Doll House Furnishings – Phase 17

Continued from:  Doll House Furnishings – Phase 16

Now I was ready to finish building the chest.  I first glued one of the two 1-inch wide 1/8” thick basswood strips to the back side of the previously assembled top and side.  With that glued in place, I could then glue the bottom with the feet attached.

Once dry, I could attach the other back strip and the right side completing the chest.

Prior to building the drawers, I decided to figure out the drawer pulls as I thought it would be easier to attach them with the drawer front flat on my worksurface.  Looking at the online photo of the chest above, you can see the pulls are simply metallic rods.  I had some 0.08” polystyrene rods that I had bought for another project and wondered if that would work.  Reversing the 1/12^th scale would mean the drawer pulls would be 0.96” in diameter (0.08” X 12).  Looking at actual drawer pulls online; I saw that many were exactly one inch in diameter.  Great I thought these rods would work!

I had some flat metallic steel tinted model paint that I painted a length of a rod.  While that was drying, I made a template of the bottom drawer and looking back on screen determined how far from the side and bottom of the drawer they were attached.  I then drilled holes of the same diameter where the rods would go on the template.  I next clamped the template to one of the bottom drawers and using the hole on the template as a guide, drilled two holes in the drawer front.  I then cut ten 3/16” lengths of the painted rod knowing 1/16” would slide into the drilled hole leaving a pull 1/8” long.  Using a handy pair of forceps that my sister gave me; I twisted a rod into the first hole.

You might have to zoom in to see the rod in the drawer and the one clamped in the forceps, but I thought it looked pretty good.

I then assembled the first drawer.

On the prototype chest, I had attached wax paper to the top of the hidden shelf to provide for a nice smooth sliding surface for the drawer above but this time, I decided to give it a more professional finished look by attaching glossy paper to the top of the hidden shelf.

When I inserted the second assembled drawer, it did slide in very nicely.

I continued making the other three drawers in the same manner as the first two also creating templates for the two smaller drawers.  Once I had all the drawers assembled, I then checked the spacing of the drawers in the chest to make sure the drawers were equally spaced and there was no gap at the top.  Satisfied, I then glued in the other remaining hidden shelves.  Now I could slide in all the drawers to complete my chest.

Now I could add the chest of drawers to the bedroom.

With a bed, chest of drawers and chair/ottoman, the only other immediate need I had was for some artwork for the walls.  While at my sister’s house, I addressed this as well.  Together we explored a number of different possibilities from modernist to impressionist artists.  In the end, I went with Renoir of whom I have a lot of favorite paintings.  But rather than going with one I was familiar with, I selected one that I had not recalled ever seeing before but that I thought the colors would look good on my bedroom wall.

Entitled The Skiff, it portrays a sunlit scene on the river Seine.  Checking its provenance online, I discovered the reason I had not seen it before is because it hangs in the National Gallery in London, a city and country I have never been to in all my European travels.  When my sister miniaturized it, she did as she had done previously with the Edward Hopper Nighthawks painting hanging in my main first floor room, printing it in several different sizes.

Since the space above my bed is limited by the slope of the roof, I chose to use the smallest of the three sizes my sister printed for me.  And rather than framing it in a 1/4” basswood frame that would make the print even larger, I chose to model a thin metal poster frame.  Because, let’s face it, I would not have the actual painting hanging in my doll house; it would be a framed poster.

I first chose a 1/16” square basswood strip which in 1/12 scale reflects a 3/4″ metal frame.  I painted it with two coats of the same flat metallic steel color I had painted the drawer pulls.  Once dry, I laid it on my print, but it seemed too skimpy.

So, I went up one size using 1/8” X 1/16” basswood making another frame just as before which seemed a better fit.

Now I could hang it over my bed.

I thought the room could also use a personal touch and so while at my sister’s, I decided to pick out a photo of my wife and me to go in the bedroom.  I chose one of my favorite photos of the very young two of us at a party given for us about a week before our December 1979 wedding.  And you know the routine by now—my sister printed out several sizes.

Since this was a smaller image, I decided to go with the largest of the sizes my sister had printed out.  And since the photo was mostly light colored, I thought a black mat would accent the photo more.  This I cut from black construction paper that we had in the house for our grandchilden’s art projects.

I then made a frame using 1/4″ X 1/16” basswood.  I first considered painting it but then thought just leaving it as natural wood would go nicely with the light colors in the photo.  So, I applied three coats of polyurethane, sanding in between.

And now I could hang this second photo finishing off my bedroom.

But what of the unique Mid-Century Modern desk my sister had been working on?

     To be continued…