More Built Ins

My Hill House inspired room box is coming along. It isn’t finished yet, but I thought you’d like to see how it looks right now. I have made everything from scratch except the chair, the vase and the artwork over the mantel.

The fireplace is taking a long time, partly because it involves a variety of techniques, like bending the wood, building the recesses and simulating the mosaics. This fireplace also has little built in seats for enjoying the fire up close. The seats fit into the curves, so of course they need to be curved as well.

Fireplace Tiles and Mosaics

I’ve been creating a fireplace inspired by the one in the drawing room at the Hill House in Scotland. You have seen the structure, now on to the firebox surround.

The first step was to create the teardrop-shaped tiles under the mantel. Because the tiles would be just one inch in height, I made simplified versions. I chose to use my Cameo 4 drawing tools which are part of Silhouette Studio.

The Bigger Issues

I think a lot about the social, health and safety issues of today. In the western U.S. we haven’t seen the sun in a week. For some, it’s worse than smoky skies on top of the pandemic, they have lost their homes, and for some, their whole community. We are only inconvenienced and have just been staying indoors.

Some friends were interviewed on NPR.com last Sunday. They talked about their move back to Oregon for retirement. They inherited a home that had been in her family for three generations in the close-knit town of Blue River. That home burned to the ground. They concluded the interview with positive thoughts for the future and are regrouping at another family property next to me; a transitional Victorian built in 1904 by her great, great uncle. The out of focus poppies in this photo were on that property.

Cameo 4 and Cricut Maker Working Together

I was on a roll with the CRM room box fireplace, but had to set it aside while I was healing from surgery. I’m feeling pretty good now and am excited to make more progress. Once I glued the edges onto the firebox, I progressed to the mantel and the recessed shelves.

The mantel needed to do several jobs in addition to being a mantel: cover the firebox, blend with the pierced recessed shelves in the side panels, and support the over-mantel. My approach was to make a new template by adjusting the mantel cut file that I had made on my Cameo 4.

Glasgow Rose Sconces

The sconces in the CRM Hill House drawing room look easy enough to miniaturize. But, not so fast! Find out where the stumbling blocks are.

I drew the design using Inkscape, checking the proportions in the room.

• 

• 

To capture the slightly irregular finish of the glass, I used an art paper. After printing out lots of images, I painted both sides with Mod Podge to give it a harder finish.