The Dolls House En-Suite

Hooray, the en-suite is finished! This is such a long post, hope you don't nod off half way through :-) Trouble is by the time I realised it was so long I really didn't want to start over again with a second one so I just kept going!
When I bought dolls house number two I wanted it to be modern, then I wanted it to be a sort of cross between modern town house and Downton Abbey! Ideas came and went until eventually I had to make a start. Two things I was certain about were downlights in the kitchen and bathroom and spraying doors and stairs white. I then decided to put an opening from the basement to the first floor, and put some extra windows in the sides of the house. So whilst waiting for inspiration for what to do with the rooms I set to work on the garage floor and then the hallways. 
Inspiration for one of the rooms at the top of the house came from Pinterest and various sites on the web - a bedroom with an en-suite shower room. The colour scheme is going to be pink and grey. 

The first job was wallpaper and a down light, very easy. 
I then needed to get the en-suite area done first because of the fiddly shower bits. 

I made a divider out of mdf. Sawing it by hand wasn't too bad, 
the slightly uneven side is towards the wall, and covered with the wallpaper!
The shower enclosure is square "tiles" printed on gloss photo paper.

The flooring was going to be wood. Notice that word 'was'.  

I changed my mind and opted for a tiled look. The paper is thinner than the wood so I thought I would raise the level of the shower cubicle slightly and then put thresholds along the edge of the shower cubicle and between the en-suite and the bedroom areas. So far so good. I thought round bits of wood would look nice along the edges. 

Using pieces from this old place mat, I cut out the sizes needed, and even mitred them

dipped them in paint followed by varnish,  propped them up to dry by sticking pins in the ends of the wood 
and sticking the pins into a flower oasis

glued them into place, stepped back to admire my handiwork, and ....... didn't like it. I left it for a day or two thinking I might grow to like it but I didn't, it just didn't look right, so I pulled it all out!! I lost the photos I took with it in place and looking neat, this is the reconstructed photo so that you can see what it looked like!

So back where I started!!

Well after all that effort plan B was more successful. 
I re-covered the wiring with fresh insulation tape, 
printed more tiles and decided to do the whole area the same level.

I made this template of cardboard to make it level with the bedroom area.

It warped slightly so I put heavy books on top of it. 

It flattened out nicely, then I stuck the tiles on, and again put books on top to get a good flat surface. 
Pleased with it so far.

I thought tile grouting would be difficult to use, my daughter suggested wood filler which I already had from a recent paintwork job. It was ideal as it was easy to apply with a cotton wool bud

and is a very good match to the tiles. Skirting boards will go on the wall.
Need to crack on now 
Hanging the shower caddy 

I drilled a hole in the back wall, cut a piece of a cotton wool bud, trimmed the cotton wool and stuck this shiny bead onto it

I stuck the bottles and sponge in situ

Now to make the shower cubicle

Using a scalpel I cut this channel in the mdf to put the perspex in, it was quite a snug fit but I put a small amount of glue in just to give it added stability.

I drilled a hole for the shower head.

I then carefully stuck these silver coloured edges in place. If you get any marks on perspex it's practically impossible to get them off, which is why I left the blue coating on until the last minute. I put a little button underneath the shower head as the on/off button. And then it was ready to put in place. 

With the towel rail in place it was ready for the next phase.

The room divider

I had drilled the holes in the floor before finishing the shower enclosure.

The plan was to put stakes into the floor and inside the divider to hold it in place, 

so to line them up accurately I marked the holes with a felt tip pen

and pressed the underneath of the divider on top to transfer the ink, 

then I realised I had the divider the wrong way round! so I did it again. 

I drilled the holes quite a long way inside the divider with just a small amount going into the floor.

and it worked! they fitted in beautifully. Now to paper it and put a cornice on the top. 

I glued four pieces of wood together, overlapping each other and spray painted them.

A shoe box is ideal for small spray paint jobs.

It's ok, there is a gap between the top of the divider and the bottom of the cornice and after gluing it in place I thought of a better way to do it! But you now how it is, after what seems like an aeon to get a job done you just don't want to re-do it, deciding instead to do it at a later date! mmm........... maybe 

Anyway the next job was to fix the toilet

It's a wall mounted one and I think it would have stayed in place just by gluing it, but doing it this way will give it a bit more hold.  I drilled a hole in the wall and glued this piece of wood in,

the toilet then fits over that. 

