The 7 year itch?

It's been a really long time since I posted here, I can't quite believe it's been 7 years... 

I still have my Lundby dollhouses, & have added a few more to my little collection since my last post here in 2016 taking me up to 6 Lundby houses. The new additions (at least since I last posted here) have been the modern Stockholm, & then 2 Stockholm/Dallas (both brown & white framed) + new bits & pieces of furniture, but life stuff has got in the way of me posting here, taking photos, & doing much with my dollhouses.  

Mostly it's been due to health stuff...  I have a chronic long term disabling health condition (ME/CFS) & that has been gradually worsening, & then I've had menopause to deal with, frozen shoulders for 2 years & more besides.  The 2 years with frozen shoulders (2019 > 2021) was completely miserable.  I had very little mobility in my arms & so taking photographs or doing anything creative was either completely impossible or incredibly difficult & painful.  That lack of creative outlet was really hard for me, & alongside severe pain & sleep deprivation I wasn't in a very good place.Thankfully I have 95% of the mobility back in my arms now (without surgery) which was a huge relief.

Recently I've been itching to start doing something with my houses again, but have mostly been tweaking or completely rearranging rooms, thinking about what items I still want/need to buy & starting to think about how I want to decorate the rooms & anything I'd like to try & make myself.   I'm getting to a stage where I have enough furniture to complete all the rooms in my 5 houses & just have some older or harder to find bits & pieces to continue to look for, otherwise the work left to do is mostly decoration, possibly making some things myself + adding to my collection of smaller accessories & lighting.

I have quite a bit of anxiety about the things I need to do next..  Worries about not doing a good job in decorating, worries about whether I'll regret covering up some of the original wallpapers & floors, how to best do this & whether I can change it without damaging the existing wallpapers & floors I like.  Add procrastination, my health condition, perfectionism, & indecisiveness & it's quite the party..  

In order to challenge myself I've made an Instagram account for Fragments of Bean & I'll try to post more regularly there, in the hopes it will spur on progress in my houses.   So far I've just been posting some of my old stuff that I've already shared here.

I have a tendency to keep my WIP to myself (or limited to sharing with a few close friends) & want to try to change that.  I'm sure for a while it will all feel a bit strange but I'm hoping I'll be able to get past it & make some progress.

It's a matter of time, we always get lost..

I still haven't opened up all my Christmas Lundby yet, but I took some quick photos the other day as the last 2 sets (Smaland dining room & kitchen) arrived last Saturday.  So far the only set I've opened is the Stockholm set with the shower & jacuzzi, as I wanted to see if the shower would fit in the small left hand upstairs room in my "Dream House" (the Lundby version of Barton's Caroline's Home).  I feared it would be too tall, but it *just* fits in.

I still have some more recent Lundby pieces on my wishlist. I think the sets are the top of my list are mostly Smaland sets - the bathroom set with the roll top bath (I'm sure the Stockholm jacuzzi will come in useful, but I much prefer the roll top bath), kitchen accessories set with the herbs, & the new stereo sideboard, + the older Stockholm bedroom set (which I'd buy in a heartbeat if I could just find one).

I'm planning on using all of these in my Dream House but still need the roll top bath to complete the bathroom, the sideboard to complete the living room, + a complete bedroom set & more furniture for the spare room upstairs, though I'm not even sure what that room will be yet - possibly an office/craft room (the old Smaland TV set with the yellow bookcase might be handy to go in there with the brightly coloured Stockholm table & chairs).   However I think I have enough to start figuring out how I want to decorate the walls & floors of the house.



I'd love to find a way to replace the stairs in the dream house, whether that's making some myself, or using some made for another house.  I really love the stairs in the old Stockholm but don't have an old or new Stockholm myself (yet, maybe one day - I'd love both)  to measure to see if they would fit in the Dream House.  I do have a spare staircase (the type in the Smaland/old Gothenburg) but I don't think they would work in the Dream House - they're too tall & would need modifying + I want some open stairs, so you can see through to the rest of the room - the large room downstairs, which is supposed to be the living room, but which I'll be making into a large open plan kitchen/dining room).

I'm looking forward to opening the rest of the sets & trying them in my Dream House, & really hoping the layout I've visualised will work. 

Oh.. & Happy New Year! 

Cold blooded old times..

I still have a couple of things to arrive (they probably won't get here until the new year), but the rest of my Lundby Christmas gifts to myself arrived on Wednesday & in time for Christmas.  

I haven't deboxed anything yet, but I did have a peek in the boxes shortly after they arrived.  I'm looking forward to deboxing everything soon & having a play.

