I have been able to get some work done on the farmhouse.  One of the biggest jobs so far was to paint the 19 windows.  That took quite a bit of time.  I finally got all 19 painted.

Some of the windows are working windows so I made screens.  Now in actual fact these screens did not look new in any way, shape or form when I was a kid.  But since I just can't bring myself to rough them up, what you see in the picture below is what the screen looked like the day it was put in, not like it looked when I was growing up.  

I love the look when miniaturist make things look old and well used.  I just can't do it.  

I posted some pictures earlier with the outside walls taped in place.  The windows and doors have now been cut out and it sure makes a difference.  As I look at the picture below I realize just how big this house is going to be when I am finished.  Where am I going to put it?  I have three other dollhouses and a big barn, not to mention all by Camp Mini Ha Ha projects, etc. etc..  Oh boy....sure can't take them all on the boat.

I think I will work on adding the second floor and the room dividers on the second floor.  

I am finally back.  I have not been able to do minis since about the beginning of December.  I have found out that I have what is know as "trigger finger".  So it's just me and Annie Oakley.  In the meantime I have re-organized by miniatures.  You have to understand that since I am not the "fly by the seat of my pants" girl everything was organized but now it is super organized.  My sister, Joyce, said the hoarders would love me because they wouldn't have to get rid of anything.

Anyway, moving on.  I was getting a little worried that since I've been doing a lot more of my friend's, Marilyn, flying by the seat of my pants that in the end nothing would fit together.  So after enlarging the house slightly I decided to join the outside walls to the floor and put the main floor walls inside together.  (Just taped, not permanently put in place)  So with the exception of one wall which I have to trim by 1/2" it all fits.  Boy, do I feel better.

 

                    Kitchen                                                        From kitchen looking into dining room

             

                 Looking into living room and den                Looking from dining room 

So, overall, I'm okay with the fit of the outside walls.  I am going to start cutting out my exterior doors and windows from my outside walls.  Actually I'm hoping to talk my husband into doing that but only because I have very little use of my hand right now.  

My next step will be to put all the windows in (all 19 of them) and the three doors. Then I can put the wallpaper up on the inside of the outside walls. 

Oh dear, I think I'm confusing myself.  Hopefully you know what I mean.

Farm House

 I didn't get much done on the farm house this week.  I've been working on Christmas gifts and exchanges.  So much to do, so little time.  This week I decided to make our television.  I was about four when we got our lovely black and white television.  Back in those days unless you had a great antenna you could only get two channels.  My older brother talked my Dad into letting him build an antenna.  He was ten years old but an avid reader of Popular Mechanics.  So we were lucky and got a few more channels.

I started by making the box.  Old TV's weren't 70".  I think ours was 13".  Then I made the inside frame for the picture tube and made some legs.

I think the most difficult part was making the curve for the tv tube.  My brother fortunately knew that it was an admiral TV.  I made a mid 50's Admiral TV.

I stained the cabinet a dark wood color.  It probably was actually wood in those days.  Remember the test pattern anyone?  I think sometimes we saw the test pattern more that we saw TV programs.  But, I do recall watching Walt Disney, Ozzie & Harriet and George Burns.

Once this part was finished I only had to make the rabbit ears.  

This was one of the quickest farm house pieces of furniture I've made yet.  Unlike the wringer washer which took a very long time.

Farm House

 Today I am going to post the wringer washing machine I made.  I'm sure that this wringer washer is not exactly like the one we had but it is close enough.  I did try to take pictures all the way through but I didn't quite make it.  I keep forgetting to take pictures.  So this is the start.  We had a square wringer washer.

I put the two pieces together and did a lot of sanding to round the corners.  As you can see here I put the agitator in and started to build the arm for the wringer part.

The next part that I made was the wringer part of the washing machine.  Fortunately for me I was able to follow, mostly, the design by Kris Compass on 1 Inch Minis.  I love everything she does.

We had a shiny tray for guiding the clothes through the wringer.  I tried several approaches to that part and mostly without much success.  I finally made the tray with Fimo and covered it with shiny tape.

