Blue Farm House Kitchen with Lamp Tutorial

The kitchen always seems to be the heart of the house where most of the action takes place aside from its main purpose, food preparation and serving meals, homework, paying bills, and a general gathering place. The kitchen in each of our homes has been the center of every party and family gathering. In my real world, our kitchen is undergoing a bit of a transformation with new granite counter tops, back splash, and under counter lighting. In the Blue Farmhouse, the kitchen remodel has neared completion, too. I have two things to share in this post, the kitchen reveal and the little lamps that I am making for a very pink master bedroom.

I have used my iPhone to take all of the photos for this post because I like that I can get decent quality close ups, not perfect, but nice.

The Hoosier, the stove, and the refrigerator, all wooden, came from my favorite dollhouse store and actually the only one I know of in this part of Colorado. For me it, is located 2 hours away on the south side of Denver. A long drive from anywhere, but Norm's Dollhouse has everything that a miniaturist would want and even need, except that the sink in the grouping is on back order. I am patient, though.

I made the bake center from balsa wood that I had on hand. I ordered the unfinished round table from an online site; the chairs I purchased at Norm's, and the hutch came from Hobby Lobby. The unfinished furniture has received few coats of pecan stain and a layer of polyurethane. I haven't finished the chairs yet because they already have nice finish, so I may leave them alone.

I made the curtains and throw pillows from scraps in my scrap stash. 

The lights were ordered on line, too. The bench was in a box of several furniture pieces that I purchased months ago from the local antique dealer. I am thinking that it is a Shackman piece, a popular miniature furniture maker in the 1970s and '80s. The flooring is original to the house. I did buy some plastic tile flooring with black and white tiles, but decided that I would use the original flooring to keep in character with the house and in keeping with the other wood floors that were already glued in. The wall paper is from Itsy Bitsy  that I purchased at Norm's. 

Other items in the kitchen I ordered from various online sources including Etsy, miniatures.com and Superior Doll House Miniatures My favorite item in the kitchen? I think I love the kitchen Aid mixer the best from an Etsy shop. But the lamp is pretty cute, too.The counter underneath the window came from Miniatures.com. I am undecided as to which one I will use in this house, the baking center that I made or the really cute, fancy one that I need paint. The little cherry dishes came Hobby Lobby, while the little dish drainer and the bottle of Fantastic came from an Etsy shop. I made the lamp, which is neither perfect nor lighted, but I think it is really cute. I downloaded a picture of a rooster from a printable that I had pinned on Pinterest,  using modge-podge to attach it to the lamp.

As I work on the little kitchen, I am reminded of the important kitchens in my life, inspired by them all, but not recreating any of them. my grandmother Duston's kitchen where I spent a lot of time with her as a very little girl was the best. She had the first in-sink garbage disposal that she called The Pig, explaining to me that the table scraps always went out to the real pigs before her fancy machine that gobbles up the garbage.

I spent a lot of time in my mother's farm house kitchen, a small space where I watched her cook everything from scratch, can the vegetables that dad grew in the garden, and where I was the one who always washed the dishes. It was a very small space with those white metal cabinets, the sink with a large drain board, and red linoleum counter top. The house had been built in 1890, but remodeled in the 1950s. 

My husband's grandmother's kitchen was a big square room with a huge picture window view of the farm yard, the milk barn, and corrals full of brown-eyed Jersey milk cows.  The family gathered at the end of the day everyday from their various jobs--farming, construction, office, machinist-- to share their day's events. When we first married, we were so poor that we couldn't afford our own home, so we lived with the grandparents. Later after grandma died we moved from our little cottage in town back to the farm when I became the Mistress of the kitchen. Sadly stuck in the 1950s with its cherry wallpaper, a worn and very outdated linoleum kitchen floor and the same red linoleum counter top, this kitchen had many stories to tell. I wanted a bit more modern kitchen, but still with that old farm homeless that fits the blue house.

I wonder what stories the Blue House kitchen will have to tell? Now, how did I make that cute little lamp?

First I must give credit to http://1inchminisbykris.blogspot.com for the great instructions and inspirations. Make sure to check out her blog to see all of her wonderful DYI tutorials for mini builders. Rather than going step-by-step, I will show you an abbreviated process of my lamp making, and encourage you to visit her blog to see the best instructions so that perhaps you can make your own little lamps. 

