Fairfield Dollhouse: A fun miniature 'musical' surprise

 

I hate to say it, but... aren't they cute????

I have some of the larger ones in 1 " scale, but had the idea of looking for even smaller half scale, 1/24th sized crates. After all, what's an attic or house without some stored milk crates? (Click photos for full size.)

In case you're wondering about size, they are 1/2" square. I was tickled to death to find them on Etsy from All About Miniatures, 6 for $8. Nicely detailed. It's neat how many things are being made now by 3D printing. I didn't realize at first as I was searching for the best price that they also made the MCM chairs I have in my attic. See previous post. Also, here's the last post showing some changes and art in the house.

Of course, you have to have record albums for those crates! So, I hunted down some vintage LP covers and made a few. I've done these before, but I had to trim them a bit smaller to just under 1/2" (near 7/16" wide) to fit inside the crate. Just love them!

The "record" is a picture I found online and shrunk. I used a round punch that makes a 7/16" circle, then trimmed it slightly and colored the edge and part of the back with black Sharpie. (That's why I have a million punches. ha! Several circles and luckily I had this one.)

A fun, easy project. I really got a kick out of doing this. It's the "little" things that keep you smiling, you know.

Thanks again for stopping by! Check the archives in the left column for other posts and be sure to come back for more updates!

Fairfield Dollhouse: Looking Back and Ahead: Dining Rm, Living Rm Art

First planning photo

 It's hard to believe that my  Fairfield Dollhouse adventure (or horrors? ha!) began waaaay back in November, 2021 - the box was opened and the foundation was built as seen in the very first post I did on Nov. 29, 2021!!!!  I can't believe it's been that long, but I still remember that it took three times to open the box and look inside before the project actually got started! 

The fun thing of having this blog is I can look back and have a record of what I did when. Otherwise, who remembers? haa! 

In December 2021, I was also still working here and there on the Van Buren Halloween house at the same time, too. At least I was trying to finish that. So it wasn't until May 12, 2022 that some actual construction of the Fairfield got underway.  Now it's almost a full year that the house has been actually underway and...

Ta-dah! For the record:  Yesterday, Sunday Feb. 26,2023, I finally finished the exterior of the house! Some small trim still has to be added under the roof eaves and rooms are still being decorated, but the main exterior trim is all done!

After all this time, I admit feeling a little disappointed that it's almost over! haa! Now bear with me.... Before I share the final look, I'm going to cheat and stretch this out a little. So I'll show you a few more additions/changes I made to the inside: (click photos for full size; see past posts archives list and sign up for headline updates in the left column.)

The windowboxes... but all that trim is finished now. I'll show you next time...

Dining Room: I'm adding art yet and am finishing up the dining room table spread shown in the previous post, but I did switch a couple things here. I decided to change the front screen on the bottom of the fireplace and used another ivory-colored resin piece. Thought it went better with the two side pieces I also bought from All Dolled Up TDS at the dollhouse show last year.

I decided to use this carved frame with an eerie building scene as it matched the colors better. I thought it would be cool to get it to glow in the dark, but no matter which paint I tried, (and I have three kinds!) they all glow great in a big blob or in the bottle, but not on the picture. Sigh. Still trying to figure how to get that to work. Anyone know any secrets or a brand/type that'll work in small quantities or just used for outlining, please let me know.

I switched out the single bookcase for the double bookcase model as it fits the wall better. I've added more gold accents since this photo. I love these Gothic furniture kits from SDK Miniatures. The cool spooky books are a Horror Book Covers set from Jupitermoon3 on Etsy. The tea chest on the bottom shelf is part of a downloadable printies Tea caddy set from Zena's Miniatures on Etsy. I should add a bead-knob on the top yet.

Some of the books from the set. Nice front and back printing and clear images.

Living Room: I also switched the art and the fireplace screen in the parlor/living room. I cut a piece of gold metal filigree and attached it to a small wood strip.

I thought this picture of a Paris street scene fit the room colors better. I added glitter to the tree for a past half scale group swap. The frame is plastic that I painted.

 

That's it for the moment! Next time, I'll show the exterior and am still setting up the girl's bedroom. Then I can show you how both bedrooms turned out.

Thanks for visiting again and following along on my dollhouse journeys!

Yes, there's more to come and... guess what???? There's going to be another house to work on before I get out the next big project, the Park Avenue Mansion! Stay tuned for details. It seemed like a good idea to work on something smaller before I jump on that though it still takes me just as long I think to get all the details done.

Come back soon for more Fairfield reveals!

