Friday 1 August 2014

Oh dear!

 
I thought, in my wisdom, that it would be good to do something by way of decoration on the inside of the flip top roof so it was duly removed and laid, face down, on the table.   It was then left for quite some time as there was RL gardening and RL decorating to be done.

I couldn't decide whether I really wanted to decorate this space in relation to the rooms it covered but in the end it was painted off-white but little window treatments will be put in place.

The hobby room has obviously been really warm recently because when I turned the roof over to work on the oval window it looked like this -


Oh dear.     I bought these tiles on ebay and at the time I was so pleased with the fact that they were self-adhesive and they've stood the test of time pretty well - except, that is, when the house was in the conservatory and some of them slipped down because of the heat.
 
Obviously some roof repairs were required.   Forget  self-adhesive - they've now been glued down and are going nowhere.
 
All better now!
 
 
It turned out to be a pretty good delaying tactic as I wasn't quite sure what to do with the oval window.   I still don't!

Now for a wee change of subject - After reading Simon’s posts featuring a few of his favourite and inspiring books I thought I’d let you know about a little book I purchased recently – “Building an English Country Estate in Miniature”.

 
 
By way of background, this book features the creation of a miniature estate and grand house set in 1900 that had been displayed at Leonardslee Gardens, Sussex.   Sadly the exhibition – Behind the Dolls House - is no longer available to the public but I had seen pictures of the displays prior to the closure and was inspired by what I had seen.

 
 
The display was put together by the author of the book Helen Holland.   It details her inspiration and the process followed in creating a marvellous exhibition.

 
 
The attention to detail is marvellous and research meticulous.   It was also by some fluke that after asking Mrs Holland for her permission to share this book that I discovered that it is also being featured in an article in the September issue of Dolls House World.

I am not related to Helen Holland nor do I have any vested interest in her publication, I just wanted to share this interesting little book.

 

*With thanks to Helen Holland for her kind permission to use her photographs.

 

 

7 comments:

  1. Hi Irene
    I'm so relieved you sorted out the roof!
    I went to visit this dolls house exhibition a few years ago. It was really incredible all set up in huge glass display cabinets and you could walk round the whole "village"! The details were amazing. It was all at a very nice house that also had a car museum. Such a shame it was sold privately and not kept up by the new owners. I had no idea there was a book though, I'll have to check it out.
    Thanks for the mention by the way.
    Have a great weekend
    Si x

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  2. Hi Irene! I am glad you were able to repair the roof! The tiles look Gorgeous! I have never trusted the "self adhesive" glue.... it never seems strong enough to me!
    As for the book you show.... it looks Fascinating! And as Simon says, it seems such a pity that the exhibits weren't kept up. But at least there is a book.... and it looks like one I would love to have a peek inside! I am going to have to see if I can find a copy somewhere! Thanks for sharing it here!

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  3. Hello Irene,
    I am so happy you were able to fix the roof without any permanent damage. I am always scared when I read self adhesive. The roof looks brand new...no sign of repairs at all!
    Thank you for the book suggestion. It sound fascinating and I will try to get my hands ona copy.
    Big hug,
    Giac

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  4. You really need patience with miniatures. It must have been such a frustration to see what happened to your roof. It looks beautiful. The book seems worth reading.
    Geneviève

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  5. Hi Irene! Often when these little mini disasters occur, it works out to be beneficial in the end because you now have the roof tiles really secured so that there are no more such future surprises, that could perhaps be even worse. Fortunately the tiles were all still there and not lost or broken.
    The book is right up your alley! It looks to be a wealth of information that is sure to inspire as well as inform!

    elizabeth

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  6. Hello Irene.

    the tiles look really good, shame you had to restock them, but at least they are now fully secure. The book looks interesting, I missed my chance to see this exhibition and the gardens, before the estate was sold off. what a shame! I wonder what has happened to it all!?

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  7. I was lucky enough to see the Leonardslee Exhibition and it really was fabulous, even my non-miniaturist husband was quite intrigued and spent quite a while looking at all the authentic historical recreations. I too am very sceptical of self-adhesive items and it pains me to regularly see advice to use doublesided tape to secure carpets, flooring, wallpaper etc. Fine for a temporary solution, but for a house that you plan to keep for years, it just doesn't hold and also is very vulnerable to temperature changes as you found out. I've got a problem with carpets coming loose that were secured down with doublesided tape, and the little lights that come with self adhesive disks fall off within a few weeks.

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