Kitchen and Hallway Started: An Undersized Urbanite Update

The past few weeks were spent working on the kitchen plans.  There were several interruptions as one by one, the family came down with the stomach flu.  Eeeewwww.

I bounced back and forth between the layout for the kitchen (sketches), the floor (craft sticks again) and the oh so very exciting subway tiles.  

First thing was to choose paper for the walls- Doveflower by Bazzil.
Then I worked on the layout (down farther in the post) and then measured out the areas for where the subway tile will be going.  The following picture shows an area for the fridge (which I will have to build for it to be proper scale), the counter and the tiled area around the window.

 Subway tiles are 3" x 6" in real life, so these are 1/4" x 1/2" in scale.  I drew out a whole mess of them on a sheet of white card stock.

 I used a cork backed metal straightedge and a brand new exacto knife to cut them out.

 This took forevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver!!!!!!  And I needed a lot of them!

 Then I made a point to make guidelines on the paper where I would be putting the tiles.  Subway tiles are very uniform and straight and tightly grouted.  They couldn't be all wonky....though in some spots, it seemed unavoidable.  :/

 Gluing gluing gluing.....

 So many tiles!!!!  When they were all done, to get them all the same color and to "grout" the tiles, I painted the whole area with Snow White (Americana) acrylic paint- two coats and then sealed with Triple Thick.

 Here is my planned full wall!!!  Mat board and card stock to the rescue!!!  The plan is to do white uppers with glass fronts.  A paneled hood.  White subway tiles for backsplash.  Some open shelves.  Copper pots.  Grey lowers.  White and grey granite counter top.  And I will "attempt" a stainless steel stove...  :D

 And here is the floor layout... although I ended up nixing the dishwasher and that counter space.  You'll note that there isn't really a plan for the other wall.....

 Because I added this fun round pass through!!!!  It also has subway tiles there... and I have some plans for some open shelving.... :D

 I did the flooring in the same manner as the bedroom, but ran the wood the other direction.

 So pretty.  Love this floor.  Love love love.  I get this look by being really picky about the sticks.  I get a good mix of smooth ones and rough ones.... and then I also get plain ones as well as ones that have some color variation and grain to them.  Install, sand with 60 and then with 300, gently wipe off surface dust and then stain and seal. :)

The subway tile here appears grungy.... but it isn't.  It's really hard to photograph though... and I can't wait to see it with all the cupboards!!  The hallway is perfect compliment to it, too.  The front door is an upgrade and the wallpaper is Olive by Recollections.

This "tile" floor is actually some wallpaper sample I had that I just cut and glued down and sealed with a thick coat of Triple Thick.

 I also dressed the bed (but still working on pillows)...

 And added nightstands.  These are painted and then have fancy headpins as the new hardware.  They still need a coat of satin varnish though.

 And I made a chair for the corner.  It is based on my own real life chair in my room.  It's by Saba Italia, from the Chance line.  Mine is purple, but I liked this subtle floral print for the mini one.  It will get a pillow and blanket draped across it before the build is finished....

http://sabaitalia.it/en/

 I hope you have enjoyed what I worked on lately!!!  More work on the kitchen coming up soon.  And stuff for the hallway, too.  ♥

Master Bedroom, Walls and Flooring: An Undersized Urbanite Update

I finally got a few minutes to finish sanding and staining the floor for the master bedroom.  And I got the paper put up.  The combination is just as beautiful as I thought it would be!!

The walls are "Smokey" scrapbook paper, made by Bazzil.  And the floor is made out of craft sticks, and then stained Special Walnut by Minwax.  I've used this color in a ton of other builds.  Most notably on the exterior facade of Mt Ollopa Lodge.  :)

So pretty!!!

But, it looks like I will be redoing one wall.  HATE when this happens.  And there is no way to fix it really, other than pulling off the paper and putting on a new piece.  Booooooooooooo!!!  And this is after I tried to smoosh out the air. Boo.  Poo.  RAWRG!!!

