La Mignonette Makeover.... Part 1

I'm taking a few days off from ALL the other makeover projects to concentrate on taking a run at my La Mignonette building works.  I'm quite literally 'raising the roof' to add another storey on top of the existing shop and workshop/doll's hospital, in order to accommodate all the lovely dolls, toys and games from my erstwhile day nursery roombox.

Fortunately I never glued the mansard roof onto the top, otherwise this damn fine plan would have fallen at the first hurdle.  So far I've painted the exterior walls and wallpapered the interior walls prior to the actual build.  One of the bugbears of the upper storey kit is the slablike front wall so I just had to put a window in.  On the first floor of La Mignonette, Mlle Emilie's workroom, I installed French doors leading out onto a little balcony.  On the second floor I've opted for quite a large window, which will have railings along the front, mirroring the balcony and windows on the first floor, hopefully tying the overall Frenchified design together.   

I don't have curtains on any of the other windows so I'm going to go to town on the new top floor and will make some opulent silk curtains, with swags and drapes, and tasselled tie-backs. 

As this room is going to showcase my large collection of tiny toys and games, I decided to put shelved units all along two walls, and as I want to colour coordinate them to the decor, I opted for bare wood shelving units with removeable/adjustable shelving.   I've used this type of shelving in many different projects and never had any issues before, but not this time.

You would think, wouldn't you, that the whole point of having removeable shelving is that you can actually remove the shelving so you can adjust them?  Every other display shelf like this I've bought before had little wooden strips between each section of shelving, which were attached with double sided sticky tape, so that they could easily pop off, so that the shelves could be slid out.

For some reason now though, some bright spark in the design team has decided that those wooden strips should be GLUED down.

With HEAVY DUTY INDUSTRIAL GLUE!

Which meant that prising them off took big chunks out of the shelves AND the strips.   I am beyond incensed.   What should have been a 5 minute job, taking out the shelves, turned into a marathon session requiring a screwdriver, craft knife and small hammer.

And swearing.

LOTS of swearing.

I came close, several times, to throwing the whole bally lot out the window.

When I'd finally prised off the wooden strips, I then had to make good the damage.  Shaving off chunks of glued, splintered wood, from both the display units and the strips.  Which, obviously, didn't improve my mood any.

So I have four of these.  The one on the left shows the original unit, with the three wooden strips in situ.  On the right, after about an hour of cursing, is a unit with the sodding strips ripped off, followed by meticulous shaving and sanding to remove all the glued/splintered chunks of wood. 

In the past I've replaced the acrylic shelves with wooden ones, but I might just paint the acrylic ones as I'm losing the will to live with the whole thing.

To be continued.....

Campervan Makeover.... Part 3

I had an exciting delivery today.  I've been avidly following it's progress all the way from Santa Cruz, via Los Gatos, San Jose, Carson and Los Angeles International Airport... thence to Heathrow,  Coventry (?!) to its delivery today. 

You never quite know exactly what you're going to get when you order something online but it was an understatement to say I was delighted with my purchase.  

I'm aiming for an exotic, boho vibe in the campervan and had been looking for a suitable fabric for curtains, cushions and, most importantly, bunting for weeks.  I had a particular yen for a small paisley print fabric, but couldn't find anything which ticked all my boxes.  It had to be 100% cotton, a small print and available in several different colours.

Paisley is an ornamental design which consists of curved teardrop shapes.  The form is of Persian origin but the textile design, cramming many of them into a rich pattern is Indian.  The English name for the patterns derives from the town of Paisley in the west of Scotland, a centre  for textiles where paisley designs were produced.   So also a nod to the land of my birth.

When I finally found this fabric on Etsy I couldn't believe my luck, especially as it was available in 16 colours, neatly fulfilling my brief.

Naturally I couldn't wait to get started and immediately abandoned what I was doing (clearing the dining room actually) and set about preparing to create completely unique bunting.