This is the lamp that I am working on now. I am making a pair for the master bedroom for a couple of reasons. Lighting is very expensive and while I am struggling to come up a good way to make chandeliers, these little lamps are rather easy. I have modified Kris' instructions. My lamp will be hard wired, not battery operated. 

I still need to perfect the lamp shade, a bit tricky. This one is nearly finished.

The supplies are rather simple: the little spindles can be purchased at Hobby Lobby in the section where all of wood supplies  for wood hobbies are shelved.  They come in a package of 8 for $1.99. I like to add a jewelry finding for the top of the shade to make it look more decorative. The finding comes as ball, so it has be separated, so you get two pieces. The flowers are manicure appliques that I found at Sally's.

I always search the internet for good patterns when I want to create something from scratch. I have a small collection for lamp shades. 1inchminis provides these templates for the shade. I only used the round circle which fits on top of the lamp and inside the shade to hold the shade steady. I have another pattern that I use for the shade itself. 

 The round circle is made of clear plastic that you can recycle from any plastic packaging. It is meant to sit on top of the lamp and go inside the shade to stabilize the shade. See the top photo.

CDHD: Custom Dolls Houses and Miniatures 
If you want this pattern, follow the link for the best instructions

I did not use her lamp shade pattern; instead, I used another one that I found on CDHD. This one folds to give the lamp shade a more defined shape. This pattern has the star shaped top that fits inside the shade. I don't use it in this shade for it is very tedious to make and glue in; instead, I glue the jewelry finding to the top of the shade, which does require some resizing. The resize my pattern, I copy it into a Word document where I adjust the size of the image--sorta trial and error to get the right size. 

Step 1: cut off the excess wood.

Now you have a dowel that looks like a lamp. Lightly sand the top and bottom to make a smooth surface where the ends have been removed.

Step 2: Mark the center of the lamp. I first use a T pin to make small hole, then I use my hand drill to get the hole started to create a place for my Dremel bit to fit as I begin to drill the hole. I suppose you could drill the entire dowel using the hand drill, but it would be very difficult and a long process.

Step 3: Drilling the hole:  I use my Dremel, a battery operated tool that my dear husband bought for me a few weeks ago. I am using a 3/32 size bit. You must hold the dowel very tightly, being ever so careful that  the bit does not slip and drill your skin. Now, Kris used various sizes of drill bits, working up the final size. I kept it simple, using the size that I wanted the hole to be. I did drill half way through one end then half way through the other end.

Step 3: A channel  on the bottom must be also be cut for the light cord to fit through. I carefully used my Dremel to cut the groove. Be careful. I put it on a slower speed and pressed firmly to keep the drill bit from slipping into my finger.

Step 4: Painting. Now the lamp is ready to be painted. I used acrylic craft paint, applying 3-4 coats and sanding the final coat lightly. I used  Testers  enamel gold paint to paint the bottom of the lamp for a touch of elegance.

Step 5: Making the Shade. The tutorial uses cloth that she has stiffened with modge-podge. I have used both a heavy card stock and this fabric paper that has a peel off backing for the adhesive fabric. Really not the best, but I liked the flower pattern and it is what I had on hand. Heavy scrapbook paper or card stock work very nicely.

I use these self gripping tweezers that clamp down to hold the glued edges together.

Step 6: Adding the top to the shade. (What would you call it?)

Once the seam is set, I then put a dab of tacky glue around the top of the shade to hold the jewelry 

finding in place. 

Step 7: finishing the lamp: A plastic disc will be glued to the top of the lamp to stabilize the lampshade. With the smaller shade, the plastic disk had to be sized smaller. I used a dime to get the correct size. It fits inside the shade so that it is invisible. 

Once finished, the lamp will light up. I am sorry to say I do not remember when I bought the 12 volt light bulb--one of the many online sites for minis. I will show more of the electrical wiring once I install it in the house.

Step 7: Finish by decorating the lamp. I have used nail decals because I can't--don't--paint.

Making this little lamp is easy, an evening project, not counting the time in between coats of paint to dry. The possibilities are endless and for only a few dollars you can have custom, personalized lighting for your dollhouse. 

The only drawback is the need for an electric or battery operated Dremel to easily drill the center hole. Not particularly cheap, the little power too becomes necessary for a serious miniaturist. 

So with the kitchen finished, I am now focusing on the master bedroom. I purchased a pretty pink striped wallpaper at Norm's and I have already assembled a tester bed from a kit and sewed the canopy, bed spread, and pillows, and bed sheets, which I will save for another post. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. I do love your comments, so please let me know what you think.

