. One of the accessories that will go on the bed, will be Miss Leah's doll named Ann. This is another miniature that my father painted. Her arms also move. She was one of the first miniatures that he painted for me and now it has found it's place.

Miss Leah's Bed and bedding

Ann Miss Leah's doll

When the bed was done then I could picture the room better. I had waited for some supplies to arrived and I could start adding the pieces to the room. I had this little cupboard stashed and I liked the idea of it having one door and a set of drawers. To add some more to it's charm I have added a piece of the same wall paper that I printed on the door. I also added some bed room accessories to it. 

The center pieces on this little cupboard is actually an old trinket box made by Limgoes France. The little perfume bottle was hand painted by me. I really liked how it turned out. 

The decorated cupboard

The Hand painted perfume bottle

The Limoges trinket box

I have also made a new hat for Miss Leah to add to her room. I went for pink and cream this time and I have made the tiny roses for it too.

Miss Leah's hat

In the room I also added a wash stand and a writing desk next to her bed. On top of the desk there is a wall shelf that still need to be filled with books. The desk still needs to be accessorized.  Finally I added the fire place. It is a small Victorian style bedroom fire place.  It is another one of those pieces that I will treasure with all my heart. It is hand painted by my father and it looks just right for the room and the chimney breast.

The fire place

There is still lots to add to the room to give it more detail. I still have to go for lights, skirting and cornice and more accessories. I am sure that Ms Leah will love it.

And here is the final shots of the room so far.

28th June 1880

Dear Diary,

Finally my sister is back on her feet and she has returned to her shop. Matty is away again in France. The weather is much better at least it is slightly warmer. I was very busy in these past weeks as at the boutique as there is a quite a big occasion in the opera house next month. 

My new home is finally taking shape. While my brother was here we got the bedroom to look a bit more decent. I spent a few day at the Manor House collecting and packing more of my stuff. I have gotten some pieces of furniture that were in my bedroom. I finally get to sleep once again in my old cast iron bed. It brings so many child hood memories and at least it reminds me of home. While packing I found my darling doll Ann. I looked for her every where but I couldn't find her. I thought I had lost here some where but she was at the Manor House waiting for me. I will always cherish this little doll as it belonged to my mother.Ann was such a big piece of my life and there was no way that I could leave her behind. 

There is still so much that still needs to be done and so in the mean time I am still with Quelina. She is not that happy for me to move out. It has been a year since I came to Regent Street and I will be missing not sharing the house with her. Unfortunately Quelina's quarters is pretty much small as well for both of us. I am sure she will get used to it especially when I am practically under her nose. She couldn't have found a better place to stash me in. I love her so much, she is more like a protective mother than a sister.

So this is all for today. Still lots of sewing to do I am glad that Constance is here giving us a helping hand.

Off to bed my dear companion.

Hugs,

Leah xxx

So this is all for today, hope you have liked what I have done so far. Keep tuned for the next up date. 

Take care and see you soon.

Hugs

Rebecca xxx

The Tudor Manor - Bringing back the Past's History

Hello my dear friends,

Hope you are all doing fine. The weather has been really nice and warm. Time to pull out the swimsuit and go to the beach. The kids love it. 

Today I really want to share with you something very special and that means so much to me. Last week was my birthday and just a few days before I bought myself a present. Well you can all guess what I got....what a coincidence....another dolls house. But with a bit of a difference this dolls house has a history.

Like you all know I am quite the collector and fan of the Dolls House Emporium houses which is one of the leading Dolls House suppliers in the world. I love collecting those houses that unfortunately have been discontinued and are very rare to come by. I do know most of their houses that they had. Some of them I have already built and some of them are still boxed waiting for the right time to come. 

The Tudor Manor

So around two weeks ago I was looking through ebay. A very dangerous place for me. I wasn't looking for any houses. I was just interested in some Tudor style furniture. While scrolling down I found this lovely house. My heart skipped a beat as I knew too well what it was. I was 100% sure that it was one of those extremely rare finds that there was no way that I could ever find it in kit form. The only information that I had was it's name the amount of rooms and the dimensions and one black and white picture of an old catalog. 

