Fox Manor

The Attic - The Playroom

Hello everyone!

It really has been quite a while since I blogged about Fox Manor!  I know I have been busy with RL and with my little Etsy shop, but, at long last I have a little something to show you :)

I also want to welcome my new followers and say a big thank you to my 'regulars' who always take the time to read my wee blog and leave their comments!  You are always so encouraging..... and it's always appreciated. :)

As you know, I have now reached the attic of Fox Manor.  I really was dreading this, because the attic floor level is nearly 6' high - I am only 5'1" or so! LOL.  I have braved the dizzying heights of my step stool - which my husband finds hilarious :) to work on this, the last floor in my manor :(

With nothing in the room!

The attic floor plan is like this:   The centre room, which was originally destined to be the stairwell, has been given the 'Vivian treatment' and been converted into The Playroom where the children play during the day, when they're not outside or at their lessons :)  This room also has a doorway in the 'new' back wall that leads to the hall and the stairs to the rest of my Manor!  You know the old story!! :)  This room also has two doors which lead to the adjacent rooms in this floor.  The room to the left of The Playroom - as you look face on - is going to be The Night Nursery where the wee ones sleep and the room to the right is going to be The School Room where their lessons are taught!  The only access to these rooms will be through The Playroom....  This room is truly 'central' to the attic floor - I hope this all makes sense!

All in all, this centre room is going to be very busy, with three doorways and (eventually) lots of children's toys too!  This is the only room in my Manor that looks quite bare at the moment!

Now, another issue I have with these attic rooms, is the shape of them.  Not only does the back wall slope, the side ones do too.  Because I am putting a false wall to the back of the centre room, to create the back hallway, The Playroom, will look 'squared' - albeit with three doorways!

But the side rooms each have a sloping back wall and one sloping side wall.....arranging the furniture layouts is going to be 'fun' to say the least.  Well, I am always game for a challenge and I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve!

The Playroom!  I papered the back sloping wall with my favourite hall paper which has been carried for continuity right up through my Manor. 

The wall assembled and ready to go!

I made the false wall with a working door - which leads to the back hall, to the rest of the Manor.  I have a little light in the hall for realism, just to show that there is life back there!!:) and you can just glimpse the newel posts of the 'stairs'.  Oh yes!  Everything has to make sense to me....:)

A glimpse of the back hall.

I have papered The Playroom with Streets Ahead wallpaper in Beatrix Potter Garden Harvest.  I love the Beatrix Potter characters and even though this is a fairly small room, I think it carries the pattern well - it has a lovely pale green background.  I have also papered the panels on the back door with this wallpaper also.  I wanted to do something with that door, and this is what happened LOL!  Having three white doors in a small room was a little much, even for me.  So, I think this has helped!

The flooring throughout the attic will be just plain wooden planks.  I decided that plain was best here. I stained the flooring in the Playroom dark walnut and waxed to finish.  I think the dark floor really compliments the paper.

I have the picture centred now....it looks a bit off in this photo!

I wanted fireplaces in all of the attic rooms and have positioned a lovely corner fireplace in this room.  After the stress and 'craic' I had installing the corner fireplace in the Housekeeper's Room in the basement, I swore never again..... but there you go - I have another one!  (It's a bit like having a baby...LOL).

I have made an angled chimney breast for my corner fireplace which, I think, makes it more realistic.  I then finished it with a working wall lamp - the wiring of which had me at my wits' end...never mind, another lesson learned.  Make sure the hole for the wiring is big enough to push through the connection joint before work commences :)  I made the lovely little picture which depicts a couple of Beatrix Potter characters - Jemima Puddleduck with Mr. Tod.....you know I had to have a Fox somewhere in the room LOL :) 

The ceiling light does not exactly match the wall light, but I deliberately did that.  I also made a point of having no ceiling rose.  Again, this is the attic of the house, and my family knew that there would be 'no-one of importance' up there!!  Remember, children were seen, not heard!  And, before the children arrived this area was probably used for servants quarters or storage. 

