Upon reflection...


The Canal House I am building is based on a few paintings, existing canal houses and an 18th century  architectural drawing of an Amsterdam canal house.    In my plans I situated the dining room on the main floor, behind the front reception room.  As I was studying another 18th century architectural drawing I realized the best place for the dining room would be on the ground floor, facing the garden.  


 So, a change of plans.  This room will now be a reception room as well. 
Last weekend I had great fun transforming a sheet of acrylic mirror into antique mirror glass which will become the overmantel mirror.  It is hard to photograph but I think it came out very nice.


Between the two reception rooms I have made sliding doors.  They are almost finished here, the decorative swags still need to be painted and then gilded again (they are too new and shiny now), and I have to find or make door knobs. 

 I routed a huge amount of wood for all the panels on the doors and the wainscoting. The adjoining room will have the same wainscoting so I need a lot (and I don't want to have to set up my router again).   After the routing the fun could begin...not!  Loads of mitering was needed.  Not my favourite job.

Here's a photo you don't see too often on my blog...wires, a clamp, lots of unfinished things in plain sight. But I like the glimpse through the sliding doors from -what will be- the front room to the back room. 

Comments

  1. TU TRABAJO ES MARAVILLOSO.UN SALUDO; CARMEN

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  2. Wowww I love it!!!
    The floor is great, the sliding door is gorgeous and the mirrow is perfect (my grandmother had one like this). Congratulations!!!
    Carmen

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  3. Oh, WOW, Josje, it looks fantastic!!!!

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  4. Your panelling is well worth the time spent on it and I like the height you've given the room - it certainly allows you to go to town with the impressive curtains!

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  5. Wonderful, stunning ! and I shall have sliding doors too ! Two of them , onefor the dining room and one for the library. May I call you in the likely case I need advice ?
    Rosanna

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  6. That is wonderful !
    I love the way you "aged" the mirror and your wainscoting is perfect.
    Lovely work.

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  7. Beautiful, everything looks so beautiful!! I really love the floors and the sliding doors are great! The mirros looks very real, nice job!

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  8. Looks great. check out this blog - she just did handles for her pocket doors http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php/pocket-door-hardware

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  9. Prachtige spiegel!!
    En de schuifdeur is mooi met details.

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  10. Dat is allemaal heel mooi wat je aan het bouwen bent.
    De spiegel is schitterend gelukt.
    Ik vind het behang ook erg chique.
    Ik herken dat je steeds verder in de geschiedenis verzeild raakt als je gaat zoeken m.b.t. de bouw van je huis.
    Ik kan daar heel erg van genieten.
    Ik vind dit ook leuk aan jou, dat ik steeds meegenomen wordt in de stijl, de sfeer en de tijd waarin jou huis origineel afkomstig is.
    Zo gaat jou huis voor mij steeds meer leven en zie ik van alles al gebeuren in de gele kamer.

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  11. So beatuiful, im so excited to see your progress on this!!

    Jenn

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  12. It looks great! I love the antique looking mirror. Looking forward to see what you do for the door handles too.

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  13. The room looks fantastic. I love the doors and the mirror is wonderful.
    Hugs Maria

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  14. Hoi Josje
    ik vind het zo knap hoe je alles maakt.en mooi afgewerkt.Ik ben groot fan jou werk.haha met mij gaat het niet zo goed 3 dierbare verliezen in een jaar,ik blijf een beetje in mijn verdiet hangen.komt goed hoop ik
    groetjes adrie

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  15. It is marvelous but personally I would like to see the Georgian style house finished !

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  16. The spaces are beautiful, I love the aged mirror- how did you achieve it?
    As in real rooms, it always best not
    to have everything look brand new.

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  17. Het wordt weer geweldig, wat een details!Super chique.
    Liefs
    Maria

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  18. Gorgeous details! I loved the aged mirror.

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  19. Everything is stunning! Congratulations on the aged mirror!
    Geneviève

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  20. My lord, this is GORGEOUS! Can't wait to read backwards and catch up!

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  21. This is fabulous and so rich looking! The paneling looks like so much work, but so worth it. I like what you did with the mirror.

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  22. Oh so very very gorgeosu! I am in joy just looking at it all!
    Hugs,
    Terri

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  23. Your routing and mitering have paid off! Your work is just stunning!! I'd love to see a tutorial sometime on how your make your moulding :)
    Daisy

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  24. How did you make that lovely old mirror? Is there a tutorial online somewhere, or could you share your method? Your work is beautiful, by the way... Cheers!

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  25. Josje, this house is beautiful, I must keep a look out for more posts, I really like the doors, in fact I like every thing I have seen so far!!

    regards
    Andy

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  26. Het wordt weer schitterend ! De spiegel is erg goed gelukt, moet ik ook nog eens doen want het geeft veel sfeer.
    Ben verder helemaal weg van je prachtige glimmende vloer. Oww wat mooi!

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  27. Rosanna, of course you may!

    Audra, thank you for the link! The door handles Brea has used (great idea with the letterboxes!)are too modern. My doors just need simple knobs in metal or wood.

    Adrie, ik had je al een tijdje gemist. Het is zwaar om mensen van wie je houdt te verliezen. Ik hoop dat je in de loop der tijd je verdriet kunt accepteren. Geniet van de kleine dingen!

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  28. Tam toum, yes I would like to see that finished too! ;)

    Philip and Alessandra, I used gold wax and black paint to create the aged effect, just by rubbing and adding paint until I was happy, then sprayed it all with a clear varnish. In the past I have also used paint only which also works. I have one more idea to try to age acrylic mirrors, but I still have to try that out.

    Daisy, on Debora's weblog you can see how she made the paneling, which is basically what I do as well. http://petitpunt.blogspot.com/2011/09/early-summer-i-made-open-room-box-with.html#comment-form
    The strips of moulding I have made with my big router and very fine router bits. I may show you later this month or in February how to do that, but now I don't have any photos of the process. But if you know how the router works and you have good router bits, you can make moulding.

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  29. Hi Josje,

    It is always such a pleasure to visit your blog. Each time you create such wonderful things, its so inspiring.

    The sliding doors are fabulous and so is all the wainscoting, what a lot of work.

    The mirror is beautiful. How do you do the antique effect?

    Fi x

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  30. I love the old mirror - it adds wonderful atmosphere. Your sliding doors are wonderful, but my favorite is the floor! It looks so realistic.

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  31. Josje ik volg je vooruitgang met open mond. Wat een mooie stijl volg je en toch ziet het er geleefd uit. Prachtige stoffen heb je op de kop getikt en de spiegel vind ik ook al zo mooi gedaan.

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  32. Hello Josje!
    Great photographs! The aged mirror is wonderful, and I love the look of these spaces. Can't wait to see more!
    Warm regards from Ray

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  33. Hello Josje,
    No word of a lie, I would live in this spoace. I can't believe I'm not looking at a full size room. Your attention to detail never fails to impress me. Very good work indeed.
    All the best,
    Giac

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  34. Jpsje. your immaculate detailing amazes me - I admire your craftmanship immensely. The attention to detail is making this the most stunning house. I am fascinated by canal houses, having never seen one in reality and am really interested in following your progress. Wish I had half your skill in creating from scratch!
    Hugs
    Sandie

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  35. Looking at the progress of your Canal House, I feel like trashing instead of bashing the dollhouses that I have inherited and start from scratch:).

    Bashing makes good practice though ..just trying to talk myself into it again ..haha

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  36. now I definitely need an aged mirror, so much inspiration, so little time! And I really love the colour, it is so vibrant and alive.

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