The illustration from an old catalog

Amy Purser
Head of Brand of the
Dolls House Emporium

After purchasing it, my number one source to give me some information about it was the dearest Amy Purser, Head of Brand and daughter of the founders of the Dolls House Emporium. We had quite a good chat about it and I got to discover so many things and facts that makes this dolls house a lot more worth the amount I got it (£125 which was a ridiculous price) and I will be treasuring it with all my heart.

I was surprised to hear what Amy had to say about it and she told me that the only one that she ever saw in this design was the one that she actually has herself and confirmed that it was indeed the The Tudor Manor. It is not a 1:12th scale as before the Dolls House Emporium made smaller Scales. However, she has used 1:12th scale for hers as the rooms are quite big and in Tudor times the doors used to be a bit smaller.  Her father had designed it and it was one of two of the first kits ever made. The Chimney would have been handmade by Adam Purser and most probably I would find inscribed his initials and the date. It would have been made around 1979 / 1980. 

Adam and Jackie
back then
the founders of DHE

I was just stunned with the amount of information I had gotten so far and I showed Amy some pictures that the seller sent me of the interior. I just wondered if it did come in kit form or if it was ready built. I knew that there was some sort of built in fire place. 

She believes that my Tudor Manor was built by her father which also means that Jackie Lee helped decorate it. The roof tiles would have all been varnished and glued individually, all the wood work would have been stained by Jackie or Adam.

There is a "working" fireplace in the right hand room on the ground floor. In theory, if  you lit a fire in it, the smoke would go out up the chimney. 

It was like winning the grand lottery to read what she told me. I was already thinking of making renovations but after the knowledge that this was built by Adam Purser and Jackie Lee there was no way I was going to touch it. I wanted to make sure that the papers and flooring where the originals.

Amy confirmed that the papers are the original papers as the one in the far left hand room  was like hers. All the doors and skirting are original, and even the lights of the hall are original.

She also told me that it was quite a rare find that brought her sweet memories.

I promised Amy that it will be cherished and will remain in the original state and that if she ever made it to Malta she is more than welcome to visit.

I was really excited and I couldn't wait for it to arrive. Finally today it arrived and I am really pleased to say that it came in one piece and nothing was broken. 

The first thing I looked for was the chimney markings that Amy had told me about and I am proud to say that I found them.

On the front of the chimney I am assuming that there is a "T M" for "Tudor Models" as the Dolls House Emporium at first was called like that and at the back of the chimney I found the numbers "129" I think it must the the custom number.

The No.129 

The Initials TM

The Hand made chimney

 The papering is just beautiful and the carpeting is lovely and soft. For it's age it is still in a good condition. As for the size I am pretty sure that it is a 1:16th scale and as Amy said a 1:12th scale furniture could fit in very easily. Only the doors are slightly narrow but Tudor houses do tend to have smaller doors.

Here are some pictures of the rooms

The Tudor Manor

The Rooms

The stair case

The built in Fire place

Inside the Tudor Manor

I am just in love with it all, I would have never thought that there was so much history behind it and I am so proud to own it. For the time being I am just going to leave it and study it. I will dust it and give it a clean. I have a good feeling that I will be turning it to a 1920's -1930's house.

I really want to thank Amy for the time spent for giving me all this wonderful information.

So that is all for today. I hope you found this post interesting. Next time we will meet we will back with an update of No 35, so keep tuned.

Take Care and see you soon.

Hugs

Rebecca xxx

Decorating the living area of No 35.

Hello everyone,

Finally we have started June and the weather is warm as ever. I just love this weather and it does agree with me and my health. The kids in just 2 weeks will finish with the summer break and I will have them for 3 whole months I am feeling slightly energetic like my old self but I have to be very cautious not to go overboard. At the end of this month I have to run my last blood tests so I am really looking forward to that and to better days.

I would like to welcome a new follower to my blog. Welcome Jane Rushton. 

I am also pleased to say that My Miniature World Group on Face book has reached over 290 members. It seems that Face Book is quite popular and people tend to use it much more. Thank you so much everyone for joining and being part of it. It is just amazing how great you all are by sharing your works, tips and miniature experiences and mostly your friendship. 

