Chipping Away

This week's post is going to be a day or two earlier than usual. I don't have anything that is finished to share, just some in progress stuff. Russ will be home for the next couple days, so where I'm at is about all I will get done on the New Orleans this week. But I do have an exciting discovery to share! It's exciting to me, anyway! More on that in a minute. First...

I had purchased some outfits from PaolaeSaraMiniature Etsy Shop right after I got my first ball jointed doll. They are really lovely, unfortunately, not all of them fit or looked good on the Zjakazumi doll. But fortunately, they worked perfectly to hang on hangers for the closet! And there were just enough that with the reflection, I think it will create a reasonable impression of a full wardrobe! I think the concept is going to work, though I still have to finalize the optimal placement of all that's inside.

A peek in from the outside dormer window

A peek in from the bedroom

A glimpse with the wall up and the door propped open

And now for the exciting discovery... A couple years back, I discovered Bespaq Direct on eBay. They sold scratch~n~dent Bespaq furniture, sometimes for as little as $4.00! If you were planning on painting or recovering anyway, you could find some beautiful pieces at affordable prices. As of this writing, they have sold off all their inventory and are no longer offering items on eBay. Bummer, but at least I got some good stuff put away for future projects! I had purchased four chairs and a table for the dining room, only to discover later, that with the room so small, it would look better with just two or three. So, since I wanted a small chair for inside the closet, I pulled one out.

The chair is New Walnut with ivory silk fabric. The reason the set was discounted is because the glue joins where the fabric panels and the wood met were poorly done. I was going to recover them anyway, so this was not a problem. I pulled off the front and back panels and discovered I liked the chair even better without them!

I have always coveted the Bespaq Victorian Balloon chairs but never could justify shelling out $45 each for them. If I were a billionaire, I'd make Warren Buffet jealous of how thrifty I can be! Without the panels, they look surprisingly close! So what to do about the glue residue?

I sanded off the glue with a super fine sanding sponge, being careful not to take the finish off any place except for the very inside. A light sanding removed the glue and left enough of the walnut stain that I was able to match it to the rest of the chair's finish by applying a coat of clear nail polish.

But I wanted something fancier. Using my Krylon gold leafing pen, I carefully painted just the inside edge. I still didn't really think the ivory silk cushion was very interesting, so since I planned on recovering it anyway, I tried an experiment. With alcohol ink! This was the exciting part! Using a soft artists brush, I applied a little at first, and when it looked as though it would work, I applied more liberally. It dries super fast, so not much worry about over soaking. I just love the results!

So much so that I treated the other three chairs to the same makeover! I like them so much better, and what a quick and easy solution to a color problem.  The silk even retained it's shimmer! More experimentation will have to be done on different kinds of fabric, but who knew alcohol ink could be used as a fabric dye!

The rest of my progress was not as exciting. I received the replacement porch lights for either side of the balcony. I spent a couple days repainting them in aged bronze like the front porch light. Once I installed them I was able to apply the interior wallpaper over the wires.

I started on the built-ins and door install for the bedroom, and am deciding about the wainscoting design.

In the stairwell hall I finished the door and window trims and am currently working on the wainscoting and finish molding. There's a lot to do in this room with having to finish up the stairs and railing, but I.m chipping away at the To-Do list little by little.

So much to do and so little time! Hope you're all chipping away at your dreams, too!

xo xo
Jodi