By now I was getting a bit fed up with this project, I just wanted it finished, so what did I do? I decided to make some towels!! You can buy them but I wanted a specific shade of pink and I had just the right colour ribbon sitting in my sewing basket. 

For the bath towel I bought a white flannel, cut out a piece and glued the ribbon in place. I used UHU contact spray glue but the spray was too much for such a small area so I sprayed some onto the paper then applied it to the material with a small piece of wood. 

More glue, fold the ribbon over, 

repeat until you have three folds. I then folded the sides over to meet at the back. 
I did the same for a much smaller one for the wash basin, that was mega fiddly! I made it in one piece though, gluing the edges to prevent it fraying. It was too small to fold over.
And then made some makeshift ones for the shelves.
After putting tiles around the sink, gluing towel rail and toilet roll holder in place it was finally finished.

  

Thank you for reading this epic saga! Hope you have enjoyed it and maybe picked up a few tips :-)
I'm going to start packing my case for Australia now!

Remembering

A Good Read

The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
“A spellbinding thriller” says the synopsis, mmm well I can’t be that generous. It features Sigmund Freud and the search for a diabolical killer in turn of the century New York. Sigmund Freud, along with his protégé Carl Jung, arrives in New York for a series of lectures at Clark University in Massachusetts. A young woman is murdered, apparently by a serial killer. Another young woman, Nora Acton, is suffering from amnesia after another attack by the same criminal. Dr. Stratham Younger, a high society Freud acolyte, undertakes psychoanalysis of Nora, in the hopes of unravelling the mystery. 
I sort of enjoyed it but didn’t really understand it! The author says something traumatic happened to Freud during his visit and afterwards he referred to Americans as savages and blames them for his lifelong ailments, many of which he had before his trip! I’m not sure what Freud and Jung were doing there at all, I think the author was showing off his knowledge of psychoanalysis theories but I found it boring. Younger talks a lot about his family life and his fascination with Hamlet, which was also boring. I didn’t understand the relevance of the letters threatening to ruin Freud’s reputation. I liked the way it was written and the history of turn of the century New York and the dynasties that ran it was interesting. I wouldn't say go out and buy it though.

Mr Teen, Birthdays and More

My grandson is now a teenager, yes I know, how did those years pass so quickly? He is a fine handsome young man. He shares his birthday month with his father and two cousins. The cousins live in St Helens, so we visited family during half term week. We had a lovely time shopping, the younger ones went trampolining, and we managed to get 12 of us out for a lunch, which was very nice. 

The past few weeks have been quite busy. I usually start Autumn with a flurry of activity, tidying the allotment, "putting the garden to bed", putting the garden furniture away - mind you soon after putting the chairs away I took one out again because it was such a lovely mild day I had lunch in the garden!

I've been doing some work on my dollshouse; reading; and practising with some painting - art painting, not decorating painting :-)

Rufus has been hopping around on three legs again. We couldn't determine if it was his hip, leg, ankle or paw, he didn't yelp when examined. He's almost back to normal now.

A couple of weeks ago I visited Bletchley Park, more of that later.

I have also been trying to catch up with reading my favourite blogs. I often get carried away, I start reading then follow a link and before I know it a couple of hours have passed and I've only read a few. How do you follow yours? Do you set aside a certain amount of time per day, do you read the latest post from all of them or do you dip in and out?

Autumn

Isn't Autumn stunningly beautiful, a veritable feast of spectacular colour

Except for the conkers all this colour is from my garden

Not Quite The End Of Summer

Well the winter duvet is back on the bed and the central heating is on low for the evenings and mornings. Autumn and winter clothes are hanging in the wardrobe and I have put some summer ones away, but not all of them because...... I will need some when I go to Australia!! yes I'm off to visit my darling daughter in Fremantle next month, I'm so excited. I haven't been in November before, February used to be my chosen time and I have been at Christmas.

Back down to earth for a while and I have been busy. I'm now a fully paid up member of the WI. We have a small group in the village and we meet once a month. So far neither jam or Jerusalem have been mentioned :-)

We also have a craft club in the village, which I attend. We have a good old natter whilst knitting, crocheting, sewing or making cards, and our host provides tea, coffee and biscuits. I might bake a cake for the next meeting.

