Little Spaces: Part 1 of 6 (or so)

Late last year I came up with an idea to create multiple holiday scenes. But it was holiday season and I had no extra time to do any miniatures. So I dreamed, schemed, and took notes...and now it's time to create/play!

I want to create 6 (or maybe more...we'll see if it grows beyond the 6 in my head) different settings decorated for the season.  And it works out perfectly because I have 8 plexi-covers I'm currently not using so they can cover the scenes!  (So, yes, it can grow by two more scenes! LOL)

My first inspiration came from a friend's Facebook post of her awesome real life living room:

I love Carol's real life living room!

And, as luck would have it, I had recently come into possession of this NAME project someone had put together that looks very similar to the built-in in my friend's picture.  This was gonna be an easy-peasy, super quick project! (HA! Famous last thought!)

Window seat needs to be higher for a TV

So I think all 6 scenes will have common things: all will be the same size space, with 2 walls (a back and side wall) and a floor, a fireplace of some type, all will have a reindeer somewhere in the scene, obviously greenery and candy of some kind (chocolate or candy canes), a seat or sofa, and a window.  This first scene would be the "city Christmas" scene - with the built-in TV cabinet to replicate my friend's living room.

When I was first brainstorming, I thought the window would go on the back wall.  However, the cabinet is too long for the side wall so the cabinet HAS to go on the back wall.  But if I am putting the TV in the center nook of the cabinet to replicate friend's living room, I'll block the window that was planned for the back wall.  Where would the window go?  So window got moved to the left wall.  And now I needed to find a scene for out the window...This is beginning to sound like a miniature version of "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" (If I use the NAME project cabinet, I have to remove the window seat and raise the counter for a TV. If I put the TV there, I have to move the window.  Once I have the window in place, I need a scene for out the window.  Now that I have a TV cabinet along the back wall and a window on the second wall, where do I put the fireplace?)  I need a cookie now.

Window seat gone and now I can raise it up for the TV

I really wanted each scene to have a fireplace of some sort.  But with the cabinet taking up the entire back wall and the side wall dedicated to a window, there appeared to be no more space for a fireplace.  So, as you may have guessed, if the TV is up on the cabinet, why can't the fireplace go underneath?  This is a city apartment so they wouldn't have wood burning fireplaces; but they could have an electric or maybe even a gas-operated fireplace!  Flip a switch and instant fire.

Creating the electric fireplace and higher counter for the TV

Small 90-degree angle trim inset to hold plexi front in place

Painted interior black and exterior the same color as the cabinet

Can see better without the backing on.  Flames are way to small for this fireplace....

Unfortunately I still wasn't happy with the scene.  The TV still looks too low and there's too much dead space above the TV.  And flames need to be longer.  And I definitely need more cookies.

Still needs adjusting.

Found an old fireplace fender made out of flexible thin metal that I could cut with scissors!  I could put this under the fireplace, helping to raise it up, and it would look like those fan grates that circulate the warm air from the fireplace!

Just have to wrap it around a block of wood under the fireplace

Got longer logs and tested it with the higher height...

Better, but still not quite what I envisioned

Added one more shelf and now I think it looks right...

Wires for fireplace logs will be hidden once it is complete

Now it's all painted and I can start to add the Christmas décor (which I still have to make).  And I decided on a window scene and using spray adhesive I attached it to posterboard (so if I change my mind I can slide it out and change it).

And I had to replace the solid bulb that came with the fireplace with a flickering LED light so it would look realistic:

So my quick, easy-peasy project took over 2 weeks and I'm not even half done (as I still have to wallpaper, paint window trim and the small side table to match the cabinet, create curtains, install flooring, find/make all the remaining accessories, etc.). But at this rate, I may actually finish this 6-part (or more) project in time for Christmas 2019!

