La Maisonnette Kitchen

 

Welcome to a very tiny kitchen!

This little space has been quite a challenge.

No room for appliances in this compact space!

And as you can see from the pic above,  I've used the space right to the very edge of the Maisonette.

I should have probably built that cupboard a bit smaller but clearly measuring isn't a great skill of mine!

Originally I made a marble benchtop but it didn't look right so close to the marble fireplace.

I was making the hole in the benchtop to fit this bowl but the bowl looked too new. 

I prefer a slightly grungy, lived-in, vintage vibe.

You knew there'd be pipework!

I searched everywhere for a better bowl for the sink.

This little bottle of 'stuff' was sitting on my windowsill. 

It was with my mother's art things when she died. I kept it because it was cute.

I had looked at the lid as a possible sink many times and eventually when I couldn't find anything else I tried it in the hole and of course...

it was a perfect fit!

Thanks Mum! xxx

Like I said the kitchen is compact and there's not much storage,

so I made a shelf for above the sink.

There's a pretty pic of the kitchen a couple of weeks ago...but things are always changing!

There's always another idea...

I had the idea to make an old fireplace mantel shelf to go on the other side of the kitchen.

And I thought a French kitchen needed vintage canisters, so I just made those too.

But once I'd made it I decided it looked better here above the sink.

And you may have noticed that in this pic I've added a cupboard door...just because it was too hard to fill the cupboard!

I saw a real life table like this on the internet and I just had to make it in miniature.

This time I measured better!

There's only a little hotplate for cooking here.

I figure as there's going to be a patisserie downstairs the tiny occupants won't need to cook much!

And there you have the kitchen!

We're in Covid lockdown here in New Zealand again because the Delta variant was discovered in the community.

So you know what that means for me - more mini making time!

I'm working on the patisserie already.

Working on La Maisonnette exterior

This was the first building I ever built when I joined a Miniatures club that happened to meet 

once a month just around the corner from my house. 

When I joined the club they were building a row of Victorian shops for their biennial show. 

It was a good way to learn the basics of miniature building.

It also made me realise I never want to make or glue hundreds of sandpaper bricks ever again!

And there's the delightful Liberty when she was two and a half years old back in 2007. 

Time really does fly!

In 2011 I changed the building into a bakery.

However there's not a lot of room in my real house for more dollhouses and the bakery needed a revamp so...

Time to add another floor and get renovating.

I was more than ready to get rid of the bricks.

I followed the instructions in Lea Frisoni's book to build the top floor.

Yes, it was annoying making all the tiles for the roof but I'm glad I did it.

Removing the bricks left a nice textured effect on the walls.

I boarded up the side window but I still wanted it to look like there had been a window there.

That's the original front door.

I just added a fancy panel.

I'd always wanted a house with a dormer window.

It was very tricky to get the angles right but where there's a will there's a way!

When I originally built the house I added a spouting and was able to re-use it.

I also had the trim under the spouting lying around...Like I've said before - things just turn up here!

The bakery will still be in the ground floor.

The wonderful Kim Saulter gave me the exquisite stained glass 'Patisserie' window.

The beginnings of the outside door on the second floor which will be the entry to the maisonnette.

This door is currently in the garage waiting for my husband to drill holes in it to make it swing the opposite direction to how it was built. It seems to have been languishing in the garage for quite some time...might have to tell him I'll use the drill myself - that'll get him moving!

Doo-dakkies glued to the front.

Doo-dakkies are incredibly useful little bits 'n' pieces and it's 

very lucky that I have so many lying around the place!

I've made the very top pointy part of the roof but I can't fix it in place until I've done the lighting.

It was a nightmare to figure out all the angles.

And here it is so far...lots more to do.

I need more rainy Sundays!

Creating a Table and Chairs for La Salon

After searching through my miniature hoard 'stash' I decided to make a table and chairs from scratch for the Salon.

I probably could have found a table and chairs that would fit there but sometimes 

I just feel like making stuff!😂 

For the chairs I looked at the instructions in Lea Frisoni's book. 

I didn't have everything that she used to make her beautiful chairs but I was able to improvise. 

Do what you can with what you have!

Cardboard, toothpicks, thin cord and jump rings!

I've had that fabric for a long time. 

This just seemed the right time to use it.

When I started out I was going to make two chairs at the same time 

but it was challenging working on just one chair. 

I almost didn't want to make another one but

I laboured through. 

The legs on one are a little wonkier than the other...that's usually how things work out here!

Table time!

Actually I made the table first but the pictures ended up the wrong way around in the blog post.

I liked the size of the little table that Kim Saulter sent me years ago so

I measured the table top around it.

That piece that looks like a pedestal just somehow turned up here.

Things like that just seem to happen!

That little black cap I attached under the table top just happened to fit perfectly on the top of the pedestal!!!

A little stain and paint.

Somehow I ended up with the colour I wanted.

et voilà

Happiness!

Tiny things bring me great joy!

I hope you're all having a good week and thanks for stopping by to join me on the Maisonnette journey!

Un miroir pour la cheminée

Mirror, mirror on the wall...

Uh, oh!!!!!

This week I was searching for just the right mirror to go above the fireplace.

Everything crashing down like that has happened so many times.

The only place I was searching was through all the stuff I have.

This was my first option but after surfing the web (for quite some time)

 I decided the mirror needed to be taller.

I found this one but it was a bit  too tall. 

So...I went at it with my trusty craft knife,

it was unfortunate that it broke in the middle.

However, it went back together ok.

I'm happy with the result.

It fits the space.

It's grand but not overwhelmingly grand!

The fireplace needed to be a tiny bit higher so I added a dark marble base for it to sit on.

It's not quite finished.

And because you asked Shannon...the paint finish on the couch did look ok in the daylight!

And you said you avoid painting things in bad light but funnily enough 

I sometimes think things turn out better when I paint in bad light! 😂

So here's the space without the kitchen walls.

Now I'm working on just the right sort of little coffee table.

I'm enjoying seeing this room coming together one piece of furniture at a time!

I already want to live in this little house...and have all of you visit me there!