Scene: Sandra's craft room. She is surrounded by a cornucopia of colourful fabrics, and sits, head bowed, sewing some tiny silver bells onto the first bunting flag.  As she quietly curses, as small furry presence materialises on her lap.

Me:*sighing* Oh hello SD.  Am I pleased to see YOU!

SD:*nodding* Yess.  Ai eckspeckt yue ar.  Whott AR yue doen?

Me:*faintly* What does it look like?  I'm making bunting of course.

SD:*questioningly*  Bye hand?

Me:*teeth gritted* No. Not by hand.  I am using the sewing machine to stitch the fabric flags but these bells and tassels need to be hand sewn.

SD:*incredulously* Tassils?  Bells? 

Me:*combatatively* Yes.  HANDMADE tassels.

SD:*speechless* Yure MAKEN the TASSILS?  Ar yue kompleetlie madd?  Yue kan bye them on Eebai for a fue pens eetch.

Me:*deflatedly* Yes.  I know.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Except Ebay tassels are paltry things and the colours are all bold and brassy.  If I make them myself I can match then EXACTLY to the colours of the bunting flags.  They'll look much classier.

SD:*speculatively* Hmm.... and hows thatt goen?

Me:*verging on tears* It's not.  It took me nearly an hour to make the first tassel and that's not including sewing it on to the flag and adding the bells.  At this rate the bunting will be finished sometime in 2026. 

SD:*encouragingly* Butt itt dose luke fantastick.  Orl kompleetlie handmayd... veri impresiv.

Me:*falteringly* Thanks SD.  I will get quicker. Just need to get the hang of the tassels.  They're tricksy little buggers I can tell you.

SD:*reassuringly* Aim shure yue will.  Doant evin wurrie. Yule sune be maken tassils liek theres kno twomorow.   Butt ar the tinie silvur bels reeli nessessarie?

Me:*weakly* No.  Not in the slightest.  Just thought they added a quirky boho 'je ne sais quoi'

SD:*thoughtfully* Hmmm.  Aim shure yore rite.  Kwirkie and bohoe... deffinitlie the wai to go. Aill lett yue gett on then.

Me:*rallying* Thanks for the encouragement SD.  I'll crack on then.  

SD gradually fades away and after a few moments, Sandra blows her nose and resumes her labours. 

To be continued......

Craftroom Makeover.... Part 4 +

The title more accurately should have read Craftroom Makeover Part 4 in conjunction with La Mignonette Makeover Part 1 but that makes me sound more than ordinarily crazy so....

In line with recent trials and tribulations, this morning I decided to get on with painting the wall in the craft room, reasoning that it would probably only take an hour and be another thing usefully ticked off my burgeoning To Do lists.

So I got out all the decorating stuff.... dust sheets, paint trays, brushes, rollers, and the 10 year old tin of paint.  True to expectations, when I finally jemmied the lid off, the sludge inside was a shade of snot green.  No amount of mixing, sieving or swearing could convince it to return to its original lovely shade of blue so in the end I decided to cut my losses and head off to B&Q for another tin.  

After sitting in a broiling hot car for 45 minutes on a journey that should have taken only 10 due, to ongoing road works on my chosen route, I arrived at the hardware store, sweaty and disgruntled and set about finding the paint amongst eleventy aisles containing every paint known to man (or woman).  Naturally, after 10 years, they'd changed the appearance of the container, and added another half dozen finishes, of which matt was not one.  I wandered up and down each aisle several times, trailing a little basket on wheels, scanning shelf after shelf for my preferred colour and finish.  I finally found it right at the back of a bottom shelf, which necessitated my getting down on my hands and knees and crawling in to fish it out.  That was the easier part.  Getting back out and upright again was more of a challenge.  After a bit of huffing and puffing I managed to reverse out, covered in cobwebs and dust.  I knelt on all fours for a minute or two to catch my breath and get my bearings, then set about working out how to get up. If I'd had a proper shipping trolley I might have been OK, but the flimsy little basket on wheels just didn't cut it.  I briefly contemplated hauling myself up on the shelving but the thought of pulling it over onto myself along with several hundred heavy paint containers, causing certain instant death, didn't much appeal.  

