My French chairs for sale

Add a little French charm to your miniature living room or bedroom.  These 1:12 scale chairs that have been handpainted and upholstered by me are for sale. The upholstery is decorated with charming vintage French aubusson images. The paintwork can be distressed on request if you prefer a more 'faded elegance' look.

The price is $65 for one or $120 for a pair (Australian dollars) plus postage.  For conversion to other currencies click here. 

Please note that except for the first two designs below ("Lovers" and "Rose Bouquet") which are both available in a pair I have only 1 of each of the others and it will be some time before there will be any more.  

Please email me (normabennett@hotmail.com) if you have any questions or to discuss a purchase. 

Sydney Minis Fair is over and I'm still alive ...

... but only just I think - it was fun though and well worth the effort.  I got very little time to look around so the plan to have some photos of interesting exhibits didn't work out, all I've got to share is one very quick shot of my own table (the only photo I took all day!).  I promise to be better organised next time! 

Oh yes, the kitchens! Well the report on those is that I did sell one, to a good friend who wasn't actually looking for a kitchen sink but just had to take one home and now will have to build a kitchen for it, bless her. The others, and various remaining armoire, sofas, chairs, etc will be available to purchase online shortly.  In the meantime feel free to email me if you have any questions. 

Sometimes just one kitchen sink isn't enough, but I didn't plan on five!

SOLD

SOLD

I was pleased to find ready-made kitchen benches that are almost exactly the same as the one I designed and made for my French kitchen so I thought I'd refinish and accessorize two for the Sydney miniatures fair. However, the first package from my supplier went missing in the mail, as did the second, so a third was sent and then all three turned up so I suddenly had six! I've kept one aside for a French cottage kitchen project I'm planning for myself but these will all be for sale. 

I don't expect to sell all of them at the fair, a kitchen bench is not the kind of thing you buy unless you're really in need of one, so I expect there will be some available here from next week if any of you have an interest. (Email me: normabennett@hotmail.com )

(Handwoven mats are by Glenda Howell; jams by Nina Eary; crockery decoration, tea towels and little tray of muffins by me).

A little bed goes to upstate New York!

This is a secret project I've been working on, a gift for my blog buddy Claudia (Mockingbird Hill Cottage) who lives in upstate New York (ok, technically that's not absolutely correct since she lives not all that far from NYC, but it's got a nice ring to it don't you think?). She has the cutest cottage style dollhouse but has been in need of a bed for a long time and I had a bed frame that I wasn't using so I couldn't resist making a dressed bed for her almost empty bedroom.  

The frame was originally shiny black but has been spray painted matte off white, not by me but by my son who is a dab hand at spray painting base coats for his hand-painted Warhammer models. Dollhouse meets Warhammer, who would have thought??!

Claudia chose pink toile for the main fabric and likes a simple 'tidy' look to her bed. I'm a bit more of a 'messy' bed kind of girl so it was a personal challenge to be so neat! I was hoping that the exercise might rub off in real life but one look in my bedroom will confirm that hasn't happened unfortunately.

I'm still frantically painting and upholstering in preparation for the fair in 3 weeks time.  Many thanks for your nice comments about my efforts so far, and for your good advice, all greatly appreciated.

Photo credit: Claudia Hill

Up to my ears in paint and fabric!

These are a few of the pieces I'll have for sale at the Sydney minis fair that's coming up soon - a bit too soon for comfort really because I still have LOTS more to do.

I'm sharing a table with Margaret (My Petite Parterre) - we're looking forward to seeing some of you there - please stop by and say hello! 

Those of you who live far away don't have to miss out completely - after the fair I'll be offering a few pieces for sale on a sales page I'll set up on my blog so keep an eye out for that.

This fair is a first for me - those of you who have done fairs before will no doubt have learned a few things - I'd really appreciate any tips/advice you'd be prepared to share. 

OK, I'd better get back to work!

A new blog on the block, and an old friend returns...

I'm finally out of hibernation!  I've been away from home on several house-sits over the last three months, the most recent one was almost 6 weeks without internet access so you can image I'm rather 'out of the loop' with blogs and all your news. I'm off to New Zealand next week for a short visit so I won't get to entirely catch-up just yet but I wanted to give you a 'heads-up' on a couple of blogs - one new and one an old friend who's been away for a while.  

Here's a little sample of the delights on Kara's new blog, Making Mini Art -  the patina on the blue cupboard is fabulous and I can't wait to see how her new 'old' kitchen progresses. 

