Ramsay House

After many years of longing and fiddling with miniatures there comes a time when the HOUSE has to be built and taking so much time to decide has refined my ideas. I am calling the house 'Ramsay House' as it's my mothers middle family name and also the name of an 18th century Scottish painter I admire, Allan Ramsay 1713-1784. For the moment it has a large drawing room in the English Georgian style to the left, a large hallway with stairs leading up first to a small landing with a window seat and circular window then up to the first ( and maybe last ) floor! To the right of the ground floor there is a Library/office in the style of Sir John Soane loosely inspired by his gorgeous London house, now a museum. To the back of this room is a small butlers pantry/kitchen. Upstairs to the left will be a large Chinoiserie style bedroom, a ladies room, with chinese wallpaper and a red laquered fireplace. To the back of this room there is a small very feminine bathroom in marble-ish! Across the landing will be a double bedroom in the French Empire style with twin beds leading to another bathroom in a masculin sparse style. I am hesitant about a third floor, we will see but it might add another ten years onto the timeline! Here is a photo of Cecil Beaton's home 'Reddish House' that was my first inspiration followed by a second lovely house called Stinchcombe.

 The house so far measures 80 cms wide , 60 cms deep and 60 high ! but things can change at this stage. If I add another floor that would make it 85 cms high plus roof and base. I want to include three drawers under the base floor to store things in when I chop and change the decor. These will be lined in green baize. Judging by the weight of what wood I have already bought it will weigh as much as a small car! and I might even have to pay house tax on it! I have begun by drawing the layout on white paper and although I had originally thought not to do STAIRS (with capitals) ! as my previous attempt took so much out of me ! I finally decided that I needed to take on that challenge. I had the idea to make a small landing halfway up and put in some bookshelves and a window seat with a large circular window looking out to the garden. I am attempting to make the house as I would love it to be in full size so it will not be a museum piece but full of dogs and books and reading lights and I even plan to have hidden music! The electrics are for now a huge issue as its not something I am comfortable with, but I will master it! I will be posting updates as I progress with as usual the why's and how's ! I am starting the staircase and have built the replica space to construct it within. I used foamboard and some amazing white Japanese tape to hold it together. I made it larger than my initial floorplan so I am free to make changes in width halfway through.

 Here you can see, just about the initial sketch for the stair plan and next to it this Japanese tape. I found it in a 'factory shop' for 2 euros and will go buy more as soon as I can, its thin and sticks well and you can write on ot! 

 Here I am juggling with scale and will have to cheat slightly in order to fit the landing into my space. I looked up the classic step and rise proportions but it will make the whole stair too long. I keep having to remind myself that NO ONE will be walking up it! Knowing me it will be so sturdy you could possibly do just that!

 To the back of the hallway there will be a door on the left leading to the back of the Drawing room and a central door, probably a Dutch door leading to the garden. To the right will be another door to mirror the one on the left which will lead to the small kitchen/butlers pantry. There is no real kitchen planned in this house as they don't inspire me and besides they probably order in ! I used ready made doors for scale, not sure if I will use them in the finished house but they are useful to have for scale.

 I cut out the side panel in a sort of fine mdf/melamine wood, the type used to back cheap furniture and drawer bottoms, the kind that innevitably falls out! It was an off cut and I thought it was a great find at the time. I admit that it cuts really well but the melamine side doesn't take wood glue very well so I should have sanded it or scratched it first or flipped it to the other side. This panel serves as the skirting to the left and allows me to built the stair as a unit. I am going to cut in the door to the drawing room after the first part is built as I would risk breaking off the right hand side. 

 I found this piece of fine mdf that was the bottom of an apple box from the supermarket! I will use it for the risers and for the steps themselves I will use my usual poplar wood from the venetian blind ! Still lots left.

 Here you can see the strips salvaged from the apple crate and the layout drawn onto the malamine board. The strip you can see glued on is a large matchstick and will serve to hold the underside of the stairs with will not be built it, why do it the easy way, right ?

 I bought a bag of 'matchsticks' and the quality was so poor that I almost chucked them but thought that for this sort of unseen thing, they could serve a purpose. The right side of the first part of the stairs that mirrors the melamine is just fine 3 mm mdf. 

 Here you can see both sides prepared for the steps. There is no need for more matchsticks to the right as the steps sit on the edge of the wood. I would like to think that my mistakes and ideas are useful to others, there will be many more of both to come!