The Peel Mansion

On a recent road trip to Bentonville Arkansas, we toured the Peel Mansion.  It was constructed in 1875 by Colonel West Peel and is built in an Italianate Victorian style.  The Villa was surrounded by 180 acres of apple orchards.  Colonel Peel was the first native born Arkansan elected to the United States Congress and also served in the Confederate Army in the American Civil War.  He and his wife Mary Emaline Berry Peel raised nine children here.

This photograph was on display at the mansion.  Colonel Peel is standing on the porch.

This is the structure today.

The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Notice the rough texture of the exterior of the house.

The front door was decorated with these beautiful magnolia leaf wreaths.

The house still has it original hardwood floors that were stained with ox blood.  The staircase banister is carved from walnut.

There were two parlors off the entrance hall, one for the men and one for the women.  The wallpaper was created from  pieces that were found during restoration of the room.

Mr Peel's Parlor also severed as his office

There were several artifacts on display in his parlor, including an old Winchester gun that was found nearby.  The wood was gone, but the gun was still loaded with six bullets.

Here is a detail of the wallpaper in the men's parlor.

They had some Abraham Lincoln artifacts on display that were found in the attic.

The Parlor also had this unique rotating curio cabinet.  

The dining room was pretty plain and the table was set with some china from Mr. Peels time in Congress.  It has his initials on it.  The cabinet in the corner was also a pass-thru from the kitchen for food.

This is the staircase to the third floor tower.  It was barely 2 feet wide.  The tower room served as a classroom for the Peel children.

The master bedroom had one of the original Lazy-boy recliners.

The bedroom also had a Lincoln era rocking chair.

Across the hall was the little boy's room.

The antique rocking horse used to have a full mane and tail of real horse hair.

The little girls room was down the hall and had a large display of 1800's era dolls.

The maids room had a roll-out trundle bed.

The house featured two kitchens downstairs, a harvest kitchen with this stove and another kitchen with a fireplace.

The harvest kitchen had a lot of kitchen implements on display and the tour guide demonstrated a few of them.  The wooden box was a butter mold and the metal cutter/scraper in the front was to shave the sugar off the cone.

One of the items on display was this egg incubator.  The mechanical portion on the right, was kept filled with hot water to keep the eggs the right temperature. 

The small black device above the scoop was actually an ice scraper to make snow cones.

The back kitchen also had several implements on display including the butter churn on the right which would spin as you pulled back and forth on the handle.

The small high-chair was over 100 years old and the tour guide said the staff would tie the children in the chair with a cloth diaper, then put a little honey on the child's fingers and stick some feathers in the honey to keep them occupied.

Preller Houseboat Display

We recently took a road trip to travel to Bentonville Arkansas, a couple of hours from Tulsa.  We toured a Victorian Mansion called the Peel Mansion and they had a great display about the Preller family.  The display was called House of Light.

Hugo and Gayne Preller lived in a houseboat/photography studio and traveled up and down the Mississippi River.  The museum had a miniature replica of the studio along with a display including several copies the original photos documenting life along the Mississippi River around the turn of the century.  Mrs Preller was one of the first female photographers.

Here is a photo of the actual houseboat

The Preller's also collected, painted and sold shells to help make ends meet.  

Below are a few photos of the model of the houseboat.  It was build at 1:12 scale

This large room on the end was the actual photo studio.  The display was a great glimpse of life along the Mississippi Delta.  Rumor has it that there may be a movie in the works about the families adventures.

Miniature Club Project - Chair

During the past couple of club meetings we have been working on a "Princess Chair"

One of the club members came up with the project based on a show she attended in the past and led the class.  Our assignment was to bring two contrasting fabrics.  She created a pattern for the both a cardboard chair and the fabric pieces.

Here is a progress picture of the fabric pinned to a piece of foam to create pleats. After we found a look we liked, we sprayed with starch then dried with a hair dryer.

Here is a progress picture of the back of the chair.

And here is the finished project complete with a big bow.

Studio Update

I added a few more brands to the wall in the studio

 (I left some room at the top for Tootsietoy)

I painted the Strombecker letters gold since that is the way it appears on the furniture, unfortunately, it doesn't photograph so well on the wall.  To see my Strombecker collections, click the links below:

Strombecker-walnut-1inch-scale

Strombecker-1-inch-collection

3/4" Strombecker collection

I selected brown, block-like letters for the Tynietoy logo.  Tynietoy initially put paper labels like the one shown above on their pieces, then later started stamping directly on the furniture and then moved to a press or brand on the wood.  click the link below to see my Tynietoy collection.

Tynietoy

The Arcade company has raised letters on each of the cast iron pieces that they produced.  I chose the galvanized letters for the Arcade logo since they are both metal.

Click the link to see my Arcade Cast Iron Collection:

ARCADE

Recent Acquisitions

I have found a few interesting items this week at estate sales.  A fireplace bookend.  Surprisingly, it must weigh 5 pounds!  I came across this set of wooden kitchen tools and a unique metal chair at another sale.  I believe the chair is a pin cushion/picture frame?  It is slightly larger than 1:12 scale.

I figured a fireplace of this weight might as well go with my heaviest cast iron furniture, my Arcade collection.  To see my Arcade Cast Iron collection click on the Arcade link.  I believe I have all of the pieces except the octagon shaped living room side table.

I did take a liking to these galvanized letters that I came across at Hobby Lobby the other day.  (and they were half-off !)  If you are new to my blog, you might enjoy this trip down memory lane and seeing the progress of my "man-cave"

Studio Drawings

Studio Construction 

Studio Construction 1

Studio Progress 2

Move In Day