Props 1/3 Room box and Furniture - Perle Residence

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The past summer was busy by design. No better balm for emotions than obsessing over a hobby so you never have to deal with the underlying cause. *fading laughter* (I’ll be fine, but it’s one of those ‘out of my hands at the moment’ things. I don't handle uncertainty well!)

Back in the spring, I reorganized my craft space, and while adding more storage, it meant the loss of the large table area where I used to shoot indoor scenes. That was never a satisfactory setup to me anyway. One downside of dioramas is that your photo angles are limited. Maybe it’s just because I know what’s behind the curtain, but it makes the space feel 'fake' to me when I can’t grab a shot over someone’s shoulder or spin the camera around. This photostory was shot on top of a pool table, but the lack of background walls only worked because it was a low-light situation, and even then, same problem with angles. I want to experiment more with forced perspective in my own space, but a dedicated spot for elaborate scenes has been on my mind for a decade now.

Part of organizing and purging meant I freed up a small spare room in the corner of our basement. It is a very cold space, so no one spends any time down there half the year. I feel very fortunate to have it, though, and as we may downsize in a year or so (or not! I don’t know! Change the subject, quick!), I don’t want to squander it. I decided to take the crazy doll lady approach and turn it into a photo room. My husband said ‘why bother’ and I said because I need something to work toward right now, and something to look forward to during six months of winter.

He was skeptical, but he knows I work on the cheap. Back to the old pile of fence boards I went.



I’ll cover my wall frame misadventures later and begin with furniture. I started with the focal piece I felt was most important, the fireplace in the Perles’ living room. As is my way, I forgot to take early progress photos and at some point my concept sketch with all my measurements was blown away by the wind and I still haven’t found it, but here is the basic structure, utilizing only scraps we had on hand and an old photo frame.



That soon turned into this.



I knew I wanted a stone/brick insert of some kind, and I had some styrofoam ferreted away. I used a heated knife to cut and slice it into brick shapes, and the side of the blade to melt away the telltale clustered texture and lend it a grittier look. This was very disgusting and toxic and though I ventilated the area and did it while no children were present, I wish I could have done it somewhere other than my kitchen. If you do something like this, wear a suitable mask.



Wasn’t really sure what I was doing with the painting, and I don’t really feel the end result came out super realistic, but three layers later we had something vaguely stone-like.



(Hello, July! Oh, I miss you!) I started to caulk around seams once everything was glued. It took some staring over a few days to determine how I wanted to finish off the ‘legs’, though. Given more funds to play with, I would have wanted this far more ornate, but I told myself done was better than perfect and I could find some filigree pieces or tile or something to decorate it more later. At this stage I made my first purchases for this project; a bit of trim for the mantel top, and a gallon of discount mis-tinted deck paint. (Hell of a mis-tint if you end up with black, I thought. Nobody paints a deck black, do they?)



Here it is painted, with the insert glued in place. My intent is to provide flameage using a computer screen, but aside from a quick test to confirm it looked okay on camera, I haven’t played with that much.



Next item was this extremely solid wood chest thing, which was in our house when we bought it. I like it, and at one point I used it to organize sewing supplies, but never cared for the colours. I’m not an earthy neutral girl. Once again… I had already ripped the knobs off and sanded before I remembered I should document this.



I filled handle holes and determined I would use it upside-down. (Or maybe the previous owners had it upside-down?) For a dresser-like piece, I thought changing the position of the knobs combined with putting the largest drawers on the bottom would make it more realistic. I also really went over the sides of the drawers with the belt sander, because they fit way too snug before--I once had one of them stuck for months until the seasonal wood swelling went down enough to wiggle it loose.



Having gained a lot of confidence with both the table and chop saws during the fireplace project, I decided to make some feet for the dresser. It was tricky cutting such small pieces, but I figured out methods to brace them using scraps to keep my fingers well out of harm’s way…



Here it is (mostly) painted and assembled with handles purchased from Aliexpress.



Step up, next victim. I bought this plant stand at Goodwill ~eight years ago. I think it’s a cool piece, (the bottom says “INDIA 1972”) and the carvings are neat, but it’s too… optimistic… for the Perles’ house. … *faint strains of Paint It Black grow slowly louder*



Here’s something painted white. Dollar-store plastic tea set + spraypaint.

