French Architectural Prints

I came across these antique French prints at an estate sale a few days ago.  I couldn't afford them, but the pics were free!

 The first print shows a fireplace elevation, the ceiling above and a section to the right and the tile floor plan on the bottom.  If my French translations are correct, it is for a dining room.  Isnt the wallpaper pattern on the walls and ceiling great ?

 The second print is for a painted design on a ceiling.  The top section shows the profile section thru the plaster moulding.

The last print shows the wall paper pattern for a parlor or living room at a hotel.  The bottom drawing shows a plan view section of the wall and how the doors sit it in.  The strikingly handsome reflection in the glass is yours truly ;)

Helping The "Homeless"

All of my miniatures are still packed up and my new miniature room is still on the drawing boards.  I did spend yesterday's lunch hour at one of my favorite antique malls here in town.  There was a new booth with all kinds of  antique and vintage dolls.

Let me preface my comments by saying that I typically do not like dolls or people in my room boxes or miniature scenes or houses.  For me, it destroys that illusion that it is a real space.  I must be changing, because I was actually considering "adopting" a few yesterday.  I really like the look of the Cupie Dolls - they might add some character to some of my stuff from the 1920's.

I was also looking at the white porcelain lady in the middle of this picture - she may be perfect for some of my Victorian cast iron pieces?

I was also considering the lady in the long dress with the green sash.  If any of you are know about these dolls, please let me know.  If any of you are interested in adopting, I can probably arrange that too!  

I snapped a shot of this piece - not sure why, it caught my eye.  It is a folk art piece made from scraps of wood and old cigar boxes.  Lots of detail and craftsmanship.

Vacant Houses

Tonight's project was packing up the miniature room in preparation for the move to our new house next weekend.  It was a nice trip down memory lane.

 This house is the Crescent Moon Cottage.  It is my oldest dollhouse and dates from the early 1900's.  It is the current home to my Tynietoy collection.  You can find an older post about the house here and see pictures of it with some furniture:  Crescent Mood Cottage

 This house is the Playmobil Victorian Mansion - I am wondering if I need to take it apart to move it across town?  For reasons I still dont understand, my original post about the house is one of the most popular on my blog as far as the numbers are concerned.  You can find the origina post here:  Playmobil Victorian House

 This vacant house is my Walmar house from the 1970's and houses my Halls Lifetime Collection furniture.  I still have some retro wallpaper to install.  You can find a post about how I came across this house here including my correspondence with someone who worked at the factory:  Walmar House  
My Halls furniture collection can be found here: Hall's Lifetime Furniture

 This maple drawer from a dumpster dive exposition, turned display, is home to my Tootsietoy collection.  Click on this link to see it:  Tootsietoy

 My daughter Carolyn packed up her house tonight too. The original post about the house is here: Carolyns Place

 This sticker clad home is where I keep my Strombecker Walnut collection.  This house is still on the waiting list for updates, including new windows and some vintage wall covering.  My Strombecker Walnut Furniture can be seen here:  Strombecker Walnut

You can read more about the my Garbe house here in it's original post here:  Garbe House

Humble Beginnings

We got the keys to the new house today and we start moving in tomorrow.  I went over tonight to make sure everything was in order and snapped a picture of the space for my new miniature room.  It is an unfinished area of the house over the garage.

It's not much yet, but it has a lot of potential and possibilities. Wish me luck!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to all my blogger friends.  We are a couple of weeks away from closing on our new home (and my new miniature workroom)  The new workspace is actually an unfinished room and I will be posting pictures on here as I make progress.

Roentgen's Berlin Secretary

I came across this video of a beautifully crafted 17th century piece of furniture and all of its "transformer" like features.  Very cool!

Gnome & Fairy Doors

I have had these pictures on my camera for a while - I apologize for the quality in advance.  The shop was kind of dark with accent lamps in all the wrong places for photography!

 A local floral shop had these miniature resin doors for sale.

They are about 6 - 8 inches tall and very detailed

They are to place around the garden, or attach to a tree.  I even came across one story online where the homeowner stuck it on the wall next to the front door.

I googled "fairy door" and "gnome door" and came up with 100's of results.  They may not be new to you, but they were to me.  Very Clever!

Random Pictures

 I have a confession to make.  Ever since I got an iphone with a pretty decent camera, I have been taking all kinds of pictures.  Some of the pictures actually have to do with  miniatures and are the inspiration for some of my projects.

I came across this light fixture at Bass Pro Shop a while back.  I would like to model the light fixtures in the master bedroom of my cabin project after these.

These night lights were also at Bass Pro Shop.  I was considering some silhouette like this for the light fixtures I made for the stairs.

I cam across this light fixture at Outback Steak House.  I liked the look of it too and wondered if something like this would look good in my cabin project.

 These two tile mosaics are in the library near my daughters dance studio in Tulsa.  They are great inspiration.

I came across this loft on one of my lunch time estate sale runs.  I would like to incorporate something like this in one of my projects if not my next house !

These wall sconces are at a local mexican restraunt.  I was considering a victorian version in my victorian house ?

The ceiling was at another sale house.  ( I think this was the sale where I bought the small rocking horse ornament that I used on my glass bead Christmas Tree project)  I like the way that it was applied to the ceiling.

You guessed it - another estate sale find.  

This was hand painted on the door in an old house.

 This is the mural above the kitchen at The Cheesecake Factory.  It is huge - maybe 12' tall and 50' long.  I like the use of the bright colors.

This stair banister was also at an estate sale.  I didn't buy anything at this house, but I was truly inspired by this banister.  It was beautiful.  I could re-create this pretty easily in miniature with an autoCad drawing and a laser cutter.  

Pinewood Derby 2013

I have been working on a different kind of miniature the past couple of weeks with my son.  

Tonight he competed with 27 other cars at the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby.

 We had to add some additional weight for the finals tonight.  Although he was not the fastest car there, he was awarded a certificate for "Most Attention to Detail"  It was a fun event and we went out for a hamburger afterward!

Breaking News !

Two great things to report this week.  The first is that I have been selected to receive the Rosetta Stone Award!  It is an honor and humbling to be held in such high esteem by my colleagues.  Thank you.

The Rosetta Stone
Award

The Rosetta Stone award was created by a committee on My Realitty's blog. CM explained the creation of the award in this way.... "As we all know dollhouses were originally the hobby of the rich or tools to teach children how to keep house. Today people all over the world are interested in them. Note the number of bloggers and how dollhouse blogs are a world unto themselves. Though these houses may have started as toys and may have led a perilous life, once they are in the safe harbor of the collector they have a story to tell. This award is to acknowledge the sleuthing it takes to discover that story."

Previous winners have been collectors of great knowledge and generosity, and authors of some of my very favorite blogs. Check out their latest posts..... Rebecca's Collections ... from Australia, diePuppenstubensammlerin ...from Germany, A Home for Dolly ...from Ohio, USA, and Florine at My-vintage-dollhouses ... from Arizona and most recently Susan's Mini Homes: Dollhouses and More

The Second big piece of news is that I surpassed 200 followers on my blog.

I posted my first blog back in February of 2010.  I have learned so much and made so many friends since then.  I appreciate your support and look forward to many more years and many more friends to come!  Thank you Susan.  This made my day.