FYI: Season 2 Minis TV Show Canada

 

I was disappointed in not being able to finish watching Season 1 of Best in Miniature, airing on CBC Gem in Canada a while ago....  (See the show FB page.) Now there is a season 2 that just started on Feb. 19. (See list of episodes at the link, but hold off on clicking further.)

It looks worth watching as Preston Poling, known as The Bearded Miniaturist,  is a US contestant on the show this season. (Follow him on Facebook and new website.)  ** Check out the story about him using the TinyCircuits TinyTV in his project. 

If you'll recall, he is the creator of the amazing Frasier Show miniature set, The Frasier Project, which I saw and took photos of at the dollhouse show in Schaumburg, Ill. last year. See my photos here. 

So... according to Poling, there is a way to watch the show, and the CBC site also has the first season episodes online as well. If you're not in Canada, the CBC site will show a pop-up saying  you are not in the viewing service area.  ** But... watch his video on YouTube. Basically, if you sign up for a VPN service, you can then go to the CBC site, make an account, and then connect to Canada from there... The service he suggests is not cheap ($83 or so a year; may be short-term prices). 

Here's another suggestion I'm going to try and hope it works: I've been using Avast Free Antivirus for a long time, which has been good and always reliable. They also have a paid VPN -- which is free for 60 days....  so I'm going to wait until all or most of the episodes are on and then binge watch those and the last few shows I didn't see the first season. I don't know how many episodes they'll have but Season 1 had 10 episodes. I've tried other Avast services and they notify you when to cancel or buy the service. Hopefully I'll be able to hook up to the show with no problem. 

Let me know if this works for you. The nice thing, too, is being able to hook the computer up to the TV via a HDMI cable and watch  it that way. Actually I had liked this show better as contestants worked on their own house projects instead of a group making items for each of the rooms in one house as on the UK show, The Great Big Tiny Design Challenge. But I did enjoy that show too when I found them (and they also have episodes online if you haven't seen it, so maybe the VPN will work there, too.) 

Fairfield Dollhouse: Assorted Art, Furniture

 

Yum! Who's hungry?

While I'm working on finishing up rooms, (and that blasted trim. Can't you tell I'm not inspired to finish that? ha!), thought I'd share some furnishings I'm working on. Sometimes you have to step away from the construction part and do some kits! (Previous post: attic sitting room.)

I love making kits, so this is a fun, abbreviated tour of what else is going on in the Fairfield. I'll show the items and finished rooms in the house soon. (Click photos for full size.)

Assorted Art: Printed out some eerie (and a bit creepy!) art for the girl's bedroom. Still deciding what to use. The top coffee sign may go in the kitchen, but I have to see what'll fit on the walls.

Dining Room: I really like this Gothic furniture set (SDK Miniatures), so I decided to use the double bookcase here (to be filled with books and things yet) and switch it out with the haunted single bookcase in October. 

I wanted a larger table for the room, so I took the haunted tablecloth off the Gothic table for now and decorated it for a nice lunch menu. Still deciding on the set-up yet. Yes, have to add tea cups and silverware, too. Some "healthy" things but the kids like peanut butter and pizza - if they have some fruit and veggie sticks! 😏  I'd like to change the food offerings later for other holidays, especially Halloween!

Also painted and stained the chairs from the set. If I had to pick my favorite furniture and kits, then this is it. I like this kit so much I'll probably buy more pieces when I go to the shows in April in case it ever gets discontinued. (Hopefully not!) Eventually I'm thinking of making a library in a book box. There's also a double bench that goes with it, which I have set aside. (She'll be at the Spring Miniatures Show,  April 27-29, Wyndham Gardens Hotel, Schaumburg, IL.  I'm also planning to go to the Bishop Int'l. Show, April 29-30, Chicago Marriott O'Hare.)

I liked this washstand kit (also SDK Miniatures) and thought it made a good buffet.

Girl's Bedroom: The desk is a vintage Tootsietoy piece I painted. Bottles, faux lamp and basket from a past swap. I printed out some sketch notebooks for the basket and painted the scissors from some older Polly Pocket accessories I had. Luckily, I saved these and also have a bunch of teensy cute shoes, too. And I noticed they don't seem to make this stuff anymore, at least that I could find. 

On second glance, I thought the bed needed more pillows, and I also added a teensy toy dog. Also covered the resin chair (vintage resin couch-chair set (Georgia Matuschak kit 1995) with fabric from a vintage tie as I loved the shiny color. The couch is in the attic sitting room.

Kitchen: Still deciding on what accessories and wall art to add... For now, I switched out furniture and painted the farmhouse table kit (Jane Harrop, UK) and two slat chairs (which I think may be older Cassidy Creations kits). Funny that there's a lot of green in this room, not my favorite color, but I do like this Wedgewood green and a sage green also.