And there is more! we have an art group as well. I went along back in 2012 and discovered I could draw quite well, but I couldn't paint. It's not a teaching group, they are all very good experienced artists, so the intention was to find a class and learn. Four years on and I haven't done it! However a couple of weeks ago the group arranged a workshop so off I went full of enthusiasm and produced this

It's in ink and watercolour. There is quite a lot wrong with it and I am contemplating doing it again, but on the whole I was very pleased with my effort, not bad for an absolute beginner. I am keen to join the group but it's the same day as when I volunteer at the Salvation Army's old folks lunch club, so I will have to do some shuffling around!

A Good Read

The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas 
An epic story of wartime, family secrets and forbidden love, set against the stunning exotic backdrop of 1940's Kashmir. Within one exotic land lie the secrets of a lifetime... It is the eve of 1941 and World War II is engulfing the globe. Newlywed Nerys Watkins leaves rural Wales for the first time to accompany her husband on a missionary posting to India. Deep in the exquisite heart of Kashmir lies the lakeside city of Srinagar where the British live on carved wooden houseboats and dance, flirt and gossip as if there is no war. But the battles draw closer, and when the men are sent away to fight life in Srinagar becomes less frivolous. Nerys is caught up in a dangerous friendship, and by the time she is reunited with her husband, the innocent Welsh bride has become a different woman. 

 
Years later, when Nerys's granddaughter Mair clears out her father's house, she finds an exquisite shawl. Wrapped in the folds of the shawl is a lock of child's curly hair. Mair is fascinated with her findings and decides to trace her grandparents' roots back to Kashmir.

I have a bit of a thing about India and I love anything colonial, so this book was a winner from the beginning. With stunning descriptions of landscape and lifestyle,  real and likeable characters, and an excellent story I couldn't put it down.

Netflix

I have discovered Netflix, when I say discovered I mean I have known about it for a while but have only just started watching. Over the last few weeks, in between reading, having a nightmare with an en-suite in my dolls house! (will be posting about that later), and my birthday celebrations, I have been binge watching and I've had a string of love affairs!

First there was Will in "The Good Wife", handsome, debonair, thoughtful, oh how I envied Alicia, played by Emmy award winner Julianna Margulies, she got to kiss him so many times. I first saw her in the excellent unmissable "ER" playing alongside another of my "on-screen" love affairs George Clooney as Dr Doug Ross, she got to kiss him many times too! Oh happy days, I never missed an episode of ER and was distraught when it ended. I've watched many re-runs and could watch it forever. It's not on Netflix though.

Then came "Suits" and the dashing, suave, cool Harvey, played by Gabriel Macht. Bit of a bad boy, but I always seemed to be drawn to the bad ones!

Next up was "Stranger Things", not something you would immediately associate with a love affair, but I found Chief Hopper played by David Harbour very attractive not just in looks but as the character as well. 

"Hustle" was my next binge watch. I didn't have a love affair with any of the characters, I just liked the programme.
  
I've watched every episode of  "Spooks", I love it. There are a couple that I would have a liaison with, Tom Quinn played by Matthew Mcfadyen is dishy, and the brooding Lucas North played by dashing Richard Armitage is gorgeous, but my one and only love has always been Harry Pearce played by Peter Firth, Harry is my man! There's just something about the character.

Unfortunately Grey's Anatomy isn't on Netflix, I had two heart-throbs in that, Dr Owen Hunt played by Kevin McKidd and Jackson Avery played by Jesse Williams, he has the most gorgeous blue eyes I have ever seen.

I'm currently watching the second season of Fargo and Patrick Wilson is very handsome as Minnesota State Trooper Lou Solverson. Ted Danson looks good too. It has some gruesome scenes, and, like the first season I find myself laughing at most inappropriate moments, like during the chopping up of a dead body to feed it through an industrial mincer, and fingers go flying off in all directions! Sometimes I think I ought to worry about myself, but does anyone else do the same? Do you find mirth in the gruesome? Perhaps its the way in which it is written. I think Noah Hawley is a very skillful screenwriter. 

Buster's Diary

Our walks are slightly better now that the weather is a little cooler, SL is still wearing shorts though, well knee length ones, she doesn't want to scare the horses! Despite going out earlier it was getting uncomfortably hot by the time we were on our way back.

Whenever we did this particular route Rufus would collapse in the shade of a tree and refuse to move.

There he is, at the top of the black arrow. 

SL and I would get further round this bend before he decided to catch up with us!

The crops have been gathered

acorns are appearing

and these, we don't know what they are.

One of our walks takes us along this lane

keeping an eye out for the ducks

across a field and through this opening, which SL says always feels as if she's in Narnia, 

walking through a wardrobe, wondering what's on the other side

cool and shady is on the other side.  

and then opens out above a fishing lake. 