I don't have a lot to actually put into this room yet, but as with every other room in my Manor, I will get there eventually!!

 

A view of the high chair!

 



So there we are, The Playroom is complete!  I have really enjoyed this little room and I am itching to move onto The Night Nursery.

Take care everyone and enjoy the rest of your week!

All the best

Vivian

BIG BIG Birthday this month.........

and my trip to Miniatura at the NEC in Birmingham

Hello Everyone,

Firstly, thank you to all for your good wishes on my new little venture!  Also, I want to welcome all new followers to my blog, welcome along! 

Now, as you've guessed, I've a BIG birthday this month, (shhh! I'll be 50) and I am giving a massive 20% discount on all my items in my Etsy shop for the month of April only.  The promotional code is BIG50.  The link to my wee shop is on the right hand side of my blog... spread the word! :)

I also went to the Miniatura Show at the NEC in Birmingham last weekend.  It is only the second miniature fair I've ever been to and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I stocked up on lots of fabric and trimmings, and some little kits - and spoiled myself with a tea set for my Dining Room from Stokesayware....It matches the Dining Set I bought last year.  In the second picture you can see a little spills vase for the fireplace, that's for the Dining Room too!

I also bought some fabulous glassware from Phil Greynor at GlassCraft, I just love his items.  The two little china ornaments in the front of the second picture are Ottervale China by Anne Dalton... can you see the little fox, he's so cute!  I know, I can't resist a fox..... sure I married one!! LOL

A couple of pictures of the china in the cabinet, that's from the Lady's Sitting Room.... I intended to get around to taking a picture of it in situ, but I'm a ding dong and forgot!

I got wallpaper from Susan Bembridge and a beautiful picture frame from John J Hodgson too.  It's a warm cream colour with gold.  You can also see a fancy 'border'? set.  That's destined for a roombox I'm going to make for me!  At the top of this picture are a couple of lovely mirrors from Tarbena, they're destined for that same roombox.......unless I change my mind, of course! :)

The gorgeous lamp with a marvellous red shade was made by Ray Storey, I just love his lamps and lighting too, they are little miniature works of art.  Mind you all the items I bought are made by true craftsmen.....and craftswomen!

I know I spoiled myself, but birthdays like this one, only come along once in a lifetime..... at least that's the excuse I'm sticking with! LOL

So that's it for another wee while.  I must get started on my attic, but, well, don't laugh; I have to get in the big steps for that job!

All the best and take care,

Vivian

VF Miniatures is Up and Running!

Hello everyone, thank you for your supportive comments, I really appreciate them, and welcome to my new followers. 

I can now say that VF Miniatures is up and running, at long last!

A little baby boy's room.

A couple of shop units....

Just a couple of items on my new website, www.vfminiatures.co.uk

I'm sure I'll have a few teething problems, but hopefully I'll get them all sorted out.

I have my items listed in the 'Store' tab in my facebook page www.facebook.com/vfminiatures

So I've been busy, busy, busy.......

I have lots more ideas for my website, so keep checking back!

All the best, take care - and spread the word!

Vivian

The Garden Room Corner

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well.  A huge thank you for your lovely comments on my Lady's Sitting Room, I really appreciate them; and welcome to my new followers, I hope you enjoy my blog!

Now, in my last post I had said to watch this space.....well this is what I've been up to!

This little glimpse of a garden room is 12.5 inches finished height, and 8 inches square internally with a 10.5 inch high floor to ceiling height; fitted with a working light with an on/off switch.

Naked!  Except for the light fitting.....

 

A couple of shots of the interior... with De Vine Miniatures chair, sofa and table - aren't they lovely?  I painted the plant stands....I think they look a bit better now than in their original white!

A shot of the exterior covered with a paper which closely matches Damask Cream used on the ceiling.

You can see the battery pack on the other side...

A view of the ceiling...

A shot of the top, but still a work in progress when this was taken!

