A Teeny, Tiny Kitchen

It’s been a long time since I posted.  Sheltering in place has really upended my schedule.  It seems to take more time and effort now to make sure that I maintain “face-to-face” contact with friends and co-workers.   Every Saturday, we host a Zoom party, where we play games and take virtual “trips” with our friends.  For anyone who enjoys escape rooms, I strongly recommend the Palace of Destiny from Palace Games.  It’s free, but, if you are able, a donation would be nice.  We’ve been playing it together as a team, and there are times we need every brain we can get!  I also spent several Sundays, early on, making face masks.  All of this was further complicated by the fact that I have a hereditary problem with my thumb joints, which was exacerbated by a less-than-optimal set-up for working from home.   A set-up that works for the occasional day of working remotely does not necessarily work as well over weeks or months.  I have done some tinkering with my set-up, and it is now much more ergonomic, and my thumbs are feeling much better.  We’ve also been told we will likely be working from home for the rest of the year, so it’s time I got back in the groove!

So, on to something more interesting—miniatures!  Over the past month or so, I have been slowly working on the kitchen in the art deco house.  It is a teeny, tiny kitchen.   I added some space onto the Popular Mechanics’ plans to make the kitchen 4” x 4¼” (which, in real life, would be 8’ x 8½’).  I can’t imagine how I could have fit anything in if I had stuck with the original dimensions of 3” by 3”!  As it is, everything is a pretty tight fit.

The walls have been papered with a vintage wallpaper from Bradbury & Bradbury.  I wanted beadboard on the bottom half of the walls, but the miniature beadboard I had was so thick, I was afraid it would take up too much space, which was already at a premium.  To solve the problem, I printed out a beadboard pattern on paper (to ensure that I could keep things straight and to try to maintain even spacing), then glued HO-scale 1x6 lumber strips directly onto it.  

I’m not sure how well you can see the difference between the standard mini beadboard on the left and my home-made beadboard on the right, but mine is much, much thinner!  The top and bottom were trimmed with more HO lumber.  (The color, by the way, is Wedgewood Green, lightened with a bit of white.  I honestly don’t know why greens always show up so minty in all my pictures.)

The refrigerator was a find on eBay.  It was a metal kit in not very good condition.  The metal was extremely uneven.  It took a lot of filing, as well as some Green Stuff to smooth it out.  Here you can see it partway through the filing process.  In addition, the body was made in two parts—one designed to fit inside the other.  More lumpiness inside the exterior portion had to be filed down so that the interior piece could be glued in straight and even.  You can see the angle it was at originally.  The door, which I didn’t photograph, was unaccountably painted brown.

After filing, gluing, filling in the gaps with more Green Stuff, and giving it a couple of coats of gloss white spray paint, it doesn’t look too bad.

The door still opens, and I intend to put some food items inside—maybe some milk, eggs and butter.

The stove is an Acme magnet.  This is not the exact magnet I got; mine was missing the cat, but it had the platform underneath and the yellowing around the joints. 

I was able to pry the front two feet off cleanly, but the back two suffered a bit of damage when I removed the platform.  I filled in the missing bits with yet more Green Stuff, then covered the stove area and gave the entire thing a coat of gloss white spray paint.  I then had to repaint the black and silver parts.  I don’t have the steadiest hand, but it doesn’t look too bad in person.

The sink is from a kit by Red Cottage Miniatures.  The original sink I had purchased was too large for the space, but the Red Cottage sink fits perfectly.   The base is painted the same green as the beadboard.  The faucet is simply wire with some small beads for the handles.  I was able to bend the wires at crisp right angles by using a pliers set I got from Micro Mark.  The drain pipe is a large paperclip, and the little dish drainer (as well as the clock and the breadbox) are also from a Red Cottage Miniatures kit.

The small worktable I covered in a previous post.  It’s unfortunate that it has to face in, so that you can’t see the drawers and door, but at least you can see the enamel top.

There isn’t much room for cupboards, but I put in what I could.  They are made from strip wood and some thin styrene for the glass.  The kitchen needed a bit more color, so I used the glass-front cupboard to showcase some “Fiesta Ware” plates I had.  (Unfortunately, I broke the green dinner plate.)  I added a metal vase and a 3-D printed butter dish, painted to match.  (The yellow bowl and red-and-white "enamel" saucepan were also 3-D printed.)

Because the cabinets are a bit high, there is a working stepladder tucked behind the refrigerator.

And that’s the tiny kitchen!

Effie came over from the Fairfield to try it out for me.  She said it was the most efficient kitchen she’d ever worked in—no more than two steps in any direction to get where she needed to go.  And she was pretty much guaranteed to be the only cook in the kitchen!

I'll try not to take so long before my next post.  I'm already excited to start work on the dining room.

Hope everyone is staying safe, healthy, and (relatively) sane.  I'm looking forward to catching up on all the posts I've missed!