Beach House - 2010

Many of these items as well as house are for sale. If anyone is curious just shoot me an email! auraleakrieger@gmail.com

2011

So I have finally finished my beach house enough to share it with the world! Our houses are never really finished are they? The porch was featured in a previous issue so we will look around the inside this time. I always had a dream about having a beach house of my own. This may be as close as I ever get, so I had lots of fun decorated it. Feeling a bit more ambitious with this house I decided to create my own residents. This is the first time I have sculpted, wigged and dresses the little people who live in the house. Part of the fun for me is the story behind the houses I make. As you may know, while you are building your mini house your mind starts to create the personalities of the individuals that reside there. With that in mind, I thought it might be fun if the resident gave you the tour instead of me. So I will let the lady of the house, Sally, show you around.

Welcome to my home. My name is Sally and I look forward to giving you a tour of my beach house. First off, the irony that my name is Sally and I live on the seashore has not been lost on me! I live here with my two daughters and our dog, Mr. Bubbles. I am recently single, but please don’t feel sorry for me. I now have this beautiful home on the beach and have also recently met the love of my life while taking Mr. Bubbles to the vet! My oldest daughter, Kate, gave him that name because when we walk along the beach he likes to chases the bubbles from the waves as they come to shore. 

Lets go into the living room. The photos on the wall are pictures I took years ago of the girls.   We spend a lot of time in here reading, watching movies and playing games. I have been collecting glass sculptures for a while and have finally found a beautiful cabinet to display them.Eliza, my youngest, loves it when I take them out and let her touch them and hold them up to the sun light. Every Sunday, Kate and I sit at our desk and write a letter to her grandmother to let her know how we are.  I just love my seashell armchair. I upholstered it myself and am very happy with how it turned out. Overall, this room make me very happy and grateful that I have such a beautiful home.

I reupholstered the chair and sofa.

Finally I have a place to display all the tiny glass animals I have been collecting!

I sculpted Kate as well as the other dolls with polymer clay then wigged and dressed them.

The girls and I have made what once was only our summer home into our only home. I am excited to show you around. In the foyer, I have an entire wall to display my beach hat collection. Every morning, with Mr. Bubbles help, Kate has to find the perfect hat to match her outfit for the day. The laundry room is just behind Kate. Not much to see there, other then a slew of unfinished chores. 

Little Eliza likes to be in the kitchen with me while I cook. We tend to sing a lot while cooking. She sings into her spoon which is so much better then her beating the spoon on a pot! I am making special pastries today to take to my art group meeting. Then later, my someone special is coming over for a big Sunday dinner with the girls and I. The dish set was a recent find at a local shop and this is the perfect occasion to use them. They make me happy whenever I look at them. Isn’t that what its all about?

The pink and gray room is Eliza’s room. The girls just love teddy bears so we have a loads of them. The border around the room is covered in sweet little whales and there is a crystal wind chime in the window that reflects sun light all over the walls in the morning.

Lets go upstairs and see the hall. I have a nice antique table to put a bowl of starfish on. The candle scones on the wall are silver sea turtles which I painted brown. The candle looks like a giant bead with black string glued in it, interesting? The fish is a wood carving that was hand painted. I am still searching for the perfect hall rug.

My bathroom is my most favorite room in the house. It was a challenge to only decorate it in black and white, but so worth it. I made the little sink skirt and found the giant sea horse at a craft store, then painted it. The wallpaper is actually fabric. I have some little black and white soaps in the basket on the tub. The hand painted toilet seat was done with a white gel pen to add a little whimsy to the room. The wood floors are playfully distressed. All that’s left to do is to find some fun throw rugs.

The hall/bathroom wall is removable incase I needed to get to the hall.

This is my blue bedroom. I made all the quilts in the house myself, as well as the curtains. I also upholstered the chair. The colors are calm and fresh so I always get a good night sleep in here.

I took stock photos and ran watercolor filters on them in Adobe Photoshop so they would look like paintings.

On the third floor are Kate’s room and my art studio. The girls color and play cards on the floor while I paint. It is usually much more messy, but I cleaned up for our tour.

Kate’s room was fun to make especially the bunny slippers! They were sculpted with clay.

 

Kate’s room is a nice big space. She has two beds for when her friends stay over. Purple is her favorite color. She just loves her homemade purple bunny slippers. The rug in this room looks like a giant hand towel doesn’t it? With lots of wall stickers and throw pillows, this a great space for a young girl.

So that’s it. I hope you had fun. We have to pack a picnic basket and get ready for our trip to the beach now. You are more than welcome to join us if you like. Thank you so much for stopping by, it was my pleasure to show you around.
 ---------

Some quick tips in staging your house for photographs. Lighting is the most important accent that will showcase the mood you are trying to portray.

I placed small desk lamps outside the windows of each room as I took the photos. This way, it gave the illusion of sunshine pouring in. Another great tool is wax. To get Kate to stand on that stool and lean on the wall, I put a tiny piece of wax under her foot and hand. I use it under all the bottles, cups and frames. It’s also great to make small towels or fabric stay flat. Although, for the beds, I used a hot glue gun to get the blankets to stay in place. Gluing down one layer at a time, starting with the sheet underneath. A small knitting needle helped me to adjust the dolls hair without having to reach in and knock everything over. Also, of course, a long pair of tweezers to get everything just so. I did use fabric for the bathroom wallpaper because no matter how much I searched, I couldn’t find a paper that I was happy with. Spray mount was used to adhere it to the wall. Double sided clear tape holds the sink skirt onto the sink beautifully. Now if only I could use my shrinking machine and walk into the front door of this house and relax!