Working on the Living Room in the Tudor Manor

Hello everyone,

How are you all? Hope you all had a great weekend. Finally it is Spring! I love Spring. The weather gets warmer. Nature starts blooming and it keeps getting warmer. This means I get more energy as Winter doesn't agree with me at all.  This also means that I will get to work more on My Miniature World. I also wanted to welcome a new follower to my blog. Welcome nika-1983-ira!

Today I wanted to share with you some of my progress on the living room of my vintage dolls house the Tudor Manor. 

The Living Room

This is one of the biggest room of this dolls house so space was not a problem. It also has a built in fire place and the walls are paneled with wood. It also has a lovely velvety carpet. 

The Room

As you have seen previously I have added a 1930's fire place that  covers the opening of the fire place. I also added a circular mirror which was hand painted by my father and also  I have a miniature clock on top of the mantel. 

The Fire place

Even if the room is quite big I was still careful what to add and I didn't want extra big furniture for the room. I have chosen a small sofa and arm chair for the room. Once again I got some furniture kits from Jane Harrop. They are quite neat and have an amazing finish.

The kits that I got are the magazine rack. You wouldn't find a living room without one of these in the period. I have also printed some 1930's magazine covers to fill the rack.

The magazine rack

I also got the utility sideboard which is quite a lovely piece to build, with opening doors and drawers. This pieces fitted in so nicely and it was just right for the room. I have added some accessories to it too.

Utility sideboard

 Finally I got the octagon side table. This was quite a lovely piece and quite fashionable to the period. I have also added another lovely hand painted piece to it. A 1930's portable gramophone with records. It looks just right on it. 

Octagon Side table

1930's Portable Gramophone

The Walls did look a bit bare and needed a little color so I have added some frames with 1930's portraits. I am not quite happy yet and I am sure that I will be adding more to the walls.

In the 1930's televisions had already progressed quite a bit so I got this set and added a picture from the 1939 movie The Wizard of OZ. It is one of my favorite old movies that reminds me so much of my own childhood. I can say I loved it even if it wasn't in my era.

It seems there is Wizard of OZ on the Telly

In the room there was still something missing and as the room was decorated with mostly kit form furniture, I wasn't sure what to use as a coffee table. I have done some research for a 1930's coffee table and some how I liked this real one. So I decided to give it a try and make one myself.

To do this coffee table I used wood, perspex and lolly sticks to make the four legs.

Hand made 1930's coffee table

  I am so pleased how it turned out and fitted the room just perfectly. So far I think the room looks great. There is so much more that I want to add to this room. I am thinking of make a book case in the corner and add more accessories and lights.

And this is how the living room looks like so far.

I hope you have liked what I have done so far. There is so much that I still need to add and make but I think that now I am getting the feel of the period. 

This is all for today. Keep tuned for the next update on our 1930's project.

Take care and see you real soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

The little Nursery for the Tudor Manor

Hello everyone,

I hope that you are all enjoying the weekend. Like always I am busy as ever and I just can't find enough time to indulge myself in my hobby. I truly wish that the day is longer but so far I think I manage to squeeze in some time for my miniatures. Finally we are getting rain. It has been a dry winter so far and in the past few days we have had some showers. Even if I am not a big fan of Winter, I am happy that Mother Nature has decided to bless us with some rain at least for the crops.

I took the opportunity to start working on the small nursery in my 1930's project the Tudor Manor.

The Nursery

The room is quite small and is set between the stair case and the bathroom. This means that the room has two doors; one leading to the stairs and the other one leading to the bathroom. This room is also carpeted and has a very cute wall paper. To be very honest I never seen anything like it. Once again just like the bathroom it is quite narrow and deep so I had to be very careful what kind of furniture I needed to add. Another disadvantage to this room is that both the doors are at the far end of the walls at the back facing each other which means the you can't add big furniture to the back of the wall as then the doors will be obstructed.  

I just went for a few pieces of furniture to the room so it won't look crowded and still I had to be careful what to choose. I got some bare wood furniture which are the wash table, a chest of drawers and the baby's cot. I have painted these three in a salmon pink color which were quite fashionable in the period and matched with the wall paper perfectly.

Hand painted furniture in salmon pink color

I have also gotten another Jane Harrop kit which is a 1930's style armchair for this room. I am pleased how it turned out.

1930's style arm chair

So the big question is; Did Mr. and Mrs. Nobel had a new addition to the their family? The answer is yes. I would like to to introduce you the baby Betty.  Betty is a sculptured doll made from the talented artist Ros. 

Mrs Nobel with baby Betty

Baby Betty is made out of ooak and is fully possible. She also came with her little teddy. I had Betty now for a couple of years and I thought it was about time I introduce her to her new parents and give her a loving home.

Betty in her cot

I have also got her some hand made crochet clothes for her which fit her perfectly. I have placed them in her chest of drawers and also put one of her sets out on the arm chair ready for her to put on.

Betty's clothes

I have found some Vintage nursery rhyme  posters and thought that they would look great in the nursery. These are quite sentimental as as a child I had the same posters in my own bed room. 

