Playing catch-up

I'm a bit shocked to see that I haven't posted here since July, bad girl! Most of the furniture I've been working on in recent months has been for sale but a few pieces have been for me.

note: Items marked with * are available to purchase from Fairy Meadow Miniatures - don't be shy, email Lorraine with any queries. 

(lorraine@fairymeadowminiatures.com.au)  

So here's a selection ... 

An elegant classic bench upholstered in a Grecian Urn pattern toile.*

Romantic Parisian themed love seat upholstered in pink silk.*

Custom order French lady's chair and chest of drawers for a friend in the United States,

they're companion pieces to this French bed. 

Second bed with lace trimmed sheets and scallop trim on the cover.* 

Perfect combination of white lace, pink silk and gold trim - the peaches and cream team.*

Elegant pairing of grey and gold trimmed armoire and chair upholstered in strawberry gold silk.* 

Now and then I get to do something for myself! 

This chair is in the French apartment salon. I lost track of the number of coats of paint, each one slightly different, that were applied to the frame.

,

Lady's chair in the French apartment bedroom, it's one of my favourites. The striped silk was tea-dipped to give it a slightly aged look. 

Before and after of a little makeover project to personalised cafe chairs for the French apartment dining room. 

The chairs teamed up with the beautiful table made for me by Linda Park in the French apartment dining room.

Thanks for taking a stroll down mini memory lane with me!

French bedroom, pretty in pink

The French bedroom walls are finally done after much procrastinating, including trying out several different papers. Although I really loved the old French tapestry design I finally had to admit that it's just not right for this room. It was a bit like falling in love with a beautiful pair of shoes that just won't fit no matter how much you squeeze and wriggle, eventually you have to put them back on the shelf. I might use it here in bed wear or other furnishings but maybe it'll just have to wait for another project.

This paper came out of the printer looking much too fresh and clean but a few layers of various strengths of tea brushed and dabbed on soon took care of that, and a bit of deconstruction and layering never hurts ... 

Printing aubusson rugs

Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to comment on my French bedroom wall covering dilemma. While I contemplate my next move on that I've been printing aubusson rugs, not on fabric as I usually do but on A4 canvas sheets. The texture is great and it's easier (and generally cheaper) than printing on treated fabric sheets.

The canvas sheets should be available in most art and craft supply stores either in packs or pads. Some printers may balk at the canvas sheet at first but you can often overcome this if you set the Printer Properties to Photo (I used Best Photo setting for these).

If you are looking for images try Google or a search on Pinterest. Give it a try and have fun! 

French bedroom - decisions, decisions

I'm plagued with indecision today :( I want to get the French apartment bedroom walls done but I'm wavering between the wallpaper as mocked up in the top pic and bare walls painted in a cream similar to the dining room (bottom right) ... and then there's yet another option of the wallpaper on the back wall and cream painted side walls...

Feel free to share your opinion!

 In the meantime maybe I should just go and play with the exterior.

Giveaway winner!

Congratulations Catherine (Kilmouski & Me), you are the winner of my blog Followers draw. Can you please email me. 

Thanks so much to everyone who played along, a pity there can be only one winner because you're all appreciated.  

Let's upsize!

Thanks very much for all your ideas. I'm liking this size and colour saturation much better (it's not quite as pink as it looks here, there seems to be some reflection from the bright pink jumper I'm wearing!).  

That tree definitely has to go so a bit of editing work to be done on Picmonkey to remove it.

I'm not 100% sure if I'll use this paper on all the walls or just the back one with a co-ordinating neutral paper, or perhaps paint, on the others. I'm leaning towards a neutral paper on the others right now but I need to think about it for a bit, perhaps while I'm working on the pink, with flowers, tutu dress that my 3 year old granddaughter's dolly REALLY REALLY needs right away apparently :)  

Disappointment follows elation...

I was so excited when I found an image of a piece of old French tapestry that I could duplicate to make wallpaper for the French apartment bedroom - such a lovely scene of ladies enjoying a day in the country.

BUT when it's viewed from a distance the ladies disappear and the pale background with the tree in it becomes dominant and it just looks 'blah' at best and 'yuck' at worst. I'm so disappointed. 

Enlarging the images so that it's easier to see the detail from a distance is an option I suppose but it'll make them rather out of scale I think. The paper is only held on the walls temporarily so easy to remove but it's such a disappointing result.  

Back to the drawing board ... after I dry my tears. 

It's give-away time!

Be in to win!

To enter here you must be a Follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me WHICH CHAIR you'd most like to win.

This is a "twin" give-away - you can enter here and/or on my Facebook page so there will be two draws - one draw for those who enter here and one for those who enter on my Facebook page. If you wish to double your chance of winning you can enter here AND on Facebook so long as you Follow BOTH. 

Sharing on your blog (or Facebook page) is appreciated but not required and doesn't earn an extra entry.

The two draws will be conducted in the simple 'old school' style of names pulled out of a hat. 

CLOSES AT MIDNIGHT (Australian EST) Saturday 2 July. Winners' names will be published on 3 July.

Good luck, and make sure you tell me which chair you would most like to win.

Sometimes you just have to 'go with the flow', right?

Painting and upholstering two chaise wasn't even on my to-do list - completing a couple of pieces for my promised giveaway is at the top of that - but you know how it is when you get it into your head that you just NEED to do something in particular, well that's how it was with these chaise.

Pillow designs are sections of a vintage French wallpaper panel, upholstery fabric is strawberry gold silk, purchased frame painted with multiple layers of various custom mixes of gold mixed with burn umber and burn sienna acrylics.

Aged gold is becoming my favourite paint finish but sometimes something light and pretty is nice too, floral seat panel is reproduced from an old French aubusson cartoon.

As for progress on the giveaway pieces here's a sneak peek at the one that's been completed so far ... 

Back to work then ...

Back in production!

From no posts for months to two in one day! I guess you could say the mini drought is broken, two chairs commissioned by a lovely friend finished this afternoon. 

What can I say - I've been a bad blogger ...

Most of the time these days I'm using mobile internet via my phone and I've been seduced by the ease of posting to Facebook, and discouraged by the hassle I'm having with working out mobile blogging, so Blogger and I have had a lull in our relationship. I will try to do better! 

In the meantime if you'd like to catch up with what little has been going on in my mini world since September I invite you to take scroll through my Facebook page - it's public so you don't need a Facebook account to view it.

https://www.facebook.com/MakeMineMini

There was no mini work at all done over the summer, lots of work done on our real human size cottage in New Zealand though.

The most fun I had was working on the kitchen

Bye bye dark brown, hello lighter and brighter

don't worry about the wonky drawer handles, they're all fixed now 

Playing with bunting was fun too

We're back in Australia, and back into house-sitting assignments, but a little mini work is happening. I have a French chair commission to finish and then I can turn my thoughts to a little giveaway so watch this space ... I promise something will happen before too long!