 

I began thinking of smaller decor pieces that might help to show who these people are. I dug this small Breyer horse out of a box of my childhood stuff. Happy to give it a new career and a spotlight again. I found some ribbons and cut down a piece of scrap wood for a plinth. (Guess what colour I painted that?)



I’ll have to make lots more of these rosettes if and when I ever make Gladys’ bedroom, but for now she and this lovely trophy will have to settle for second place. Tea set needs a few touchups and I wish the carvings on the ‘table’ weren’t quite so deep, but overall I’m very happy with this. I was experimenting with a chrome paint pen on the teaspoons, but I’m not sure it looks too convincing with the big weird hearts on the ends.



I figured out how to use a router tool to make slots for shelves, so these came into existence. They unstack, and it is my intent that the bottom cabinet part will receive doors and be able to function as a countertop/end table/nightstand, while the shelves could be used right on the floor depending on needs. Altogether the units are quite tall (too tall?), over 90cm. Waiting on the right type of board to give them backs and doors, while also debating if I want to add any sort of trim to decorate the tops.



Another piece (and yes, at this point I started to wonder where I was going to store all this) was this coffee table, tacked on in a hurry right at the end of summer as the nausea and fatigue were setting in… I am pregnant. Not sure which emoji to use... happy blush or barfing cat? (It's a good thing, but nothing about it is fun.)



Ready for a bit of filling and sanding and paint. The top is a 12x24" faux marble tile left over from our shower renovation. I think if propped on blocks this could double as a dining table. Maybe I’ll make actual leg extensions with a sturdy peg to fit into a hole drilled out of the leg… or throw a tablecloth over it. I wanted fancier lines on the feet especially, but reasoned I don’t often take photos at that level and once again–resist perfectionism paralysis…

Aaaaand that's all I have for right now, as I make some tweaks to my wall structure enough that I can show it off. Stay tuned!

 

@lachryphage Nearly. There will be a gap of 18" or so around the perimeter to set up lighting and out-the-window scenery, doorways and vacuuming up spiders.

 

If all goes according to plan, I will be able to change out wall panels to stage different scenes using the same frame and space. I have at least one other scene in the works.

@Valdemagra Thanks!

 

@lachryphage I'm not sure if I will post the other room in this same thread. At any rate, I won't/can't start on that one for a while.

@StellaMarigold Thank you so much. It's still 'take it one day at a time' on occasion, and frustrating when I have to accept 'I can't do what I want today'. This is my third rodeo, so I'm very aware at around this phase it only gets worse for me 'til it's all over, but I also know it's worth it. I pray your sister's pregancy goes smoothly, she and her baby are healthy and the delivery is safe and without complications!

I like your idea of a little metallic accent on the tea set! I have to go back and spruce them up as they have a bit of a pink glow on the inside where the paint didn't reach well, so I might just try that. Picture frames do seem a useful way to source small-scale trim, if you can get them cheap or free.

Thanks @Errantry! I have lots of inspiraton photos saved, but I'm torn constantly between wanting it extremely dark and moody and accepting I have to somehow get this cave well-lit enough for photography.

@Rosydolls Thank you! A fireplace is a nice focal piece. I've wanted one for ages too.

@Ysebeth Thank you very much.

@Isabeau Thanks! I think it doesn't bother me as much as I expected. Anything I might do that would erase detail leaves me quite hesitant, and there are bound to be some scale inconsistencies, right? Time will tell if it keeps catching my eye.

@midolls*melissa Resin! That is an interesting idea actually. It would give me more usable surface area. Every time I've used it for a craft, aside from very small dots of UV resin for eyes, I've managed to end up with loads of bubbles, though, so I don't know if I'm brave enough.

@CheshireCat I checked out your Flickr! You really have done some adorable work making rooms and settings for your dolls. I just love seeing themes worked out beyond the doll itself. Sometimes I wish I had gone for 1/4 or smaller, but then I remember how much I dislike sewing or doing faceups on anything smaller than 1/3. Secretly I am really tempted to purchase a dollhouse kit to work on with/for my older daughter, but she's not even yet four so it might be a bit soon.

@Idoru Thank you. I sure do hope I get to finish this and use it before it's time to pack it all away and dismantle it for moving.

 

Hope everyone was able to find some rest during the holidays. I am back with some updates!

