Category: "The Newport"

Intermission - Best of the Newport

by brae  

The Newport has since been sold to another miniaturist for finishing, but here is a brief pictorial of my favorite work in progress photos.  :]  Some images can be clicked to enlarge.  Click here for a full list of Newport posts, including how I made things and the materials used.

The last complete dry fit I did before selling the Newport, front.

The last complete dry fit, back.

Study fireplace.

Vintage bird prints in the dining room.

Range hood lighting and spice rack.

Powder room lighting.

Front entryway.

And Sarge on the door mat.  :D

The extended porch soffit.

The study.

The living room.

The kitchen and dining room.

My wooden porcelain sink.

The guest room side table with handmade sunflower lamps and wall outlet.

The guest room.

The guest room dresser.

The hallway.

Scratch built bedside lamps.

Master bathroom with café shutters.

Master bathroom vanity.

Living room around the holidays.

Holiday wrap.

The conservatory.

The garage.  :D

The garage shelves.

The first two mini bicycles.

And, a later addition.

Update: you can see the Newport in its new home on JRB Creations. 

Master bath cabinet

by brae  

Back to work on the master bath in the Newport.  Here's the view from where I left off.

The original Michael's cabinet (shown in the photo above) I had as a stand-in seemed too country for this more modern bathroom, so that one moved back into my supply stash.  I thought about using a Houseworks bookcase instead, but it was too big and open.  Not everything you keep in a bathroom should be on display.  ;]

So, I put two House of Miniatures kits together to make a custom cabinet: a Closed Cabinet Top (which I left open) and a Hutch Cabinet.

I stained the pieces IKEA antique pine and sealed with Delta Ceramcoat satin varnish before assembly.  I wanted to tie the cabinet in with the vanity (a Mackintosh sideboard) since there was getting to be too much white in this room.  The knobs are jewelry findings painted with Testors flat black enamel.

I left the doors off the top part to have some place to display minis.  :]

I hid a few things inside, too!  I made the towel but bought the other minis.

The towels were made from terry cloth from fabric.com.  I had to fold a few in various ways to figure out the sizes that would fit and look true to scale in the cabinet before gluing them into their final shapes.  The bottles are various types of blanks I picked up here and there (except the Listerine bottle, which I bought along with the toilet tissue).

I found images of product lines I liked online and printed a few labels on white Avery sticker labels (though I still needed to supplement the adhesive with a glue stick for some).  The bottle shapes and colors don't emulate the original products exactly, but I like them!  :]

Here's a better view from the front.

The scrubbies were made from fine tulle also from fabric.com that I sewed together with white thread twisted to form a rope.

If you want to see how impossibly tiny some of these bottles are, just check out the penny on the lower shelf.  That tiny clear bottle has a label that measures 1/8" square.

I love this little guy!  :D

There will be a better setup added in time, but this is where I've started.  There are a few posts on the working café shutters, the bathtub tile surround and the mini eye shadow compact (which you can find in my etsy shop) all made previously.  :]

Conservatory in the late morning sun

by brae  

When I walked into the room where the Newport stands this morning, there was beautiful sunshine illuminating the conservatory.  I nearly fell over the cat trying to get to my camera.  :D

Conservatory progress update

by brae  

After finishing the faux wicker furniture a few days ago, I've itched to work on the Newport.  So, I spent part of today working on the conservatory that sits on top of the Newport's garage.

The garage was made from the Foxhall Conservatory, but I didn't use the included windows or double French doors.  I cut plywood walls for the new conservatory and used the windows from the Foxhall kit.  I added the double French door to lead to the master bedroom and bought an additional single French door to lead to the outer walkway around the conservatory.

The wallpaper is French Vanilla scrapbook paper by Bazzill Basics.  The doors and windows have their first coat of paint but need to be finished further.

The unfinished stairs are the front steps from the original Newport base kit.  I plan to make my own front steps, so these were left over parts.  I will leave the exposed brick on the one wall and still need to finish the second floor board that sticks out into the room.  But, I like the way these elements make the conservatory look like a later addition to an existing house.

Most of the plants shown here are just stand-ins until I get the chance to make some more.  The elephant ear plant by the double French doors was made following the instructions on a DVD called Master Miniaturists: Flowers & Plants.  I had made floral tape plants when I was a kid, so putting this one together brought back memories!  :]

The Orange Tree tapestry is a needlepoint project I made from a pattern in the book 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 tiles are Greenleaf vinyl tiles.  Right now, they are just on the factory sheet put in place to see how the color works with the rest of the room.  I think the floor is a keeper!

I have a dark green wire table in place for the coffee table.  If I keep it, I'll likely paint it to match the settee and chair.  The rug is a paper printout of Thomas Paul rug called Seed in the coloration kiwi.  I'm undecided on the rug, too.  If I keep it, I'll print it on fuzzy paper for a more realistic finish.  It looks good in the photo, but in person it gives itself away as a piece of shiny paper.

Installing NovaLyte LED Recessed Can Lights

by brae  

Someone recently contacted me with questions about installing the NovaLyte recessed can lights, so I figured while I was replying I would post a blog entry on it in case anyone else was interested in how I installed them.

Here's the LED without the finishing ring (that's popped in place after you install the lights).  According to the NovaLyte website, these measure 5/16" L x 5/16" W with a required clearance hole of 21/64".

Here's the LED with the 21/64" Dewalt drill bit I used to make the clearance holes.

The walls and floors of the Newport are 3/8" thick, so there was plenty of room for them to fit inside the drilled holes without having to build up the floor board.  With thinner materials, you'll need to pad either the ceiling these are lighting or the floor above to hide the excess.  These are cohesive units and therefore can't be cut down.

Here's the light in place in the floor board.  The can light illuminates the room below this floor.  I found that feeding the wire up through the hole and pressing it in place gives a nice flush finish with the ceiling.

I've cut channels for my wires since I've hard-wired the Newport.  If you're working with tape wire, you'll need to figure out how to best attach them.  I know absolutely nothing about tape wire.  :]

Using the 21/64" drill bit gives the light a nice snug fit.  The dress ring is then popped onto the light to finish it.

Here's the finished look in the living room.

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