I needed a modern coffee table to finish off the sitting area of the living room, but nothing on the market really seemed to work.  So, I built my own table from an acrylic oval, a carved wood bead and various Woodsies shapes.

I first glued four small round Woodsies onto the bottom of the large oval shape.  These would serve as the feet for the table, since my mockups didn't look right sitting flat on the floor.

I then glued the wood bead in the center of the large oval and topped it with another circle to cover the bead hole and to add some additional height.  I chose a carved wood bead to add some texture to the table.

I then painted the whole structure with Bittersweet Chocolate paint by Americana, followed by a coat of satin varnish by Delta Ceramcoat.

The acrylic oval came from a set by Tim Holtz called Fragments.  Unfortunately, most of the shapes are small pieces but there was one large oval and one large circle.  These acrylic sets also come in squares and rectangles.

The oval's edges had imperfections from the manufacturing process, so I used 1/8" wide peel and stick lead line material by Plaid (used for making simulated stained glass).  It looks like a wrought iron edge along the glass.

I used Alene's clear gel adhesive to attach the acrylic top to the base.  It turned out exactly as I had hoped.  :D

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You can see the adhesive through the acrylic, but who ever has a coffee table without anything on it?  :D

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The table finishes off the space well but the acrylic top allows the beautiful rug to show through (currently a paper printout of Parasols by Thomas Paul).

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I cut the window and door openings in the new 3/8" plywood walls of the conservatory.  It was quite a workout since I didn't have power tools on hand to use.  The foam core rooftop is just for planning purposes.  I haven't decided on whether I want a glass (i.e., acrylic sheet) roof or a solid one.

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I'm rather excited about this room, mainly because it is turning out as I had hoped just like the garage.  Both the conservatory and the garage are partial scratch built rooms using the Foxhall Conservatory kit as the basis.

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After stitching the Mackintosh chair cushions, I got the bug.  :D  I checked out a bunch of books from the library and lined up a number of projects.  The first one I completed was from Exquisite Miniatures in Cross Stitch and Other Counted Thread Techniques by Brenda Keyes.  This book is not specifically for dollhouses but has smaller real life size projects that can be used in miniature settings both with and without minor modifications.

The art is called Orange Tree, so I thought it would look nice in the conservatory.

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I stitched it on 28 count evenweave fabric in mushroom color.  The book had called for it to be stitched on 22 count needlepoint canvas.  The color of the fabric saved my having to stitch the background, and the higher count made the project smaller in size.  The needlework is mounted on stiff felt on the back.

The conservatory sits above the garage and is accessible from the master bedroom.  The double French doors came from the Foxhall Conservatory kit used to create the garage.

The stairs from the master bedroom are the original front door steps for the Newport kit.  I will leave the brick wall exposed, but I haven't decided on an exterior or interior finish for the conservatory walls.  The windows will obviously take up most of the surface area.

Before cutting the French door and window openings in the new conservatory walls, I did a little planning to figure out how the furniture would fit best.  The plaid sofa and chair shown below now reside in the study, but they're about the same size as what I have planned for this space.

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I made the elephant ear plant from floral tape and wire.  The rattan planter is by Concord Miniatures.

I'll have more plants, most of which I plan to make myself, including some hanging plants.  It looks a bit crowded from the perspective shown in the photo above, but the room is actually spacious.  The rug is a paper printout of the Piazza rug in brown by Dynamic Rugs, but I plan to recreate it in another material besides paper, such as punchneedle or needlepoint.

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The single French door opens to allow access to the outside of the conservatory where there will be a narrow walkway and room for outdoor plants.

While I had the second floor up during the dry build, I worked a bit on the layout of the rooms.  The rooms will be from left to right: the guest bedroom (in the two story addition), the stairway, the master bath (which is technically shared with the guest room), the master bedroom and then the conservatory (over the garage).

Since I flipped the stairs on the first level, I will need to close up part of the original hole in the ceiling to have room to put a door to the guest bedroom.  The second floor stairs will then go on the opposite wall from that door; you'll be able to see only the back of the stairs, except through the front windows.

In order to fit the second floor stairs in that position, I had to move the far wall forward over the porch.  This gave me more room inside the second floor and eliminated having a huge flat roof over the front porch extension.  Adding this extra space made planning the master bath difficult.

Can you actually have too large of a bathroom?  :D  Apparently so.

I placed the second floor walls so the two doorways were toward the open back.  The master bedroom wall has a second doorway leading into the middle of the bathroom.  I won't be using the porcelain pieces here (not a fan of the floral design on them), but they helped me figure out the layout.  They were part of the lot I bought from craigslist some time ago.

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The problem with this layout is that it leaves dead space toward the open back and an awkward set of doors, one on either side of the loo.

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This gave me the idea of putting in a removable wall, as I had done for the powder room, creating a hallway between the stairs and the master bedroom.

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Problem solved!  And, it created a cozy layout I was rather pleased with.  :D

There will be a door in the removable wall, a door leading to the master bedroom at the end of the hallway, and a door from the middle of the bathroom into the master bedroom.  The doorway from the stairs will be an open arch.

Since I am getting further along on the first floor, I decided to do a fresh dry build to see if there was anything I needed to address before attaching the second floor.  I am still far from that part, but I figured it was better to know ahead of time.

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There will be railings around the porch and more detail to the trim on top of it.  The conservatory will be made from plywood; I have the basic pieces cut but still have to mark the window openings.  The foam core mockup is shown in the photo.

I put a 7-UP can in the bottom photo so you can see just how huge this house is with only two stories.  There's one more full floor and a tower room on top of that.

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