I have...and still am....really enjoying working on Fox Manor, and have decided to make more roomboxes and corners to sell so I can keep on designing room scenes and keep on decorating.  I had been in despair at the thought of finishing my Manor and never being able to decorate again!  So I have decided, rather than filling up my house with dollshouses I would make little scenes, baby gifts and pieces of miniature furniture given the Vivian treatment to sell on.

A very ambitious notion for me, I know, but let's see how it goes....and if the worst comes to the worst and nobody buys them, I guess I'll just place them around my house....as I will only make what I love!  Simple!! :)  My website is www.vfminiatures.co.uk and is still a work in progress at the moment!

Well folks, that's it for now, and I hope you have enjoyed a tour of my little Garden Room Corner.

All the best

Vivian



Fox Manor

The Second Floor - The Lady's Sitting Room

Hi Everyone,

Thank you once again for taking the time to read my blog, I appreciate each and every one of your kind comments.  I have been working away on my Lady's Sitting Room just before and over Christmas, it was lovely to do.  I had to step back for a while as hubby was away and I needed the man-saw, so that put a halt on things for a while, as I'm not allowed near it!  I also cannot believe I now have 60 followers!  Thank you.

The Lady's Sitting Room is the last room on this floor to be completed, and is situated over the Gent's Games Room below.  I decided that the Sitting Room was best placed here, as the noise from the gentlemen below would be a distraction to my Lady if the bedroom was placed here and she were trying to sleep!  I think my family reckon I should be locked up at this stage!!

I painted the ceiling in a lovely blue - 'First Dawn' by Dulux to match the blue of the mural wallpaper - it is 'El Dorado' by Les Chinoiseries.  As I'm sure you know by now, I just love Carmen's wallpaper, but I have to say that this is the first time ever with her papers that I found if it got wet at all, the colour came off, so gently, gently does it!  I wanted to give the illusion of the sky of the wallpaper continuing on up and around the ceiling.  I also painted the lovely moulding by Sue Cook in the same blue and highlighted it with my favourite gold paint, just to emphasise that there really is a coving up there!  I was afraid of there being too much blue!  But by painting on the gold, I was afraid I'd detract from the original idea of continuing the blue from walls to ceiling!  Oh, decisions, decisions.......

I actually ended up putting more gold on the coving!

The ceiling rose was placed slightly more to the front of the room as I wanted to place pillars towards the back....leaving everything slightly off centre.  Ah, well.  It's me we're talking about here.  Always making trouble for myself! lol  I have to say, that I have used a lot of Sue Cook items in my house, but a lot of the rest have been made by Replicast Miniatures...they are really lovely also.

The bare state of the room with the door blocked off to the left.

I have already closed off the door to the left of the room, which would have originally been going out into the stairwell - this is now the Lady's en-suite; I have placed double doors at the back of the room instead so you can access the rest of the Manor from there. ;) I bought the doors from the USA off Jim Coates.  His items are just lovely.  The detail is so crisp and clean.  The fireplace here is also made by him.

To the door I added some brass stampings, then I painted the whole lot white.  I highlighted the stampings and other parts of the doors in my gold paint and added the handles.  They were too brash a gold colour so they got the gold paint treatment too....:)


I like to have a little something to a room, so that it does not look just like a 'box'.  But the deep coving (as I know from past experience) is such a pain to cut - for me anyway.  I had to think of a way to make my room interesting, so I finally opted to place a couple of pillars to the back of the area to give the Sitting Room a grander and more opulent entrance for my Lady and her friends!

The floor, as usual, was a challenge for me.  Floor designs, simple or not, usually take up most of my time in thinking what to do!  Mind you, others dedicate such time and patience to their masterpieces, that I am always ashamed to complain about doing mine!


Here I finally chose a cherry floor with some walnut complete with a parquet border.  I kept the 'central' design to the front of my room - so it would be seen, but also to emphasise the sitting area as opposed to the entrance area.


I finished it off with a coating of natural beeswax, but I thought it was a little too 'orange' for my taste; so I went over the whole floor with a dark wax and I'm much happier with the look now.