Long ago, while thinking how I might decorate the room’s walls, I stumbled across a picture on Instagram of a diorama with really nicely molded panels. The entire account was in Chinese, but that led me to check out Aliexpress. At times it is trial and error to find the right words that will bring up what you’re looking for, but sure enough, I did end up finding several types of self-adhesive foam half walls, each two-panel piece measuring 90x70cm. The price was offputting for a full room, though, and I had shelved the idea.

Months later I saw the price for a particular simple design had dropped by about 60%. I kinda wondered what was wrong with them, but decided to order, as thus far Aliexpress’s return/refund policy has been good to me.



Well, they arrived folded in half with a deep crease, looking like they’d either been stored like that for a while or something very heavy had been on top of them. I messaged the seller with photos, and their response was ‘it will recover after a period of time.’ … No chance, not to the point the wrinkles won't be obvious.

I ended up escalating the issue to Aliexpress and was able to get either a 50% refund or “full refund, but ship it back at the seller’s expense.” Having heard way too many horror stories of sellers agreeing to this arrangement but simply blocking/ghosting the customer when they try to have shipping compensated, I went for the former.



After another week with little improvement, I decided to see if a hair dryer would puff them back out. A few minutes on a single panel reduced the appearance of the creases by about 25%, but also caused some distortion and a change of texture on the plastic coating in some spots. Ugh. Shortcuts are sometimes the long way around after all.

Still mulling over options… I guess once applied I might be able to spackle/fill as you would with dents in a real wall, but it's not like you can properly sand afterward to feather it in. I haven't even quite decided how to utilize these pieces, as 90cm is not tall enough for my entire wall, so I may cut them apart from the top and bottom trim, or... not sure. We’ll return to this.



Shelf update! Added some trim to the top and front edges of these units. They now await their final coat of paint. The cabinet bases still need their doors. I started to cut some, but flubbed with the table saw and then ran out of time. I’ll get to it soon.



I also started making books to populate said shelves. This is really quite fun and satisfying, and easy to do in my lap in the evening. The cover scans are collected from all over the internet, then heavily desaturated so as not to be distracting. I cut three separate pieces of thin cardboard for each book to line the pages and spine, then roll the spine over a round chopstick for a slight curve.

None have pages yet–I might like to figure out a way to fake the look for some of them, but for the rest, I’m not sure what type of cheap and abundant paper to use. In the past I’ve cut up magazines, but A) I have none and B), you end up with colours and ink showing at the edges. Maybe after assembly I could use paint, but I'd have to be very careful to avoid avoid swelling or rippling…

Not sure. May need to experiment. I just don't want to go out and spend $25 on cream-coloured paper if I don't have to.



Lastly, we have two more finished items: the coffee table and a painting. I ordered a print of this beautiful dramatic Caravaggio piece and repainted an old frame to house it. I feel weird censoring a classic painting, but it is pretty gory, so just this once...

I hadn’t stretched a canvas since high school, but I was pretty sure it wouldn’t be a problem. Heh.

The issue I ran into was that this decorative outer frame previously housed a thin cheap print, and the max depth was only like 0.45”. I don’t claim to know anything about how this is usually done, but not wanting it floating off the wall, I just made the thinnest custom frame I could get away with and held my breath and swore a lot while stapling the canvas over it. Turned out just fine, was able to get it nice and taut, only had to glue a corner back together once or twice… and only a few errant staples scratching the canvas here and there. I’ll go back and… touch it up.

As for the table, it’s a bit dusty in this photo but I’m quite happy with how it came out. @StellaMarigold's suggestion of metallic accents on the tea set has me considering putting something like that on the face of the faux drawers. My husband walked on me doing finishing touches, made a face and said, “Why are you making SMALL furniture? Why don’t you make us a real coffee table?”

Because real coffee tables can be easily had. 1/3 scale ones, not so much.

Anyway, I have more artwork in progress and have ordered lamps for the mantel. I have a 'light fixture' (Christmas decoration light ball) to try out, but it needs a bit of repair. And I was going to get the final materials needed for walls, but sadly the only day the truck was free, the hardware store was closed. I'm drawing up designs for my windows and determining how I'm going to frame in a door. I want to sew up some curtains, but I need a certain material, and the nearest fabric store is 4 hours away.

Ahh! Impatience. Slowly but surely, it is coming together.