I knelt there for a little while trying to work out a strategy, all the while hoping that some kind person would come along to whom I could appeal for help.  Strangely, although some people did start down the aisle, when they saw a little old lady on her hands and knees on the floor, perspiring profusely and uttering entirely unladylike words, they thought better of it and turned tail.  Eventually, by building several different height towers of paint cans and using them to aid pushing myself up from the floor, I was able to get perpendicular, where a sudden bout of dizziness forced me to sit down on the closest pile of paint cans for a few minutes to regain my composure.  All in all, an extremely undignified and unpleasant episode which I don't care to repeat any time soon.

By the time I got back home, by a different, quicket route, PP was getting ready to deploy a search party but I was in no mood for discussion on the whys and wherefores of my extended absence.  Several hours later, the wall is painted, but it's looking a bit patchy so I'll let it dry overnight and re-assess things tomorrow.  

I also had a bit of a brainwave to make the adding of an additional storey onto La Mignonette a 'two birds with one stone' thingamajig'.

Because I'd had paint left over from painting the room back when I was building La Mignonette, and because I loved the colour so much, I used it to paint the exterior.  The new top floor has to match so I had a sudden flash of inspiration and decided to roller paint the exterior walls in their unassembled kit form state. 

Brilliant or what?

So, tomorrow I can give them a second coat and won't need to paint them when the top floor is assembled. 

All in all, not the best of days but small progress has been made so I'll take that as a win.

Campervan makeover.... Part 2

I've spend many hours over the past week (while I SHOULD have been doing other things) working on the campervan.   Making new covers for the six seat cushions and backs took all of THREE DAYS.  

This is what the original cushions looked like....

So.... sort of dung coloured, with stripes of corpse grey, enlivened with patches of bleargh beige.  Just not my thing AT ALL.

Here's what the same cushion looks like now....

It took me a l-o-n-g time to select that particular shade of blue out of eleventy different hues.  It's called hyacinth... not my usual go-to sky blue, but I wanted something a bit deeper and bluer.  The fabric is a polar fleece and really quite cheap.  It's washable, which is a bonus too.  

Having completed the seat cushions I then turned my attention to jooshjing up the kitchen area, which hitherto had an expanse of beige melamine at the end.

I found some very cheap (£1.50 for 10!!!) stick-on tiles from SHEIN.  Due to the price and the provenance I honestly wasn't expecting very much, but when they arrived I was pleasantly surprised, as the colours were vibrant and they felt quite good quality.

I have to admit that tiling, in all its forms, is not my forte.  However, as these tiles could easily be cut with scissors or a craft knife I felt cautiously optimistic that I could do a reasonable job.

It would have been immeasurably easier if there had been a single straight, plumb line in the entire van, and I quickly discovered that I would have to go off piste and play it by ear.  Admittedly there was a modicum of indecorous language and at points I seriously questioned why I'd ever started, but after several hours I'd achieved this....

After much deliberation I decided to go with a random tile pattern, rather than a predictable repeating one, which I felt really wasn't in the spirit of a quirky little van. 

Have you ANY idea how difficult it is to do random?  I had to work really hard to avoid repeats in rows and/or columns.  Despite that, I'm sure a few have slipped in but overall I'm pleased with how it's turned out.  

Now I have to wait for the lovely, quirky fabrics  for the curtains, small cushions and bunting to arrive. USPS informs me that

Your item arrived at our USPS facility in SAN JOSE CA DISTRIBUTION CENTER on June 2, 2023 at 9:23 pm. The item is currently in transit to the destination.

