The retreat-santas grotto!

 ive had a few different ideas for the project. my first thought was a cabin type lodge where a family stayed for xmas, and was going to make a chimney where santa got stuck down the chimney, and the little girl was peeping out of the window.

 but i think im now settled on a santas grotto, for a christmasy project. i was thinking of perhaps having a little comfy waiting room type thing, where people wait around the cosy log fire, with hot chocolate, and santas grotto upstairs. anyway here are some pics of my dry build and it looks like santa has a different kind of helper this year-typical of my hamster charley to make yet another appearence in my houses.

i just need to clad the outside walls, and then paint it, then finish the snow on the roof and thats the outside of the grotto will be done as far as painting is concerned, just the nice decorations to add and finish. not sure how im going to decorate the inside really, was thinking of the back wall being a feature wall, and making it christmasy, maybe a xmas pattern or picture scene..

I started the floor on the ground floor and the Celing has been Papered black (I will explain that later lol) and ive also claded the outside and painted it white. It looks messy for some reason think it maybe the fact there's excess Pva glue around but then whilst watching tv I began to think it looks ok and perhaps make it look weathered and a bit old. And to be fair most of it will be disguised at some point.

im still quite unsure about the finishing or the outside, not sure if it looks too messy but supose i will find out when ive got it fully decorated etc was thinking of putting fairly lights on the front

Creative competition 2011

i decided that i wanted to enter this years comp as i like the building.
i have always wanted to do a pub, for some reason, and i thought this building would be perfect, although i have extended it a little to get it just right and how i wanted it.





anyway more about the pub and the scene set:
the mini inn. (mini-ing) is a small quaint village pub and the residents got together to celebrate the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton!

to be fair im not sure why on earth i thought about doing a royal wedding themed project, but i just thought it would be approproate and i had some good plans spinning around in my little brain, so i incorporated them both together to come up with this and as you have gathered it has a little element of a summer fayre in there, with the bouncy castle and the maypole lol..

my mum came up with the name, as she said we all like to do a spot of mini-ing lol. shes quite proud of herself, and although she doesnt have a passion for mini-ing shes told everyone who comes through the porch to our house that she came up with the name lol.

everyone had a great party, celebrating, with lots of great food including a bbq and lots of drinks and ice cream and sweets.
whilst the adults watched the happy couple wed, the kids entertained themselves in the pub playground, on the bouncy castle. there is also tradional maypole

woah its being 6months or so since i last posted

well its been months since I last posted on here, reall life has got in the bloody way again! and ive 2 new properties since then as well.

also one of my guinea pigs has given birth well she gave birth 22/08/11. she had 5 but sadly one was born dead, theres 1 boy and 3 girls. i decided to keep the boy who ive named gilbert lol.. as he was a ridgeback and hes so fluffy. hes beige whereas the others are chocolate and white like their mum, whereas gilby has taken his dads traits as hes white. ive still got the babies, there 8weeks on monday, so they are now ready to be rehomed :(

henry (the dad)

Gilby

gilby and the girls at around 4 weeks old

by heck.. long time no see :D

well its being so long since ive last posted! ive been so busy, with my uni results, and starting a new job, which i love. well so far, even though the owner is a bit of a twit! but anyway ive not done much work on appletree cottage, ive re tiled the bathroom walls, and ive tiled the kitchen tiles down, painted the skirting boards and cornice and thats about it, oh and painted the nursery flooring.. this is because most of my time and effort has been going on the pavilion as im wanting to enter the compertition, as im doing this, my plans are secret, well secret ish, as ive told at least 2 people haha.. couldnt keep it in i was about to burst.

the nursery

well ive decided to change the nursery colours scheme. plus the wallpaper was ripped off as when i was changing my bedroom around, the DH had to be moved into my mums room, to stop it from being broken, but the back wall broke off ripping the wallpaper off the side wall lol.. its going to be winnie the pooh themed, for the twins ( boy and a girl). the wallpaper itself is nutral yellow colour, the chimney breast will have a pretty beige colour with white flower pattern...in each of the alcoves going to be different colour, ones pale blue and the other pale pink.. the cots will have winnie the pooh bedding, the boys will be eeyore as its a purple/blue background, and the girls winnie the pooh as the background is pink!. the floor is going to be stained wood. looking forward to re-doing this room yet again, lol

new french doors

heres the two types of french doors i have bought, the double one is going to lead from the kitchen to the decking area outside. ive stained them the same colour as the decking outside, one one side and on the kitchen side of the doors is going to be white, to go with the kitchen.

new door! and a tiny peek at one of the walls in the kitchen,

well hello there! i havnt posted on here for a while, but i have been doing some sort of mini-ing recently. ive been planning my kitchen, just making it a tad bit bigger than i first wanted, but it will look good once sorted out and fitted in. as the kitchen is going to be put at the back of the property with french doors opening onto my decking area, there needed to be another door leading from a room to the kitchen. so ive cut a hole out of the dining room wall at the back and thats where it is.. quite impressed with my handy work, thats usually lukey's job- but oh wait hes in the middle of doing his mini workshop- hes now a fully fledge dolls house addict bless him lol.. hes looking forward to going to the NEC in Birmingham, and hes even saved up his spends, and petrol money for my car ginger geoff, bless his cotton socks.



