Grand French Curtains for the Dollhouse Salon

 

Dollhouse decor includes dressing the windows sometimes.

Window Treatments can make a room, especially if you are aiming for the palace look.

You need luxurious draperies with all kinds of details, and once again, I found inspiration

for my dollhouse curtains in Lea Frisoni's book The Big Book of a Miniature House.

Lea has a DIY section for making lots of French things, and one is her salon curtains,

that are even fancier than those that I made.  But I followed her instructions for the gilded 

cornice board, and it certainly added the French panache I was looking for.

The cornice has a gilded crown trim, and a gilded cameo in the center

that features an "antique" fabric.  I print up the old looking French florals

on my printer. ( One day I will do a post about the printer I use, as I did a lot

of research on what type of printer to use for the dollhouse fabrics and rugs,

and the type of ink your printer should use for best results. ) 

 The pale blue silk fabric was taken from a pair of draperies I had in my own house, and from which a remnant was made into a table runner, that I no longer use.  I had laundered the silk runner in the washing machine and it made it gather up in these tight wrinkles that are perfect for the rumpled gathers of a floor length curtain in an old manoir. The Cornice itself is a piece of heavy paper, and then a piece of wood is glued inside it to help keep its shape. To the outside the wooden crown molding pieces are glued, and finally the cameo is glued on top of that.  Lea has a different instruction, but essentially it is the same, and this was easier for me to achieve.  After building the 

cornice, I glued the silk curtains onto the inside of the cornice after measuring and trimming the length of the curtains so they would hit the floor.

I am very happy with the results, and I am grateful for the inspiration I 

found to create something special, that has my own twist and not an exact copy.

Creating a dollhouse is satisfying because by collecting and creating pieces, 

you make it a one of a kind, with your personal stamp.

 The other thing I had been trying to make from Lea's book were paper flowers.

These are not easy to make, and I am not quite satisfied with how they came out.

But I am happy enough to not keep trying!! These will just have to do!

 The process requires patience and that is a new skill I am learning.

Step after step and I finally had enough flowers completed to add to the

Mini Maison.  They bring the house to life I think, and are much better 

than the cheap ready made flowers for sale on miniature sites.

This is a random shot of the flowers placed on table tops, before the 

furniture had  been placed where I want it...but it gives you the idea of how

pretty a room looks with flowers, just like in real life!!