Two Room Roombox

 

I have been neglecting my blog this year.  The Corona virus of course has had a major impact on how we live our lives this year, and is still continuing to do so.  On the miniature front that meant no fairs and no workshops or other classes.  Hopefully next year!

Not much has been done to either of my canal houses, but I have been working on another roombox.  

This roombox consists of two rooms, a large main room and a smaller antechamber, connected by double doors.  The antechamber also has a non-opening smaller door on the back wall.  Both rooms have large fireplaces.  

The rooms are inspired by one of my favourite dolls' houses of the Rijksmuseum, an 18th century canal house.  Unfortunately this dolls' house is not is not on display at the museum.  Below is a collage of the two rooms from the canal house used as inspiration. The reception room and antechamber have a different lay-out to my roombox with the fireplaces on the back walls and windows and doors on both side walls. 

Reception room and antechamber in Het Grachtenpand, Rijksmuseum.  
Photos taken from the book:  "Het Hollandse pronkpoppenhuis" by Jet Pijzel-Dommisse.

Not entirely finished yet, but below is a photo of the double roombox I made.  As you can see the fireplaces are very similar, as are the double doors and the arrangement of the rooms.  

The floors are a Hungarian point oak parquet (also called chevron parquet).  Although it looks like a more simple design than for instance a Versailles parquet, laying it is much harder than it looks.  It is essential to keep the angles and lines straight or else it will look awful.  

Laying the oak parquet flooring. 

We had a long and hot summer this year and I have used some of those hot days to my advantage, working outside in my garden and getting paint to dry in record time!

Marbling the fireplaces in the garden.  

Final paint touch-ups dry in record time in the garden. 

The walls are covered with a golden yellow silk. Because of the lockdown at the time, it was quite difficult to find the right colour silk. I have ended up with a few meters of silk with the wrong colour unfortunately,  making it quite an expensive wall covering!  

Glue could in time stain the silk, so the silk is not glued to the background but stretched onto cotton covered wooden walls.   It was really difficult to get the silk stretched onto the walls and something I would not like to repeat any time soon!   

It is very interesting to see how the colour of the silk changes under the influence of light.  The colour can range from a soft mustard yellow to a deep and warm golden yellow.  

The fireplace in the main reception room.  
To provide space for candle sticks the mirror is placed against the wall.
I like the effect with the mirrors on both ends, giving several reflections of the double doors.

The fireplace in the antechamber also has a mirror.
At night using LED lights and a daylight bulb the silk has a much softer colour.
In this photo I had to black out my hands and camera reflected in the mirror, normally you can see the doors and opposite mirror reflected here too.  

The chimney breast in the antechamber has curved and rounded sides.
This photo also shows how different the silk walls look in different light:  
on a sunny day the silk is a deep golden yellow colour. 

There is a false door on the back wall of the antechamber.
The overdoor area is left empty for displaying blue and white porcelain pieces.

The curved shape of the door is repeated on the fireplace and on the double doors.

I love these double doors.
They're a lot of work to make but they look so good!

The large reception room.
The front half of the ceiling will be glass.  This will bring more light into the room and makes it easier to view the room and its contents.  Now all it needs is some furniture.

Unfortunately while preparing some wood for making the furniture I had an accident with my surface planer and cut off the tip of my thumb.  Yes, I had heard all of the horror stories that go with this machine, and yes, I was taught how to correctly and safely use it by a master carpenter.  Still, a split second and...

Back in October, in the emergency room, waiting for the surgeon.

I was never in much pain and the wound has healed now, leaving this thumb a little bit shorter than the other.  I can do most things again but it will be some time before I can do any fine work as I hardly have any feeling in the tip yet and I can't bend my thumb much.  It is not until you can't use your thumb that you realise how much you use it!  

It is giving me some time to do other things though, like blogging 😉