Since then I've heard nothing, so whether it's still languishing in San Jose, or is already winging its way over the Atlantic I have no idea.  

I've also made this to go on a little felt notice board on the cab bulkhead....

OK, so it's a traditional VW campervan, totally unlike ours, but it was the only campervan template I could find so it will have to do. 

Meanwhile, debate continues on a name for her.  I favour Florrie but PP is unsure.  

So.... lots of work but I'm pleased with how she's looking so far.  

Mayhem ² ........

I'm beginning to think that retirement has sent me a little bit mad.  It's as if I'm terrified of having nothing to do so I plan a frankly ridiculous set of projects in order to keep myself occupied.  The downside of that admittedly unhinged strategy is that I've ended up engaged in multiple time consuming projects, all at the same time, and, predictably, mayhem has ensued.

Currently in progress I have:

• Workroom makeover - progress stalled.  I've finished building the wall unit and have filled it with stuff, but there still appears to be more stuff banked up against the walls, awaiting sorting and storing.  I got all the painting things out in order to paint the wall where the run of base units were, and they're all in a pile on their own.
• Cloakroom refurb - progress stalled.  There are various holes which need to be filled, but some of the fixtures need to be removed and replaced which will leave more holes so until that's done there's no point in filling the existing holes.  All the painting stuff is in the workroom next door so when all the holes have been filled I can paint the walls, which won't take long as the room is tiny.  Then I can hang the new prints, put up the new fixtures, including a new mirror and make a new window blind.  Fabric still to be decided.
• Campervan upcycle - progress stalled.  I spent all day yesterday and a goodly chunk of today installing the sticker tiles.  That exercise merits a blog post all of its own.  I've also recovered all of the seat cushions.  Now awaiting the lovely fabrics from the US, which are currently in transit.  When they arrive I can then make the curtains and bunting, which will mostly complete the transformation.

So while these three projects are temporarily stalled I'm having a little rest I've started on yet another project, adding another storey to La Mignonette for the contents of my lovely day nursery, as I'm selling the roombox.

The room box is just a tad too big for my newly re-organised craft room and I've been vacillating over what to do with it.  During the makeover I moved both La Mignonette and the roombox into the dining room, toying with the idea of simply putting the shop on top of the box.  But the disparity in sizes just didn't look right.  Then I had a sudden brainwave... I've never fixed the roof of La Mignonette in place to give me access to the electrics, so if the upper storey is still available as a kit I could simply add it above the existing shop and put the roof on top.  A quick, frantic Google revealed that the kit was still available, and even better, it was heavily discounted.  The box has been sitting in a corner of the craft room for several weeks now, but with the current hiatus in my other projects, I decided that today was a good day to get it out and do a quick dry build to familiarise myself with the construction.

Of course, I'll have to Frenchify it.  I added French doors and a balcony to the first storey of La Mignonette but for the top floor I'll have a single window in the blank angled front wall instead, which will mean cutting out a window-sized rectangle from the MDF.  Not my favourite job so I might have to enlist the help of PP who is a bit of a whizz with stuff like that.  I won't have the exterior steps up to the door either, so I've blocked off the doorway with a piece of foamboard. 

Internally I'll have two walls given over to floor to ceiling shelving units, to display my large collection of miniature toys and games.  Obviously I'll also have lighting and a cosy fireplace.  I'm hoping I still have some of the paint I used, but I'll have to make more of the quoin stones and get another piece of railings for the windows.  Other than that I still have all of the furnishing from the day nursery so minimal additional expense.

I'm really rather pleased with my flash of inspiration, as the corner shop has a reasonably small footprint and will sit nicely in the corner by the window.   However I do need some bits and pieces before I can proceed with the build.... wallpaper, lights, flooring etc.

This is the kit I used for La Mignonette... Parts 1 & 2

Quick dry build to check dimensions etc.

 

My lovely room box which has been featured in The Doll's House Magazine is now available for sale... you can view the details HERE