Guess what? Rufus and I have discovered a liking for blackberries

When SL was helping a fellow dog walker pick some I started eating them straight from the branches. 

Rufus wasn't sure at first, SL was picking them for him 

but after watching me he soon got the hang of it.

One day last week Rufus had an encounter with something. He had gone through the stile, I was just going through when he ran off barking, then he yelped. I chased after him and SL followed, but she didn't see another animal.   

There was a cut in the corner of his mouth. SL thought it might have been a stoat, we also have mink in the area. She heard later from a reliable source that a domestic cat had been seen in remote areas. Whatever it was it must have had sharp teeth to inflict such a deep wound, and probably had to stand up on its rear legs to reach his mouth.

And finally 

Rufus having fun in a puddle. 
Part of this field has become very waterlogged after the farmer did some work in a field above it. 

Then he decided to lie down to cool off! 

Look at the state of him.
Needless to say he had to be hosed down when we got home!
We avoid this field now!

Hope you have enjoyed my latest diary

Have a good week

A Good Read

Red Lotus by Pai Kit Fai

Full of Chinese villains, English heroes and brave virtuous women, this is a sprawling family saga of three generations of women. 

Yip Mann, an elderly spice farmer, purchases fifteen-year-old Pai-Ling as his concubine in the hope of producing sons. Pai-Ling has lotus feet and is beautiful but to Yip Mann’s dismay she delivers a worthless daughter. Yip Mann snatches the new born baby and goes to bury her in the paddy fields where he has buried his previous daughters. In a desperate bid to save her daughter Pai Ling throws herself out of the window and falls to her death. As Yipp Mann approaches the paddy fields a fox fairy appears, being superstitious and illiterate he is scared of the dreaded fox fairy and sees it as a sign to let the baby live. She is named Li-Xia – Beautiful One – by her father, not because of any fondness for her but because he thinks the name, along with her lotus feet, will fetch a higher price in the market when she is sold. But Li-Xia has inherited the fighting spirit of her rebellious mother, and with a little help from the compassionate Number Three wife of her father she escapes the crippling bandages. She knows from a young age that her feet will be her freedom. Against great odds she teaches herself to read her mother’s diary.

Sold off to a silk merchant, after many adventures and defiances she is saved from near death by a young English sea captain. Though they find great love and happiness together, it is short lived. Li-Xia becomes the victim of dynastic rivalry and a hostile society. She dies giving birth to her daughter Su Sing (Little Star). Su Sing’s journey takes her from the remote mountain refuges of interior China to the pre-world war I Macao and Hong Kong. Until the age of twelve she is raised by an elderly Taoist Sage Master To, who is master of the White Crane. He names her Red Lotus and teaches her everything he knows. After he is killed she begins a quest to find the father she never knew and to reclaim her birthright.

This is a beautifully written moving story, very sad in places and occasionally a tad twee. Nevertheless it's a compelling read, I was absorbed by the fates of the women, and China's turbulent history. I thoroughly enjoyed it

Dolls House No. 2

Lighting

Off the shelf dolls houses usually have pre-drilled holes in the ceilings of each room, anything else has to be done the best way possible. Drilling holes in the backs of the rooms is straightforward but I wanted to put downlights in the kitchen and bathroom, not straightforward. A standard size drill just won't fit into a dolls house size room! You can buy small hand drills but I'm not sure how effective they are. A builder friend and all round good guy loaned me this neat device. 

A flexible shaft extension

One end fits into the end of the drill

and the drill bit fits into the other end

"voila" the bendy cable fits into any small space

Allowing me to drill holes for the down lights in the kitchen and bathroom.
I then bought some small eyelets from Hobbycraft, job done.
The wiring wasn't quite so simple!!

I used grain of wheat bulbs, ready made wiring fitted with a tiny bulb. (The writing isn't anything to do with the lighting, it's for the flooring). The lights that go through the holes nearest the back, and the ones that go through the middle holes have wires that are long enough to fit the bulbs into the eyelets and reach from the eyelets, across the floor, through a hole to the back and into a socket,

but the wires for the lights for the front of the room weren't long enough so I had to do some joining. 

Because it was such a fiddly job I used this lid to keep my tools and the tiny wires in

so that each time I dropped something I could see where it fell!

I joined each wire separately and then taped the two firmly together

Now I have my downlights in the kitchen and bathroom.