And one of my favourite miniaturists, Daphne @ In the Court of Gypsies is back after a long break from her blog.  She achieves the most wonderful patina too and has been experimenting with typography on furniture and handpainting upholstery to create truly unique miniatures.

I thoroughly recommend you visit both Kara and Daphne to see their work for yourself. 

I hope to be back into 'normal life' mode by the end of March so I'll show you some of the pieces I've been busy preparing to offer for sale at the Sydney Miniatures Fair then.

Delicious additions to the French kitchen

Gorgeous mini jams and preserves by Nina Eary have been added to the French kitchen, they look good enough to eat don't they? I love the colour they bring to the shelves and the French labels are adorable.

Nina makes a wide range of high quality miniatures, I recommend you take a look at her website and her Facebook page to see some of her work. Unfortunately she's not making to order at the moment but don't let that stop you enquiring about what she may have available. 

I have more of her preserves to show you at some other time including Apple Butter, Honey, and more jams but I want to show you them 'in situ' and that special project is as yet unstarted - something new for the new year...

And of course this is an appropriate time to wish every one of you a fabulous 2014, may it bring everything you wish for and more.  

A peek at bathroom progress

The bathroom is still very much a work in progress. Some of you will remember the dilemma I had about the gold shower unit-brass bathtub combination  -  together there was just too much 'gold' going on... I think they look much better now that the shower/tap unit is painted a dull pewter. 

The toilet seat and base have been repainted grey. I think the softer colour suits the room better. It's also been moved to the opposite corner as a trial (everything is held in place with tacky wax until I'm sure about the relocation). 

This corner is almost invisible from the window, which is the only way it'll be possible to see into the room at all soon. I don't think that really matters because the toilet isn't the most interesting/attractive thing in a bathroom anyway and if it's moved I can put a chair at the end of the bath and maybe stack it with towels. If you have an opinion on the relocation please feel free to share it, I'm always interested in, and appreciate, other viewpoints. (The cabinet can't be moved any further to the right because the door opens back into that space.)

The cabinet can be seen through the window so it's worth dressing it up a little. It's made from cardboard, except for the the top which is basswood with a circle cut into it so that the bowl (which was stolen from the kitchen) could be recessed into it, just the rim sits above the counter. The taps (which were ripped out of a kitchen sink unit) have been aged a little by dabbing on some matt pewter paint with a fine brush. The drain is made the same way as in the kitchen sink, it's the flat half of an eyelet set glued on. The middle is painted black, allowed to dry and then a good dollop of PVA is put on top of that. When it dries it's translucent and looks like a little water is trapped there.  The staining on the wall is strong tea brushed on liberally, it runs down and gathers in the crevice at the top of the little board at the back so that it looks like this has been a problem area for the cleaner for a very long time! 

The pink canister is by Mercedes (Liberty Biberty), the tiny bottle from Synnove. I'm loving being able to bring these little treasures out of boxes and into the light of day as this house slowly becomes 'lived in'. 

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The post with information on how I made the old fashioned toilet from a modern one is here - it's as easy as 1 2 3!

Salon mirror

This mirror proves the old adage "keep a thing long enough and you'll find a use for it". It's been in my stash for 30+ years and cost 29c - I know that because the price sticker was still on the back. It was made as a handbag mirror but I bought it because I thought it might come in useful as a dollhouse dressing table mirror but it has lain unused for all these years - until now! 

It was an exciting moment when I realised that the mirror and the angels embellishment would fit above the fireplace - it wasn't planned, it's just 'dumb luck', or maybe serendipity.  

A mini birthday

It was my birthday yesterday. The highlight was lunch at Perons in Double Bay with my wonderful daughters-in-law and grandkids.

As well as little treasures of the human kind my day involved little treasures of the dollhouse kind, specifically Carrie Lavender's Lady Carlyle jug and the tiny roses compact, pictured on the left below (images from Carrie's Etsy, published with her kind permission) ...

... and Mini-ologie magazine which is a feast of inspiration and delight - although it does seem a little weird to be looking at images of a winter Christmas when it's full-on summer here! Click here for their website.  I'm enjoying perusing the digital download for the moment while waiting (with excited anticipation) for the paper copy to arrive. 

Well, that's three posts in four days! Definitely a record for me! Thanks for all your nice comments about the marbling and the chaise, I haven't had a chance to respond to most of them yet but they are all greatly appreciated.