Today I worked on the bathroom in Bob’s House. It’s mostly all soft magnolia white, except for the hint of black in the penny tiles and the steel blue vines on the wallpaper so I’m painting a few things to match and want to share a wonderful discovery with you.
A while back I purchased a beautiful wicker clothes hamper on eBay. It is signed “Leilani Warling 1990”. Unpainted, it looked appropriate for a farmhouse but a farmhouse by the sea usually has a good amount of white painted wicker, so I decided I would paint it.
Taking care not to paint over Leilani’s signature on the bottom, I started painting with a half dry brush so as not to glob paint in between the whips of wicker. I was using a chalk paint recommended by a dear friend and wow did it ever deliver! The hamper went from this:
To this:
To finish, I added a few scraps of fabric from my stash to resemble clothes and it’s now in the bathroom all ready for laundry day!
Unlike that “fresh painted” appearance basic acrylic paint would have rendered, the chalk paint made Leilani’s hamper look even more real! It’s not shiny or thick paint, it’s just right and now I plan to paint all of my wicker minis with it! Chalk paint, go figure!
The results you get when you “try new things“. Thanks Dad!
I also bashed a bathroom cabinet for towels and toiletries today! I removed half the panes and the fake glass from an inexpensive white cabinet and painted it to match the soft magnolia shiplap in the bathroom.
Bob’s House is a farmhouse near the coast and I made some unusual changes because I want it to be unique. First, I lined the doors with “chicken coop wire”. I had window screen but the grid is square, so to get an authentic chicken wire look, I use tulle. I had a few colors on hand and chose baby blue. I was all out of silver but you can make yours silver by spraying a piece with silver spraypaint. I decided not to paint mine. The tulle is so fine and delicate that the baby blue looked silvery and I could still see my toiletries and towels through it which was my goal. If I change my mind later, I’ll simply apply silver acrylic paint with a brush.
Next I went through my stash of hardware. Brass, wood, metal… nothing jumped out at me. As I was wondering what to use, a tall jar of shells I had made for inside the cabinet gave me the inspiration to rummage through my stash of mini shells and use shells as handles! I wasn’t sure if I had four relatively similar in style and the same size, but I came pretty close and now the cabinet is OOAK!
I kitted out the inside with colorful resin bottles and tubes I had made, a few pieces of china and other things of interest. I found a “Pharmacy” book, a metal hot water bottle and a scrap of soap I had made and added those too, taking care to arrange it in a realistic way that seemed “used”, not “perfect” like a shop display. I finished with a few loose shells and a “milkglass” Chrysnbon candy dish to which I added a powder puff.
Anyone up for a luxurious soak in the dollhouse tub?
I still need a few more things… razor, bath mat, towels to hang, toothbrushes, a plunger, tissues, toilet tissue, etc but for now Little Bob and his family can lather up and smell nice!
Next up, the challenge of getting realistic shiplap on the walls!
♥ Robin
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IGMA Artisan Robin Brady-Boxwell
CrownJewelMiniatures.com
