Modern kitchen's

Tonight I wanted to show you my kitchen room box.
I loved creating the kitchen in my main house, but whilst I looked for all the period items, I loved the tiny packages, so the idea for a more modern kitchen hatched, I decided I would make a tribute to my mum, our family life buzzed around our kitchen, and this is not a copy, but I have stayed with the simple lines.

This is only a part of the kitchen, I wanted for the first time to create a space outside, so we have a yard, my childhood garden was huge, my own daughters when they were small called it nanny's field and that was just the top half with the fruit tree's in.
The picture above the larder door is my mum , me and my younger sister.

Here is a closer view, I have Cati on the window sill, that's my love as is the cat,
our window and back door was always open, and these are the same design.
Mum's slippers were always close by.
The mouse trap was always under the table, I never saw a mouse in the house.
I remember having a boiler on the wall for our hot water.

Here I removed the back wall to show you the yard,
lolly sticks for the fence and a paint job on cardboard for the paving stones in the yard.
The ivy on the fence came from a card shop, the animals are by Peter Cook.
The tea towel, I made myself.
My artwork for clouds and flying birds is very basic, but you normally only glance at it through the back door.

The larder is very like the one we had, with a marble shelf to help keep things cool.
The packages are all ones I remember, there were always tins and pots on the floor.
I love the carpet sweeper and we loved it when we were able to use it for real in the house.

The gloves hanging on the chair was made for me by Fliss my daughter,
who has so many talents, I was allowed to choose the colours.

My final photo is of the table, the blue radio, was made by a company called Robert's,
I have a real size green one, it does work but due to the many changes in the radio bands,
I can't find anything good to listen to.
I have set the table for breakfast,
cornflakes, toast and jam, with a cup of tea.

Around the house

I would like to thank you for your comments regarding the lights within Somerset House.
I am pleased with their effect, and I love to sit here with the lights on at night
and just gaze at the effects.
Below are more images,
I would also like you to know the reason for the name of my house,
I was born and raised in a small village in the heart of Somerset, Cannington
I have lived in a couple of nice towns there.
14 years ago we moved to Hampshire, but my heart will always be in Somerset.

Above is the view of the back hall through the bath room, showing the oil lamp on the table, normally the door is not opened this far.
Below is the candles in the sitting room
when they are home without visitors they would only light a couple of candles,
I watched a historic programme on the BBC, which showed two ladies living together, and thought the evening they would blow out a candle and then light a second candle,
so they would burn to the same length,

Above is the desk in the study, he is reading a book on anatomy, with a magnifying glass to help with the sketches. This room only has lamps I wanted it to look old world, as if the master had his money for years, rather than new rich.
Below is the kitchen, with the range lit

The last house picture is my basement, just a candle here amongst the bottles and keg of wines.

I have loads of building work to do, street level and all the roof space, but below is the reason it is all on hold our real house, yep the big one is up for sale, and we are almost at closing stage.
We have had the offer, just a bit short of what we want, if the survey comes out Ok then we are expecting the full offer, fingers crossed. But then I will have to pack everything up for moving.

Lights

This is the lighting system for my house, the photo's are not that good, I did not move the house too far from the wall, so I had limited space. I brought this product from Here three years ago, I am not sure if they still sell this design. But there are other makes on the market.

The remote control is very good it is in three sections, no's 1 - 14 will take a flicker unit, but I have not bothered with one. No's 15 -26 will allow me to dim the lights, when you press the pad for a few extra seconds the bulbs dim by almost 50 %. No's 27 -30 are the heavy duty ones which allows you to have loads of bulbs on one pad. All the other pads take up to 4 bulbs per pad.

I have a box on the back of my house, into which I split the wire and put into two slots, see photo below. It looks chaos, but it is in order by floor and room, each room I have one fire, two sockets and either wall lights or a ceiling light, each is wired separately so I can control each light. As I said last time by putting two sockets in each room I am able to change things without having to touch the back wiring system.
The wires go into little blocks, and I then plug in the transformer. every thing is fused and therefore safe. I love this system it allows me to change the lighting to suit my moods, I do not have all the lights on that ofter, i think it gives the project the true feel of the house as it would have been, remembering it was before electricity.



One other question, the ceiling in the dining room was created by using textured wrapping paper, I painted it white, cut it to size and stuck it on.

