Decisions decisions decisions

Honestly I have no idea how you miniaturists do it, how do you sleep at night? I am at the point where before beginning to assemble the walls and actually see Ramsay House rise up from the sawdust and am now paralysed by colour choice. I know that once done I cannot ever go back and repaint it so I lie awake thinking of this and that colour combination, to wallpaper or not to wallpaper that is the question. I initially wanted to paint a mural in the hallway until the scale got out of hand and then decided on wallpaper but couldn't find one that wasn't too dark or too 'sweet' or to rigid. 

Taking my cue from the terra cotta floor I knew that the tone had to be in the muddy blues as this complements the ochre yellow. I did tests and samples and mixed my own colours then mixed some more then decided on a 3D trellis decor but remembered that I had decided to keep that for one of the bathrooms. The back hallway with the three doors leading off to the drawing room, kitchen and garden will only just be seen at the back of the hallway but that as I've said before is not a reason not to get it right. Here are some of my samples and tests. 

 Below you can see what I have at the present time decided to use, William Morris Honeysuckle wall paper for back hallway and blue grey for the walls and panelling, then stone colour for the door surrounds and base boards. The lighter linen colour is for the ceilings and maybe doors. THAT is the plan today.  

Below is the 'garden trellis' sample I tried as a solution to replace the wallpaper idea in the back hallway. I felt it gave a preview of the garden that would lie just outside the back door. No there will not be a back garden, just the idea of one. As I said I wanted to use this in the master bathroom on the first floor. In the US you say second floor as you could the ground floor as the 'first floor'.

The trellis is Simply strips of kraft card glued onto a wood base but of course it could be glued onto card and even painted before being glued onto a contrasting background.

Three of the wallpapers I chose. I made them from small samples found via the internet and copy/pasted via Photoshop. The one on the left is an 18th century 'Domino' paper and the two others are English William Morris designs.

To complicate matters I wanted some plaster reliefs to put above the two doorways leading off to the drawing room and library room. I found this bronze relief on Etsy ( in Scotland ! ) and made a mold, not very well I add, so it needed a lot of tweaking when taken out of the mold.

Below are some of the plaster details collected for the hallway. Some of them I have seen quite often in other doll houses over time. The circular ones I made from molds taken from old French stampings bought on Etsy. The heads in profile were taken from an old lava stone cameo. The Indian one second row down I took from an antique India silver box. 

Below is a book by Farrow & Ball that I used for some ideas.

NOW as I was still making up my mind and feeling restless I saw this French wardrobe in the above book and thought to try to make one of the doors. Although I live in France and surrounded by French architecture I still long for English Georgian style. I have a vague idea to make a French style miniature house after Ramsay House, maybe in the year 2030 !

 SO , I traced the book which was to 1:12 scale and began by cutting the top layer in kraft card before then cutting the second one slightly smaller. I glued them together then trimmed them to size before adding the third and smaller layer. More trimming. It's best to trim after glueing, gives more leeway. I then filled in the bottom section with more card before layering two pieces of card over the inner section to simulate the molding. The trick now is to smear Poly Filler over the cut edges of the card layers to 'soften' the effect before sanding down the excess. Another trick would be to dip your finger in water and smear it over the Poly Filler before dry to smooth it out and avoid tricky sanding. Next time! I added a finger plate in card and then glued some fine aluminium mesh to the upper back section before painting with layers of blue grey and lighter grey. Some scraping and sanding and wear and tear and a layer of dark antique wax overnight before buffing up. I added a brass Tapestry nail as a doornob, too large in scale really but it IS just a quick test.

This could be a door with either filled in upper panel in more card or glass, either etched or plain or even wardrobe/cupboard doors. Pleated fabric or paper could be placed behind the mesh as curtains. I am happy with the technique and know that if done right and not rushed as it was here, it could be a good solution. The multiple layers of mdf kraft card when glued together make a fairly rigid door. A strip of fine wood could be added to the edge where hinges would go to give more strength and thickness for the hinge. The same technique would make quite good panelling to line a room except all the tricky cutting out would send you to the madhouse. I suspect that many miniaturists have already been there.