Window treatments!

I've begun getting to grips with the curtains for all the windows in this house. There are lots so  there has been plenty to have a go at!! Eight in total and that's not counting the french door in the dining room...
I've already shared the kitchen curtains but they're worth showing again.

The front bay window is a very large one with a good sized window sill for displaying things on. I made a wooden pelmet for it and stained it to match the rest of the woodwork in the room. The material I've used is very similar to the curtains I remember us having.

 Trying different things to display and decided on the one below with family photos reduced to miniature size.

These are the nursery curtains

Again a wooden pelmet, this time painted.

The landing window with light shining through the curtains

I need to  make the pelmet for these yet

Nearly all the curtains are prints of some kind. You will notice that nothing much matches up with each other in the rooms and this was how it was in those days - if the curtains fit the window that was good! It was a pair of curtains and that was that! If they did happen to go with the overall colour scheme it was more a matter of good luck than good judgement....
I will update this page when I've got the other curtains finished - only the bathroom, parents bedroom, dining room and childrens room to go!

The dining room

This room has been abit of a challenge to me somehow, I'm not exactly sure why.....

 Maybe it's because when we were growing up we didn't have a separate dining room - our big dining table was in our large sitting room in a huge bay window area. As children we used it mainly for colouring and playing games on. I can't remember ever using it for eating on at all (but we must have done on occasion I suppose) Mostly our meals were had in the kitchen which was a good size.
It's been rather confusing as to how to get this room right.

The dining table and chairs and bureau look similar to the ones that my Grandma gave to my parents. We had a few 'hand me downs' pieces of furniture as did many in the 50s and 60s. The overall look of homes in those days was a 'mish mash' of many styles and eras! But it was home...

I have two Jane Harrop fireside chairs to make up which will be positioned near the fireplace (I just hope they will fit in!)

I'm also toying with the idea of fitting a delft rack around the room...more to follow!

The children's room

It's taken me awhile to get around to this room but once I got started it seemed to come together quite well. As I've mentioned throughout the blog I have been trying to fashion this house on my childhood in the late fifties and early sixties. My brother and I had twin divan beds with wooden headboards and try as I might I didn't seem able to find anything like that in 1:12th scale. My first thought was to make them from scratch but after seeing a couple of cheap little beds at a fair I decided altering these would be the easiest way to go.

This is the one I found..

So I then had to begin the task of taking it all apart and removing the foot board and getting it back together!

                                              

By taking off the foot board and staining the headboard in a 'teaky' colour this gave me something as near to the ones we had. Next some bedding....

                             

Candlewick bedspreads were the next stumbling block. I've not been able to find anything to replicate this in miniature apart from some cotton fabric with a candlewick type pattern on it. And it seems to have done the job.....(I couldn't find candy striped sheets either!) I just need to make some eiderdowns now.

                                               

The chair between the two divans is one made up from a Jane Harrop kit. I didn't want anything too big or too fancy and this has done the job nicely I think. A chair like this was our bedside table when we were little!
No bedside lights in those days! Well not until we were much older....

                                            

The chest of drawers is a barewood one which I've stained and waxed.
                                         

The wardrobe is one I've had for awhile and seems to fit in here well. 

                                                 

I bought the little book shelf from Pudsey Fair. I think it's home made as I haven't seen another one like it and it's just the job for displaying the books and games.

                                                  

I couldn't resist buying this llittle dress from a fair - so cute!

                                                  

So that's my progress so far on this little room. There are one or two odds and ends to do. The fireplace needs to be glued in place and I need to find a little rug to put between the beds....