I'm still not feeling too great, depressed & hollow I guess, but I really hope anyone reading this is having/has had a lovely Christmas.  I'm definitely the Charlie Browniest this year.

❤

I wish A Charlie Brown Christmas would be on TV every year at Christmas here in the UK, but sadly not (must remember to get the DVD so I can watch it next Christmas). I love Vince Guaraldi's Christmas Time is Here & The Young People's Chorus of New York City did a lovely version of it on The Tonight Show recently.

Enjoy & Merry Christmas!

Cancelling Christmas: Death, Despair & a Random Lundby Sighting (+ Cats ♥).

I've been watching & enjoying the third series of  the Danish/Swedish TV series The Bridge (Broen/Bron) & have just 2 episodes (9 & 10) left to watch later today.  In the last 2 episodes (episodes 7 & 8) I spotted a modified Lundby house (I'm assuming it's a 1979 Gothenburg as I think it has brown doors & white trim).

It hasn't been revealed who the the Gothenburg belongs to yet, but it seems to belong to a serial killer, who is creating miniature versions of their killings in each room of the dollhouse. All the killings are staged to recreate artworks owned by a character named Freddie Holst, though all were originally owned by his x-business partner, Claes Sandberg. 

1. victim Helle Anker from Denmark, a lesbian gender theorist & owner of Copenhagen's first gender-neutral preschool, is found murdered with her heart removed in a construction site in Malmö, Sweden.   The tableau that has been created around a dinner table, is based on a fictional piece of art "De Perfecte Familie" by Waarheid.

2. victim Hans Pettersson from Sweden, police chief in Malmö (& lead character Saga Norén's boss) is kidnapped & has one of his hands removed, but found & taken to hospital, though he later dies.  His tableau is based on a piece called "The Nightmare". 

3. victim Lars-Ove Abrahamsson is found dead in a sun chair, with his penis removed.  Based on the title of an abstract painting called "A Day at the Beach" by Frank Nielson.

4. victim Håkan Ekdahl is found hanging with a broken barrel around him & a timer which has counted down.  Based on a piece called "Countdown to Disappointment" by Eduardo Paolozzi.

5. victims Filip & Inger Johansson are found in arm chairs around a Christmas tree, Filip with his brain removed.  The tableau is based on a piece of video art called "Cancelling Christmas" by Edward Cullen.

I believe they're all fictional pieces of artwork, though the artists names include a mixture of real artists (Eduardo Paolozzi) & characters from other works of fiction (such as Edward Cullen from the Twilight series).

 

& a video of the intro to the show, just because..  It's such a  good opener for each episode & I love the theme ("Hollow Talk" by Choir of Young Believers)

 

 

On the subject of Christmas.  I'm really not looking forward to the Christmas period this year. Things were pretty awful this time last year with my Grandad's health, & he was admitted into hospital for the last time before he died on December the 27th, when he was neutropenic, very sick, & died less than 3 weeks later.  

On Christmas day he was left on his own by the woman he shared a home with.  He was ill with myelodysplastic syndrome & a traumatic brain injury left by having a bran abscess, & vulnerable because of his health & age.  My Mum & I would have been with him if we'd have known, but had been told he was spending Christmas Day with the woman & one of her sons & family (where we weren't welcome).   It's going to be hard not to think about him & feel angry & upset that he was left alone & that we didn't get to be with him.

It'll just be me & Roux (my cat) at home as usual this Christmas + our new household member, Nemo.  Like Roux she's a rescue - she lived a couple of streets away & kept running away from home.  We found her originally in a very poor state (filthy, skinny & her long fur in dreadlocks) in mid-May, & she lived with us for a month until we found her owners, but she kept running away & found her way back to us again at the end of July, we took her home & within 4 days she was back to us & moved in for good.  It's taken a while to get her integrated with Roux (who's been living with us for nearly 6 years now) but we're getting there slowly.  

When Roux moved in he was just 6 months old (he'd been bought as a Christmas present for a child, & then thrown out).  It was pretty cold here in January/February 2010 & we kept finding him playing in the snow in our garden.  Nemo is tiny compared with Roux, but they're close in age (I think Nemo was born in April 2010, so she's about 8 months younger than Roux).

I'm hoping to treat myself to some items for my Lundby houses for Christmas.  I don't really celebrate Christmas (no decorations, no Christmas dinner, etc) outside cards & gifts for close friends & family, but I figure this year some miniature goodies mught soften the blow of what will likely be an emotionally difficult Christmas/New Year period.  I haven't ordered anything yet (i'm waiting for some funds to transfer) so it might be too late for anything to arrive before Christmas day, but *fingers crossed*.

New(ish) inhabitants, & coffee..