The pillars from the wonderful Sue Cook, weren't tall enough for the room so I had to make pedestals for them - which came in the form of off-cuts from the curtain rail used in my RL bedroom.... waste not, want not! Ok, Ok, my poor husband had to cut them.... :)  Waiting on these held up the finishing of this room!

The warm cream and gold tones of the curtain pole...sorry, my pedestals :) blended well with the tones of the base of my wallpaper, so I didn't repaint them.

I painted the base and the top parts of the pillars with my favourite gold paint from Craig & Rose; the main pillar was then painted white.

The Jim Coates fireplace was again painted white and I decided not to highlight with gold as there was the gold mirror above, and as it is closer to the ceiling rose, I thought I might have enough balance here and in highlighting the fireplace....well, it may well be just too overpowering when the ornate furniture is in place.

I would have dearly loved to have had a chimney breast, but the plaster coving was bigger than me, so I'm afraid I had to bow defeat and do without :(

Maybe as time goes on and I get more confident I will venture forth and learn how to cut deep coving, plaster or otherwise....but time will tell!  Maybe a new saw is what's needed...I thought Santa might have rustled one up...but it looks like I'll have to sort myself out!

The skirting and dado rail are painted white.  Fresh and clean :)  I had originally painted the dado gold to see what it would be like, but too much of a gold thing just doesn't work :) ....I didn't like it for this room, but I wouldn't rule it out for somewhere else!

I made the hearth for the fireplace in the usual way, with heavy grey card scored to give a hint of slabs being used and I painted it and the fireback to look used.

I used an 18 light chandelier in here and I also have two double candle wall lights at the back of the room.

The rococo mirrors on each side of the doors are by John J Hodgson and are so detailed, I love them, and below them I have tiny little shelves!

Without the lights on...

 

 

 

A few views of my Lady's Floor

I am quite sad in a way that that's another floor finished in my Manor.  Only one more to go.... I just love decorating and I know that the top floor - the attic, is going to be such a challenge for me - height wise LOL.

I hope you have enjoyed the making of my Lady's Sitting Room.  Again, I have soooo many little bits and pieces to get to finish the room off, but, all in good time!

It may be a little while until I start the final floor of my manor....I have a something in the pipeline, so watch this space :)

All the best and take care.

Vivian

Fox Manor

The Second Floor - The Lady's Dressing Room/En-Suite

 

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your lovely comments on my Lady's Bedroom, and I'd love to welcome to my new followers, I appreciate each and every one of you.  I can't believe I have over 50 followers and have had 5000 page views, wow!  Thank you for making my enjoyment in building and decorating my Manor more special.

Now, the Dressing Room.  The Dressing Room is attached to the Lady's Bedroom and has an En-suite off that.  Sounds heavenly, doesn't it?

This space is directly above the Gent's Study/Hall and was originally supposed to have been a stairwell.  Again, I have a hall here leading from the Lady's Bedroom to the rest of the Manor....and yes, your imagination has to be fired up here! :)  I also have the Dressing Room and En-suite as well.  I was afraid I wouldn't get everything I wanted in here, but I think I have successfully achieved what I set out to do considering I am working with a total area of 10" x 15"!

I papered the ceilings as I had to fill in the hole from the stairwell, just in the same way as I have on previous floors.

 

The original hallway, with the hole for the stairwell filled in...I have such a lot to fit in this space!

 

The Hall area was papered with the same paper I have used in the halls throughout the house, just for continuity....and I really love the soft colour of it.  The flooring is an offcut of walnut flooring, as is the skirting.  The little table is just so beautifully detailed and fits in the hall perfectly and I placed the lamp to the far left so it can be seen from the bedroom.

 

The debacle with the installation of this doorframe leading from the bedroom to the hall is fully documented on my previous post on the Lady's Bedroom :)  You see...no door!

I decided to paper the En Suite with the same paper as the hall, but in the deep burgundy colourway.  I thought (rightly or wrongly) it would contrast nicely against the bathroom fittings, and be a dramatic contrast to the delicate furniture and décor in the Bedroom and Dressing Room.  The original doorway to the room on the right, has been closed up and papered over to make this an enclosed room.

