It's a Disaster!

Panic has set in!  What have I done?!!  You don't realize how well you put things together until you have to take them apart!  As I started to take down the wall boards in the bathroom, I realized I had to use foam board to thicken the walls because of the windows I purchased for the additions.  Add that to the crown molding which is also glued to the ceiling, and you have what boils down to a big headache!  I had also wrapped the wallpaper around the foam board which makes a nice edge on the back side, but not so much when you want to change the wallpaper.  EEGADS!  Calgon, take me away!!

As if that wasn't bad enough, I ran out of ink for my printer so I can't print the new floor for the new bathroom until the ink I ordered arrives.  Heavy sigh . . . I will not be defeated by foam board , crown molding, and lack of ink!

Onward and upward!  I will have to buy some card stock to make templates and then glue the wallpaper to those.  Since I don't want to remove the crown molding, it is going to take quite a bit of finagling to make it look like it was meant to be there in the first place.  I'm going to take another look first to see if I can somehow manage to take the crown molding down without ruining the ceiling paper.  Wish me luck!

Room Reversal

A wonderful follower of the blog left this comment . . .

"Is it too late to wish that the bathroom would be traded for a larger little girl's room and that the little girl's room be swapped out for an en suite?"

I have to admit that it seemed odd that the little girl had to go through her father's boudoir to get to her room.  However, the little girl in the story was a complete after thought.  I had not intended to have a) a nursery or b) a little girl's room for that matter.  However, in favour of balancing the manor (and at hubby's request) I added the room that became the little girl's room.  And in the process of doing so I found myself quite excited at the prospect!  And honestly, I did think about reversing rooms at one point, but didn't want to go through all the work to do it.

I moved the rooms around this morning and found that it does seem like this was meant to be.  After asking dear hubby for his opinion, he agreed.  He also said that they wouldn't have had such a big bathroom in those days.  I lamented about all the hard work of removing and redecorating and he stated that was the point of having a dollhouse . . . wasn't it?  HA!  I thought I was near the end of the building, renovating, decorating stage, but apparently not!

Bathroom - Before

Bathroom - Before

Bathroom - After in what was the little girl's room.

Bathroom - After in new location.

Bathroom - After in new location.

Little girl's room - Before

Little girl's room - After in what was the bathroom.

Little girl's room - After

Little girl's room - After

Little girl's room - After

I swear I could see Rosemary smiling in what is to be

her new bedroom!

Am I daunted by the thought of all this extra work?  Not in the least!  Okay, maybe a little.  Pulling out trim and removing wallpaper is not one of my favorite things to do.  However, it must and will be done!

Also, I just ordered curtains for the bathroom and had to revise the order from three sets to two.  And I had to contact the lovely lady I bought the bedroom curtains from and see if she can make me another set.  Hopefully, with this taken care of I can move full steam ahead.

Now, I'm off to order wallpaper . . . but not before I thank JODI for a great suggestion and the encouragement to make the change!

And since the Pennethorne's have put in yet another change order (that's my story and I'm sticking to it) . . . they've gone on holiday to Mackinac Island to avoid the construction mess.

The Grand Hotel at Mackinac Island

Move In Day

The Pennethorne's have arrived despite the manor not being finished and insisted on moving in.  Okay, so I was impatient to get my miniatures moved in, play around a bit and see what I still have to do on the interior.  This probably wasn't the best idea, since I still have to electrify some lights (which means laying the manor on its' back) but since I'm waiting for a new transformer before I can do that, I thought I'd play!

I decided to add another transformer that will light the conservatory chandelier, balcony and front door lights and the gazebo light.  I thought to do this as sometimes it's nice to have everyone sleeping on the inside whilst the night is lit with the outdoor lights.  In hindsight it would have been nice to have all the rooms on switches to create different moods, but I think it will still be nice to create indoor and outdoor moods.  Also, since the conservatory chandelier will be plugged in, I can just unplug it for a night time effect.

I tore apart the balcony alcove today because I just couldn't live with the posts being spaced wonky.  I'm redesigning it a bit and hopefully it will look better.

For now, allow me to take you on a tour of the interior of Pennethorne Manor. . . .

We'll start on the main floor in the Conservatory and work our way to the Grand Dining Room.

The Conservatory - still have to add plexiglass windows and hide the cord to the chandelier.

The Conservatory

The Breakfast Room

The Parlor

The Parlor

The Main Hall

The Main Hall

Mrs. Pennethorne arriving home after a day of visiting friends and
making new acquaintances.

