Good Gaudy!

A fun play on words, dangerously close to blasphemous, but also true! Where else can you get away with so much embellishment, color, florals and texture but in a dollhouse? I took full liberties with every opportunity as I worked this week, and though it might seem gaudy to some, it's good gaudy when it comes to my idea of a fairytale treehouse! Let me share with you all the gaudy details! 😊

First, after installing the bay window's light fixture, it got me thinking about window coverings. I didn't need to actually cover the windows - it's not like the treehouse will be in a housing development where you can look out your window and see your neighbor brushing his teeth. So, maybe just a valence... a valance of flowers!

How it came to be... I had this polymer/resin rose vine floating around in my landscaping drawer for a very long time. It came as part of an ebay lot of furniture I bought a long time ago. Unfortunately, it was red, a color I haven't had the need for in any mini setting, so far. But, with a little paint, first a neutralizing coat of white and then a shade of petunia, it was perfect! I even changed the color of the leaves and applied a dirty water wash to bring out more of the vein details.

After its color transformation, Wayne found me a length of grapevine from a wreath in my stash, cut it to size for the bay window and then helped me wire the rose vine onto it.

Perfect shape for the bay!

Painted petunia then wiring to the grapevine.

To hang it, he painted some gold cup hooks bronze, then installed them between the bay window frames.

I had some mulberry paper roses in my stash to supplement the vine. Originally white with pink centers, they got painted, too, then interspersed among the rose vine. I have left room on the ends so I can add hanging herbs and maybe a birdhouse when the full kitchen decorating happens. Viola! Fairytale window coverings!

Wayne and I continued working in the kitchen, adding the sconces on the sink wall and then another flower valence with mulberry paper flowers above the window alcove. I found some leftover leaves from a flower kit to add as filler.

I wasn't thrilled with my first idea for the kitchen's ceiling light. Luckily, Wayne found a metal fairy garden lantern in my stash he thought could work. He salvaged parts from a beat up ceiling fixture and came up with a scheme using a plastic bowl from my stash. He removed the metallic "flame" from the fairy lamp, drilled a hole into the plastic bowl, slipped it over the light fixture base (after painting it bronze) then glued it to the lantern. To help conceal the wire, I painted it green like a vine, wound it around the lantern and then wove in a mulberry paper flower. We make a great team! I hope it will provide enough light. Otherwise, we'll have to come up with something else to make an additional fixture. We'll test it once we start the ceiling installation process.

Rustic metal fairy garden lantern, lamp base removed from a
beat up ceiling fixture and a plastic bowl.

While I was working on lighting again, my "new old stock" ebay fixture for the girls' ceiling arrived in the mail. I had made a reasonable "make offer" offer and it was accepted. This time, I painted it green, wove a piece of grapevine wreath through the arms, then added more flowers. I think the girls should have plenty of light in their bedroom now.

Working out the 'Chicken and Egg Conundrum', it seemed prudent to stay focused on kitchen tasks this week. Before all the upper floors/ceilings can be installed the stove wall has to be fixed in place. Once the stove wall is in place it will be much more difficult to reach into the kitchen. Better to finish the big and challenging stuff before the walls/ceilings are in the way. That meant making the sink cabinet and shelving. 

As you can see, I went full Tudor "carving" mode on it. And boy was it fun! I cut it from chipboard on the Cricut Maker, then added basswood trims, Dresden and other embellishments from my stash. I made the tub sink from Kraft card with a chipboard base. 

Painting the sink cabinet in a neutral, monochrome color really took down most of the garishness, but still left such wonderful details. Especially once the dirty water wash settled into the crevices. The sink is painted in the same "bronze" effect as the lighting fixtures and then given an eyelet drain. The girls insisted on having lavender knobs.

For the countertops, we went with 1/8" x 1/4" "butcher block" stained with the Fred's Weathering Stuff. Wayne made rustic open shelving with scrap basswood to match. The rusty water pump brings fresh well water up for the girls to use whenever they need it. Goldie has been sorting through my stash of kitchen minis and doing a little shopping for some of the things I don't have, while Alice is looking for new places to adorn with flowers.

Wayne insists that before the kitchen ceiling/girl's bedroom floor can be installed, we have to install the great room's balcony. It has a support beam that the girls' floor needs to rest on. But it needed lots of prep work. First, Wayne and I added Betsy's "glue trick" bark in several layers, letting each one set before the next layer. Then we painted its base color, dry brushed highlights and added an overall dirty water wash. At that point it was ready to be attached to the balcony floor. You should have seen how Wayne expertly affixed the clamps - he is incredibly strong for such a little guy! Notice that we also applied Dresden "carving" to the face of the floor beams. Wayne has such creative ideas, but who knew treehouses could be so much work?

Once the balcony assembly was ready, it was time to add the rustic wood flooring strips. Wayne is a math whiz and taught me that for 90 degree cuts placed corner to corner like these, each floor board row progressively increases in length by the same amount as the width of each board: 1/2". His angles are pretty amazing, too, given the age of the wood and how brittle it is. Only the small folk using the balcony will ever get to see his craftsmanship once the balcony is installed.

He really likes the Fred's Stuff stain and used it on the floorboards, too.

Before the balcony can be installed, we had to install the sconces that will live above and below it. It would have been harder for me to hold them in place while Wayne nailed them to the wall with the balcony in the way. The sconces on the first floor, flanking the staircase, went in easily enough, though the left sconce seems to be a wee bit crooked. Wayne says it adds character. Ah well, at least the lights still work!

