Undersized Urbanite Continued: I love Internet shopping!

I used to decry email because no one writes letters anymore. the post used to bring only bills. But now...
My kitchen for the French flat arrived yesterday. It's lovely, detailed, drawers and cupboards all open. What a nice treat.


i will probably paint it blue, and I'll definitely replace the stove with a mini-refrigerator, but in the meantime, here it is. The box said it was Woodham Collection which I've never heard of before. It was only $35.00. If I could find another one I'd buy it as it will fit nicely in any number of scenes. If anyone out there knows how to source them, could you let me know.

Having it now gives me the width of the French flat... The length of this unit (8,5 inches), plus the width of a corridor (3.5 inches). So 12 inches wide.

I drew up a floor plan using the DRAW FLOOR PLAN app. (If you use it you have to save each time before you leave the app. I kept forgetting, going out to check measurements, then having to start all over again. I' m not sure my lovely shower base is going to survive the process. It might be a bit big.

I,m still trying to figure out how to make a sofa-bed. There seem to be tutorials for everything else on the net. By the way Kris from 1inch Minis has a terrific tutorial on how to make upholstered furniture this month



-Would love to know how some of the other UUs are going. If you are blogging yours, please let me know.

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50 follower /Valentine Day giveaway

I'm edging up to 50 followers, and finally seem to have contacted the winner of my last giveaway, so it must be time for another one. Since I'm going to be making a sofa for the French flat, I might as well make two. The choice of style/fabric will be up to the winner (within reason; I'm not in Louis XIV or anything requiring woodwork). Choices of fabric ranges from these two linens and one mid-century print (my favourites).




If you are more a shabby chic kind of a person there are a range of chintz type florals to choose from:





Rules ( of course)
1) Leave a comment; be a follower (1 entry)
2) Put a link on your blog (another entry)

That's it. I'll draw the winner at 6 pm 14 Feb. New Zealand time. Don't forget we're up to a day ahead of most of the rest of the world. This time the winner will have to contact me within a week or I'll re-draw.

Good luck! I look forward to seeing what I'll get to make.

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Missing in (In) Action

Does anyone out there know Ginger Lola? She won the Reac Lips Sofa but has never claimed it. I,ve announced it and emailed her through the address on her comment, but its now been more than 2 months and she hasn't contacted me. If you know her, or she follows you regularly, could you let her know?

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Take a seat ... Or three

Call Small and Shopping Sherpa are not the only ones to get interesting mail. The toile de jouy arrived and guess what...l"atelier du chat botte is in Versailles. So I have a genuine letter from Versailles. Not from Marie Antoinette, but from Puss in Boots!




The toile is exquisite, very detailed and clear. Included also was a tiny print of Notre Dame from across the Seine. Also exquisite.
So I was unable to restrain myself from starting the chairs. But first I did finish the red suede sofa (thanks mini dork for your comment which spurred me on). The sofa has been not-quite-finished for nearly a year due to the fact that I saw the suede-like fabric, loved the colour and the idea of a big soft suede sofa, but had no idea about how b******ly difficult working with synthetic material is for minis. I think I exercised every swear word in my vocabulary making it. I also made a mistake and ended up with one end higher than the other and had to figure out a way to fix that without starting over. So here it is..not a great photo, but set up in a quick scene:



"
I must say I like the end result. Egg chair is Reac; postcard is Henry Moore.
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Undersized urbanite bathroom

No post for a while. Various other things going on in my life. I have been looking on both eBay and etsy for a toilet to go with the shower stall and sink. Am a bit torn between ultra modern and old-style. I haven,t found one which I like yet.

I have, however, been searching the web for Moroccan tiles and have found some lovely ones. Again decisions to be made: be purist and stick with blue and white?




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Or add a splash of other colour?





Tile the whole bathroom dark blue. Or paint? either way there will be a tile frieze, and perhaps floor as well. ? A bit of experimenting to be done.

I have ordered some mini toile de jouy to re-cover some Hanssen chairs, have a bid currently on a one piece kitchen on, so it is coming together.

The big logistic issue is that it is due to be finished for the contest in May and needs to be in Canada early June for my friends birthday, and I am going to be travelling in April. Hmmm....

In the meantime I have decided I have to finish Gertrude's chair and a red suede sofa I started before I start construction. No pressure!

The sky is blue and it is hot and clear here. Regards to those of you caught in the cold snap in middle North !

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And so it begins....Undersized Urbanite

I have decided to blog about the Undersized Urbanite, rather than keeping it a secret. It strikes me that miniaturists' imaginations are so rich, varied and individual that 'copying' isn't a problem. The Minibot challenge certainly showed that. I like to see how other people's scenes and houses develop so I'm going to put mine up as it develops.

Despite the fact I have come here with not so much as a sheet of mat board I have not been idle. I found the beginnings of my bathroom, and now have a
French North African theme for the bathroom at least.
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The bits are perfect because I had already decided on a blue and white colour scheme.



The elaborate white note paper holder, bought in Briscoe's on sale for $4 is the base of the shower stall,. The little blue and white incense burner (see also below) ($2) is the bathroom sink. Tiny bottles ($1.00 ea) will hold bath salts, coffee, sugar etc. Bottles and incense burner were bought in Himalaya in Whangarei.





I'm going to try to design a fold-out bed/sofa, and am going to offer one for my next giveaway. Stay tuned for details.

I hope everyone out there has had (northern hemisphere) and is having (antipodes) a great holiday and that your New Year has started as it means to go on: happy, productive, peaceful.

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