The Grand Dining Room

The Grand Dining Room

Ceiling in the Grand Dining Room

The second floor starting in the Little Girl's Room . . .

The Boudoir

The Boudoir

Second Floor Hall

This light fixture is meant to be on the newel post in the Main Floor Hall.  In Victorian times it represented that the mortgage had been paid in full.  However, if I put it in the Main Floor Hall you likely won't see it because of the staircase.  I'm still thinking on its' placement.

Second Floor Hall

The rather large Water Closet

The Water Closet

Third floor starting in the study . . .

Lighted fireplace and Lord Pennethorne's trusted companion - Duke.

Third floor Hall and Chapel

The Chapel is on the left - still a work in progress.

Reginauld is reminding me of the time - time to go!

And lastly the attic . . .

That concludes our tour of the interior of Pennethorne Manor.  I hope you enjoyed your visit and will return at a later date for High Tea.  Farewell until we meet again!

Fashionable Flowers

It's no wonder at this time of year my mind has turned to flowers and puttering in the garden.  The Victorians were fabulous at creating flower arrangements that spoke their feelings to the recipient.  A red rose meant "I love you", but a yellow rose stood for jealousy and infidelity.  A white rose symbolized purity, while the rosebud suggested young and innocent love, and a moss rose spoke of voluptuous love.  Other examples of flower symbolism included the acacia as symbolizing concealed or hidden love, begonia as a warning to beware something, pink carnations as motherly love, daffodils as unrequited love, gardenias as a secret, passionate love, and purple hyacinths as a symbol of repentance or apology.

Since no respectable manor would be without fresh flowers to delight the senses, I will be adding many flowers and plants to each room of the manor.  Flower styles changed through the second empire period (when the manor was built), moving through the Victorian age and into the Edwardian era, with its loose, free-flowing styles, I plan on incorporating each of these styles throughout the manor.

Flowers
Frederick Bazille ~1868

Woman with Chrysanthemums
Edgar Degas ~ 1865

Preparing the Flower Arrangement
Edouard Debat-Ponsan ~ 1886

The Flower Seller
Victor Gabriel Gilbert

"No ornament is so appropriate for the

dinner table or mantel as a vase of flowers."

Arrangement of Flowers - Godey's Lady's Book

vol. 92 (June 1876) 563

Women Arranging Flowers
Albert Chevallier Taylar ~ 1906

The End of Dinner
Grun Jules Alexander ~ 1913

I found this picture of the Downton Abbey dining room and it reminded me so much of the dining room in Pennethorne Manor.  Wouldn't it be fun to re-create this scene?

Now I'm off to take inventory of what I have, which isn't much.  I have a feeling there will be a lot of flower kits ordered over the next several months from the likes of sdk miniatures, 

Moonflower Miniatures and The Miniature Garden.

And if you need flower inspiration visit Jodi's Storybook Cottage  . . . a flower lover's dream.

Gazebo, Alcove and Balcony

Today is a windy, rainy day . . . perfect for working on the manor!  Yesterday we did a lot of work around the farm and I was able to get my front flower beds in order.  I'm paying for it today, I ache all over!

Brian is busy shingling the gazebo roof.  I stained them on Friday using Dark Walnut, but for some reason it's not the same color as the rest of the roof of the manor.  I must have used a different stain.  I noticed this too when I stained the gazebo door.  Hmmm . . . anyway, I'm leaving it.  At least the door and shingles match!

The balcony alcove has worked out beautifully and I'm very happy with it . . . mostly.  My measurements were off a bit so the posts aren't quite spaced evenly.  For now I'm going to live with it.  I may decide later to fix it, but I'm hoping I'll just forget about it!

With the alcove finished, I was able to move on to putting together the banister for the rest of the balcony.

Also with the alcove finished, I was able to finish the siding on the tower.  I still have a lot of painting to do, but I forgot to clean out my brushes and well, they're trashed!  Note to self, clean brushes before moving on to something else!  I was going to go to town for brushes, but Brian is worried about CoVid and it's raining heavily, so I ordered brushes from Amazon (what did we do before the big "A"?) and they'll be here tomorrow.

I finally figured out how to electrify the conservatory and gazebo!  It's such a simple solution I don't know why I didn't think of it before!  I'm going to install outlets on the main manor and then I can just wire the chandeliers with plugs and plug them in.  This solves the problem of what to do when I have to move the manor.  I ordered outlets which should be here in a week or so.

So for now, I'm going to make some popcorn and snuggle in with a movie.