Then we installed the balcony sconces on either side of the French doors. Our luck is holding out - these sconces are still working, too! 🤞

You'd think at this point, after all our prep work, that we'd be free to get the balcony floor installed. Nope. Things just weren't quite gaudy enough yet! Once we'd experienced the fun, success and ease of beefing up the flower vines for the kitchen bay, we realized we'd need many more for the rest of the treehouse! Luckily, Christine, the owner of MiniatureCrush had just what we needed and shipped them out lightning fast! Now we can continue embellishing flower vines to drape over the balcony and other places before we take the next steps. Wayne is working on the landscape design while he waits for me to finish the flower vines. 

White flowers...

Become lavender.

So this, my friends, is where I'll leave off for this week. Next week, I hope to share all the florals, all the resources, all the progress and more Good Gaudy!

xo xo,

Jodi

Fit For A Queen Continued...

By royal decree I have finished the final bed for the treehouse, my friends! Now Roz can call it a knight! 🤣 Yes, I often laugh at my own jokes... In all seriousness, it feels like real progress!

 When last I posted about Roz's bed, before I switched to the other treehouse occupants' beds, I left off showing you a photo of the white primer coat. It was pretty just like that, but it wasn't Roz.

So, the next step was to paint it a custom mixed lilac shade followed by a glazing with a darker shade of purple. Roz just loves how the glaze coat makes the detailing stand out. It is really easy to achieve: just mix a ratio of about 25% contrasting paint color with 75% satin glaze. Brush on and into the crevasses, then dab away any excess with paper towel. Stippling also creates a wonderful texture with the right piece, especially rusty things.

With the bed frame itself completed, I could finally explore the bed style ideas I've pondered for months. There were so many that I couldn't incorporate them all into one bed! Luckily, Roz's requirements narrowed them down for me. She said it had to be very feminine, very frilly, adorned with loads of flowers and yet be as plush as a cloud. Being as practical as she is magical, her final caveat was that it would also need to be very functional. After all, what good is a beautiful bed if you can't be comfortable in it? A Fairy Beary Godmother, whose job it is to grant wishes, should have her own wishes granted, when possible, don't you think? I set out to check off every detail.

First, I built a frame to support a fabric dust ruffle with an overlay of 5/8" lilac lace. This would attach under the bed frame and add stability, as well as look attractive. The fabric is glued onto a strip of cardstock, then glued to the basswood frame. Then the lace is glued on top of that.

I built a matching canopy frame and a canopy top made from fabric covered cardstock. I used DMC floss to blend the seam where the canopy frame met the cardstock canopy top. 

I'd say those elements went a long way in achieving the "feminine" and "frilly" parts for Roz!

Now for the "cloud" part! I found this video on how to make fitted crib sheets and thought I could adopt it for a mini bed. I cut the fabric for both the fitted and the top sheet from some nearly sheer quilting cotton. Thanks to the tip Shannon left in last post's comments, next time I sew fabric this thin I will try using tear away interfacing.

I won't bore you with many details of my process, and who am I to give a sewing tutorial, but the video was enough to help me make Roz's fitted sheet. It is basically just cutting the corners out and stitching them together. I took photos to share, though.

I actually bought 1/4" elastic to sew into the fitted sheet, but decided it would only add unnecessary bulk under the mattress (or maybe I just chickened out). Instead, I tacked the fitted sheet down with Tacky Wax. This leaves it removable if I ever want to make different sheets.

Viola! It fits!

And it looks nice on the bed! Yippee! I hope this counts towards the "loaded with flowers" part!

Here is the rest of the bedding I sewed: A top sheet (with wonky stitching thanks to it catching on the feeder feet (again need interfacing!), two bed pillows (using the same ticking fabric as the mattress), a pillowcase that matches the sheets, a pillowcase that matches the duvet, and a reversible duvet that I've lined with tin foil so that I can arrange the bedding if the story calls for it. The dark purple thread is one of two choices I had in my stash. Being a novice, it did not occur to me ahead of time to have other purple thread options. I should have made a different thread choice but... hindsight! I am satisfactorily happy with my efforts.

I didn't end up liking the bed with both pillows for the photos. Roz can decide how she likes it for her purposes. The little crochet pillow was an Etsy purchase. You'll see later that I added a homemade tassel to it and a couple to the canopy. The bed looks pretty comfy, so that takes care of the "cloud" part!

Now for the "adorned with loads of flowers" part.  I didn't have any more purple mulberry rose buds, so I decided to dye some white ones myself. Using a couple purple alcohol ink shades and blending solution, I mixed four varying shades of purple to dye the rose buds. I mixed the color in a plastic condiment cup, dipped a paintbrush in and then touched it to the flower. The bud drank it up and the ink dried quite nicely. I dyed and used 99 buds on the bedposts. For the leaves, I used a mini leaf punch and leftover paper from flower kits that I've saved up. I dyed them with a variety of shades of green alcohol ink. You can also use rice, silk or tissue paper. I don't know how many leaves I used, but it was A LOT! Because I was listening to The Covenant Of Water on audiobook and got lost in the tale, the time sailed by.

And here is the "adorned with loads of flowers" aspect that Roz asked for.

With the pillows...

And finally but most importantly, what does Roz think? Is it fit for a queen? Or better yet a Fairy Beary Godmother? Roz thinks it looks too perfect to pass up! She's taking her wonderful new Little Women book from Deborah's Etsy shop, climbing in and reading until she drifts off to sleep...

Sweet dreams, Roz!

But wait! Aren't I missing something on Roz's list? Yes! the "functional" part! Not to worry - Next week I hope to have Roz and Rozario's bedroom completely furnished and decorated. Then I'll share how things function. 

Until then, keep peace in your prayers, my friends!

xo xo,

Jodi

“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it. People think pleasing God is all God cares about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.”
― Alice Walker, The Color Purple