Nursery, for now...

This is the nursery on the 3rd floor. Again, I'm not too sure what this room will end up being on a permanent basis. I'm toying with thoughts of a sewing room.

The staircase...

This shot shows the staircase and a very dusty hallway floor. I was also trying to capture the tapestry that hangs on the staircase wall.

2nd floor hallway...

This is the right side of the 2nd floor hallway; opposite the staircase. Two tudor style chairs flank a Bespaq lawyers cabinet. Inside the cabinet are many drawers, slots for papers, and even a wine bottle rack!

2nd floor hallway...

This is the back area of the 2nd floor hallway and for now, is where a game of chess can be played. However, this may end up as a sitting room once I have the right furniture made.

Kitchen doorway...

The doorway from the kitchen to the dining room is capped off with a decorative wood grille. Yep, I understand that this is more a 'Victorian' touch, but I couldn't resist putting it there. Besides, I'm not strictly adhering to the Tudor era and instead doing whatever I feel like doing. I think it's going well so far.

Building extension...

This photo shows the little extension I built for the dollhouse; another deviation from the plans. This extension is to house a faux staircase that will be going from the living room to the basement. It will make more sense once I actually work on the staircase.

The nursery, or...

This is one of my most favorite rooms in the house. It's right next to the second bedroom and right now, is serving as a nursery (will provide more pictures soon). What it may end up as down the road, remains to be seen. But what ambience, eh?

The second bedroom...

This is where the little girl that lives here sleeps. Isn't it just the coziest little room???? The bed was completely handmade and stitched by me. The rest of the room was furnished and decorated with odds and ends I already had on hand.

New exterior shot...

Ok, quite some time has past and its the year 2008. The mortaring between all the exterior stones has finally been done and a lot more of the exterior timbering and plastering has been done. It's making some progress. This has been a very slow moving project, but this has allowed me to savor each moment spent on it.

Bathroom...

Typically, old tudor houses didn't have full bathrooms; but this one does. And although a bit Victorian in nature, I just felt this style looked much better than many of the porcelain bathroom sets on the market today; so I went with it. I'm very pleased!

The master bed...

This is the handcrafted bed that was made for me by Martin Pierce of Willow Models in England. Isn't it just beautiful?! The headboard was personalized with my initials and my family crest. I'm looking forward to making the mattress and bedding for it one of these days when I get a free moment.

Finished kitchen...

Well, I'm sure I'll find plenty more to add at some later date, but for now the kitchen is finished. I love this room!

More kitchen...

Kitchens are one of my most favorite rooms to do and this one has been no exception. I had a dilemma about what to do with the empty wall space over the stove, so I built a chimney of sorts. It took a while for this to grow on me, but the more I lived with it, the more I liked it so it stayed. I'm hoping the copper band will patina over time.

The kitchen...

These are the very early stages of the kitchen. The stove is handcrafted in metal from an artisan in England. The wall behind the stove is in the same stone as the exterior. The sink and cutting board units were handmade by me. The trestle table island was purchased from Willow Models in England, and the dry sink and cabinet were made from kits.

The living room...

This room has been so much fun to pull together! From the window seat between the front door and the diningroom doorway, to the handmade shelves at the sides of the fireplace. I just couldn't get myself to stop working on it when I started this room. The front of the fireplace was done with slate tiling from the same materials as the roofing tiles. The inside was done in the same stone as the exterior. The staircase was custom made.

Aging the plaster...

I've gone over the clean, white plaster with a dirty wash so that it looks a bit aged; as if the house has been around for awhile. I love this sort of thing...making things look old. It adds so much character and warmth.

Handcrafted woodwork features...

I deviated from the architectural plans a bit throughout the construction of this dollhouse because I wanted to make it unique, and my own. This is very evident in some of the woodworking I've done as shown here. Again, I was inspired by Brian Longs book and added these wonderful wood accents. The brackets were drawn and then cut from wood doweling, and the wood eave extension that the brackets are supporting was also made from a dowel and then beaten up a bit to look old before it was stained. The roof edges were covered with decorative wood strips and they add a tremendous amount of character to the dollhouse. I really fell in love with this look! I also changed the support methods of the covered front porch from the original plans. The plans called for upside down newel posts and to me, this just looked too foo-fooey for a Tudor. So, I replaced them with square posts and brackets. Ahhh, much better!

Master bed chamber...

Here's the master bed chamber completely finished and ready to be furnished and accessorized. A friend is making me a really cool fireplace to go against the left wall where you see a break in the wood trim. It looks so cozy!

Slate roofing tiles...

Here's another striking feature of the house...the roof! These slate tiles are amazing and I really love the deep, rich color tones they give because they blend so well with the wood on the exterior of the house. Still have a ways to go, but at least I got the largest roof section done first!
Also partially completed is the typical Tudor timberwork on the exterior and I've also begun the plastering. It's really starting to look like it should.

Front door and chimney...

The first picture is obviously the front door and I found some really cool lions head door knockers to put up. I just love them! The second picture is the chimney which I was inspired to make after reading Brian Longs book about Tudor style dollhouses. I think the chimney is one of my favorite aspects of the entire house.

The underground basement box...

The house sits on a huge box and inside this box is the large basement which will include a laundry area, caretakers room, and another room I haven't yet decided on. The top surface of the box where the dollhouse sits will be landscaped with English gardens and an awesome stone water feature gazebo thingy that one of my best friends made for me.

The beginnings...

At the time these photos were taken, I had already gotten pretty far along with this project. However, rather than bore you with the basic shell assembly, I figured I'd start blogging when things started to get really interesting! Most of the stone facade has been glued on; stone by stone. The first floor livingroom windows and front door have been stained and glued in place. I'm procrastinating at this point because the mortaring between the stones will be a very long process, so at this juncture I'm holding off and moving to something more fun.