Furniture Shop in Full Swing

No, I didn't make a swing. But I did make a counter with a shelf for the kitchen area and a nice sturdy worktable for the workshop. I also added some wood trim to the back edges. I think it looks nicely finished that way, and I was getting tired of the sagging second floor. Now it's nice and level.


Here's the kitchen counter with shelf. I used some of the styrene scraps from the kit to make the base and put a wooden top on it. I think there will be baking dishes and pots stored under there. There needs to be a sink or some kind of water and more shelves in this area, but I haven't figured out how or where. I don't think there would be running water in a mushroom, so I think a hand pump or a simple basin arrangement would be best. I just don't know what it looks like yet.


Here's the basic construction of the workbend. It's another one with no pattern. I used right-angle trim for the legs and put little block of square dowel at the bottom for the shelf to rest on. (I used the right-angle trim to finish off the back of the house, and a leftover piece caught my imagination. I saw table legs, and so the worktable came to be.) I cut two shelf pieces the same size and glued one of them to the bottom of the tabletop so there would be a place to glue the tops of the legs and to add support to the top itself. The top and shelf pieces are balsa.

I wanted a rustic look but not more wood color, so I gave the table a wash of sage green acrylic and then went over it with my favorite stain pens to age it. It looks more green here than it does in real life. The stain aged it nicely. I think the elves have been using this table for a few hundred years now. It needs to be a bit more distressed and the aging smoothed out a bit, but it needs to dry before I go at it with a nail file and some pastels (I think).

The table is a tad bit large for the area, but when all of the toys are in, I think it will look just right. I got an order today from Manor House Minis with some of the cutest little wooden toys to stock the shelves. Can't wait to get the construction work finished so I can play!

Trundling off to bed ...

Well, not exactly heading for bed right now. First let me show you the bay window shelf. I think it turned out nicely and will give the boys much needed room to display finished toys. I'm not sure if the back should be white or have a wooden backing. I'm leaving it white for now.



Now, this is what the trundle bed and cabinet looked like. I didn't have a pattern. I measured the space between the two posts and left the rest to logic. The bedding is wrapped around a piece of foamcore board and will drop into the trundle box.

The next photo shows it stained and nearly assembled. I used the combo dark walnut/golden oak stain pens again. I like the effect. Those are pony beads casters under the bed. They don't really roll, but hey ... And yes, one of the drawers doesn't match. You'll see.

And here's the finished trundle. It still needs accessories, but you can see why one of the drawers was left open. :) As it turns out, the trundle is about an eight of an inch wider than I'd like it to be. I've coped with that by slipping it in on an angle. Besides, I'm telling myself, if it slid all the way in, no one could see the bedding to know what it is. (How's that for rationalizing? LOL)

Lights on!

It took most of the day to hook up the wires as I wanted most of the joins to be hidden in the corner, under the mat. That meant stuffing my less than delicate hands into a tiny corner where I really couldn't see what I was doing without peering like an old granny who's lost her glasses. This is what I was doing ... stripping the wires, twisting them together, and then insulating the twisted bit with a wrapping of electrician's tape. The one on the left is finished. The next one is half done, and the other three are waiting to be done. I had to take several breaks during this process.

But when I flipped the switch, everything worked! The light behind the cornice glows slightly. It looks better in real life. The lamps look like oil lamps at a distance. The jury is still out on whether they will get shades (or maybe hurricane lamp chimneys?).

Below is the overall view of the sitting room. You can barely see the mat at the top of the stairs, but it works well to cover the wires. The tables are glued in place. I didn't want them moving around and risk pulling the wires out. The sofa and chairs are movable. I may want to put a rug under them.

Here's a closeup of one of the lamps. That is a plastic bead that I drilled out to accept the bulb. The wires goes down through the tabletop, scoots under the corner of the sofa, then runs along the base of the stair surround. (I can't think of what that little fence is called. I hope that doesn't mean I've been sniffing too much E6000 and stain fumes!)

I noticed that the back of the workbench looks ugly and brown through the front window, so I painted the back of it white. I think with some plants or something colorful on the window sill, it will look okay.

I was almost ready to quit for the night when I decided to make some shelves to go under the bay window in the workshop area. The larger piece will cover the existing sill and hang over about 3/4". There will be one shelf the width of the window, plus the two side pieces. I cut them from balsa and stained them with stain pens, using both dark walnut and golden oak. I wanted to make it look as if they've been there a while. I can't wait to start putting out the toys, but I'm trying to rein in that impulse until I get more furniture made and the outside finished.