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Nothing like a new set of doors to call a place home! My large VERO, while in lovely restored condition when I received it from Germany earlier this year, was missing the original front doors. I emailed the very talented Elizabeth Le Pla of Elf Miniatures and she agreed to make custom doors based on a picture of the original.

The original:

And Elizabeth's custom pieces to recreate them -- the threshold is first to go in...

Then the left side filler piece, since the door frame is uneven (some creative holding of the glue bond)

Followed by the top bar and doors (kids' blocks come in handy!) and then the right side filler piece, also requiring sanding and fitting.

Done!

Thanks, Elizabeth! They look great and your directions were superb, even for a carpentry-challenged gal like me. I truly hope I did not get anything wrong.

Now that the doors are in, I want to turn my attention to the wallpaper on the second floor of the house; a reminder:

The previous owner used vintage papers, but the flowers are really not to my taste and do not match the nice original papers on the back wall. I have been looking for new (vintage) replacements for a while, and came across two (perhaps from the 1960s) 1:1- sized papers on US eBay that I think will work very well:

Aren't they great? They are both labeled "Eisenhart," which is a wallpaper company that is still around. I can also put them to use in my other VERO, and perhaps even the Citadel. By the way, I received a very large roll of each, so I might be up for a little swap with someone down the road who might be interested in one (or both) of these lovely papers.

Fitting these doors and thinking about changing the wallpapers reminded me to share this wonderful little book, The Doll Family, which was printed by Wonder Books in 1962. Here are a few pages, which show the family of Erna Meyer dolls packing up to move into their new home. I sure like those glimpses of vintage German furniture, lamps, and plants!

Good night!

Ceiling for Floor

I continue to be amazed by the quality of the AG Minis line, and it is a shame it was discontinued. I have a fair amount of the furniture and accessories, but do not own any of the room boxes. I don't think I will anytime soon, but I did come across two of the flooring/ceiling pieces on eBay and they arrived last week.

This scene features one of the pieces on the floor; it was meant as a pressed-tin-looking ceiling for the loft room, but I like the effect for the floor. Of course, the shape of the piece was a challenge, since it is customized for the room boxes, which taper in toward the back. I cut out scrapbook paper sheets for the sides and then covered the walls in another brown metallic paper I had lying around. I like how the flooring picks up on the legs of the sofa and coffee table.

Here's a picture of the whole VERO house, still a work in progress. I hope to attack the room on the lower left next, which I will make a bathroom. I have given up on scraping off all the layers of paper and heavy paint, and hope to paper it over. I also bought some balsa wood to create the balcony on the second floor and have a few flower boxes for the front window.

On that sofa...it is a wonderful creation by Annina and I love it -- thanks!!!

The textured ottoman is piece I cut from a natural sponge from the SFMOMA store (on clearance!). I had seen Modern MC use a few in her blog a while ago and loved their organic look. I should have bought more...

I used the Chilewich placemat again for screening in the back -- it is very handy indeed.

Credits: Couch handmade by Annina; chairs and plant are vintage German; lamp is vintage Strombecker; nesting coffee tables are by Paris Renfroe; postcard (featuring paper cut artwork by Nikki McClure), sponge "ottoman," and screen in back are from the SFMOMA store; silver flooring is AG Minis; scrapbook paper from the Paper Source was used on the floor and walls. Accessories are Re-ment and AG Minis.

Re-ment: I accumulated a lot of Re-ment on my west coast trip, but have not yet sorted it all away, so I am too overwhelmed by the choices to use it right now! But, one coffee cup was at the top of the pile, so I threw it into the scene. It is the cup on the table, and it is from Pretty Placement #2, and is good for 1:12.