 My father was also busy hand painting a few toy miniatures for the room. A baby doll and a golliwog rag doll which in the  period was quite fashionable.  For some reason the golliwog doll is subject to controversy. I respect everyone's opinion in this matter. While some would cherish this rag doll as a traditional artifact and childhood tradition, others see it as racism against dark skinned people. I was shocked when I got to know about this conflict as it would have never crossed my mind as a child or as a grown up. I think it is very unfair to children as they are all innocent being white or dark and they play and love with whatever they are given. I had one myself and I loved it with all my heart. So to make it crystal clear, this sweet little golliwog rag doll is in this dolls house as a tradition toy in the period which also brings me sweet memories of my own childhood.

hand painted toy miniatures

So here is the finished nursery. I might add some more accessories but I think it is pretty much done. I am sure that tiny Betty will love her room.

 I hope you have enjoyed the progress of this room. I am really happy with it as everything fitted in so well.

Keep tuned for the next update on my 1930's dolls house project.

Take Care and see you soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

The Bathroom for the Tudor Manor

Hello everyone,

Once again we are in the first week of the new month of March. I hope you are all enjoying your weekend. It has been a very exciting week and quite fruitful. I have had a few days off from the office at work so I could work a bit more on my miniatures and my dolls house project. I also wanted to welcome three new followers to my blog; Rebecca Rivera, Sandra and Daria, Welcome!

Bathroom for Tudor Manor

Susan and I

I have been busy decorating the bathroom for the Tudor Manor but before I wanted to tell you that last Wednesday I had a very special guest who wanted to visit me. Her name is Susan Fry who is the owner of Elite Petite Interiors. Susan is an amazing Dolls House interior designer. Over coffee we had a good chat about both our dolls house miniature businesses. shared some experiences and tips, cracked a few jokes and finally Susan got to see all my dolls houses. It was just great to meet my dear friend Susan once again. 

So returning to my vintage dolls house the Tudor Manor this week I got to work a bit on the bathroom. The bathroom is quite narrow. The room only measures 29 cm deep by 17 cm wide. 

The bathroom

Once again another problem not only because the house is not a 12th scale but even as the room in narrow. I figured out that the dolls house some how is a 1:18 scale and not even a 1:16.scale I have tried several 1:12th scale bathrooms and for some reason non of them fitted. A 1930's bathroom set was going to be quite difficult to fit in. It is already a challenge to find the right design for the period. I have searched and searched and turned out empty handed until I came across this miniature bathroom set.

Antique Miniature bathroom set

I found it by chance. Got it only for £15 without even knowing if it would fit or not. I didn't even know what scale it was. The day came when  I got a knock from the postman and this sweet pink ceramic bathroom set arrived. It was just perfect. With the design for the period and all and fitted the room perfectly

The bathroom set fitted in.

Even though it looks like some kids bathroom set with no faucets or detail I was curious about it. There are no cracks or anything and it is in a perfect condition. Something caught my eye about this set as every piece of it was marked with the print "GIVJOY"

Markings on the bathroom set

I have never heard of it before so I have done some research and I was so surprised to find out what was behind the whole set. From what I could understand 'GIVJOY" was a toy company that was established in 1935 and due to the war it was closed 10 years later in 1945. I was just shocked. It is definitely worth more than how much I got it. So the little bathroom set was made withing those 10 years and is over 70 years old. I was really lucky to have found it and it is just right for this vintage dolls house.

As it was most probably a kid's bathroom set I have added some more detail to it. I have added a pair of faucets to the sink basin to match the era.

Faucets to the sink basin

Using polymer clay I have made the flushing with the water drain to add to the little toilet. It's not perfect but I am pleased with it.

Flushing for the toilet

Another minor problem was to find a 1930's faucet set for the bath tub. Like always I came up empty handed to I had to improvise and make one myself. It was not easy to make but I am pleased how it turned out especially after the first trial.

Bath tub faucet set

I have also added a few accessories to the room,

As the bathroom is wall papered I added some embossed pink wall tiles behind the sink and bathtub. I still need to add lighting, a few more polymer clay miniatures to add to the bathroom set and a few more accessories. 

This is how the bathroom looks so far.

Hope you have enjoyed the new additions to this room. Keep tuned for the next updated of this dolls house.

See you soon and take care.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx

The Coffee Corner makes it in Print on American Miniaturist!

Hello everyone,

How are you my dear friends? I hope you all had a very nice weekend. It is has been a great week indeed, busy like always and very productive. My Miniature World Shop at etsy has been doing extremely well. We have a new range of miniature Easter ceramics coming up and we are working on a new set of Children's books. I am also excited as tomorrow I will be meeting the lovely British artist Susan Fay of Elite Petite Interiors.

The Coffee Corner in Regent Street

I am also proud to say that The Coffee Corner has made in print on the American Miniaturist Magazine on the March 2016 Issue.

For those who haven't seen it The Coffee Corner is a small Victorian shop set up in my Regent Street and is placed next to Quelina's shop Matquel Antiques & China Shop. The Coffee Corner has a 4 page article which you can read here by clicking on this link A coffee shop For The Senses

The Coffee Corner Article

The little shop is another Dolls House Emporium discontinued kit. I just love it and there is so much to see. I have added lots of details to it. All the ceramics have been decorated with the Shops logo that I made. All cakes and pastries have been made by me with polymer clay. They are my first cakes ever and I am just thrilled to have them in the shop. I also have some of my father's hand painted miniatures like the gramophone, the weights and the cash register.

Some how it has a very special place in my heart but than again which dolls house hasn't? Here are some pictures of The Coffee Corner

I also made a small video that you can see below with more detailed pictures.

 So this is all for today. Keep tuned for the next update on our 1930's Tudor Manor.

Take Care and see you all soon.

Hugs,

Rebecca xxx