Chantilly progress

I am not too far off finishing the shell. I need to do some paper-claying first though before I can add all the trim, and that will be the slow part. I couldn't decide completely what colour to paint all the trim. I knew I wanted it dark. In the end I decided I'd make it look a little like the cottages at Marie Antoinette's village at Versailles and just went with timber.

I meant to take photos before it got too dark, but lost track of time. So apologies for the crappiness of my pics!







The porch roof isn't attached yet. I will remove it to decorate further I think. I just needed it there to get the bay window straight.

I just painted the floors to look like timber, but then I found cute sheets of half scale parquet, which I'd like to use but I'm not sure how well the sheets will join (ie they're too small alone to finish each room). And also, how would I do the stairs to match? I was thinking of maybe covering the stair treads with the parquet sheets and painting all other parts ivory to match the skirting/architrave, or just painting it all ivory, but that may look funny against a timber floor. So maybe I'll tile the salon. Will order the parquet anyways and decide when it arrives I suppose!

Hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. I need to do some sewing tomorrow as a friend had a baby. It's always hard to do something else when you're on a mini roll!

Greenleaf's half scale Chantilly

I have been hanging out for this kit for sooo long. I adore it. And so hence, when it arrived, I couldn't help myself - I had to start putting it together!



It will be French, simple but elegant. I think the exterior trim will be dark brown, the walls will be a beige stucco and there will be a stone base. Many places we saw in France had a hexagonal/honeycomb patterned rocking around the base (or around the walls like in my photo) which I really liked.




The downstairs will have a salon and salle a manger, and the upstairs will have a boudoir and chambre. I am using Bespaq furniture. The half scale furniture available (what little there is) is so varying in scale, you can't mix brands. Such a pain.

As an update on my Gingerbread Cottage, I've hit a snag. I made a small kitchen bench/sink to go in, but forgot to measure the height of the window. The bench is subsequently too tall and can be seen from the outside through the window. I could of course just move it, but I don't like any other options. I may have to ditch it and make a very small sink to fit beside the window. Plus I need more materials.

The project list

I was reading someone's blog the other day, and they'd posted a list of all the projects they wanted to do. It was quite interesting, so thought I'd do the same. These are all my one inch scale wanna-dos:

- French chateau - large, fancy townhouse (a bit like Linda's!), to use up a lot of French ideas I have.
- Small castle - like Rik Pierce's Toadmoor Manor. I already have all the furniture.
- Dura-craft Heritage - I will use some bits from an incomplete Heritage kit to make a Toad Hall gothic English manor house.
- Greenleaf Sugarplum - rustic xmas cottage (pink, white, silver).
- Greenleaf Willowcrest - Very Victorian!
- Greenleaf Beacon Hill - I have always loved it. It will be a vaguely Cinderella themed house in rich pink, green, gold and black.
- Dura-craft Sweetheart - Cottage. No real theme, just a cottage!
- Art Nouveau house - modelled after a gorgeous cottage in France. Pale olive, cream, caramel, black, duck egg blue, those sorts of tones.
- Dutch canal house - scratch built.
- English townhouse - a bit more fantasy style than English though.
- Dura-craft Chelsea - Aqua, white and red summer cottage.
- Greenleaf Brimbles Merchantile - Will become a Martha's Vineyard style cottage in earthy French tones. Timber/black lacquer furniture, etc.

That's a lot, isn't it??? I will be busy for ever!

I also have some shops on the list, including a doll shop (in a Houseworks shop), a chocolaterie (actually two of those!), perfumerie and an Easter shop (this is well on it's way, I am just being lazy!).

I hope everyone is having a fantastic weekend. It is my 6-month wedding anniversary today! Yay for us!

Which bed?

Or rather, which finish? I need some advice please! I can't decide whether I like the bed for my Gingerbread cottage plain timber or with fabric panels. Please ignore the roughness of my sanding - it isn't finished. Also, I won't neaten it up if I put fabric panels on it.



Also, here's a pic of some seating for the cottage. I have yet to add piping/cord trim to neaten them up a bit, and can't decide whether the timber should have a sheen or be matte.



I am still working on the house itself, but need some of the styrene stone sheeting, as I am not good at the paperclay stone thing!