Thursday 21 May 2015


Fox Manor

The Attic - The Night Nursery




Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well!

Thank you for your kind comments on The Playroom, and, again, welcome to my new followers!

The Night Nursery was well under way by the time I put up my post about The Playroom:) so that's why this post is so close to the previous one!  Mind you there wasn't as much work to do here as there usually is :)

I toyed with the idea of putting a false bottom to the sloping walls to create more 'flat wall' space, but I decided to leave the room as is.  If I change my mind, I can still go down that route!  I have similar plans for The Schoolroom, so it leaves each of the three rooms in the attic slightly different. 

The Night Nursery is chock full of gorgeous Bespaq furniture!  I may or may not keep all the furniture I have here in the room; I do have my eye on a beautiful child's brass bed, but we'll see :)

I wanted this room to be a peaceful haven for the wee ones of Fox Manor to lie down and sleep after a busy day of playing.  The older children have their more grown up bedrooms further to the back of the Manor! :)

The walls are papered in Duck Story by Les Chinoiseries.  Being a stripe paper on a mixture of straight and sloping walls, was always going to give a very 'interesting' finish, and I was just dying to see what the result would look like....... and I have to say, I am very happy with it!  I kept the border on the paper as I certainly wasn't going to try to put up coving with all those sloping angles...oh yes, I know my limits!

I made a small chimney breast for the fireplace.
 

The small chimney breast extends out through the roof :)


I have a lovely white fireplace in here from Hearth and Home.  It's placed on the outside (left) sloping wall, but I boxed it in to mimic the chimney breast which would be going out through the roof and papered the sides in the same wallpaper as the rest of the room.


With no furniture!  The lights are off.


The flooring is done with plain wooden planks as I don't think the same care and attention to the detail in the floor would have been given in the attic as in the rest of the Manor.  Nonetheless, it is still central to the décor and, like The Playroom, is stained walnut and waxed.  The dark colour really compliments the pale wallpaper and delicate furniture and gives the whole room a 'warm, rich' feel.

I have two sloping walls in here, as explained in the previous post about The Playroom, but the room is still big enough to house my nursery furniture. Phew!

The Lighting Bug ceiling light!
 

The beautiful brass lamp has a pink tinted shade.  Gorgeous!


The central ceiling light is by Lighting Bug Ltd and I had been itching to use it somewhere in Fox Manor....so here it is!  Again, as with The Playroom, I have decided not to have a ceiling rose.   I also have a lovely oil lamp with a pink tinted shade placed on the drawers at the back of the room, which I think is just fabulous.  The pictures do not do the lights justice when switched on, they are much softer in RL.


There's pink bunny again, I think she's trying out all the rooms in the attic! Ha ha!



I only have skirting board on the 'straight' wall, with the doorway in it.  Once I decided not to do the rest of the walls with skirting, I was a much happier bunny.  It would have been a nightmare to do, and, in all honesty, I think would have looked daft.  The furniture takes up so much room I don't think the skirting is really missed anyway.  My excuse LOL.

Aside from making the housing for the chimney breast there really wasn't much else to do here, although getting holes drilled for the lighting was very tedious...... again, just awkward really :) but I'm happy with the overall result!

Nanny's tray will be filled with her tasty snack for supper :)

I have a little sink unit.  Cleanliness is next to Godliness.....that's what Nanny says!

Lights on....
 
Lights off!

I hope you have enjoyed my Night Nursery.  The décor may be simple, as I feel the furniture is the highlight of this room.  There are still beds to dress, cupboard/drawers to fill.......

My next, and final, room is The Schoolroom :(  While I'm looking forward to decorating the room, it will be tinged with sadness too.....

I still have the outside of the Manor to decorate, but I'm afraid that it's just not going to be the same as designing the interior.....but who knows!!  I could be pleasantly surprised :)

All the best for now and take care,

Vivian



















Wednesday 13 May 2015

Fox Manor

The Attic - The Playroom


Hello everyone!






