Pound Cake Begins...

I guess with a name like Pound Cake it was pretty easy to guess that my new project is a bakery! But it's oh so much more than a bakery! It's a shop I've been dreaming about and collecting ideas for, for years! Literally since the day I had to sell my sweet shop back in 2003.

This was my first miniatures project, aside from decorating my daughter's pre-built dollhouse, and my first ever kit. I was really proud of that little shop, so sad to see it go, and I always wonder if it still exists someplace...

But back to Pound Cake... I kept putting it off because it's such a BIG project. But when the adobe idea fell through I thought "Why not? You have so many supplies squirreled away! And you have collected so many neat minis for it over the years. Why not just take your time with it and enjoy it?". So, I cracked open the Brimble's Mercantile kit and I'm so excited to be on my way!

It's really quite a large kit with the bottom floor measuring out at 19" x 18". This is wonderful, as I'll be attempting to fit a bakery counter, bakery shelving, window displays, a back ice cream bar with ice cream cooler and counter, plus floor displays and a couple of tables and chairs. And that's just downstairs. Upstairs will house the kitchen and powder room.

First Dry Fit deciding whether or not
to reverse the back wall.

The first floor ceiling height is 10" tall.
The glue bottle gives a good space visual.

Did I mention I had been collecting for this project for a long time? The tile flooring that I purchased in May of 2017 was so long ago to me that I'd forgotten what the patterns looked like! I had to go sleuthing on the sellers web site to find my patterns and then try to remember what I'd had in mind! Luckily, it all came back to me and I still loved the idea!

But had I ordered enough back then?!? I looked again on the sellers web site to see where it listed how many square inches a pack of tiles covered. I could not find it there so I ended up at their eBay store instead. To make sure I had enough packs to cover the large floor area, I printed slips of paper that size - one for each pack of tiles, and laid them out. It looked like enough, but I had to lay things strategically just in case I ran short.

Since I had used these tiles (different pattern) in the New Orleans bathroom, I knew this time to paint the floor the color of one of the tiles.

It's surprising that the tile packs do not come with any instructions or illustrations for the patterns. I guess the seller figures that we must all be smart and tenacious people since we're doing miniatures!

I was able to look at gallery photos from the sellers web site to figure out how corners are laid out. Laying the tiles is a really slow go, especially when you reach areas where every tile has to be fit, cut and sanded before installation. The smallest tile is only 3/16"! And in spite of careful efforts, my work was not perfect.

I pulled up and reapplied the worst spots. I can live with the results knowing that a good deal of them will be covered by furnishings and fixtures. Russ wondered how I kept at it for so long without my eyes going cross from the pattern. It never bothered me at all!

Not even when I added the wall with striped wallpaper for a dry fit! I did have strange Bavarian music playing in my head, though!

I am spraying the floors with several light coats of gloss varnish, and may have to sand a little in between. While I'm waiting, I have plenty to do drawing up all of the fixtures and getting them ready to cut with the Cricut. That staircase angle is going to be tricky.

Planning how to incorporate all of the daydreams to make them work with the kit will be trickier still. But hopefully, God willing, I've got time.

I wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and Joy in doing all of the things that mean the most to you! To those who've gotten The Call, I hope you find some time for meaningful moments to reflect on the most tremendous gift of all time: A Love that knows no boundaries and that waits for us all.

xo xo,
Jodi