"And so to BED" bedroom/ Villa Leone

♫"How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears. 
Soft stillness and the night become the touches of sweet harmony" ♫

 from Shakespeare's play 
The Merchant of Venice  

The bedroom of Villa Leone
is almost finished.
( there are still a few more things left  to do on my to-do list. )

Even so,  didn't want to postpone this blogpost any longer because the more I delay,
 the longer it grows. 

Needless to say, that I've changed and re-arranged this Venetian bedroom 

many times since I began working on it. 

I will review some of the major changes in this post,

which IS rather lengthy

but I've got some long overdue

"THANK YOU'S"

 to Acknowledge

so be prepared for a bit of a read! 

❧❧❦❧❧

Since the Leone villa is a modest dwelling, 

occupied by a music teacher and her husband 

(a Venetian gondolier ),

the bedroom would be somewhat simple room, 

using mis-matched pieces handed down from various family members 

and therefore all the more treasured. 

Most of the reference materials I looked at,

 were either far too grand 

or 

as austere as a monk's cell- 

What I was wanting was something, 

romantically in between.

❦❤❦

I began the bedroom with a rough mock up of the proposed room arrangement,

 using as much furniture and as many accessories

 as I could squeeze into the room.

I was also deciding between 2 beds; 

one heavy Victorian bed and the other 

 a more delicate brass model.

I placed the beds in the foreground of the room with the other pieces stationed behind it. 

First, I tried out the Victorian bed;  
pre-assembled from a vintage 
 Realife Victorian Bedroom kit, 
which I found tucked away at 
Ross's Treasure House
(a local miniature store)



I then tried out the brass bed which I'd purchased 
half-price
at the Seattle Miniature Show last March. 

I decided to go with the brass bed.

Of course I needed to age it and tone down the shine
which I did by using a couple of light spray coats of Matte Acrylic Sealer and then some acrylic paints for the
required tarnish. 

The Chrysolite lamp and the vintage Bakelite electric clock were items I've had for a while, but the vintage books were a gift sent to me from 
Andrea Thieck
of ANDREA THIECK MINIATURES
http://www.andrea-thieck-miniatures.blogspot.com
Thank You once again Andrea! :D

I LOVE BOOKS 
in Real Life 
and I Most Definitely love them in a doll's house!

❦❤❦

The following "demo" is how I aged the lamp I'd chosen. 
The gold metal was darkened with acrylic paint and the glass sections were tinted 

using Martha Stewart's glass paint 

"English Tea"

This is the lamp after a couple of light coats of 

the English Tea glass paint.
I'm quite happy with its new/old vintage look!

❦❤❦

Keli 
 Iseecerulean Blog

http://www.iseecerulean.com/

surprised me a few months ago
 by generously sending me
some GORGEOUS pieces from
Charlene's Legacy
(some of which I'm also sharing with my friends)
Thank You again Keli!

❤ ❤ ❤
The piece which I've kept and specifically wanted to use in Leone's bedroom

were the delicate vanity and the matching stool.

However, the only space available for the vanity was 
in front of the 
double doors leading onto the balcony, 
which was in between a 3 door wardrobe to the right, 
 with the main door leading into the bedroom, 
on the left side of it.  
In other words the vanity was surrounded by 6 doors
 all swinging in towards it 
Definitely a logistical problem :(

And on top of that,
the door on the left wall of the bedroom 
which looks out over the garden, 
was also prevented from fully opening 
by the end of the brass bed blocking its path.  
which of course,
 was another problem :(

Since free access through all the doors was a Major issue with the current furniture arrangement,
I thought it best to
rethink my entire floorplan . 
so it went from this...
      ↓

to this
↓

not all at once, 
but gradually, over a period of time

but
it was shortly thereafter
 that
I began to have second thoughts 
about using  
the brass bed.  
so the bed was changed from this one...
↓

back to this one
↓

Once I was satisfied that there was enough walking space  around all 3 sides 
of the wider Victorian bed, 
and 
that all of the doors could comfortably swing open,
I removed everything from the bedroom again,
which included the wallpaper panels, the floor, rugs, the furniture, accessories etc., 
so that I could 
 hook up all of the electrics
 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors.

and after several frustrating and hair pulling attempts-
THEY ALL WORK! 

It was as I was looking for the electrical tape I needed, 
that I came across the pair of sconces which Janine had given to me for my birthday last year. 
They proved to be Exactly Right for the second floor hall.
I not only love the style of the sconces
 but they provided LOTS of light for the second floor hallway!
Thank You Janine! :D
http://minworks.blogspot.ca/

I LOVE the way these sconces look! :D

and 
since I didn't need the hanging fixture over the staircase  anymore
 out it went. 

bub-bye!

                            (no need to worry about changing the lightbulbs now!)

Fatima had given me a large unfinished Bespac wardrobe for Villa Leone
which required some minor repairs.
I stained it Walnut and re-fitted the mirrored doors, and  fixed the missing leg.
It turned out pretty good. 

The black hangers I  bought at
 the Seattle Show last March

I have a Monic Robert's dress in there for show, 

and
the Gondolier's shirt and tie which Linda made
specifically
for Villa Leone
is now hanging in the wardrobe too! :D  

a lacy pink gown came
 from Charlene's Legacy
via 
Keli
soooo pretty!
I'm saving it and the vanity  
my future
  Glencroft re-build

I'm not sure who made the the moccasins, but the embroidered slippers were Christmas gifts made by
the VERY talented
Linda Park. 
http://lindasminiworld.blogspot.ca/

She made a custom pair of slippers  
for Janine, Fatima, and me and
I THINK THEY'RE PERFECT!  
Thank You Again Linda for ALL of your Amazing needlework! 
❥kisskisskiss

these are truly Marvelous!
I'll place them on the floor by the bed.
❧❧❤❧❧
In the meantime,
I made a wide plank hardwood floor for my Venetian bedroom using The Willowcrest dollhouse kit's 
generous supply of
thin clapboard siding. 