It really has been quite a while since I blogged about Fox Manor!  I know I have been busy with RL and with my little Etsy shop, but, at long last I have a little something to show you :)

I also want to welcome my new followers and say a big thank you to my 'regulars' who always take the time to read my wee blog and leave their comments!  You are always so encouraging..... and it's always appreciated. :)

As you know, I have now reached the attic of Fox Manor.  I really was dreading this, because the attic floor level is nearly 6' high - I am only 5'1" or so! LOL.  I have braved the dizzying heights of my step stool - which my husband finds hilarious :) to work on this, the last floor in my manor :(

With nothing in the room!


The attic floor plan is like this:   The centre room, which was originally destined to be the stairwell, has been given the 'Vivian treatment' and been converted into The Playroom where the children play during the day, when they're not outside or at their lessons :)  This room also has a doorway in the 'new' back wall that leads to the hall and the stairs to the rest of my Manor!  You know the old story!! :)  This room also has two doors which lead to the adjacent rooms in this floor.  The room to the left of The Playroom - as you look face on - is going to be The Night Nursery where the wee ones sleep and the room to the right is going to be The School Room where their lessons are taught!  The only access to these rooms will be through The Playroom....  This room is truly 'central' to the attic floor - I hope this all makes sense!

All in all, this centre room is going to be very busy, with three doorways and (eventually) lots of children's toys too!  This is the only room in my Manor that looks quite bare at the moment!

Now, another issue I have with these attic rooms, is the shape of them.  Not only does the back wall slope, the side ones do too.  Because I am putting a false wall to the back of the centre room, to create the back hallway, The Playroom, will look 'squared' - albeit with three doorways!

But the side rooms each have a sloping back wall and one sloping side wall.....arranging the furniture layouts is going to be 'fun' to say the least.  Well, I am always game for a challenge and I have a couple of ideas up my sleeve!



The Playroom!  I papered the back sloping wall with my favourite hall paper which has been carried for continuity right up through my Manor. 

The wall assembled and ready to go!


I made the false wall with a working door - which leads to the back hall, to the rest of the Manor.  I have a little light in the hall for realism, just to show that there is life back there!!:) and you can just glimpse the newel posts of the 'stairs'.  Oh yes!  Everything has to make sense to me....:)

A glimpse of the back hall.

I have papered The Playroom with Streets Ahead wallpaper in Beatrix Potter Garden Harvest.  I love the Beatrix Potter characters and even though this is a fairly small room, I think it carries the pattern well - it has a lovely pale green background.  I have also papered the panels on the back door with this wallpaper also.  I wanted to do something with that door, and this is what happened LOL!  Having three white doors in a small room was a little much, even for me.  So, I think this has helped!


The flooring throughout the attic will be just plain wooden planks.  I decided that plain was best here. I stained the flooring in the Playroom dark walnut and waxed to finish.  I think the dark floor really compliments the paper.


I have the picture centred now....it looks a bit off in this photo!

I wanted fireplaces in all of the attic rooms and have positioned a lovely corner fireplace in this room.  After the stress and 'craic' I had installing the corner fireplace in the Housekeeper's Room in the basement, I swore never again..... but there you go - I have another one!  (It's a bit like having a baby...LOL).

I have made an angled chimney breast for my corner fireplace which, I think, makes it more realistic.  I then finished it with a working wall lamp - the wiring of which had me at my wits' end...never mind, another lesson learned.  Make sure the hole for the wiring is big enough to push through the connection joint before work commences :)  I made the lovely little picture which depicts a couple of Beatrix Potter characters - Jemima Puddleduck with Mr. Tod.....you know I had to have a Fox somewhere in the room LOL :) 

The ceiling light does not exactly match the wall light, but I deliberately did that.  I also made a point of having no ceiling rose.  Again, this is the attic of the house, and my family knew that there would be 'no-one of importance' up there!!  Remember, children were seen, not heard!  And, before the children arrived this area was probably used for servants quarters or storage. 

I don't have a lot to actually put into this room yet, but as with every other room in my Manor, I will get there eventually!!

 
A view of the high chair!
 


So there we are, The Playroom is complete!  I have really enjoyed this little room and I am itching to move onto The Night Nursery.

Take care everyone and enjoy the rest of your week!

All the best

Vivian