I ('') NY

It's been a long time since my last blog,but that is because I have been on the move for almost a month,the last week in New York City. Mostly, I have been working at the NYPL, but I have had some time to do other things. The first few days were devoted to trying to find a decent cup of coffee. New Zealand, along with having passed the Same Sex Marriage Act this week , also has the best coffee, across the board, of any place I have lived or worked.... By a long shot! ( no pun intended) it bemuses me that NYers, world famous for being demanding about their food, should put up with such lousy coffee, really, like weak dishwater.

So, the best coffee of all the places I tried on the Upper East Side, where I am staying, is at a little place on 92 St and 3rd Ave called Effys Cafe. The food there is pretty good too --Israeli specialties for the most part, nice and fresh. But the coffee is extraordinary. I don't know what the barista does to it but it tastes like it has Kaluha in it --just a drop, mind you. Definitely worth a visit if you care about coffee.

So much for the essentials of life. In terms of minis --the big (as in momentous, rather than size) find was The Tiny Dollhouse at 314 78th St, between 1st and 2nd Aves.



It's run by a lovely man named Lesley who also builds custom houses. The houses in the shop come in various forms from componentry, to assembled but not finished to fully finished



He also stocks all the possible bits and pieces from toilet paper rolls and darling dog bowls to exquisite porcelain and beautiful handcrafted dolls and animals. The shop is laid out so that there are open roomboxes down the left side with things you can touch, and closed ones down the right side with the things which are expensive and handmade and to die for. The photo below is on the right side



The centre of the shop is mostly taken up with houses:




The first day I was there a regular customer who had been a textile curator talked to me all about her houses, one of which was at the shop waiting to be delivered. It was a beautiful 4 storied brick house which she was setting up as a 19th century Jewish household. Today when I went in there were three little girls picking out things for their houses --oh, the agony of having to choose from all those lovely things. I was tempted by two Staffordshire-type kittens about 1/4 inch high (@$23 each), or one of three gorgeous Art Deco brass statuettes, less than an inch high (each @ $60), or a Clarice Cliff tea set, the price of which I didn't even ask. But I refrained, and instead bought little things I could use for my Undersized Urbanite French apartment and put into my Spring swap. But I will be back. And if you are in NYC so should you!


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Triang. --ulated

At last the Triang photos. My friend was born in 1943 and was given the house before she left England as a child. She doesn't have all the original furniture, but does have quite a bit so here is the house



And some shots of the interior wallpaper, which is really spectacular:

Children's bedroom








This is the kitchen:




Stairwell:



Living room:








Master bedroom



Downstairs floors:




More tomorrow
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Long lounge

Carmen of Adventures with Indy and Poppy has posted pictures of the chaise longue I made for my February giveaway. She wanted something that could go in a Victorian cottage. Here it is in its new home:



Photo by Carmen.
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All the mod cons

Just before I left NZ I finally conquered the sofa bed issue,so here it is made in steel blue linen. No legs yet as its travelling with me. So here's the sofa:




And in bed mode:





With mattress pad:





And fitted sheet:





And fully made up:






I learned HEAPS doing it, among which

1. 1/4 inch foam board is NOT easier to work with than 2 pieces of 1/8 inch glued together

2. Fabric glue is easy to smear on accidentally, but hard to get off

3. You don't have to swear at double sided tape if you don't cut it until after you have attached one side to the piece. Attach, cut. Rather than cut, attach, then struggle to get the backing off without taking either the tape or even the surface underneath.

The other big news is that my hostess has a 1940s Triang dollhouse with original dolls and furniture, which she has given me permission to photograph and post. Check in over Easter to see.

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A Very Chairy Sunday

Last Sunday I had the day to myself so I spent most of it on mini seating. I finished the toile de jouy chairs for the Undersized Urbanite, AND Gertrude Stein's chair for Gert and Alice's studio. Then I finished the trial sofa which Ana won on my giveaway AND built a chaise out of the green floral fabric for Indy-Poppy (aka Carmel), I won't show the giveaway's in keeping with the mini-blog tradtion of not revealing things until they have reached their owners., but I am extremely pleased with them.

Another Modern Mini House; In Fact Two!

This is a Tri-ang Modern House held in the Museum of Childhood in London.


-read about it here. I bet these are rare.



They hold a number of dollhouses, mostly traditional, but also this one-off by Jessie M. King, a member of the Glasgow school and friend of Charles Rennie Macintosh. Read about the house here



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