Featherstone Hall Hotel part 17: the Thistlemere Room

In the Thistlemere Room at the top of the hotel we find Maud Thistlemere (wife to Grandpa George on the floor below) checking that Mrs. Dewsbury is tucking in the corners of the bed correctly.

The guest rooms

As the rooms on this level would be the most inexpensive in the hotel, Julie wanted the decoration to reflect this. She chose a fairly plain wallpaper and oak-coloured wooden flooring and added white coving and skirting, followed by a white door and frame.

Lighting

For the lighting, Julie placed the bed and bedside tables in their approximate final position and marked where to drill for the bedside lights. She also marked on the ceiling a central point above the foot of the bed. To avoid having cables running along the top of the house, a channel for the cable was routed out on the bedroom ceiling side of the roof. The light fitting was glued in position (including the cable in the channel) and the channel was then filled with wood filler. When it was dry, it was sanded flat and the surface was repainted white. 

The cables for the bedside lights go straight through the back wall and connect to a transformer and sockets in the space behind the Toile room false wall on the floor below. The desk light also follows this route, but the cable is tucked under the shirting and below the door frame before exiting the back wall.

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Dressing the desk

The desk is dressed with the lamp and a selection of paper ephemera from a Dee-Daw Designs cut-out pack, along with a wooden box in the centre of the desk to suggest a writing slope ready to use. An odd dining chair from Julie’s 'that'll be useful' box was re-upholstered with the bed cover fabric and placed beside the desk.

Like many people Julie didn't have a 1/12th scale writing slope to complete this desk, so it was substituted with a rather nice (bought) varnished wooden box of cigars. You could also try a leather clad artist's paint box, or any appropriately sized and covered or varnished box. If you surround the substitute item with the things which should be around the real item, you can fool the viewer into thinking it really is a closed writing slope. When in time, you do eventually find the piece you've been looking for, then you can substitute the substitute.      

Washstand

Some basic accessories were added to a plain wooden washstand including a jug and bowl, mirror and a selection of bead bottles. Julie’s only indulgence hangs above the washstand – a Pre-Raphaelite painting in a large gilt frame. Julie likes to think that the management found the style of this piece of art a little too avant-guarde for the rest of the hotel, so hung it in an unimportant room!

The bed

The bed has been dressed in my usual way, then Mrs. Dewsbury was bent over it tucking in the last corner. The room's been finished with a set of luggage beside the desk and a walking stick.

Julie then decided to be a little unconventional (in dolls house terms) by setting the wardrobe across a corner and positioning the armchair with its back to the viewer. The benefits are that the mirror creates another view of Maud entering the room, and the chair turned away creates a mystery. This layout is believed, by Julie, to be more realistic and interesting.

Go back to the previous section where Julie decorates the upper hall. Or discover how Julie decorates Margot's room in the next instalment of the series.