Monday, April 22, 2019

Paris Shop and Apartment Dollhouse: L'Embellie

The Paris Shop and Apartment custom dollhouse is ready.  The shop is called L'embellie. It is a fond memory of Paris it's new owner Gail.
The house is 19 1/2"across x 17 3/4 deep x 24 1/4" with the chimney.(21 3/4"tall for just the structure.) The downstairs room is 18 1/4"across x 141/4" deep x 11' tall. Upstairs is 9"tall.
 Gail's vision was for an old Paris building with plenty of feminine touches.





 The 2 bay windows are handmade.  I needed something tall. And any pre-fabricated ones would have been too short for this building.
 All the plaster elaborate trim was from Ebay. This was the very first parts of the building I shopped for.


The greenery is all from Hobby Lobby. If you go to my resources page you will find links for everything I use on my dollhouses including the plaster and concrete.


 The aging is done with brown ink pads. I use Stampabilities.  It's the right shade of brown. If you add water it also adds a totally different look to the ink.  But on this wall it's just put on directly with the pad. You can use a brush to get into those hard to reach places.



 Here is the shop. I'm leaving that for Gail to fill up the accessories.
 The shelf is something I got at Factory Direct Crafts.  It's quite substantial. And I added trim and embellishments to make it even more interesting.



 I love Christie Repasy's work so much. I'm always inspired by her work.  I will pull up her roses images while I work just to have some sort of reference. My roses are nowhere near as perfect as hers. But I'm just trying to get that feel like her roses have not a carbon copy.
This was a sink but off scale. It was just too tall. So I re-purposed it by sawing off the top sink and turning it into a cabinet.



 Upstairs, I really wanted one of those tight stairways like every Paris apartment has and everyone complains about. LOL!
 The stairway walls created an adorable area in the bathroom where I put the toilette.
 The wallpaper and wood work really gives the impression of an old space well lived in and yet totally sophisticated and charming.

 The living space is where everything else is. I went on Youtube and found all these apartment videos. They were all tightly packed with everything in one space. It's a very cozy look.
 I made a sink with a curtain. The hutch came from another piece of furniture which I cut in half. 
 I followed my stove tutorial for this piece. I just made it narrower. See tutorials page.
 This room just came together so well. It's so girly.  I saw the rug pattern by searching Aubusson rugs on the internet. At first glance I thought it was too simple. But when I had finished it it reminded me of the movie "Gigi".  Old opulence from a bygone era. It just pulled the room together. LOVE!

 I made the little table with stair spindles.
 These chairs came from a dining set. Painted them with an aging mix(brown & black paint with water) and I glued 3 handmade cardboard roses. Painted everything with glue and white paint on top of that (do not let glue dry just add the white right away) and let dry to crackle. 
 The bed and all the furniture is made with birch veneer woods I get at Hobby Lobby. Some are 1/16"thick and some are 3/32" thick.  Sometimes you need thicker because the veneer can warp when you paint it. So like the back of the bed or the back of the stove will be thicker so it doesn't roll at the top. I also added roses here.  Just used cardstock petals and glued 3 layers of them together.
 This must be one of my favorite rooms ever. I just love the softness and shabby chic  look of it.
Thank you so much for visiting! I appreciate each and everyone of you dropping by and taking a look.
Hugs,



Saturday, April 20, 2019

Paris Shop and Apartment Almost Done

Last update before the Paris Shop and Apartment is done!
 This is where the plaster exterior went onto the house. I use any patching  plaster from the hardware store.  Also put up all the trims. And the concrete floor on the porch.
 The elaborate trim is from Ebay. The other simpler trim is from Hobby Lobby.
 The window trims are Popsicle sticks cut lengthwise.
 Here we added columns. They are just regular large square dowels trimmed with Popsicle sticks at the top and bottom. You can get these types of dowels at craft or hardware stores.
 Also all the aging is done. Brown ink pads work wonders!
 The tops of the roofs are "metal" which is really strips of cardboard.

 All the wires are pulled together on top of the house. They control the lights and fireplace. We'll have a chimney to hide it all.
That's it for now. The next post will be Monday or Tuesday of the finished house with furniture too.
See  you then!
hugs,