Take the guided tour.

It's only taken me nine years but at last Hambleton Hall is finished.   There are still some pieces I could get to fill drawers, etc. (thanks to Pedrete who was the inspiration for that idea!) but that will happen as and when I see the bits but to all intents and purposes, it's done.   To help with the decoration and detail of this property I imagine it to be inhabited by an Admiral and his wife.   They are looked after by a Butler, a Housekeeper and a Maid of all Work, Janey.   There are no children.   In total, there are 12 rooms and 4 halls.

 

 

I won't bombard you with it all at once, but will split the pics to cover a few posts.   Please bear in mind at all times that I am no photographer so if there are any fuzzy pics then I apologise in advance!

 

The exterior was finished in textured paint and I used self-adhesive tiles for the roof (these had to be glued down to make more permanent) and you've recently seen the newly revamped Grand Staircase so all we have to do is climb the stair, ring the bell and enter.

 

Coming into the Entrance Hall we take time to wipe our feet on the beautifully crafted mat gifted to me by a fellow blogger and friend,  Kath. 

Let's go into the Parlour.....

The Parlour is the first room, to the left, on the Ground Floor.

I hope I've caught the essence of the overstuffed Victorian Parlour.  

There are photographs and ornaments and plants - there's even a canary.   The tea trolley has just been brought in resplendent with a variety of cakes.

 

 

Back across the Hall and directly opposite is the Study.

 

There is a safe, craftily disguised as a cabinet......

 

...that contains the Title Deeds to the property.

 

 

We then leave the Study, go back into the Hall and up the stairs to the First Floor.

 

The Staircase

 

I'm on the final push now to get this property finished so to this end I eventually  managed to get the Grand Staircase completed.   I know I've mentioned this before but I didn't think the original staircase matched the height of the property proportionally so decided to enlarge it.

As this is the first time I've done anything like this, I went with foamboard as it's easy to deal with and just replicated what was there already and followed the existing lines.   The tricky bit was working out the height as it went up the second staircase to the front door.

The joins were trimmed with wood trim and all topped off with a handrail, both were cut and scored to fit, with plenty of masking tape in place until the glue dried.   I was banking on many layers of paint to fill any gaps.

Here is the finished article also showing the self adhesive cork base (which has turned out to be an excellent find).

 

 All grand houses need a peacock!

 

I was going to get all clever and create plinths and fill urns with handcrafted foliage but decided against that (pretty quickly, I may add) and instead replicated the twisted topiary that is already on the balcony.

 

 

 

I've just got some curtains to replace in the basement and rehang a set in the Study, replace the front of the roof and that's it - job done so in the meantime, while I'm busy with all that, here's a wee peek through the front door.

 



 

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.

 

 

York Fair

 

I was at the York Fair at the beginning of this month and as usual, had a great time.   I also had the chance to meet up with a few mini mates.

 

In my head I'm rattling on with this property to finally get it finished but in reality I haven't done anything to it for weeks!   I kept telling myself I'd get all the final bits needed from my visit to this fair but I didn't.   I now have to scour the web and get what I need that way.    More procrastination :-(

 

Having said all that, I did however manage to find these little gems -

 

 

All these items - a book on needlecraft, some sewing needles, pin cushion, tape and mushroom are for Janey, the Servant's sewing basket.

 

The little purse (from The Luggage Lady) will be put in her drawer.

 

I'm on a mission now to fill drawers, cupboards, boxes and baskets with items but I'll be calling the property "finished" when I've completed all the bigger jobs like the Grand Staircase and dealt with the inside of the roof.

 

Still with drawers/cupboards in mind, I picked up this little corset box too -

 

 

That's destined for Her Ladyship - she can't be caught without her stays!

 

 

Small progress

Not a lot has been happening on the miniature front here in Edinburgh as I've been spending time in the garden, time which has been long overdue!

It also gave me some thinking time regarding the baseboard and what to use.   Daydreamer and Josje suggested sandpaper (thanks for that, ladies) and I was thinking along those lines myself, trying to work out where a piece big enough could be found as joins were not an option.   The best idea that presented itself was sandpaper as used on floor sanders but that was as far as it went.

Then, (and we've all had them) - a light bulb moment!    Cork!    Even better, self-adhesive cork.   A quick look on ebay and there it was - exactly what I was looking for.   1 Metre long, 45 cms wide, 1.5mm thick self adhesive on a roll as used for craft projects.   Perfect.  

 

It has just been laid it down temporarily at the moment to let it flatten out but I think it's going to be just the job.    I'll let you know soon.

 

Gloves

Because I'm so pleased with the little gloves I purchased from Truly Scrumptious at Miniatura this past weekend, I thought I'd post a better, more detailed picture.

 

Aren't they just fab?

 

 

Back from Miniatura



I had a great weekend at Miniatura and managed to find lots of lovely "must haves" which surprised me really given that the Hall is almost complete.   It just goes to show that no matter how much you have in a property, there's always room for more!

 

I think my favourite item from this little lot just has to be the gloves in the box.   They're made from leather, the thumbs are set just to the front as they would had they been 1:1 and they have a little opening to allow the hand in - the attention to detail is marvellous.

 

 

The reason I've shown this little box is this - if there was a prize for the nicest packaging of all the items I bought, this has to be a winner!   The little gloves were wrapped in tissue and put into this by Truly Scrumptious .