Update on the cottage (at last)

I haven't been able to write any blogs the previous month, because I was preparing for NaNoWriMo. It started last week, so no crafting untill December, only writing ;)
The Hogsmeade cottage is still on my mind though, since it appeared in my story long before I began making miniatures. So a lot of new scenes about Bianca and Penny (amongst other things) will be written this month.
I'd reached the daily goal of 10.000 words early yesterday, so I decided to write one or more of the blogs that were overdue ;)

I'll start with a couple of things I've done in the living room since the last update.
One of the things I should have done before placing the fire place was making curtains for the little window at the back.
Knowing it would be a tiresome job was probably why it took me awhile to continue with the living room in the first place ;)

While looking for a good way to make the curtains, I found this tutorial for curtains with sewn on rings by Kendra's Minis. It just seemed a match for Bianca's home :)
So I started by making the curtain rod from two beads and a skewer. And for the brackets I used small spiral parts of a laser cut wooden ornament.

I painted the skewer black, and used bronze patina on the other parts. Of course I only glued one bead to the rod, because I still had to make the curtains ;)

Attachting the curtain rod brackets to the wall was as difficult as I imagined :')
I had to remove the fire place and therefore the ceiling with the beams and the wooden floor.

But I persevered ;) The rod is - obviously - removable so I can hang the curtains at a later date.

Having to remove the ceiling and flooring also gave me the opportunity to add the mini LED light strip I'd purchased at the fair at the back of one of the beams. It took me quite some time but especially the added light at the back of the room was worth it.

I used the vener slats from Bibian Angelique Miltkau as skirting boards and to cover the front view of the floor and ceiling.

Then it was time for the curtains. I'd found some nice fabric and - following Kendra's tutorial - I only needed to decided what look I'd prefer for the cottage livingroom; with or without curtain tie back. I think it will be without :)

I couldn't take a good photo from the inside (window) but apart of a window sill it would look like this;

Unfortunately the rod brackets on the inside were placed a bit higher, so the curtains ended up being 1 cm too short.

So that'll be my next task for the living room.

But first - after this writing month - I'll finish the little autumn scene we've been working on with the mini club and then I probably want to do something for Christmas, so yeah ... next year, I guess ;)