The shower cubicle was slight seconds that's why I have it taking a little bit of a back seat...but I think it looks just right here.  I know you won't be able to see all of the items in here, but, like the Gentleman's en-suite.....I know they are there.  The corner sink will be fitted on the right hand side when I install the wall.  The floor is, again, a card that I tiled with my favourite 'granite' tiles, and kept slightly high to enable the wiring from the study below to pass under.

A view of the layout of this area.  The Hall to the left and the En-Suite to the right.

The Dressing Room will be in front with an entrance to the En-Suite.

 
 

I papered the Dressing Room in the same paper as the Bedroom, Grand Bal by Les Chinoiseries,  and finished the doorway using the same Sue Cook plaster mouldings used in the Bedroom.  The doorway to the En-Suite is finished with a wooden surround and painted white. 

 

The Dressing Room wall has been erected and papered.

 



I had originally planned to install a glazed door leading from the Dressing Room to the En-suite, with a little curtain of Grand Bal by Les Chinoiseries behind it.....but my husband thought it would be an awful shame to hide so much of the En-suite, by having a door that could only open so far.  So, I am not adverse to repeating myself, and I decided to put a curtain here instead - just as I did for the Gentleman's Bedroom. 

I followed a wonderful tip given to me by Irene, when using the Pretty Pleater.  I had terrible trouble whilst working on my Gentleman's Bedroom curtain with the Pretty Pleater - the silk fabric just kept popping out of the 'ribs' no matter what I did.  Irene suggested wetting the pleater before using, and it was a brilliant help.  The fabric stayed put...yes!  I then sprayed the fabric with hairspray, as before, and when it dried, I arranged the folds to give a very high tie back style. 

I made the curtain in the Pretty Pleater, then I took it off to arrange the tie back.

 

 



 

Pinned to a high tie back for more visibility into the room.....and because I like it!

I went with this arrangement to give more visibility into the En Suite, and so that the curtain and tie-back wouldn't 'crowd' the gorgeous chair.  I trimmed the curtain with the same green fringing used for the little stool in the Lady's Bedroom.  I made the tieback in a similar fashion to the one in the Gentleman's Bedroom.  The curtain pole was a skewer - initially painted gold, but then I changed my mind and repainted it white..:)  The fittings were made up of little jewellery findings.

 

I used a little faceted glass bead...so dainty!

Jewellery findings to make the supports for the curtain and pole.



The little chair in the Dressing Room, is wonderfully made by the very talented Kris Compas, and I thought it looked just fabulous here.

I think this little chair is gorgeous!

 



I painted part of the ceiling rose with some of the green paint used in the Bedroom...again for continuity and to give a little colour to the ceiling area.

The floor is a mirror image of the Bedroom.  Planks on a 45 degree angle, but going the opposite direction.  I put a little marquetry in the floor in the doorway between the Bedroom and Dressing Room, which I just love.  It gives the plain floor a little definition between the two areas.

I used the same Heidi Ott light fitting here as in the Bedroom, but in the slightly smaller size.

 

Views of the interconnecting rooms.

 

I always keep the floors below covered up when I'm working, just to keep things clean and dust free!



The furniture in the Dressing Room were supposed to be shop fittings, but I love the look of the units in here.

I still have a lot of nik-naks to fill the shelves, but, again, all in good time :)

A picture in the dark with the Manor lights on...you can just see the little corner sink in the En Suite, and I think the burgundy paper just glows.

 

 



Another view with the lights on!

From here you can see all areas of the Lady's Bedroom, Hall to the Bedroom, the Dressing Room and En-Suite.

The painting is called 'Windmill in Landscape' by Andrew Nicholls, it's so beautiful.  I have a couple of Andrew's paintings and I love each one!

 

 



I hope you have enjoyed this post, I know I tend to ramble on a bit, but thanks for persevering with me.....

My next room to be tackled will be the Lady's Sitting Room - but that may be a wee while away!

So until the next time, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours.

All the best and take care...enjoy your weekend!

Vivian