For now, I will work on dressing the bed.  :)

Canning Jar Lights: An Undersized Urbanite Update

It's time for another one of those moments where I love something for a real life design... but have no where to do it in my rental... so I transfer it to my dollhouse!

I love, love, LOVE the canning jar lights that have been seen all over Pinterest and Facebook.  Love them.  Seriously.  In like an obsessive way.

Image c/o covetliving.com

Image c/o houzz.com

So I puttered around my craft room, wondering if I had the things to make them....  and I did!  Hooray for those little nail decal jar things at Dollar Tree.  :)  Woooooooooo!

I also had a few packs of battery operated LED lights that I bought off of ebay.  This particular set was 4 lights for a 9volt battery.  Love them.  

So I pulled out three and opened a package of the nail decal thingies and dumped out the jars.  

                             

                             

                             

Then, it was time to prepare the rubber plug.  I used an exacto knife to cut a hole in the top big enough to feed the wires through and the bit of heat shrink tubing that was on them.  I will later on paint this all to look like metal and I didn't find a thing to attach them to-just rammed them up through the ceiling for right now.  What?  I work on a tight schedule thanks to kiddos.  :)

                             

Anyway, once the light was through, I wired it up to see if it worked right.

Success!! But, too blue.

Off to find Gallery Glass and paint.... 

Mixed them together a little bit and then dabbed the mixture on the LED.

Much better.  

Then make the other two and temporarily install them to take pictures.  :)

Next time you see these, they will look more like canning jars and maybe even have chains going up to the medallion on the ceiling.  The medallion I still have to make.... 

But for now, it's time to get my fix of Walkers and plan out the kitchen.  Eeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Tween Room Gets Bedding AND.....: An Undersized Urbanite Update

SO, when I first started this room, it was really weird to be putting white on the walls....I despise white walls.  They feel so cold and clinical and asylum-y.  But I knew that I wanted to use a LOT of color in here, and having white walls was going to be the easiest way to get all the furniture and decor to match without clashing....  or without making people go ACK!  COLOR!  I'M BLINDED!!!!

So white walls it was.  And a neutral, but fun carpet.  *gulp*

A few days later and some trial fabrics and I LOVE the results.  The bed looks awesome.  And I sent a picture to a 12 year old to make sure it wasn't just me poofing my own feathers.  She thought it was great!

All these fabrics, except the woven one, are credited to my Mom.  She picked them up some time ago for a project with my dad, but it ended up falling through, so they were passed on to me!  I love the color combination here!!!

 The patterns are crazy, but oh so fun. She (Mom) will be delighted to know that I managed to make those weird pocket envelope pillow cases (the ones that cover the outer edge of the pillow, too, so you don't have to look at it and all of its grundginess)  in mini!!!  The green one and the flower one  So easy to do really!

 The purple and pink blanket are glued down into place.  The woven cream one is just folded and pressed into place.  The mattress is made out of the same pink foam that I use for landscaping.  :)  I covered it in some batting, wrapped it in a white cotton blend and then glued the whole thing to the bed frame.

 Oh to be 12 again!!!

Then, since I was on a roll, I worked on the room for the bed, too.  Finally glued in the ceiling paper and the string light.  I left a little bit of a gap all the way around to remind me that I want to put crown molding in all the rooms.  Fancy house!

I also made one of the other things I wanted to have in this room.  A circular canopy!!!  WOOT!

And what a pain in the rear.  It wasn't hard to make, but the hanging mechanism had me swearing up a storm and threatening to burn things down.  LOL.  But I got it up there!

I also put up the shelf, artwork and butterfly mirror-though they are just taped into place for right now.  I want to paint the shelf and frame and the mirror will get girl things added to it... like jewelry.

The desk is tripling as a dresser, desk and vanity.  And this won't be the only pop of black either.  I am currently looking for some white on black polka dot fabric to make a bench at the foot of the bed.

 The following fabric is a genius find in my mind.  Looks SO much like the rug!!!  It will become the curtains.  Squeeeeeeeeeee!

Hope you are liking it so far!