 

We’re going to talk about walls, but first I have to tell you about a couch.



I started making a couch for my dolls back in… 2014? 2015? (Out of a Nobilitydoll box my friend didn’t want, lol.) Though I never finished it, I always intended to, and in fact the jagged bit of cardboard and foam even moved with me twice. I don’t have a photo from before I began refurbishing it for this project, but it was just that, with shreds of batting falling off from when someone’s cat did a number on it at one point.

Going along with the theme of this project, we’re using what we’ve got on hand as much as possible. Fabric choice, therefore: blackout curtain material from a bulk bag purchased at a thrift store for $5 two years prior. Other supplies included stud pin thingies (brads?) salvaged from a job during my stint at an upholstery shop years ago. I think you can get the gist of my process here. After threading each of my homemade 'buttons' through a hole made with an awl, I would catch the loop of upholstery thread at the back of the couch with a length of wire and twist until taut. It was tedious, but I like the look.



Made some little pillows…



For a tired pregnant lady, it was nice to have the thing already half-built when I began–except that for some reason it was really important to me back in the day to have storage in the couch, so it’s got an odd boxy shape. I’m choosing to say I like it anyway, though had I done this from scratch I would do it differently. I suppose that means I learned something, which means the effort was worth it?

At this point I was trying to figure out how I would do the cushions, as previously I guess I intended to make one long one. I cut up the seat piece and put a section inside each cushion for rigidity just in case the foam itself isn’t enough to keep a heavy doll from distorting the shape and falling through. Into the… storage.



Done. Not perfect. Ugh, far from perfect. But much better than the unfinished thing over which I used to just drape a piece of fabric. The feet are made of black to-go sauce cups tripled up with hot glue. I had a stack of those. Never used, not sure where they came from. But there you have it.

 

Okay. Walls, as promised. Full disclosure, I made this all up as I went along.

In the past I’ve made diorama walls out of those trifold presentation foamboards, but I found they were prone to warping, never wanted to stand perfectly straight and weren’t quite tall enough for shots across the ‘room’. Not only that, they can’t support larger decor elements like draperies and photo frames. So here’s what I did, starting last summer.



From the fence pile, I salvaged the last of the 6+ foot 2x4s that weren’t totally rotten.



After some days, which involved assembly, realization my math was off, disassembly, reassembly and scrubbing before they came near my door, I had this thing in my basement. It’s four feet tall and 7ft by… almost 7ft.

My husband gawked. “That’s insane. I thought you were building a dollhouse.”
I said, “What part of ⅓ scale do you not understand?”

I thought I was so smart, because I’d left myself enough room around the outside to vacuum up spiders and set up lighting outside windows. Then I was struck with a major “nooooooo, DUH” realization concerning floor elevation and doorways (I’d been hoping to include two.)

Embarrassing. We live, we learn.

With a bit of help, I cut doorway openings out of the lower board and added vertical supports.

... This entire project has been a logic puzzle you have to invent the pieces for, full of tiny problems to be chewed over one after the other. The substance of the walls was no exception. Originally, pursuit of something I could drill into and from which I could hang things had me thinking plywood panels set within the frame. My husband insisted my pieces would warp, left upright like that on the basement floor. His suggestion was to let gravity (and my overbuilt monstrosity…) work in my favour and use a lighter-weight material suspended from the frame itself.

It took some searching to figure out what my intended product was called, but I finally bought three 4x8 sheets of ⅛" hardboard panel. It’s lightweight and wobbly and smooth on one side and rough on the other, meaning my panels won’t be reversible as I had once hoped, but the cost was low enough I’d be okay with paying again to do another room.

An intermission was then taken to have a baby. My mother, who has remodelled several houses and built sheds and all that, stayed with us for six weeks around that time and helped me with a few more ‘I feel like this should be obvious, but I don’t understand’ sort of problems, such as how do I cut said panels?

The answer was a skilsaw, with a piece of trim clamped to the material to serve as a guide, and scrap pieces of 2x4 slipped underneath to offer clearance for the blade. Again, these things seem so intimidating on the surface (just me? no?) but so obvious once you’ve done it. I watched videos and still wasn’t sure what it would look like in my own garage, so hopefully me saying this in plain terms helps someone else go do that thing they’ve been dreaming about.



