Welcome to my life . . . .

This is a blog about my passion: dollhouses and miniatures. This particular blog was started to follow my miniature dream: to create a Victorian Mansion. But work on my Mansion is slow. Very slow. Sloth slow. Ice Age glacier movement slow. Why? Because I am easily distracted by other personal miniature projects (I have 50+ roomboxes and 15 dollhouses in various stages of incompletion) and because I work for a miniature shop and am often up to my elbows in miniature projects that aren't mine! So, I thought, some artists work in a particular medium (woods, watercolors, clay, oils, etc.), I work in progress . . . .

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Majestic Mansion's Bespaq Door Make-over!

It's no secret: I love Majestic Mansion's Bespaq designed doors.  I want them all around my dollhouse, but they only come in white or New Walnut stain.  But many of my rooms have gold or cream trims, or the rooms are decorated with mahogany stain furniture or cream, black, or gold painted furniture.  And it bothers me when the furniture and trims are vastly different than the door.  But I love these Majestic Mansion doors (Penniman Doors)!
So the library is basically complete now:
During the Day

At Night
Still have a few empty shelves that need books, baseboard needs to be painted and glued in, drapes are needed, and windows with trim and a door with trim needs to be installed.
Lower Library

Upper Library
But when I inserted the windows and door into the appropriate places, I am saddened to say that the hole openings are about 1/16" to 1/8" too small.  So I will have to go back and cut away a bit around the windows and door openings.  And I was not in the mood to do that (I need patience when sanding or cutting away at rooms that have already been "finished" so that is another day's project).  Can't believe I was so impatient to start the project that I forgot to check on that before I began!!!

To keep myself busy in the meantime, I decided to tackle the door issue.  I want a Majestic Mansion door connecting the Library to the Music Room.  But I kept circling like a buzzard over the stain issue: Library is gold and mahogany; Music Room is black, cream, and gold.  No where in either room is there New Walnut stain like the door.

So I bugged and begged my friend, Wilson, at Dollhouse Linens and More (Dollhouse Linens And More) for any hints and tips he could give me about changing an already stained/finished piece to a different stain or paint.  He does it often and his results are incredible: but most of his things are amazing because he is an artist.  I'm just a hobbyist who can't draw a straight line even with a ruler.  Luckily for me, Wilson is sweet and provided me with a few tips, but most importantly, he provided me with the inspiration and a belief that I could do it!

I sanded the door as best I could to remove the old glaze and some of the stain.
Library Side of door needs to be Mahogany
Music Room Side needs to be Cream
It took 3 or 4 coats of new stain on the library side, but the door finally resembles something close to the mahogany stain that is in the library:
Still needed another coat or two before it was finally done
Finally matched close enough that I'm going with it!
For the Music Room side of the door, I primed and then painted the door in a cream color paint that matches the walls in the Music Room:
Primed
Painted cream
I still have to paint the trim work around the door gold and I want to decoupage some of the wallpaper onto the door so it coordinates with the art work wallpaper in the music room.  But one Decor Consultant (Mom) insists I should paint the door in a slightly greenish color to match the music room better (it will have a green marble floor and the furniture is black with hand-painted green accents).  But I don't have any slightly green tinted cream paint so this is another project that is temporarily on hold . . . guess this is a sign that I really ought to focus and finish up some customer projects in the meantime!

2 comments:

  1. Hello Lori,
    I totally get the need to have things in a room match. My house is Victorian and mismatched furniture is correct, but for the life of me I just can't bring myself to do it. Great job on the door so far, the library side is lovely, and I think green on the other might not be a bad idea. The library is wonderful. I love the upper level and it feels very grand. Great work!
    Big hug
    Giac

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you, Giac! I just have to get a moment to find a nice green hue cream color paint so I can finish this minor project of a library door! LOL

    ReplyDelete