Catching Up

I get so caught up in working on the dollhouses that I forget to update the blog. Right now both houses are on a brief hold. I have so much to share with you, so get yourself a hot cup of tea or cold drink, put your feet up and come along to see how the houses are progressing. First we will take a look at the Ballet Studio.

Look how cute it is turning out. I ordered the hanging baskets that grow strawberries (much like the hanging baskets that I had growing on my pergola last summer). I am sorry, but I do not remember where I ordered them. They were expensive, $11. a piece, but I have decided that I am all in. I figure that I save when I make some of my own items, so when I want something special, I get it. The little bicycle comes from Hobby Lobby. It was red and I repainted it using model airplane enable paint. I made the little window boxes, filling them with flowers cut from stem flowers purchased at Hobby Lobby. It can be challenging to find very small plants. Hobby Lobby also sells miniature bird houses that come in a package. I took out the other perch, painted the little house white, sanded it to shabby it then glued on a doorknob.

Applying the Shingles

Shingling the roof has been a chore. Instructions say to use Liquid Nails to apply the very thin shingles to keep them from curling. I did plenty of research to decide which would be the best way to adhere the shingles. They are very thin and will curl if water based adhesives are used. While I may have read on some sites to use hot glue, the company instructions said not to. I followed the instructions, using liquid nails that I purchased at Ace Hardware. The shingling process has been harrowing, even frustrating. I began with the porch roof by applying three short beads of Liquid Nails (LN). While the adhesive did hold the shingles in place firmly so that I didn't have hold each one until the glue set (as with wood glue), the shingles did curl. So I taped them tightly in place using the blue painter's tape. Most days I am able to apply only one row of shingles. When they do set, they are firm and flat; however, if I don't get enough adhesive laid down, the shingles pull up when I remove the tape. No big deal, I just re glue them. The process has been painstakingly long. I had a major mishap with a bottle wood glue, spilling a big glob in my box of shingles, running them. I called Real Good Toys for replacement shingles. They have arrived and now I have to dye them, another lengthy delay as it takes several days for them to dry.

Inside, the studio now offers playtime with all of the structural work now finished. I switched out the cabinet for a smaller one. 

I added a new doll, the seamstress. Another ARC rescue.

The dancers are planning for the next show. In this photo you see the balance bar on the floor waiting to be installed, a wooden skewer taken from the kitchen drawer.

The little white doll is new, too. I am sure she will dance her little heart out, thankful to have been rescued from ARC.

With the balance bar installed, the dancers can get down to tough workouts. I made the hangers for the bar out of jewelry findings.

I have added some artwork. These little ballerinas are my granddaughters: Elinore in the smaller frame and Lucy in the larger white frame. I scanned their ballet studio photos and cut them to size. I have discovered that printing on photo glossy paper lends wonderful results, so I may redo those photos. Small frames are Spare Parts jewelry bezels and work perfect as picture frames. The larger white frame also comes from Hobby Lobby's scrapbook section.

 You'd never guess who the two little girls are. Certainly not ballerinas. Well, me on the left with my life long best friend Patti. We are dressed in our matching Easter outfits that our moms sewed for us so many long years ago. We dressed alike a lot, often passing for twins.  

With the Ballet Studio on hold for the moment, I have continued to work on the blue farmhouse.

As a reminder here is the front view of the rather large house. I am learning that renovating a dollhouse is not much different than doing a real home. We have done plenty of house work over the years in the three homes that we have owned all the way from painting a room to wallpapering, to a full kitchen remodel. We found that each house has its own secrets that once we began to strip away the layers, the secrets were revealed. No, we never found stashes of cash or jewels hidden in the walls. 

Working on the cleaning up the dollhouse getting it ready for decorating has been a long and tedious chore. This is how it looked when I settled it in the basement. You can see that the kitchen was sorta finished with the wall covered in black and white fabric. I ripped that out right away. The second and third levels had been covered with heavy card stock type paper as a primer, I suppose, for the wall paper. Someone had tried to remove the paper, a tedious, tough job. I finally bought a heat gun used to strip paint to help melt the glue that held the paper in place. I also use alcohol to help dissolve the glue.

I really wondered what the last person had in mind. Luckily the black decor stripped off easily.

The putty knife was the least helpful until I purchased a new on with a very sharp edge, but the the heat gun worked the best. 

