♫"How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears.
Soft stillness and the night become the touches of sweet harmony" ♫
from Shakespeare's play
The Merchant of Venice
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The bedroom of Villa Leone is almost finished. ( there are still a few more things left to do on my to-do list. )
Even so, didn't want to postpone this blogpost any longer because the more I delay,
the longer it grows. |
Needless to say, that I've changed and re-arranged this Venetian bedroom
many times since I began working on it.
I will review some of the major changes in this post,
which IS rather lengthy
but I've got some long overdue
"THANK YOU'S"
to Acknowledge
so be prepared for a bit of a read!
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Since the Leone villa is a modest dwelling,
occupied by a music teacher and her husband
(a Venetian gondolier ),
the bedroom would be somewhat simple room,
using mis-matched pieces handed down from various family members
and therefore all the more treasured.
Most of the reference materials I looked at,
were either far too grand
or
as austere as a monk's cell-
What I was wanting was something,
romantically in between.
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I began the bedroom with a rough mock up of the proposed room arrangement,
using as much furniture and as many accessories
as I could squeeze into the room.
I was also deciding between 2 beds;
one heavy Victorian bed and the other
a more delicate brass model.
I placed the beds in the foreground of the room with the other pieces stationed behind it.
First, I tried out the Victorian bed;
pre-assembled from a vintage
Realife Victorian Bedroom kit,
which I found tucked away at
Ross's Treasure House
(a local miniature store)
I then tried out the brass bed which I'd purchased
half-price
at the Seattle Miniature Show last March.
I decided to go with the brass bed. |
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Of course I needed to age it and tone down the shine
which I did by using a couple of light spray coats of Matte Acrylic Sealer and then some acrylic paints for the
required tarnish. |
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The Chrysolite lamp and the vintage Bakelite electric clock were items I've had for a while, but the vintage books were a gift sent to me from
Andrea Thieck of ANDREA THIECK MINIATURES
http://www.andrea-thieck-miniatures.blogspot.com
Thank You once again Andrea! :D
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I LOVE BOOKS
in Real Life
and I Most Definitely love them in a doll's house!
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The following "demo" is how I aged the lamp I'd chosen.
The gold metal was darkened with acrylic paint and the glass sections were tinted
using Martha Stewart's glass paint
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"English Tea"
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This is the lamp after a couple of light coats of
the English Tea glass paint.
I'm quite happy with its new/old vintage look!
❦❤❦
Keli Iseecerulean Blog
http://www.iseecerulean.com/
surprised me a few months ago by generously sending me some GORGEOUS pieces from Charlene's Legacy (some of which I'm also sharing with my friends)
Thank You again Keli!
❤ ❤ ❤ The piece which I've kept and specifically wanted to use in Leone's bedroom
were the delicate vanity and the matching stool.
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However, the only space available for the vanity was
in front of the
double doors leading onto the balcony,
which was in between a 3 door wardrobe to the right,
with the main door leading into the bedroom,
on the left side of it.
In other words the vanity was surrounded by 6 doors
all swinging in towards it
Definitely a logistical problem :(
And on top of that,
the door on the left wall of the bedroom
which looks out over the garden,
was also prevented from fully opening
by the end of the brass bed blocking its path.
which of course,
was another problem :(
Since free access through all the doors was a Major issue with the current furniture arrangement,
I thought it best to
rethink my entire floorplan .
so it went from this...
↓ |
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to this
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not all at once,
but gradually, over a period of time
but
it was shortly thereafter
that
I began to have second thoughts
about using
the brass bed.
so the bed was changed from this one...
↓ |
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back to this one
↓
Once I was satisfied that there was enough walking space around all 3 sides
of the wider Victorian bed,
and
that all of the doors could comfortably swing open,
I removed everything from the bedroom again,
which included the wallpaper panels, the floor, rugs, the furniture, accessories etc.,
so that I could
hook up all of the electrics
for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors.
and after several frustrating and hair pulling attempts-
THEY ALL WORK! |
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It was as I was looking for the electrical tape I needed,
that I came across the pair of sconces which Janine had given to me for my birthday last year.
They proved to be Exactly Right for the second floor hall.
I not only love the style of the sconces
but they provided LOTS of light for the second floor hallway!
Thank You Janine! :D
http://minworks.blogspot.ca/ |
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I LOVE the way these sconces look! :D |
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and
since I didn't need the hanging fixture over the staircase anymore
out it went.
bub-bye! |
(no need to worry about changing the lightbulbs now!)
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Fatima had given me a large unfinished Bespac wardrobe for Villa Leone
which required some minor repairs. I stained it Walnut and re-fitted the mirrored doors, and fixed the missing leg. It turned out pretty good. |
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The black hangers I bought at the Seattle Show last March |
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I have a Monic Robert's dress in there for show, |
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and the Gondolier's shirt and tie which Linda made specifically for Villa Leone is now hanging in the wardrobe too! :D
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a lacy pink gown came from Charlene's Legacy
via
Keli
soooo pretty!
I'm saving it and the vanity
my future
Glencroft re-build |
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I'm not sure who made the the moccasins, but the embroidered slippers were Christmas gifts made by
the VERY talented
Linda Park.
http://lindasminiworld.blogspot.ca/
She made a custom pair of slippers
for Janine, Fatima, and me and I THINK THEY'RE PERFECT!
Thank You Again Linda for ALL of your Amazing needlework!
