Opal Lee's Millinery Shop: Finishing Touches

I finally got my nerve up to use the table saw (so proud of myself) to cut a base for the corner store. I used the rest of the brick sheet I had and created a brick sidewalk.  I bought  two street lamps from The Dolls House Emporium. I mounted one of them on the base and ran electricity from the shop underneath the sidewalk. I am going to use the second street lamp with the Creole Townhouse on its base.

  

 

 

I trimmed off the excess with a utility knife after the glue dried.

I spray painted it the same as I did the brick underneath the stairs with the Fiesta Stone and painted the grout with the sandstone latex paint.

Closeup of the holes for the street lamp

I added trim to the second floor and  installed the windows. I intend to make fabric bolts and I bought some small thread spools from Hobby Lobby but I have run "out of gas" for that right now, so I will save it for later.

I used the same WireForm in the Michaels hutch that I used in the windows of the Mountfield Dollhouse http://jocelynsdollhouse.blogspot.com/2012/04/easy-diamond-pattern-leaded-glass.html I cut the wire mesh to the correct size and glued it to the inside of the doors. 

I gave the hutch an aged and distressed finish.

I spray painted the hat stands glossy white

I added moulding to the ceiling and baseboards to the shop

The Dolls House Emporium Blog Post about My Hat Shop Display Cabinet

I am so honored to have a post written by The Dolls House Emporium about the hat shop display cabinet that I made for the Corner Shop Dollhouse sold by them, now called Opal Lee's Millinery Shop. I have always admired their dollhouses and for years dreamed of owning just one and now I have three! How blessed I am and to have this written for my display cabinet and not the dollhouse's house it was made for is truly gratifying. It feels so good to be recognized in this way for something that you love doing for fun! Here is the link below to the blog post.

http://www.dollshouseblog.com/2013/07/12/10389/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheDollsHouseEmporium+%28The+Dolls+House+Emporium%29

Signs, Shelves and a Hat Box

I named my hat shop after my other grandmother, Opal Lee. My grandmother has always liked pretty things, so it is fitting that I name it in honor of her. She also gave me furniture for my first dollhouse. She is and has always been an inspiration for me.  I feel that I owe my "creative eye" to her. I did some research on the web for vintage signs and created a vintage design for the hat shop. I used Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to create the sign and used an aged paper texture and dust filters to give it an old look, afterwards printed it out on antique parchment paper for laser printers.  Along with the sign, I made display shelves to go over the windows. My mom gave me a pair of earrings that look like little mirrors that I glued to the walls. I originally intended to make a hat box for every hat but soon realized that the boxes needed to be large to accommodate the hats. A box for every hat would need a lot of storage space, so I just made one. I added a copy of Degas' painting, "The Millinery Shop", I felt it was appropriate for the occasion!

This is a copy of the sign without the aged look and shelves

Here is the same sign with the aged look

This is the front with the new sign above the door

I cut out the original picture and added this picture from the Internet

This is the picture inside the shop

This is a pair of earrings my mom gave me for the shop

I used the hat to find the correct size of the box

I used the scissors to curl the paper

I cut a stripe for the side of the box and added trim

You can see how large the box is

This is a view inside the box so you can see it was a snug fit for the hat

This is a view of the shelf over the window

I reduced a picture of a vintage open and close sign and stuck it in the door

Ceiling Medallions made from 3D Stickers

I used parts of this set

I bought this set for the townhouse

I made the clock on the wall 

I used these to make the clock

I like that the hands are raised from the surface

Hat Shop Lights and Creating Realistic Bricks from Plastic Sheets

The lights are on and we are almost ready for business. I added the two chandeliers later because the rooms were so dark. They were not my favorite but I could buy them locally and they give off a lot of light. I also covered the area underneath the stairs with brick. I spray painted plastic brick sheets with Fiesta stone effect spray paint and used the latex sandstone paint that I used on the house as mortar. UPDATE: You can use the mortar mix sold by miniatures.com and Hobby Lobby, you just need to seal it. I am missing the signs over the windows and I need to add interior trim and attach the upstairs to the downstairs. Few blogs, with the exception of Otterine's blog, rarely show how they wire a house and you can really learn a lot from seeing how it is done. I decided to include mine in this post because this is only my second time putting lights in a house. I use a combination of cooper tape and solder. I installed the lights on the ceiling of each floor and drilled a hole in the floors and ran a wire between the two to provide power to both. I used a junction splice on the side of the building to the first floor ceiling. I cover the ceiling wires with tape to for protection and to hold them in place. I don't know if this was the best way to do a wiring scheme for this house but this is the way I did it.

I used embossed scrapbook papers on the ceilings

I painted a faux finish on the walls

You can see the single wire in the corner that delivers power to the second floor

Outside view of the shop with coach lights

I still need to install the shop signs over the windows

This is how the coach lights look with the room lights on

I sprayed the plastic sheet with stone effect spray paint

This color is called Fiesta

I painted in the grout lines with the sandstone paint I used on the exterior of the house

I added a single row of bricks to the sides to add dimension 

I need to paint the support beam

The wire hole from the second floor ceiling to the first floor ceiling

This picture is the first floor ceiling minus the connecting wire to the second floor