A Drying Attic...

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I have been working on a new roombox based on a 17th/18th century drying attic.  A drying attic is a room at the top of a house where laundry was dried and ironed and some items were stored.  

This room was the domain of the (laundry) maid, so this room is quite plain, with white plastered walls and only the most necessary furniture.   The main piece is the large cabinet in the center of the back wall.  It was a bit tricky to make because of the odd angles.  

The two benches on either side of the cabinet are for holding laundry baskets and ironed laundry before it is put away.  The whitewashed table is an ironing table, copied from the one in the Petronella Oortman dolls house in the Rijksmuseum.  

The ironing table consists of a board and trestle legs.  The trestle legs also had some odd angles on them, but to fit them together perfectly was a fun little puzzle.  

In the 17th century (earlier and later too) attic floors were made from spruce wood.  The attic floorboards were usually flat sawn, showing that wonderful cathedral grain which in Dutch is referred to as 'vlammen' (flames).  Unfortunately I was unable to find anything like that in scale, but I have kept last year's Christmas tree (along with several large conifers I cut down in my garden) to see if I can get 'small flamed' wood from it when it has dried.  That's all for a next project.  

After a long search and some support on the Fine Miniatures Forum  I eventually found a small piece of fir which had wonderful small knots and a fine grain.   I cut the wood on the vertical grain and although it doesn't show the flames (they would be terribly out of scale) it does show all the little knots.  With a watered down light stain I think the floor looks perfect!

On the left wall of the room is a simple small fireplace.  Not a common feature of drying attics (oh! imagine the soot on the laundry!), but it gives the room a bit more opportunity to play and collect.  As seen in many 17th century dolls houses, the floorboards run to the back of the fireplace so a hearth plate, fire back and fire basket are needed before a fire can safely be made.  

In the reflection of the mirror a shelving unit can be seen on the opposite wall.

To accommodate an ever-changing collection of miniatures, I came up with the idea of adjustable shelves.  With a wink to Shaker peg rails, I turned the peg rails vertically and hung shelves from them, making the shelves easily adjustable in hight. 

A fun little demonstration below. 

Of course no drying attic would be complete without a drying rack.  The drying rack hangs from the ceiling beams and has five long wooden poles on which the laundry would be hung to dry.  

The miniatures I used to decorate with:

*baskets on benches by Will Werson

*silver mirror and vase by Jens Torp

*pottery by Elisabeth Causeret

*copper kettle by George Chapman

*copper iron by Philippe Bordelet

*chair by Colin Bird

*a few old pieces I have in my collection