Finishing up Halloween and Preparing for Christmas

So, it is less than three weeks until Thanksgiving . . . and my dining room table (as usual) is covered in miniature projects.  In my defense, not all the miniature projects are for me!  I have a customer's house sitting there, waiting for me to rewire it and wallpaper it.  There are 2 in-progress miniature projects which will be Christmas gifts for my 2 best friends.  And my daughter has some of her sewing project stuff on the table (but, yes, hers are easy to pick up and put away as opposed to the dollhouses which are harder to find space to put them).

The largest thing on the table is mine (Leaky Cauldron/Diagon Alley structure) and I have bits and pieces for another small project (a beach stall) I am working on when Leaky Cauldron frustrates me.  I know my husband will begin to make comments about how we need our dining room table back for Thanksgiving dinner, so within the next week or two I have to remove the larger structures at least.  The smaller things I can tuck away in various nooks and crannies in the living room and kitchen.

I do not want to put Leaky Cauldron away -- I procrastinated for almost 10 years in removing the old stone floor.  Now that it is finally all out, I don't want to delay another 10 years in finishing it.  And I worry that if it goes back to the dimly lit, scary, spider hotel (aka basement) it will be years before I work on it again.  So I want to get at least the floor done to try and maintain my motivation for working on it.  I had to restain the baseboard area as the plaster stone floor had discolored the previously stained wood:

New stain is a bit darker, but in the long run I think it'll be fine.

I planned on making a template at first to work on the flooring outside of the structure.  But the opening is so small the template wouldn't have fit thru the opening!  So I have to glue down the individual pieces of strip wood one at a time inside the structure.  Then I had the stumbling block of trying to fit flooring in places I couldn't see very well:

Gluing down the first few strips.

The narrow wall to the left in the picture above and the doorway wall on the right create a smaller opening for viewing the room.  My head and hands don't fit in the opening very well so I can't really see right behind these areas while I'm working on them.  So I am gluing down the strips and then returning to fill in the bare spots afterwards:

The threshold of the door needed a piece of wood.

Not the best fit (lots of gaps) but who's gonna see?

The only way to see back here is to stick in a camera and click a picture so I don't think anyone will ever really see the gaps, but yes, they do bug me.  I'm hoping that once I sand and rough up the floor (it's Leaky Cauldron pub - it's been around a while so the floors will not be all nice) that the gaps will look more appropriate -- if anyone ever really sees them!

Behind the narrow wall . . .

Needs a small sliver of strip wood . . .

This side finished off better than behind the door!

I still have a way to go, but the floor is slowly coming along (I warned you I work slow, sloth slow!).

Making progress but still have about half the floor to do.

I had wanted Leaky Cauldron to be finished by Halloween and (no surprise to me) that didn't happen.  I work best with deadlines though, otherwise I'd never get anything done, so I am giving myself this week to finish gluing down the wood strips, rough them up, age them, and then seal them.  Then it will return to it's resting place (the dimly lit, scary, spider hotel) until maybe next summer when I will try to get husband to help carry it back up the stairs so I can officially finish it by Halloween - of 2015.

At work I have been distracted by this little fun project in preparation of Christmas:

A red lantern that I thought needed an elf's desk!

This elf office was so much fun to put together!  The desk is the "Lilanna Youth Desk" by Bespaq.  I added some gold accent to the trim and began decorating it with some things an elf would have/need.  Being a youth's desk it is the perfect size for an elf!  It is still a work in progress (as are all my things, hence the name of this blog!) so the elf desk is still a bit bare and the chair is still on my work table (aka dining room table) waiting for its gold accent trim, but I wanted to share it with you partially finished . . .

My elf has an Elf on the Shelf!  And a gingerbread house kit he'll get to make someday (like me and my dollhouses!).

I love my little Santa snow globe!  It's the little things that make me stupid happy.

I have always admired these wreaths that I have for sale in the store; Finally have an excuse to own one!

Take down the Halloween decorations, prepare for Thanksgiving (and family birthdays in my house), and brace yourselves for the holiday season: 2014 is wrapping up quickly!