You can see that the first layer of wallpaper, a pretty sort of blue toile. I left it in place because I just did not want to have to redo all of the wiring, so I applied the primer over the mess. Only you and I know. The house still has secrets.

Not perfectly smooth. I will sand a little more to get the rough spot out. You can see the tape wiring and the little switch that was installed crooked. I have repaired the tape wiring so that all circuits work, all rooms are wired, and I didn't want to mess up the two lines by scrapping and sanding. For a perfect wall, removing the tape wiring would have been the smart way, but I did not trust myself to get it work once I replaced the tape.

The kitchen is now clean and smooth, ready for the ceiling covering, the wallpaper in the lights, and flooring.

While this electrical line in the ceiling does work, I decided to install new wiring on the floor above the kitchen to make installing the lights easier. I will drill two holes for each light and attach them to the power on the upper floor. Much easier than standing on my head to install them in the exiting line.

Wallpapering

Ooops. Not unlike the really thing, dollhouse wallpaper requires careful handling. I am using Yes glue that I ordered from ItsyBitsy.com It is a thick hard to apply adhesive, but I like it because as I put the paper on the wall, it slips and slides easily for perfect placement, that is unless you tear it first.

Unable to get the tear to match up, I decided to patch the wallpaper. I purchased the wallpaper from a store in Denver on Saturday. I bought 3 sheets, thinking that they would be plenty. This house is a bit deeper than kit houses, so I did not have any paper to spare. I barely had enough to cut my patch.

Using my iPhone to take a picture of the seam so that I could how the paper was matching up, I was able to scoot the patch around until I got a pretty decent matching of lines.

Not a perfect match,  but by the time furniture and wall decor are added, only a close inspection will reveal my booboo.

Here I want  to show how I marked the back side of the wall paper so that I did  not apply glue to the spot that covered the window. I cut the wallpaper to size than held it against the window and traced around the widow from the outside of the house. Once I had the wallpaper placed on the wall I used my trusty old credit card to make sure that the paper was tight in the corner. I also used it to smooth out the air bubbles. Wallpaper always tends to bubble up or ripple. Real wallpaper requires the same smoothing out, using the proper tools. 

I will tell you about Norm's Dollhouse store later, but that is where I purchased the wallpaper. It is carries the name Itsy Bitsy. I used it in the Lafayette with success. It is glossy and thick, making it easily to work with and a bit forgiving. I have also used Hobby Lobby's wallpaper. I am deciding that of the two, I like the Itsy Bitsy best because it is heavier. I always work with a wet rag at hand to wash off the excess glue that I get on my fingers. Once the paper is hung, I like to take that wet cloth and wipe down the wallpaper to remove traces of glue and to help ease out the bubbles. While the Hobby Lobby paper is easier to cut and work with, it does not like to get wet and will tear easily,  making cleanup harder. 

You may have noticed, too that on the back wall I cut the wall paper 1/2 an inch longer on each side to wrap around the corner. I like to paper the back wall first, wrapping the excess around the corner, then apply the paper to the side walls with the edge tight in the corner to make a clean seam.  I didn't do that with this room because I didn't trim off the white border on the ends.

                 

Another draw back to Itsy Bitsy wallpaper is that it has to be trimmed. Cutting a perfect edge is very difficult, especially the top border.  I will also avoid plaid, checks, and stripes--any pattern the requires matching. 

Even with my straight edge taped down, I still had problems getting a good cut. I am just hoping that no one notices.

With the wallpaper now installed, I still have work to do. I will add a wainscot to the wall with the door and window trim and probably baseboard around the floor. I have not yet decided about the floor. This is the original floor that was not glued in. Nice as it appears, at the moment is not level. If I use it, I am hoping that once glue in and weighted down as the glue dries, the unevenness will work its way out.

I have taken up plenty of your time, so I will tell you about Norm's Dollhouse store in Denver at another time. I hope you have enjoyed watching me work. 

See you soon and thanks so much for stopping by. As soon I do spell check, I am headed outside in the glorious pre spring sun to dig in the dirt. Hubby is already running the rototiller and I must take photos for the Garden Spot blog. The dollhouse is on hold for the moment until I get more supplies tomorrow. I will be back soon. In the mean time, you can catch up with me over at Welcome to the Garden Spot where I blog about the garden and everything else that goes on here. I am bit more chatty there. 

And if you have any great hints, tips, or questions, be sure to comment.