❥kisskisskiss |
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these are truly Marvelous!
I'll place them on the floor by the bed.
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In the meantime, I made a wide plank hardwood floor for my Venetian bedroom using The Willowcrest dollhouse kit's
generous supply of
thin clapboard siding.
The wallpaper I've chosen for the bedroom
is a beige on cream
over-size damask
from a scrap book
suitably subtle and old-world looking
which works well with the bed |
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BUT as much as I liked the Victorian Bed, I found that the big empty space in the headboard was visually annoying to me.
It looked like it needed to be filled
but with what??? |
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I'd found some ornate puffy stickers at the dollar store which I tried out on the headboard.
I gave them a spray coat of Matte Acrylic Sealer so the acrylic paint would stick,
cut some up
and glued them onto the bed. |
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then the entire bed was painted and aged. |
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But later,
(as usual)
I changed my mind about the size of the sticker above; removed it
and chose to use a bigger one in its place,
uggg
I didn't like the look of this one, at all! :(
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After some serious re-thinking,
I decided to take everything off and start again.
I found a metal Lion's head in my stash which I glued to the center of a trimmed-off puffy sticker resembling
a cameo.
I added more wood and metal bits
and then I repainted, and re-aged the entire headboard
to match the rest of the wood.
Below is the old- looking finished bed
Viva Leone!
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The pillows:
The embroidered floral cushion
was pried off of a thrift-store pillbox,
and the ticking striped pillow is one I made and filled with glass beads. The cream on cream embroidered bedcover
was purchased DECADES ago at a
VANCOUVER MINIATURE SHOW
and after all this time, it's very gratifying
to finally put it to good use! |
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On an octagonal HoM side table,
I have placed a Chrysonbon hand-painted mirror and the hair brush which came tacked to the Vanity
from Charlene's Legacy.
The bottle of "Oil of Olay",
was from my friend Bettie Smith, and the Blue Hydrangeas were made by Fats-
lovelovelove!
Thank You Fatima! :D
The tatted tablecloth was a lucky find at the thrift store. |
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Another gift from Linda
is this tiny embroidered footstool which now resides next to the bed. |
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Looking from the bedside into the hall. |
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I was on a roll
so the next step was to actually glue in the wallpaper panels.
So OUT it all came again so that I could glue the paperboard panels to the wood.
for that I used
Fabri-Tac
fabric glue
As it happened,
a couple of weeks ago,
I was watching a Railroad landscaping video where the artist was using sheets of Builder's Pink Insulation Foam
to make his rocks formations etc. To glue the stacks of foam together he used FABRI-TAC
fabric glue
which bonds like CONTACT CEMENT without melting the foam. After watching the video,
I remembered I already had a full bottle of this glue
so
I tried it out on the backs of each of the paperboard panels.
THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE GLUE!
it's sooooo easy to use
I recommend spreading it with a long metal spatula OR a scrap of stiff card.
The glue will rub off the metal after it dries
and the card you can throw away later,
But whatever you do-
DO NOT USE A BRUSH!
I bought my bottle of Fabri-Tac at Wal-Mart
but its also sold at Joann's and Michael's,
and on Amazon.
Fabri-tac sets up fast and REALLY GRIPS
so make sure that all systems are GO!
I only applied the glue onto the paperboard surfaces,
but in the video,
the gentleman applied the glue onto the surfaces of both objects,
he let it get tacky
and then he pressed both surfaces together.
It has an odor similar to airplane glue
but not quite as strong.
And because it's meant for fabrics
you can use it for that too! |
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Prior to applying the glue to the back of the wallpaper panels, I drilled a hole
to thread the wires
for the table lamp and for the wall sconce through,
then I connected the ends to the power source, the connections were taped over using cellophane tape.
After that I spread the Fabri-tac glue onto the backs of the wallpaper panels using a metal spatula.
When the panels were in place, they were firmly secured using
spring-loaded clamps.
With the wallpaper glued to the walls and the lights working, I placed the furniture and accessories back inside the room.
A chicken was installed on top of the wardrobe next to the painting of a sleeping monk
which I'd clipped from a magazine,
glued onto cardstock and painted over with
MOD PODGE |
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Fatima made this floral bathrobe specially for Villa Leone I was going to hang it in the bathroom but I think that it looks more at home draped over the bed. ❤❤❤ |
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"Livia" and Linda's lovely slippers |
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I'd wanted to run a series of dark rustic beams across the width of the ceiling in the Venetian style
but chose instead,
to run them around the perimeter of the ceiling.
To affix the ceiling beams and all the various wood trims in place, I used
Aleene's THE ULTIMATE glue similar to Quick Grip ONLY BETTER
is that even possible?
The Ultimate
doesn't continuously ooze from the tube,
so there less waste but like the Quick Grip
it has a quick and tight bond!
I bought my tube at HOBBY LOBBY in the U.S.A
LOVE'N IT!
the blue chair is from my stash |
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Linda Park's
"VL"-Villa Leone
custom cushion |
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"Octavius"
the ruling house cat
by Sarah Hendry |
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View looking up from the staircase window
and into the bedroom |
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bedroom overview as it currently stands |
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A room with a view |
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"How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!"
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"Here will we sit
and let the sounds of music creep in our ears." |
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"Soft stillness
and the night become
the touches of sweet harmony"
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And so to bed.... |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anxQ-CoesRQ
elizabeth