I took one of the chairs from the attic sitting room, so have to find another one for there, which I know I have... somewhere... But I'm also thinking of making a matching color slipper chair for the attic table instead. Funny that I have several, but not in the color or pattern I want there. ha! Isn't that the way it always is?

That's it for the moment. Thanks for stopping by again!

 (If you want to see more photos, check out the previous posts in the archives in the left column and also sign up for headline updates.)

The #Fairfield Attic Sitting Room, Kitchen Pieces

I have been working slowly on some things. Took a break, too, as I really didn't feel like doing more trim yet, as you'll notice. ha! (Yeah, ignore that untrimmed roof edge! 😏)

(Previous post: trimmed tower, attic bath, a few kits.  * See archives list for more posts and sign up for email updates in the left column. Click photos for full size.)

Instead, I got some furniture finished and decided to work on the attic sitting room, which is next to the boy's room. This was fun as it ended up with a kind of retro feel to it. 

There's a lot of fun stuff in this room. I had to add a bookcase, of course, with assorted books and some newspapers about the Queen's death. The small paint jars on top are from a past HS group swap. My favorite: I found this unpainted metal phone in my "buy it and I'll use it someday" stash and had to add it for a touch of realism. The phone cord is thin coated wire I cut off a tiny light bulb and painted. I also have a wall phone I painted for the kitchen. I made the vintage-flavored Eiffel Tower glitter picture for a past swap. I made the clock on the wall from a printie, rhinestone and a medium jump ring. 

 The reading chairs are '50s style MCM chairs from All About Miniatures. I decided to contrast the chairs by color with the blue floral fabric and the matching/contrasting pink print. The coffee table is from one of those Woodcraft punch-out kits of assorted furniture.

I did decide to cut off the top of the fake brick wall on a slant as it looks better since the back of the house is open. Luckily I glue things to hold but not that I can't pull it off with (hopefully) minimal damage. (There was none.) The textured red brick paper is from Starboc 2 in Greece on Etsy. Love her brick.

I am thinking of trying some white brick on the inner front walls when I eventually do the Park Ave. Mansion. Still have in mind to do a kind of rooming house, with the wealthy widow/owner living in the top floor penthouse apartment, which I'm leaning toward decorating in a Brooke Tucker style since I  now have the book and two lamps. (And sad to hear she died recently. Another miniatures legend gone.)

The fabric on the vintage resin couch (Georgia Matuschak kit 1995) is kind of busy so you can barely see that I decided to add a couple dirty spots and some stuffing sticking out. The lady of the house says the couch is too comfy to throw out. The kit came with a chair, too, that I'll use in another room. I like when I find these kits as they come out nice simply by gluing fabric on. The bottom section is grooved so you can tuck the fabric in. I made the hassock by covering a foam piece (shaped foam beads I found a while ago at The Dollar Tree) with fabric and bunka thread. 

The writing table (Vesper Narrow Table, Small Scale Living from All About Miniatures) has a typewriter from a past HS group swap and that weird "sculpture" plant whatever from Michael's. I got the chair as a kit at a show. 

The outer wall has an old radio (fun gift from last year's HS group swap.) It just seemed to work well in this corner.

Full view:

Kitchen pieces:

Working on some of the kitchen pieces. The baking table and stove are from TMC, Teresa's Miniature Creations (minitmc@comcast.net). She'll be at the Spring Miniatures Show at the Wyndham Gardens Hotel in Schaumburg, IL, April 27-29 as will SDK Miniatures. I like her Gothic furniture and flower kits. The Bishop International Show is also that weekend, Sat. April 29 and Sunday, April 30 at the Marriott Chicago O'Hare.) 

Before: (finishing up the sink yet.)

After:

I added some plastic confetti pieces, the top shelf and the orange seed beads for handles to the baking table. The pie making set is by Patsy M from a long ago swap. The tarts are Reutter Porzellan. I made the teeny jam jar.

The stove is so cute but ugh!! Those teensy-teensy beads for the handles and top of the stove burners are no-fun! I kept losing them and finally had to cut a couple tiny pieces of the square tube for a couple of the bead  "knobs." I gave up adding the beads to the side of the door and just painted the "hinges" silver. In case you're wondering and aren't familiar with 1/24, half scale sizes: the stove is 2.5" high and 1.75" wide. 

Here's another view for size: the chair is 1.25" wide and just over 1.25" high. Small, but doable. I've tried 1/48 scale which is much smaller. Too small for me. - Chris V. www.cverstraete.com

Thanks again for visiting. More updates coming soon!