The Freedom To Choose!

It’s been two weeks since my last post and you’d think I’d have made a ton of progress on the bakery to share with you. Especially,  since time has practically stopped! But alas, there is little here to show on the bakery for my time...

I did manage to get the ceiling papered, stucco'd and painted, the ceiling decorations attached and the lights installed. And I did attach the roof, fill gaps, install trim and touch up paint. Hey - I guess when I type it all out, it sounds like a lot, huh?

With what I'm about to share now, I know I might risk losing your confidence that I’ll ever finish a project. In my defense, I’ll remind you that after abandoning the New Orleans for a year and a half, only the landscaping remains to be finished. It took a while for inspiration to take hold again, but eventually, thankfully, it did.

I must also confess that it has been a little over a year since I ceased progress on the Storybook Cottage. It really is a shame that I can’t muster the inspiration to finish it, because I love it so much and it is ever so close! Only the bedroom and living room furniture and decor to go!

But working in the monochromatic bakery was beginning to become mundane. And there was nothing to keep me occupied while glue and paint were drying! There is still so much to do before I get to the fun parts - all of it more black and white and gray. It is fun to think of what I might do on the exterior, but...

With all of the worries in and for the world lately, I needed something more colorful to lift my spirits. I looked at my stash and thought "If the world might really end soon, I just have to see one more mini project come alive!" ;O)

And I know that there is not one miniaturist who is willing to die until every one of our mini dreams is realized. And God forbid we go with any unassembled kits remaining in our stash!

So I pulled down the Street Of Shops Two Window Shop kit.

I bought the whole SOS set back in 2013, and some of you may remember that I used the Bay Window Shop to house  Starbucks. You won't be surprised to know that it's not finished. I had plans to brick the exterior of all of the SOS shops and was waiting until they were all finished to do so. It's funny how my plans have changed over the years, and what used to be exciting plans for a wine shop has totally lost my interest. Here's how the poor Starbucks sits now, forever waiting to be completed. Look at all that dust!

And while I had no clear idea what I wanted the two window shop to be now, I  went through the wallpaper drawer, selected a piece of flooring and began to take measurements and sketch ideas on the instructions.

I found some lights and power in the stash...

And began to make some built in shelving with the Cricut...

And found a direction to go in...

Drawer Fronts with Dresden Embellishments and
Sparkly Drawer Pulls

 

Cut, installed and waxed the wood flooring...

Mirrored these cabinets and installed some lights...

And now, with no clearer idea what this shop will become, I'll start on trims. While glue and paint are drying, I'll switch back to the bakery. Or the New Orleans landscaping. Or the Storybook Cottage's furniture. Or start another new project... It's so nice to have choices, and the freedom to choose between them!

I pray that all of you are well, have all that you need, and that you have things to keep you happy, dreaming, and looking forward in spite of all that is out of control around us. God Bless, and keep on keepin' on!

xo xo,
Jodi

Pound Cake: Second Floor Walls

I didn't realize as I was taking progress photos this week that I was taking so many! There were a lot of separate steps to raise the walls and separate the spaces, so I hope you'll stick with me here for the dreadfully long update post!

Sink/Restroom Side installed, touch up paint still required.

Top floor progress picture, still more trims and ceiling/roof to install.

It all began with foam core for the walls. The roof/ceiling piece can be relatively easily added or removed now, so getting a height measurement was easy enough. Then I just had to trim the foam core down to 9-3/8" tall.

The two restroom walls were a little more difficult in that I had to replicate the ceiling angle onto the foam core. I attempted a complicated "Rise and Run" calculation, but in the end just held the pieces up to the roof piece to confirm. All was well - at least well enough that trim would make me look like a genius! A quick test of the door frame to confirm the opening followed.

Sink, stairway and restroom walls being test fit.

For the stairwell side of the wall, I added textured ceiling paper above beaded wainscot. This area will only have a peek-a-boo view from one of the side dormer windows, but I wanted a clean, finished look. Wouldn't you know my paper wrinkled a little. Such is mini life...

The restroom side of the wall received pieces of my leftover wallpaper. I didn't need much, and because of where I had cut dormers out, there were funny angled gaps where I had to paste pieces over. Not to worry - this area will be behind the door and will never be seen. Why do I only ever buy three sheets of wallpaper when countless times I needed four?!?

Above the sink I thought a window would be nice. It would give some depth and interest in the room and would also let in additional light from the stairwell/dormer window. I cut a 2" x 3" piece of foam core and glued it, centered, in the space above the planned sink unit. This gave me something to hold my Xacto blade against to cut the window hole. This would not have been necessary if I had planned the window before I glued all of the walls together!

For the wall treatment in the sink and stove area, I tried out a new tip for the Cricut - the Debossing Tool. It is meant to imprint a design into several types of material. I made a subway brick tile pattern using my graphics software, then imported it into the Cricut Design Space program. From there, you can choose to deboss the pattern. I chose deboss and resized it to fit on pieces of wall squares that I'd already created for each foam core wall. The material I debossed was the Cricut Kraft board which is like stiff poster board. The pattern is subtle with this material, but in this application for the bakery walls, worked just fine. Besides, who can complain about no painting and no laying of hundreds of tiny tiles!

To give the tiles a shine, I brushed on gloss Mod Podge. My Mod Podge had a lot of lumps and partially dried bits, so I used a filter and a cup to get a nice clean batch to work with. You can buy these filters in large packs for a small price on Amazon. They work great for filtering old paint, too.

Once the tiles were dry I was able to frame the pass through window opening.

And check the fit of the sink cabinet I made with the Cricut for the space.

Window frame, cabinet, door frame and behind toilet plumbing cabinet painted...

I sprayed the countertop in white satin and then applied a couple coats of Krylon Triple Thick spray gloss. I had a faucet from Elf Miniatures that came with the sink I used in the New Orleans kitchen. By adding the spring from a fountain pen to the spigot and a painted, tapered bead to the end, it looks more like an industrial bakery kitchen kind of faucet.

Now it was time to make sure my initial height measurement for the walls was accurate. I nervously installed the ceiling/roof and said some hopeful prayers...
Success! With a little molding, pre-cut before adding the ceiling permanently, the finished room should look like I knew what I was doing!

I confidently applied the glue and weighted the wall piece down. And waited for glue to dry...

Meanwhile cutting and painting trims. And painting/assembling the Chrysnbon bathroom kit pieces...

And here is the view down the stairs that you will never again see...

And the only view to this side of the sink window pass through, through the side dormer window...

And I made shelving and brackets with the Cricut...

Then installed the restroom fixtures and accessories...

Then the angled side wall and door frame with added transom window...

Frosted for privacy, but which I hope will let in extra light to the sink area...

And installed open shelving for all of the equipment and supplies that one would need to operate a successful bakery...

And other than touch up and trims, the bakery's kitchen is ready for living!

Now on to the ceiling and the lighting.

Back next week with more progress, I hope. Until then, I pray all of you are safe and well, and are making it through this uncharted territory that, together, as a world, are experiencing. God Bless!

xo xo,
Jodi