My handy work!



This is the new door leading from the dining room to the kitchen,  this is the kitchen side..

Half of the new kitchen wall... with my handy stencil drawing work, covered in felt and the painted silver.  



not sure on the colour i thought it would be brighter than this. the colour itself is fine just not sure whether or not its going to go with my bright red kitchen units lol. but we shall see!.



As you can see i still need to decorate around the door lol.. needs touching up!

oh oh stairs lol

well after putting them off for ages i thought it was time to tackle the dreaded stairs, my spindles kept falling off constantly and it was really anoying. thankfully they have so far managed to stay in place. just need the handrail putting on now, which is one of my jobs today :)

bathroom

ok so the theme here is the seaside, this is just the new tiling done on one of the walls. on the other wall theres going to be some sea shells and star fish adehesive paper, and then on the other wall theres going to also be tiliing. just ignore the green glue lol, that will eventually be covered and painted a sea blue colour

fimo food

well my first attempt at fimo food, and im happy with the turnout..

kitchen update 5

well yet again heres another update for the kitchen, havnt touched it for a couple of days as ive been having to tidy my room up so that my brother can help me move it around, at the weeekend,. all in aid of the dolls house. at the moment its been sitting on a blanket box, but now im onto extending again and building the ktichen its sorta going to be a L shape so its not going to have to be placed on my floor.

ive started the white splash backs which i feel look fab- just the doors to finish and sink to fit, the extractor fan and then the flooring to finish as well as the windows, doors and feature wall-but cant do them, till my pad saw gets deleived grrr- hurry up mr postman!! lol

also please ignore the tv remote, just used as a prop to take this pic lol.. and also the red film needs to be finished but just wanted to see what it starts to look like with the tiles.

kitchen update llll

well this is my kitchen, the doors still need putting on hinges etc, and i need to make a few more doors, the skink needs cutting in too. then they are ready to be filled. after another coat of white for the insides too. this pic below is just to give an idea on the contrasts of colour so ignore the bits that havnt yet been finished, and the box under it. once i get the pattern i want they will be grouted and put in place.

kitchen update lll

well ive been busy doing my kitchen today, stil needs finishing but the main units are up just need painting white inside and some finishing touches with the red film. the worktops need sorting out and the sink needs cutting in.

oh and yes ive managed to make my doors open, all but the drawers. but need more hinges to finish the others off. heres some pics of my progress:

cupboard doors

                           the space between the two cupboards is where a shelf is going to be placed :)

as this was a flexi kit, the doors should be fixed, but i had plans lol.. wanting to fill my cupboards with goodies, and with not being able to afford ones that open, i decided to risk and try using small hinges from maple street, so now i have open cupboards :) just need to buy some more and finish the others. so all cupboards open baring the drawers.

so here is my kitchen. the doors have not been fixed in place as im waiting for some more hinges to arrive but this picture gives you the feel of what the kitchen is going to be like. under the units next to the cooker, are going to be more doors, and a sink is going to be placed on the worktop. some of the red film needs to be added in places. my next job tmorrow is to attempt to do the real slate black flooring, so that the units can be put in place. Theres hopefully going to be a red feature wall, white splash backs.

kitchen update ll

well this is just another sneak preview but this time you can just see the contrast between the units and the units.

kitchen update

well today im planning on finishing the kitchen. got to put on the red film and finish the doors off but heres a sneak preview.

the tiles ive got are from richard stacey and they are real slate tiles.. hopefully they will look fab with this kitchen, although im not sure if im going to need another pack lol

kitchen

ok so this is the kitchen so far and it is the elf flexi kitchen kit. this is probs only half of my kitchen as i was wanting more work tops but this may change once ive decorated the kitchen and put the units in. As you can see i still need to put the doors on. Now as this is a flexi kit, the doors are fixed but i have some very tiny hinges which my boyfriend thinks he could put on to make the doors open :) the layout of the cupboards may also change knowing me lol..