I hope you are all doing well and enjoying a nice summer. Thank you for your great feedback on my last post, I really appreciate your comments. Since the earl's bedroom I have finished renovating the breakfast room.
I know many of you really liked the first breakfast room. Don't worry Elizabeth, it is safely tucked away and I plan on using it as a room box. I loved the room, but several things really bothered me. Firstly, the space was tight and people could not walk around the table if others were seated. Secondly, Betsy, you were right, seeing the room only through the doors and windows was driving me crazy. It was impossible to see all the detail. Thirdly, there was not enough wall space for a decent sideboard and servers. The room was originally going to be a loggia...
...but I decided I wanted more interior space and closed it up to make a breakfast room. Every time I change an existing room it winds up being too small!
I built a new structure which , I think, has much better proportions then the original. Here are more pictures of the new room.
The room was inspired by the breakfast room at The Elms. It is wider, deeper and taller then the original room and makes much more sense now. Breakfast was served on a sideboard and people would go make their plates and sit down. The space is now large enough for diners and staff to move around comfortably.
Walls
I studied the breakfast room at The Elms a little more carefully this time. I started by planning out the main elements of the walls.
When I was pleased with the proportions of the room, I faux finished the illustration board wall panels and had a test run.
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| The fireplace in the picture was transferred to the earl's bedroom |
The fireplace wall gave me a hard time. Originally I cut out an opening for symmetry ans was going to make a closet. I realized I didn't like that...of course I realised this after it was glued in and the ceiling cornice was in place! I cut and tore off the right side of the fireplace wall and recut a new one, this time creating a built in shelf. I put it in place and realised the shelves would only be 5/8 in deep. Not terrible, but not right in a room this size. Finally I cut another piece and just added a lacquer chinoiserie panel.
Floor
The floor is a copy of the original breakfast room floor. I really like the pattern so I just started over on a bigger floor template.
As usual, I drew out one panel, photocopied it several times and used that as a template to cut the iron on wood pieces.
Molding
All the molding was painted faux walnut, but I decided to add a little gold accent on each strip. It took forever! The faux walnut technique is made with oil paints, so I had to use metallic gold oil paint to detail the trim. It was so long to do and you all know how much I dislike painting, but in the end I am happy with the results.
In the above picture, I used a piece of illustration board to keep the height of the chair rail steady around the room. The gold detail is very subtle but stands out nicely when light. The gold oil paint took 2 weeks to dry completely.
Ceiling
The ceiling was painted a warm white. I purchased Sue Cook cornice C2, pre painted each piece with the ceiling paint and highlighted the detail in gold. I must have been tired or clumsy when I was cutting the cornice because all my cuts were off and the plasterwork crumbled.
I had to cover large gaps with wood filler, re-carve the detail in the cornice to the best of my ability, paint it white (picture above) and re-paint the gold highlights.
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| The chandelier is the Antoinette from the Getzans |
Fireplace and niche marbling
I was pleased with the look of the fireplace against the walnut. Here is a closer view.
Chinoiserie lacquer panels
I believe I mentioned I hate painting. the main reason I hate it so is because I never get the painting to look the way I want it to. I took a lot of time prepping the panels. I cut out the illustration board to size, painted them black, glazed them with the same spray I used for the marble effect, sanded it with 600 sandpaper and buffed it with a 0000 steel wool. I repeated the painting , sanding and buffing 5 timed to get it perfectly smooth. I then prepared my paint and took out some pictures of chinoiserie panels. I stared at them and the panels in the first breakfast room for about an hour, then decided I was fighting a losing battle.
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| The statue is a bit small for the niche, but it is all I had at hand |
What you see in the picture above are pictures I found of a panelled chest lid. I cut them out, glued them on my perfectly smooth black illustration board panels with rubber cement and sprayed on 5 coats of glaze. I looked at some hand painted chinoiserie miniatures I have and the brush strokes just don't look like realistic lacquer panels. I am really happy with the end result. Here is a picture of how all the elements came together
It took me a week to decide what color I wanted the painted tiles of the fireplace insert. Sue Cook was very helpful sending pictures back and forth. The mirror above is also from her catalogue.
Curtains
I use the Pretty Pleater to make my curtains. It usually goes well, however I failed to realize the pleater is 10 1/2 inches long and my windows are 12 inches high. I pleated the central area of the gold colored raw silk, but I still had to pin the folds down on a piece of foam core board to get the pleats to go all the way down.
The pelmets are illustration board to which I glued on the silk with The Ultimate Glue and then I added the white lace trim with Aleene's tacky glue
And with that, construction was complete.
I am happy I decided to redo the room. The larger room, especially height wise, fits much better with the rest of the manor.
Furniture
The most important piece was the sideboard to display the breakfast food. I purchased a French console table from Allison Davies. The carved detail in her piece is amazing, but the chestnut finish was lost against the walnut walls, so I gilded carvings in the base and marbled the top so the table would stand out.
Again I placed the paints in order from left to right.
It stands out beautifully now. Below is a close up of the breakfast. The fried eggs were purchased at Ananda in Barcelona on our last trip and the crumpets and silver were purchased at the Montreal show.
I used the same table and displayed the Imperial cherry blossom dinner set I commissioned from Julie at Westwinds miniatures a while ago. The gorgeous flower arrangement was made from Martha Mclean. I think I need better cutlery though.
And that was it for the breakfast room.
Birthday present
May second was my birthday and I got a Randall Zadar figurine called The Golden Age from Jo and my family.
I love my birthdays and planned on supper and doing things I love to do for a whole week...however this birthday was spent taking care of Ozzy who broke his knee doing god only knows what. He had surgery on the 3d of May and is much better now, but the 3 weeks after the operations were difficult and I got very little sleep. No the best birthday, but since next year is my 40th I'll just have to make up for it.
And that is all for now my friends. The past few rooms have been inspired by some of my favorite places: The earls office and breakfast room by The Elms, the countess' bedroom by Rosecliff, the earl's bedroom by Chatsworth, and next time we will travel to the Royal Pavilion in Brighton for the countess's study.
I just want to welcome new followers and thank those of you who have been following me for a while. For some reason I often have a hard time accessing new followers' blogs, so if I am not following you please let me know, it is not intentional.
Big hug to all,
Giac