Finally something I snapped a photo of–sorry for the wall of text.

Each wall was done in three segments so they could be easily handled and moved. The old fence gave up a few more boards I ripped down into strips, which I glued to the backs to help guard against warping. I would go on to drill holes at the top of each panel and drive nails into the frame from which to suspend them about 2mm off the floor. (Pre-drilling my holes to avoid cracking the hard old wood or bending up all my nails, another little tip there.)

I was stumped for a while trying to figure out spacing for foam panels vs doorways and windows. What would look good, what would be the least amount of trouble, what I had material for. My mother advised me to hang my foam panels from the centre and work to the corners, “Like they do with wallpaper.” Again, why didn't I think of that? Does ‘mom brain’ get worse the more kids you have? She's had four, what does that say about me?



I ordered some smaller square foam panels to combine with the ones previously purchased, and this is the result once partly cut apart, rearranged and peeled-and-stuck. Very glad I took the plunge to buy more pieces. These walls are very tall, and the end result will be about like 11-foot ceilings in our ‘world’. Grand!



Panels nearly all stuck and hung! Oh, I’m getting excited! The wrinkles from the improper shipping are still kinda noticeable, but not quite as bad as I had feared.

I had previously scaled the doorframes for standard door height, but I decided buildings with walls this high typically also have taller-than-standard doorways--and, because the three hardboard panels I purchased were so close to being enough material to go the distance, and if I just raised the door heights a little I could use the scrap from the centre fireplace area over the double doorway (behind the camera in this shot) and be done with it without needing to buy another 8 foot panel. The effect actually makes my fireplace look kind of small. I suppose I won't regret making the shelving units 90cm+ high after all.



As it turned out, I also had enough scrap hardboard to make decorative facings for the doors themselves. Plywood wouldn't have been my first choice for doors due to the texture, but A) I had it on hand already, and B) I had no idea what else to use that wouldn't be overly heavy. I could have covered the whole face, either in hardboard or drywall mud or something, but at this point I have been working on this project for one entire year and I just need it DONE so I can PLAY with it.



Sanded and filled and sanded again, just before painting. The doors are definitely one of those things I would have liked to get fancier with, but a great deal of my effort and time was spent just dremeling out all the slots for the hinges. That alone took the better part of two afternoons. And I just realized I still need to do it for the shelving unit bases.



I used a router against a clamped guide to cut out holes for windows. I then ripped down some scraps on the table saw to frame the inside of the windows. Here I am plotting the trim to surround the window. Another tip from mom to me to you–wrap painter’s tape around your more delicate pieces before cutting, to prevent splitting.

I'm not entirely sure what to use as window 'glass'. Suggestions welcome. For a view, some sort of tapestry with convincing lighting would probably be best. For now I suppose I will just hang a gauzy curtain. The first scene I plan to shoot takes place at night, so I am not too worried.

Just need trim for the doors as well, and a bit more foam paneling for the corners, and we'll be ready for paint!

 

Just a quick picture to show the current state of things. Panels, paint, windows given a sort of frame and trim. Doors are fully painted and hung (but not installed) and await their handles and trim. I ran out of foam paneling close to the end while finagling corners, but simply left some off where a large painting will hang over the fireplace and no one will be the wiser.

paint by Havilah00, on Flickr

All the walls are black except the window one. Looking in from the double doorway, minus the over-the-door piece which needed another coat of paint.

I'm super sad/torn about the floor, because what is there temporarily would have worked for a glossy white epoxy/polished concrete look. There was miscommunication between husband and I and the last of these panels from the shower remodel that would have gone the distance was taken to the dump some months ago. Argh!

Also, funny story. In looking at this photo, I have finally discovered the scene of a crime--where my 4-year-old had occasion to trim herself some truly spectacular bangs trying to 'look like mummy'. That'll teach me to leave scissors out. I'm impressed she went down to the basement by herself.

@Errantry Secret doors! Fantastic idea! Oh, if only I had time! ... How many arms do I have? Only two at the moment. Every waking moment is full and it's a constant battle with the mom guilt as to what I should prioritize. My 'newborn' is now four months old and this project is a year old... how did either of those things happen?

@Fushia Lace Now you can see the window size, about 11"x ... 30"-ish, idk, can't check right now. We replaced the windows on our house last year and most of the originals are still sitting under the deck for the dodgy thought of attempting to build a greenhouse. My husband suggested I cut out some glass for my project, but ooof, that intimidates me so much. Not sure how to get it out of the frame without breaking it...?