 The wallpaper I've chosen for the bedroom
 is a beige on cream 
over-size damask
 from a scrap book
suitably subtle and old-world looking
which works well with the bed

BUT
 as much as I liked the Victorian Bed,
I found that the big empty space in the headboard was visually annoying to me. 
It looked like it needed to be filled  
but with what??? 

I'd found some ornate puffy stickers at the dollar store which I tried out on the headboard. 
I gave them a spray coat of Matte Acrylic Sealer so the acrylic paint would stick,
cut some up
and glued them onto the bed. 

then the entire bed was painted and aged.

But later,
(as usual)
I changed my mind about the size of the sticker above;  removed it 
and chose to use a bigger one in its place,
uggg 
I didn't like the look of this one, at all! :(
↓ 

After some serious re-thinking,
 I decided to take everything off and start again.   
 I found a metal Lion's head in my stash which I glued to the center of a trimmed-off puffy sticker resembling 
a cameo.
I added more wood and metal bits
and then I repainted, and re-aged the entire headboard
 to match the rest of the wood.
Below is the old- looking finished bed
Viva Leone!
↓

The pillows:
  The embroidered floral cushion 
was pried off of a thrift-store pillbox, 
and the ticking striped pillow is one I made and filled with glass beads.
The cream on cream embroidered bedcover 
was purchased DECADES ago at a 
VANCOUVER MINIATURE SHOW
and after all this time, it's very gratifying
 to finally put it to good use! 

On an octagonal HoM side table, 
I have placed a Chrysonbon hand-painted mirror and the hair brush which came tacked to the Vanity
 from Charlene's Legacy. 

The bottle of "Oil of Olay", 
was from my friend Bettie Smith, and
the Blue Hydrangeas were made by Fats-
lovelovelove!
Thank You Fatima! :D 

The tatted tablecloth was a lucky find at the thrift store. 

Another gift from Linda
is this tiny embroidered footstool which now resides next to the bed.

Looking from the bedside into the hall. 

I was on a roll
so the next step was to actually glue in the wallpaper panels.
 So OUT it all came again so that I could glue the paperboard panels to the wood.
 
for that I used 
Fabri-Tac
fabric glue
As it happened, 
a couple of weeks ago,
I was watching a Railroad landscaping video
where the artist was using sheets of
Builder's Pink Insulation Foam 
 to make his rocks formations etc.
To glue the stacks of foam together he used
FABRI-TAC
fabric glue 
which bonds like CONTACT CEMENT
without melting the foam.
After watching the video, 
I remembered I already had a full bottle of this glue
so
I tried it out on the backs of each of the paperboard panels.
 THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE GLUE!
it's sooooo easy to use
I recommend spreading it with a long metal spatula
OR a scrap of stiff card.
The glue will rub off the metal after it dries
 and the card you can throw away later, 
But whatever you do-
 DO NOT USE A BRUSH!

I bought my bottle of Fabri-Tac at Wal-Mart
but its also sold at Joann's and Michael's, 
and on Amazon. 
Fabri-tac sets up fast and REALLY GRIPS
so make sure that all systems are GO! 
I only applied the glue onto the paperboard surfaces,
 but in the video,
the gentleman applied the glue onto the surfaces of both objects, 
he let it get tacky 
and then he pressed both surfaces together. 
It has an odor similar to airplane glue 
but not quite as strong.
And because it's meant for fabrics
you can use it for that too!   

❦❤❦

Prior to applying the glue to the back of the wallpaper panels,
I drilled a hole 
to thread the wires 
for the table lamp and for the wall sconce through,  
then I connected the ends to the power source, the connections were taped over using cellophane tape.  
After that I spread the Fabri-tac glue onto the backs of the wallpaper panels using a metal spatula. 
When the panels were in place, they were firmly secured using
spring-loaded clamps. 
With the wallpaper glued to the walls and the lights working, I placed the furniture and accessories back inside the room. 

A chicken was installed on top of the wardrobe next to the painting of a sleeping monk
which I'd clipped from a magazine, 
glued onto cardstock and painted over with 
MOD PODGE 

Fatima made this floral bathrobe specially for
Villa Leone
I was going to hang it in the bathroom but I think that it looks more at home draped over the bed.
❤❤❤

"Livia" and Linda's lovely slippers

I'd wanted to run a series of dark rustic beams across the width of the ceiling in the Venetian style
but chose instead,
 to run them around the perimeter of the ceiling. 

To affix the ceiling beams and all the various wood trims in place,
I used
Aleene's THE ULTIMATE glue
similar to
Quick Grip
ONLY BETTER
is that even possible?

The Ultimate
doesn't continuously ooze from the tube,
 so there less waste but like the Quick Grip
 it has a quick and tight bond!
I bought my tube at HOBBY LOBBY in the U.S.A
LOVE'N IT! 

the blue chair is from my stash 

 

Linda Park's 
"VL"-Villa Leone 
custom cushion

"Octavius"
the ruling house cat
by Sarah Hendry

View looking up from the staircase window
and into the bedroom

bedroom overview as it currently stands

A room with a view

"How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!"

"Here will we sit
and let the sounds of music creep in our ears." 

"Soft stillness 
and the night become 
the touches of sweet harmony"

And so to bed....

                         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anxQ-CoesRQ

elizabeth