A New Little Stair Case for a Tired Old House

The Scandinavian house has been put to the side over the Christmas break, and for the moment I have been playing around with the new eBay house. I started by removing some wood to make holes for the stair case and a door upstairs and downstairs. 

I bought a pre-milled stair case kit for the house, but decided to use different balustrading (of much better quality than the kit provided).

This took quite a long time and was quite tedious! 

The result was pleasing though. 

I think the stair case has improved the over all look of the house a lot. It seems to have transformed it from a child's toy into a collector's miniature already. 

Tomorrow I will go out hunting for some nice wall paper and do a little more research on American Victorian style as I want the house to look authentic.

A Little Distraction

Notwithstanding that I should be continuing with my scandinavian house, I couldn't help but get a little bit stuck into the new little old house I picked up on eBay last week. 

                       

The porch has seen better days, so I am planing some nice ornate spindles to replace them. 

The chimney is quite well made, if perhaps a little rough. 

The interior is probably a little bit dated. Mid-nineties pastels pervade..

So we decided it was time for an update. 

Looking a little bit rough right now, but give it some time and it will look like new. I am also planning a staircase, which will improve the overall look. 

A Little Diamond in the Rough

I have just acquired this little gem on eBay and am very happy! Houses of this caliber very rarely come up for sale in Australia, and so I was very pleased to find it. 

I am fairly sure it must be an American house because of the Victorian mansard style, but it is not a kit built house. I think perhaps it was made from a pre-purchased plan because the proportions seem too well balanced to have been made without guidance. Any ideas?

Now the question becomes to what extent should I renovate? Should I re-do the interior entirely and put in some lighting and perhaps a staircase? Should I instead try to keep it original.  This will have to be considered carefully, particularly after some research as to where exactly it comes from. 

Either way it is a very sweet house and I will keep you posted on renovations. 

The Tiny World of Terrariums

Inspired by a book I read, I decided to make a few moss terrariums. A terrarium is a glass jar or container in which you create a tiny ecosystem. I love all things tiny, so I thought it might be an interesting change from the usual dollhouse projects.  

I needed some some moss, so I went on a hunt through the small blue stone alleyways around my house. 

I used a few small jars, some peat moss soil, some sphagnum moss (for a filtration layer) and some pebbles to help drainage at the base. 

I found some railway figures and placed them in their tiny world; then placed their world on a shelf.

These hikers are comparing maps, they must be lost. 

A little herd of cows enjoys its hilly pasture. 

I found a very small jar. 

It now has tiny lovers in it. 

A Little House with Little Legs

I have always loved dollhouses which have legs. It makes a little house seem more like a piece of furniture in its own right. This seems to give a dollhouse a purpose in the decorative scheme of a room. 

These antique houses are all in the V & A Museum in London.

This house (below) is in the Nordiska Museum in Stockholm.

So I decided to give my little Scandinavian house legs. I bought a set of four turned legs from the hardware shop. 

I made a frame by doweling the  legs and cross frame piece together.

It was a challenge to make the frame square and straight. We employed four large clamps and spent a lot of time fiddling with it. 

 In the end we got it right. The house looks quite good already I think - even though it is yet to acquire a facade.

Little Etsy Shop

Hi everyone, I have created an Etsy shop. Why don't you all check it out here!

Little Stairs Continued

I continued my staircase today. Because my workshop is at my parent's place (I live in a small apartment in the city) I don't get to it as much as I would like. So when I do visit, I do as much work on my house as I can. 

I agonised over the choice of balustrade - round? straight? turned? In the end I decided on a flat stencil type cut. I have seen a lot of these type of balustrades in Scandinavian houses, so it seemed a good choice. 

I decided to use iceypole sticks because they are just the right size. I drew out the pattern on each stick and then cut them on the mini band saw.

I wanted to make the balustrades with a decorative hole, so a drilled holes to make it easier to cut.

Because iceypole sticks aren't the best quality wood, some split while I was cutting them. I glued them back together easily though. 

The result was quite pleasing.

Capping the posts made it look quite finished.

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Still some work to do. Look out for the next post!