Saturday 30 October 2021

Dining Room - Furnishing

   I thought it would mean less clutter if I furnish each box when it is done even though it probably means doing it all again when I get to the dressing-the-room stage; for example in the dining room I will need to access the display cabinets to fill them.  I would still like to light these but I can't convince myself to drill a hole in a vulnerable part of an (expensive for me) mini. 

The first thing to go in was the rug.  This came from My Tiny World which I think had something like 600 rugs to choose from and at good prices.  It is one of the fairly ubiquitous Turkish rugs you see around so obviously there are other vendors. 



I really don't like fringed rugs - no, idea why - so I get rid by either coating with fray stop and cutting off the fringe, or turning over, gluing down and taping when dry as I did with this one.




I love all things Georgian (style) as I am a sucker for symmetry, so there will be multiples of some things.  The first is a pair of glass display cabinets.  These will hold some of the dinner service and maybe some silver.  I am sorry I can't point you in the direction of the vendor.  It was a stall I always visited at Miniatura but can't for the life of me remember the name and I have searched. These are part of the Jia Yi range of furniture.





The next pair are House of Miniatures Huntboard kits and are also a case of hunting them down.  Most of mine have come from eBay.  I was lucky in being able to buy several when I was part time living in the States.  

Huntboards are  tables which can be easily moved around grand houses and laid with buffet style food such as a hunt breakfast (post hunt).  They make excellent 'serving' tables in a dining room.  They are a comfortable standing height so are taller than a table.

I love making up House of Miniature kits and may well do some (and sell) if I still have the mini bug after this project.  (The tiny drawers do open)


I worked my way through several iterations of dining chairs and finally landed on these.  The set of six  were a spoil myself purchase (with birthday mini money) from Masters Miniatures


The table is another House of Miniatures kit probably from a lengthy eBay search.

I love this table and would have loved it more if I had room for the extra leaves..  The mass of legs is because of its brilliant design.  The real life Hepplewhite three piece dining table was two demi lunes which could be used as such or put together to make a small round tea table.  You could then add in another slim table to make a small dining table (as in mine) and then add one or two more flaps to create any seating length you needed for grander dining.


The inlaid wine cooler is by Masters Miniatures again and I can honestly say these photos do not do it justice.  It is in perfects scale and beautifully made - a joy to handle and look at.  I am hoping to find 'ice cubes' and a bottle the right size to go in it after I have made a 'lead' liner.




The over-mantle mirror is a lovely detailed one which I think is from Sue Cooke. 

I am not convinced it isn't overkill for this room.  I had a simpler round modern mirror in here at one time, which I liked, but have swapped it round trying to find the right one for the sitting room



The paintings for this room are from Ellie de Lacy.  when I first started in this game I found a wonderful person who made paintings to order so in Wentworth House I got precisely what I wanted and beautifully made and for a sensible price.  Sadly she disappeared.  For following projects I made a reasonable stab at making my own grand paintings but they were never professional looking so I moved on to these..

I chose two 'eating' paintings.  They did not have to be Georgian as I see all my rooms as being in the present in some large house (like Dalton House 😀)






A little tip here.  A general guide for hanging mirrors and pictures is that their centre should be between five feet and five feet six from the floor.  Basically this is so that the viewer is looking straight on at the painting.  Obviously there are times when this will change.



.... and so the dining room is furnished for now....  dressing to follow in several weeks time.

6 comments:

  1. What a gorgeous room, Marilyn! And the absolute perfect size for the arrangement of furniture! I love the finish you achieved on the HOM kits - not easy to achieve with a dark stain! I really like the rectangle mirror piece, but I know how it is to have settled on something else in your mind. I am so excited to see the room when all of the lovely details are filled in, but am even more excited to learn which room box you'll take on next!

    P.S. As for drilling a hole in the back of the cabinets... If you drilled the hole and then trimmed it out with say and 1/8" eyelet, it will look even more like real life fine furniture pieces that come with access holes. My vote is to go for it! Subtle lighting in the cabinets would be breathtaking!

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    1. Thank you Jodi for the eyelet idea. It will also five the wires smoother access, not sue that matters but, hey, we might as well be kind even to wires. As for the room size…. It is a teeny bit squinty, these rooms don't have the depth of the ones in Dalton House but I am managing so far.

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  2. Just absolutely perfect in every way Marilyn!

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    1. Thank you Kath very much.it is a nice calm room.

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