Its dark outside

It's late and dark so I thought I would take some photos of my house with the lights on

This view of the whole house shows the lighting at it's best, the bedrooms only have the fire place and candles, not alot of money would have been spent here.
You can see the bathroom, but also the hall behind, when I put in the false wall,
I left enough space for a hall, added a rug, table and lamp.

These two photo's show my dining room with the different lights on.

In the top photo I have the wall candles and the center chandelier on.
In the bottom photo I have just the wall candles on.
The fire is on in both settings but the table has blocked the view.

In each room in my house I have wired separately the fireplace, ceiling light if there is one in place, and in each back corner I have put a socket. This allows me to change the lamps without having to touch the main wiring system. I use a remote control for each of the 30 wiring points. There is no copper tape just loads of wires, which screw into the main box, so no soldering.
When I next move the house, which is not often I will take a photo for you to see.

I've been tagged

I have been tagged by Susan mini homes.

I have to list 6 unimportant things that make me happy

1. Any small child giggling
2. My garden after the rain
3. A Fresh pot of coffee
4. Cross stitching whilst sat in the sunlight
5. Finishing anything
6. A tidy house!
   

Now I have to tag 6 more people
here goes not every one is a mini fan

Fliss
Texas Belle
MiniKat
Doreen
Liberty Biberty
Milly

Bonus time

I am looking at the bonus items we find from our world that sit in our mini world.
we all know the joy when out shopping to spot an item which would sit in our projects so well,
Here are a few of mine.

We all use hankies, I keep men sized one's in for sewing, the fabric is never to thick
Here I am using ladies for sheets, above is just a plain edged one, if they have an embroidered item I just place that at the bottom of the bed where it can't be seen.

Below is a beautiful lace hanky I brought from Spain many years ago,
it had sat in my drawer for too long.

The boat above, I did not find, I was in a chandlery in France last year with Kev, and he spotted it, it looked the right size, so I took the chance and brought it, I have added the seagulls, both made by Peter Cook. It looks perfect next to my beach hut, I have it sitting on sandpaper until I make the beach.
The vase below was from a trip to Prague, it sits next to the fire in the ball room and adds to the Chinese theme of the room, but in fact it is onion ware.


Above is the a pencil sharpener shaped as a globe, there are so many different styles which can be used, this sits in the corner of the study, I have many things related to the sea, the husband made his money in shipping.
Below is a fan, Fliss spotted this one for me, it was a find in a charty shop. I leave it on the chair nearest to the fire in the sitting room.


Above the flower arrangement is in wedding cake pillars, you have to buy these in packs of four, but the make a good stand, I love wedding cake shops because so much of their items are in a scale small enough to use.

My collection of cats and charms have been picked up all over, they never cost much and its always a gamble to whether they are used or not. The charms make good ornaments, all three below are in my house.
After I had packed my camera away I found loads other, my favorite, which I am working on at this time is two large wooden curtain rings, I have painted them white, I will paint red stripes on them and add white rope, they will sit beside my beach hut as life rings.

I would love to hear your finds and suggestions.

Cute Dogs

These are my cute puppies made with pipe cleaners,
I have used a standard pipe cleaner here, but the fat ones make a great shaggy puppy.
These are not toys and never should be given to children
If played with they fall apart

It take two pipe cleaners and the above tools,
I also use a piece of ribbon for the collar.

Cut the pipe cleaners as shown,
measurements in inches.

You now have to bend the pieces before putting together,
the ears look like a 'C', top
The tail and body are folded in half as are the legs.
you need a second fold in the legs to create its paws,
don't forget to make the paws look large,

Take the body piece(its the largest piece)
make a second fold to create the head

Tuck the ears under the fold and press them together
to make the nose you need to press the tip of the 1st fold out
whilst doing this you need to ensure the rest of the head is squeezed in

Take one set of legs and attache the tail,
just twist together and ensure ends are tucked in

Pop one set of legs behind the head,
add the legs with tail attached.
measure the body length and make a fold half way along
you will tuck this back towards the neck
tidy both sets of legs and then squeeze the body together

Your dog is almost there, tidy his shape
squeeze body together and tuck ends of pipe cleaners in
To add to the cuteness, bend his ears forward
To make the eyes I use a small marker pen
beads can be used foe eyes.
For his nose I use the marker pen again

I created this design, after looking at a tutorial for a teddy bear
I played with the sizes until it worked out right.
If you can turn these into cats please let me know
mine are never right,
Have fun with your puppies