I also wanted to thank you dear friends for your wonderful messages, cards and emails with your warm Birthday messages. I really appreciate it and it means so much to me. I can't thank you enough for your kind gestures and support. You are just fantastic, I don't need nothing more.

The New living room

Today I will be sharing with you what I have been up to in these past few days. I haven't done much but I am pleased with the slow progress.  I have started with the ground floor room which will be the living area of Miss Leah's new home. It is quite a spacious room and for a young lady it will be just fine.

So firstly I started by printing the flooring and wall paper which both where customized by me from real Victorian designed wall paper. I had found a lovely small pattern of an old Victorian design and built the wallpaper. Then I chose a Victorian tile design  to match the wall paper and built the flooring of the room.  

The wall paper and flooring

I started working on the staircase. I didn't like the stair case that came with the kit as it looked like a ladder so I adapted the landing of the top floor by closing the open space. This will be a bit more of an advantage as I will be gaining more floor. I went for a slightly narrower staircase so it won't eat much of the room's space. I added a curved step at the end of the staircase. Then I added the posts and railing.

Adding the curved bannister. 

I wanted something a bit different to compliment with the curved stair at the bottom. Using air dried clay I have finished the rail with a curved bannister. It came as perfect as I hoped for. When the clay was dried I painted the stair case, posts and bannister once again. I finished it by giving it a bit of a used and old style.

The stair Case

The room with the stair case

I then started working on the front opening panel when the main door and bay window are. It always wished to have a bay window in a real house, for some reason I always pictured having a window seat there. So after decorating the wall paper I built a window seat. 

Window seat

It seems that Lulu which is Miss Leah's little pup already found it's favorite spot on the seat,

Making the curtains

I also made some matching curtains to go with the seat and added some lace curtains around the windowsill. I like adding a thin piece of hidden card board behind the curtains to keep the curtains in a nice realistic shape.

Lulu on the window seat

The front wall panel

The Curtains

The lace curtains

I went through my stash to see which pieces of furniture I could find to fit in this room. It is quite spacious. At the back wall I will be adding a Victorian oven and it will look like a small kitchenette. Underneath the stair case I have found this hall side table which I think I will be adding a mirror over it. I have found this round table which will fit perfectly, a nice cabinet and the Chaise lounge. I also found this ceiling light that was just right for the room. I like just trying out pieces of furniture just to have a good idea how I would like to decorate the room. When I will finish with the back wall I will be adding the cornice and the floor skirting to the room. I will also be adding more pieces of furniture. I think Miss Leah is happy with it so far.

The room so far

I am pleased how it looks so far and there is so much that still needs to be added.

And here is a new post from Miss Leah's Diary. 

12th June 1880

Dear Diary,

It has been a long time since my last post. Winter was really cruel to us and quite a lot of folk have lost their lives because of this terrible influenza. I was so scared as we where on the verge of losing my dear sister Quelina. I had to run both shops until finally Matty took over. For some time we had to employ someone to help us open the shop. Constance is a great help to us. In the mean time I had to be next to Quelina most of the day. The fever wouldn't let her go and their where nights that I prayed with all my heart for her to survive. After a month her health started to improve but she was still very weak. I had to cook and make sure that she was comfortable most of the time. It was not easy looking after her and keeping up with the boutique and the antique shop. 

Our father came every weekend to stay with Quelina and when she was in her worst days he stayed with us for the whole fortnight. As Quelina's little home had only one bed room father and Matty had to spend their nights at the Master Swords Man Inn.

I didn't have much time to make arrangements for my new home. I have started to make the little apartment look a bit homely. I have made some curtains and Matty got me some nice furniture pieces. In the mean time Harry the black smith of Le Forge is working on my oven. It seems that Lulu already loves the bay window so she can see the people pass by.

I am off to bed and Quelina is already in bed, Tomorrow is another full day.

Good night my dear companion,

Love.

Leah xxx

Hope you have liked what I have done so far. Keep tuned for the next post and the progress of Miss Leah's new home.

Take Care and see you soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx