Bedding, Fireplace and a Decision

I have made an important decision regarding the deco house.  I am going to have the wall and flooring pieces cut for me.  I am absolutely incompetent at cutting a straight line.  I do OK with the chop saw and the table saw (sort of), but a house requires more precision, and it requires cut-outs for doors and windows.  When I worked on the Sagamore Hill room box, the door and window openings were a bit . . . wavy.  I was able to disguise imperfections with my windows and door trim, as well as the veneer on the outside, but I'm not sure I'll have the same opportunities with this house, plus there are a lot more pieces.  So, I have sent the specifications off to someone who does laser cutting of 1/8" plywood, and my fingers are crossed that he can do the work.

While waiting, I finally finished the bedding.  I am not super happy with the pillows, and I may do them over, but this is it for now.  I like the luxe look of the charmeuse, as well as the contrasting texture of the silk shantung.

The silk charmeuse was not the easiest thing to work with—it's slippery!  One thing I learned from the Internet (yay, Google!) is to cut it between two pieces of paper.  That's a bit hard on the scissors, but I wasn't cutting that much, and it really did make the silk behave.  When I ironed it, I ironed around a template made of card stock.  That made it easier to get those little turned-under edges straight(er) when I ironed.  In place of sewing or gluing (which discolors the silk), I used Stitch Witchery.  Even that I had to be careful with; a couple of times when it melted, it also caused discoloration.  I used lots of magic words when working on the bedding, but in the end, I think it's acceptable.

I also made up the fireplace.  I realized that I need to know its footprint for when I do the flooring, so I opened the kit and had at it.  One thing I really love about Shannon's kits are the notches she cuts into pieces that need to fit together.  They ensure that I put the pieces together correctly and don't need to eyeball the alignment.  All the pieces are cut beautifully—no sanding or tweaking to get them to fit.

I admit, in doing my research online, I came across what I think was the prototype for this fireplace, so I mimicked its tile work pattern as much as possible.  The kit has all the tiles laser etched onto the pieces, but you can, of course, fill them in with any color(s) you choose.  I went with black and white (duh), with a gold tile for the center piece.  I liked the warmth of the gold in the middle of all that black.  I also went with a black mantel.  I considered staining the wood cherry, but when I held it up against the tile, I just didn't like it.  After trying to decide between gold and silver for the decorative pieces, I realized I should just use both, since there are going to be both gold and silver in the room. When I look at the picture, the silver piece seems a little plain.  Maybe I need to add a tiny bit of gold embellishment?

To get the cleanest tile I could, I decided not to paint, but to use a process similar to the one used by Emily Morganti in her half-scale backsplash.  Unfortunately, I didn't have any punch that cut squares of exactly the size I needed, so I cut them myself using an X-Acto knife and a piece of strip wood of the correct width as my template.  I first tried scrapbook paper, but decided it was a bit too thick so went with the only other black paper I had—origami paper.  I also had some white origami paper of the same thickness, so this worked well.  I used gold craft paper for the center tile. After painting the sections to be tiled a warm white for the "grout," I glued on my little squares and rectangles. This definitely took the longest.  Any irregularities in the tile are due to my cutting and pasting skills, not Shannon's laser etching.  Then I used a toothpick to completely coat each square with some clear Gallery Glass, being careful not to get it in the grout lines.  On those occasions where I did get it in the grout lines (it was hard not to between those teeny rectangles, which are about 1/32" wide), I immediately scraped it out with the tip of a clean toothpick.

Here it is in the room.

I think it works well.  (Please excuse the lousy taping job on the wall.  I had to remove the wall to cut a slightly larger opening for the fireplace insert and had a terrible time taping it back in place.) It's definitely going to need something above it.  Maybe an octagonal mirror?  I like that this one even has beveled edges.

That's it for now.  Keeping my fingers crossed on the walls.

Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by!