Saturday 29 July 2017

Music Room - A trim too far?

It is strange the things you get up to trying to avoid watching paint dry.  I am painting the various trims to go in the music room, all twelve of them, so there is a lot of waiting time between coats drying.

So, meanwhile, I pondered how to pretty up the music room without it getting too decorative - bit of a contradiction.  I have ended up with a very plain room - just as in my real life.  On the one hand I validate it by saying this is how I would live there and that Elizabeth is my alter ego in my dream life so why not follow that path; then, on the other hand, making minis is a way to escape your real life and real self and do something else.


Back to the overly plain room.... how about a decorative ceiling.  I did lots of gandering around the web looking at Georgian/Regency/Adam ceilings and, boy, were they over the top.  Very beautiful but not what I was looking for.  So, starting with a memory of some laser work I had seen somewhere and the idea of keeping it angular (to go with the dental trim) I doodled around on some graph paper.





thoughts become concrete

How to make it (?) not sure cardboard would work, lets try coffee stirrers....


made more concrete
Here is the finished product - a bit inelegant but you get the idea.

spot the missing bit

In this room I would need two of these to define each area.  The room is a combined original room plus a space that was once divided off for a staircase.  The position of the windows make my larger room sort of offset still with a larger and smaller portion.  It works fine and rooms were often like this.  The main part of the room will divide again into two as there will be two ceiling lights, one either side of the ireplace.  I measured and fiddled the paper and stirrers up on to the ceiling along with a light and tried to imagine another to the right of it.  My plain brain screamed, " Too fussy, too fussy"


Do I like you?

How about if I  paint you white and cut you out?


Still probably too much for my plain room.

So, I wandered around the house.... no use in the dining room or sitting room unless I put one in each as the rooms are - one on the left of the hall and one on the right of the hall and it sorts of knocks them off symmetry.   That left the hall......... 


winky-wonky


It is a bit winky-wonky and either the light is off centre, or my home made 'plaster-work' leaves something to be desired as it won't quite centre itself nicely.  It has set me off wanting one (or two) proper ones though for somewhere.

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Hey Presto - ordered from Dolls House Direct.  Now the big debates begin.....

.......small set diagonally, small set square on, two pairs in music room for each light in there, one in dining room and one in sitting room, one in the hall and none in the other rooms, none at all.....  see how my poor festering brain dashes around getting no where.





First I made a template of the ceiling using a wallpaper sample



Then spent ages deciding on best place for them





I balanced the lights where they would go, took a photo and spun the photo upside down so I could get an idea of what they would look like suspended.......  OK that was eleven squid wasted - just don't like the idea any more - find it too fussy for a room I intend to keep sparse for paintings and they drown the puny lights.  (ceiling too low for grand lights)






(18/5/17)

11 comments:

  1. What about something very simple in each corner? Nothing that stands out a lot, just like thick paper painted to look like plaster. It would give you a bit of detail but you wouldn't have anything competing with the lights.

    You could do something that looks a bit like knotwork around the border of the ceiling and leave the middle alone.

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    1. Goof thinking Batman! I will definitely play around with that idea. Thank you. Marilyn

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  2. I like the the new ceiling trims in the hall Marilyn, it certainly looks like it fits in with the simplicity of the crown moulding, and I love the pattern too.
    Although I can see your current dilemma regarding what to do with the music room, I feel that the two floating medallions are disassociated with each other and need to somehow connect to the perimeters of the rest of the ceiling.
    Perhaps by turning them diagonally they would look better than square on?

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    1. Thanks Elizabeth something as simple as that might just be the answer - I will give it a go and let you know how it turns out. Marilyn

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  3. Maybe you could ditch the larger squares and just use the smaller ones? Like ceiling roses but not as fancy. Elizabeth's suggestion of turning them 46 degrees might help too.

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    1. This is why the blog is useful - tons of talented people with good ideas - another one to have a crack at. Thank you, Marilyn

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  4. This post is the very reason I love your blog. So interesting and all of us can see, and identify with, your thought process. I think you're on to something. For your music room is there a way you could create one large ceiling encompassing both lights rather than 2 small ones?

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    1. Sadly that was my original plan - one lovely decent sized chandelier but then realised the room isn't tall enough so I am stuck with a couple of squidgy little puny lights, certainly not my intention, now its a matter of how best to cover all the compromises. This is the room I am going to be least happy with as nothing was how I intended it. I had toppers for the doors, lovely coving anf the plan of a grand light and I end up with none of those..... Marilyn

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  5. Hello Marilyn,
    I am sorry you don't like the effect of the music room ceiling. Did you ever consider coffering the ceiling and using the purchased pieces in the squares created by coffering. I think the geometry of coffering might not be as fussy. Either way I know you will figure it out...because you always do. I also like the hallway very much.
    Big hug
    Giac

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    1. Thanks Giac. I had grand plans for this room - nice lights, wonderful bespoke coving - which now lies useless in a box and coffering would have been lovely..........but, being a complete idiot I never thought to consider the height of the room - it is 8.5 inches and won't take anything!! I am trying really hard to just accept it and plod on and look forward to making the top floor apartment next. I am just hoping a few nice pictures may make it OK. Ever the optimist. Marilyn

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