You can see here that I added the two arms for selecting the wash cycle.  In the final pictures you will see the electrical cord, the hose for draining the tub and the wheels on the bottom.

 

Overall, I like the wringer washer and I know it will look great in the farm house.

On another note, remember the leprechaun door I made going down to the basement of the house?  Well, I did fix that door since no one in my family is a leprechaun.

I am going to start working on putting the first floor of the house together.  I am somewhat afraid of doing this step only because I have been building by the seat of my pants.  Who know if it will go together right.

Farm House

 I have not worked on the farm house in a little while.  We finally got our boat in the water after waiting all summer.  The Thanksgiving weekend is the last weekend it will be in the water so we are trying to take advantage of that.

I did manage to frame my parents wedding picture.

I will hang these pictures in the living room.  I don't believe they actually hung in the house but I thought it would make the farm house more homey.  I also bought some flowers in pots from Freedom Miniatures to put on the window sill in the kitchen.  My Mom usually had flowers growing in pots.

I have started to work on the wringer washer.  Ohhh that's a big job.  I doing what my friend Marilyn does all the time - flying my the seat of my pants.  That is so difficult for me.  The wringer washer won't be exactly the same as the one we had but I'll do the best I can.  My parents bought it after the first set of twins were born, after WWII, so it has been difficult to find pictures.  

Farmhouse

 I had the chance to work on the farmhouse a little bit this week.  I finished the kitchen stairs and did some wallpapering in the kitchen and some wainscoting.  I didn't get much done mostly because my sweet little girl, Bella, was suppose to have surgery last Thursday but ended up not having it until Monday of this week.  This is a picture of Bella making a funny face.

My friend Marilyn is the "fly by the seat of my pants" girl.  Me I like to have each step planned, drawn out and measured.  This farmhouse is working into being a "fly by the seat of my pants" project.  This scares me because when I get to the point of putting it all together.....I am worried.  Let's face it, what are the chances of it coming together with no issues.

So this is the wall at one end of the kitchen.  I'm beginning to think the kitchen was 18 X 20 and not   16 X 18.  Oh well, too late now.  (See why the "fly by the seat of my pants" issue is scary for me)

  

The doorway shown in the second picture is the door to the basement.  I have a feeling I will have to make it taller.  However, until I speak with my brother, Bill, I'll leave it this size.

                          

Okay, it's not suppose to be a leprechaun door.  So clearly I have to increase the size.  Oh dear.

Farmhouse

 I haven't had much of a chance to mini for the past two weeks.  Things just seemed to have gotten out of hand.  I did manage to make 2 double beds.  We were 5 girls and I was the only girl without a twin.  You would think that I would be sleeping in a single bed but as it happened I shared a bed with my sister, Joyce, who is a year older than me and her twin, Joan, got the single bed.  (I think it was an arrangement we all liked.  I think Joan thought we were silly)

Both of these beds were metal beds just like the rest of the beds us kids slept in.  I haven't distressed these two beds yet.  I hate distressing anything but if I want them to look more realistic I will definitely have to distress them.  

I started by making the headboard and footboard, much the same as I did for the single beds.  I decided to do it a little different this time hoping to get a more realistic looking bed.  I used styrene again because I managed to have just enough for two double beds.  

The first picture is the beginning of the headboard while the second picture is the two footboards.  Even though our beds were not super fancy they were nice beds.

Once I had the beds put together (well at least one of them at this point) I made the base for the mattresses.  I took the mattress material with me to visit my husbands aunt.  She is an amazing quilter so visiting her is always fantastic.  I told her that I was going to have to make 3 single quilts and 3 double quilts which I was not looking forward to doing.  She measured my double mattress and said maybe she could help out.  She's a busy lady so I don't expect her to take the time for my quilts but it sure would be nice.

I added some beads to the headboard and gold covers on the spindles of the headboard and footboard.  So except for the distressing I am finished making metal beds.  (Oh dear, I don't really want to distress these nice beds.........but........I guess I must.