The Smallest Department Store

I was too quick to shout SPRING last week, we woke up to snow the next day! So Birchwood is on the shelf waiting for the season to turn. So I looked around for what I fancied working on and Cynthia Howe's Department Store in a Baby House shouted my name!

The first thing I did was wallpaper. The hardest part of this task was deciding which wallpaper to use in which shop, and before that deciding which shop to put where in the Baby House. The choice of wallpapers was unbelievable.

It took a bit of fiddling to get the wallpaper in around the light fittings.

The middle of the top row of drawers opens into a little writing desk.

The rooms that are usually landings with stairs in Baby Houses are going to be elevators.

Starting at the top and working left to right the shops are going to be.......

Dress Shop

Elevator shaft

Jewellery Shop

Perfume Shop - look at those beautiful bottles along the top of the wallpaper.

Hat Shop

Flower Shop

Tea Room

I spent far too long deciding where to put which department. I always think of the Baby Houses as real buildings and how they would work. I most definitely did not want the Tea Room on the same floor as either the Dresses or the Hats, imagine buying a beautiful gown and then realising it smells of food! Also working along the same lines I didn't want the perfume Shop next to the tea room - what is that beautiful scent ?? chocolate cake ??? I wanted the Tea Room and the Flower shop on the ground floor because they need to be where passing folk can nip in without having to negotiate the rest of the store. So you see, I spent FAR too long thinking this through!

Then I started on the furniture and once I had started I couldn't stop. The kits are just amazing. I have never seen such tiny details, the laser cutting is incredible. The down side of this is there a lot of very thin fragile pieces - some of which I did break but fortunately managed to fix, apart from the bench from the hat shop which needs some serious first aid!

Here are the pieces from the Tea Room.

Here is the furniture from the Dress Shop - the cabinet hasn't got its front on yet.

Here is the furniture from the Jewellery Shop.

Here is the furniture from the Perfume Shop

Now onto the furniture from the Hat Shop.

Then the furniture from the Flower Shop.

It is all ready to paint now and add the trims and mirrors and so on. I cannot wait to then start making stock for all the shops. I have no idea how I am going to manage the dresses and hats let alone the tea pot to go in the Tea Room!

I have also been working on a few Lydia Pickett pieces. There is always something for Pickett Hill half built on my craft table. This last few weeks it has been Emma's Toy Kitchen and the Benches to go in the porch.

This is the tall bench to go against the house wall.

This is the lower bench to go against the side of the porch that is open. Both benches need their cushions, this will test my sewing skills!

The Betterleys have just released the last three kits in the Lydia Pickett Series. It is sad in a way as I have loved looking forward to what would be next. Although I still have a lots of the kits still to build so it is not going to be over for sometime yet.