A Dolls’ House by Erin Summers – Part 5

Music and Sitting Room, Part 1

Hello again and welcome to the first of several instalments for the Music and Sitting Room in Norman House! As you will see I haven’t got far into the decoration process yet, but I have been busy as a bee working on the room in many other ways. 

First I had to select, buy and wait for delivery of all of my supplies. These invariably came from over a dozen suppliers so as you can imagine it took some time for everything to come in, and some things have yet to arrive! After that I had to fill in the ceiling hole left in this double width room, where the stairs once were; just as I had to in Part 1 of this blog for the ballroom. As always life gets in the way with a brief illness, but as soon as possible I was back up again. 

My first task after installing the ceiling was to build the floor. This was made on a very thin sheet of MDF.  I choose to make all of my floors on surfaces such as that which can be slid in and out of the room when I choose. This way I can easily access the electrics for the floor underneath, and if I ever have a whim to redecorate I haven’t permanently marred the actual structural floor of my house. 

Regular readers of this blog will perhaps have noticed that I have a penchant for quality flooring. I believe in many ways a really good floor can make a room, or indeed, a bad floor can break it. I decided to try the iron on floorboards from Bromley Crafts.  Sold in rolls, they’re real wood, very thin, with a glue backing that reacts to heat.  Having such a large room and unsure how far one roll would go I bought three.  I found them not only very easy to apply but also quite fun and satisfying. First I cut all the “boards” to size, allowing a little extra on either side, and then I ironed each on, one by one. It was a fairly quick job, and with the help of a set square used all the way along I ended up with a perfectly even and realistic looking floor. Then I simply turned it upside down, and snipped off the excess wood along the sides. I sanded the floor along the top and all four edges. Then I applied one coat of wax, which brought out the natural colour beautifully!  It took precisely two roles of the floorboards to floor this room, which is double width, so I assume the rolls are made to accommodate your average sized dolls’ house room a piece. I enjoyed the process and result so much I have already placed an order for three more rolls.

After that the ceiling paper was applied. Although you cannot see it in these pictures it has a repeated embossed pattern in imitation of a decorated plaster ceiling.  Then the really tough part came – applying the continuous pattern wallpaper! 

This wallpaper depicts and early North American scene, before even the war of Independence. This is a theme which will be picked up again later on in the room. The wallpaper pattern repeats, alternating between two different sheets of paper. Lining them up precisely is difficult and my one complaint is that a great deal of each sheet of paper is wasted in lining up the matching sections.  For example on Piece A the tree you need to match up to Piece B is four inches into Piece A, therefore making a substantial amount of Piece A virtually useless and compelling the customer to buy more sheets than should be necessary to cover a given space.  However, other than that I have nothing but praise for the paper. It is very good quality and the images are outstanding and I feel proud to showcase it in my house. There are bumps underneath the lower section but these are due to slight damage on the wall underneath, and I am confident will not show up once the room is full of the rather wonderful and large amount of furniture and accessories I have collected for it!

Well that’s all for this time! The next blog will be all about fitting the ten arm chandelier, coving and skirting boards, fireplace, and all the other little jobs that more or less make a room civilised. Then we get to the really fun part – filling it with beautiful miniature pieces!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this latest instalment and I wish all my readers well.

Best wishes,

Erin  

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GO FORWARD TO PART 6

This feature was originally published in Dolls House and Miniature Scene magazine. If you like making miniatures, why not buy yourself a copy of the magazine. Or better still take out a subscription so you never miss an issue. For fans of Facebook and Twitter, or to email, print or comment on the feature, please use the buttons above to share with your friends.
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