The Mame houses got some new inhabitants at the start of 2014 but I hadn't got around to taking any photos of them until yesterday.   I'm not sure how the Mames will feel about having to share their houses with 2 strange Ji Ja birds but I really like them & they're the perfect scale.  

Ji Ja birds are the creation of Mr Clement, an artist based in London, but originally from Hong Kong.  Ji Ja birds originally featured in his comic Ji Ja Café, & began to be released as figures in 2011.  They're made of PVC & just over 8cm high (about 3.25") with articulated wings & necks.  

"Ji Ja bird is a new character from my latest comic – Ji Ja café – currently available online on my website / facebook / flickr ....check them out! : )   they are a pair of little birds who are only able to say “Ji” or “Ja”. They are exploring the world between frames (comic frames), carrying a mysterious message in a tiny envelope to someone who is waiting for it. There are some stories to tell in every journey... You may not be able to travel as far or speak as much as them but you might have someone who is always waiting for a special message to be delivered. Ji Ja birds can do the job for you! A tiny paper envelope is prepared for each Ji ja bird figure. Just write what you want to say in the slip and put it into the envelope and then your Ji Ja bird can deliver the message for you. The envelope can be held firmly in its beak. Ji Ja bird will take any message for you. Like you may say “I love you” as well as “I hate you”...whatever! haha!."

Birds who can only say "Ji" or "Ja" seem the perfect creatures to live in Lundby houses to me. 

The white Ji Ja with the yellow beak was one of the first 2 released in November 2011 (along with another in yellow with a white beak) & there have been many others released since, usually in limited editions.  The grey one is the Noël Ji Ja which was released in November 2012 (ltd edition of 100).  

 

 

 

Inspiration : colour & metal framed chairs.

More inspiration from Elle Decoration (more metal framed chairs, & more bright colour <3).    This time from the January 2015 issue, which featured a small guesthouse in Bethnal Green, designed by the Danish designer Nina Tolstrup & husband Jack Mama of STUDIOMAMA, & some very dashing orange metal framed chairs which grabbed my attention.

I'd just been admiring Pepper's gorgeous orange kitchen for her Fenton Lodge & thought of her when I saw the chairs.

Love the Danish daybed/sofa (which reminds me so much of the 1958 Mattel Modern sofa) & the blue bench/coat rack.

I'd only seen one thing by STUDIOMAMA before - the On Off clock made for Lexxon in 2006, but lots more products & furniture can be seen at their website.  I really like their pewter bowls & love the orange Re-Imagine chairs they used in their guesthouse. 

 

For their Re-Imagine chair they took salvaged chairs that they found in a pile near their East London studio. The chairs were stripped down to their frames before new seats, backrests & armrests were added, then finished with colourful paint and upholstery.

Photos: by Ben Anders from dwell.com, via emilyescaped.co.uk, studiomama.com, & dezeen.com.

This morning I swapped out the windows from my new set - the shutters on my original house are a deeper & slightly less orangey red than the shutters on the new window + my original frames are a lot whiter, so I swapped out the panes from the new window & put them in my old frame with the original shutters.  I was a bit worried that in trying to get them out I'd crack the plastic or snap off the hinge nobs.  They were difficult to get out, but thankfully there were no breakages & the window is now ready to go back in the house.  One tiny step forward!

Catching up + Obsessions : Franz West Uncle chairs.

I have a pile of Elle Decoration from January this year onwards to catch up on, what with everything that has been going on since January I haven't had time or inclination to peruse them until now.

I got a replacement window in the mail today - my Lundby Dream House has all its shutters, but had a missing window pane, so now all the windows will be complete. 

As I'm getting back into the swing of things I've been thinking about things I'd love to try to make in miniature. One of them being the Uncle chair by Franz West.

 Photo: Christies

Franz West (1947-2012) was an Austrian artist & furniture designer. His Onkel Stuhl (Uncle Stool) were made in the 2000's & are brightly coloured synthetic straps woven over a steel tubular frame (86 x 51 x 55 cm).

With the colours & patterns created with the straps they remind me a lot of African textiles - they're very much like nwentom/kente cloth, a fabric made by the Akan (from West Africa - Ghana, the Ivory Coast & Benin) which is made from brightly coloured interwoven silk or cotton cloth strips.

 

Photos: Artforum magazine cover, October 2009 via Tumblr.

I particularly love how they were used in this kitchen, designed by India Madhavi in this Parisian loft apartment.

 

Photos: by Matthew Salvaing for admagazine.fr

I'm wondering if I could make some from wire with paper or flexible plastic in bright colours for the seats & backs (I'm sure these 2 tutorials would be very helpful - 1 & 2).  Something to think about..