@RococoSpring, @saraquill, @chrstphrl, @CheshireCat - Sorry for the mass tag, I am rushing to throw up this post before my kids wake up. Thank you! Your comments really mean a lot to me and are so encouraging.

 

A wrap-up post at last.

The doors were hung in their frames. After weeks of shopping for the perfect door hardware, I ended up choosing these drawer pulls to be hung sideways as door handles. Just have to be mindful to swivel the handle out to look right for photos, but as a plus, they store better folded flat.

I gave my best attempt at crown molding out of scraps, made to ‘float’ off the frame so the doors would be removable while still covering seams in the wall panels when installed.




Here they were getting their final coats of paint while off to the right you can see the bases for the shelving units getting their knobs and hinges.



I began assembling the room. I’d had a few ideas about how to do the ceiling. I ended up using these pieces of 1”x0.75” also salvaged from the fence, with slits drilled in the ends so they friction fit onto the same nails suspending the wall panels. I did need to go back and paint that 1.25” strip all the way around as this method made the ceiling a smidge higher, but as I wanted a dark ceiling I didn't fuss about this too much.

You can see some of my lighting coming in - that Christmas light ball I had hanging around and wall sconces (mosquito coil holders with a hole drilled through, to hold a little battery-pack light). Anything on the wall is hung via a screw into a block of scrap wood on the back side of the panel, including hooks for my tiny curtain rods. I don’t have a detail photo at the window unfortunately, but they have little decorative knobs on the ends and everything.



The other missing detail was of course, fire! It is a computer monitor flipped upside-down, held in place by a 2x4 scrap screwed to the frame, and hooked to a laptop behind the wall. It does look greenish from extreme angles like this, but it’s nothing that can’t be tweaked in photo edits. At this point I was plagued with helpers who were very excited to play in the ‘little house’, so here’s a four-year-old for scale.

The fireplace received a ‘hearth’ with more of the same faux-marble tile used to make the coffee table. With more time, I would have liked to find some sort of iron screen to place at the base so the edge of the monitor is less obvious.

I wanted a fur rug for this room. Being both luxurious and dead, it’s very on brand for Mr. Perle. In my haste to get this workable, I had to settle for a handful of thrift store placemats arranged in a modular ‘rug’ shape.

The floor is still comprised of plastic shower wall panels. There is a 16” or so gap by the windows. I slapped down some printer paper so the colours wouldn’t be off and figured I could do my best to hide it in photos, and edit out the seams where I didn’t manage to avoid showing it.



The ceiling is a piece of black fabric. Even with just part of it on, the lighting changes dramatically. I love the gloomy effect of the shadows seeping down from above. You can see more of my thematically appropriate artwork, but I do wish I’d had time to order this one on an actual canvas. Not shown, I also have Saturn Devouring His Son and Caravaggio’s David with the Head of Goliath.



A nice daylight view. Lighting is the key to realism, I think!
(It was really bothering me that the wall outside was reflecting warm tan through the drapes. For a daylight scene I would have had to pin something up out there to keep the look consistently cool. I think a garden-scene tapestry is in my future.)



And darker tests while I was looking at lighting, angles and prop placement. Terrible cell phone pics, but at least you can get the idea.

When I do set this up again, I will be tweaking several items of decor, adding more art, hopefully a fireplace screen, and fixing the flooring gaps. The curtains still looked all... rumply and out of scale here. Didn't like that either.



My slapdash approach at the conclusion of this project was not only due to project exhaustion. It was official, after years of talking about it, we were finally moving… 1800km and across an international border, with three children four and under. I cannot properly articulate my stress level during that time.

But it’s all in the past. I am settled. This room has been dismantled and carefully preserved in storage for future enjoyment.

In the meantime, I am editing the results of the one photostory I managed to shoot–a few snaps at a time when everyone had gone to bed after each day of packing. Adding to the mental and physical exhaustion was the pressure to get the photos right, knowing it might be years before I had a place to set up again.

Please pardon me for taking my sweet time with the editing process. I’ll drop a link here when it’s done.



I want to thank you all for joining me on this journey. It is my hope you are inspired to set out on a quest of your own.