The formatting of this blog post may seem so familiar that you'll think I published the same one twice - or three times - and that's very nearly true. This post covers the third and final bedroom in Villa del Vigneto, along with the roof that I've been working on since the first bedroom was started. But I finished up both projects during the month of April, which brings me SO CLOSE to the end of this build.
THE THIRD BEDROOM
This bedroom belongs to the fifteen-year old daughter of the villa's owners. She's a somewhat studious young girl, who, like the other family members, loves music and animals.
I began, as usual, with various pieces of furniture that I thought would fit in this smallest of the villa's three bedrooms; then I chose a color scheme and fabrics to use in the room. But I forgot to take a photo of the original furniture pieces arranged in the room!
Actually, this chandelier that hangs in the room decided the color scheme. I love the soft coral color of the light, and it seemed fitting to use variations of the color in this room.
MAKING (OVER) THE BED
This small bed was another Nebraska Junk Jaunt find several years ago. I bought it for the French Farmhouse but decided that the shape would fit better in the villa, so I saved it and bought Etienne, the farm boy, a rustic bed for his barn room. (You're probably wondering what could be more rustic than this rough bed!)
There were no markings at all on the bed, so it's probably homemade. A lot of sanding was required, but the finish was still rough.
I found one of these cherub appliques in a box of estate sale items, but I needed two; I bought another one online. This photo shows one of the appliques painted "Crushed Coral" for use on the bed frame. I painted both appliques with the coral paint, then dry-brushed "Oyster White" over the coral.
I painted the bed "Oyster White," then glued the appliques to the headboard and footboard.
I wrapped a foam mattress in a felt-like fabric to soften the edges, then glued the mattress to the bed so that it couldn't slip. The heavy hound is holding down the mattress while the glue dries.
While rummaging through my fabric bin, I came across some forgotten embroidered ends of old worn-out pillow cases. I had cut off the embroidered parts and saved them. The scale and color were just right to trim the bedspread. I cut the crocheted edging off an old, never-worn sage green scarf and used that as part of the trim as well.
I also found an old coral-colored cotton napkin with a satin-stitched edge, so I cut off the stitched edge and used it as a third layer of trim. It's so exciting when different elements just come together seemingly of their own accord! I didn't even need to plan the bedspread. This photo shows the triple layered trim pieces that will be the bottom border of the bedspread. I glued all the pieces together instead of stitching; I felt that I had more control with glue, since all the edges needed to be precise. (I haven't mastered precision sewing in miniature!)
Here is the finished bedspread with its border trim. I bought the lace-trimmed pillow and pillow case, but I added a bit of the green crocheted edging.
THE WARDROBE THAT WASN'T
I ordered this unfinished wardrobe from an online source, assuming that there would be space inside to hang clothing. I was wrong, as you'll see in another photo. I decided to keep it anyway, rather than try to find another.
A couple of coats of sage green paint, a little sanding of edges to show wear, some colorful stenciling, and new door pulls changed the looks of this piece.
The "wardrobe" has shelves, but no hanging space. I hope this young occupant doesn't mind folding her nice dresses and bundling them onto the shelves. Perhaps I'll find her a new wardrobe soon so that she won't always appear in wrinkled clothing.
THE UNFINISHED DESK AND THE SERENDIPITOUS CHAIR
This walnut chair is by Bespaq, and the beautiful unfinished desk (or dressing table) is from Villaminiature.
I painted the desk the same sage green as the wardrobe, and made new drawer pulls by inserting a cut-off white pin into the center of a flower-shaped bead.
I love these serendipitous moments! I had planned to use coral fabric paint on the chair's light upholstery, but I didn't much like the dark finish on the wood chair frame either. I thought I would paint it, but I wasn't sure what color I wanted. A quandary. I decided to sand the wood just a little and maybe apply a lighter wood stain. But when I started sanding, a wonderful thing happened! A beautiful coral color appeared in the ridges of the chair that highlighted all the detail - and the dark stain looked lighter. It looked perfect. BUT THEN I realized that the "sanding dust" that had come off the chair as I sanded had been scattered across the seat and back of the chair and turned the upholstery a pale coral color! It looked good, but it wasn't quite dark enough to really show up. I didn't have any more sanding dust, so I searched around for some other material that would be sort of dust-like. And I remembered some old cosmetic powder blush that I had put in my stash. I brushed blush on the chair's upholstered parts and got perfect results - much better than paint, which would probably have covered the striped detail on the fabric. That was SO MUCH FUN!
I love this chair and desk.
TURNING THE TABLE
I chose this table from my stash because it's small and doesn't take up much physical or visual space. But it wasn't exactly pretty, and there was certainly nothing very youthful about it.
So I searched through my "embellishment" bin and found these elements.
I glued the rose-shaped beads onto the top and bottom of the table's center support, then added a short length of bead chain.
I painted the entire assemblage with "Oyster White" paint, added satin varnish, and dry-brushed on a bit of "Crushed Coral" to highlight the rose beads.
Now the table looks more suitable for the room of a young girl!
A BENCH FOR THE BED END
This is the piano bench that I couldn't use because it obscured too much of the piano. It has a nice shape, and I needed a bench for the girl's room. But the black leather pad had to go.
I removed the black pad and sanded the wood top, adding a bit of Maple Gel Stain. I stitched a new pad and filled it with a thin piece of batting. The cording was meant to tie the pad onto the bench and wrap around the legs of the bench. But that looked really bad.
Because I had used glue to attach the knots of the cording, I couldn't remove the cord ties without damaging the whole pad. So I cut the ties off as close to the knots as I could manage and dabbed a little coral paint into the center of the knots - creating a "rosette" effect. (If you don't look too closely.)
RANDOM VIEWS OF THE THIRD BEDROOM
THE ROMAN TILE ROOF - FINISHED AT LAST!
This photo shows the front view of the villa's completed tile roof, along with the chimney caps, before the "aging" process. I had just barely enough tiles to finish up. I had to reluctantly use a few more of the white tiles, making an even number of 1350 tiles, including both flat and curved ones. I also filled in the end tiles with mortar to help prevent wind and water damage - and to prevent birds and rodents from nesting in the tiles.
I stippled on various shades of paint to age the tiles, including Heritage Brick, Terra Cotta, Pueblo, Terra Coral, Traditional Burnt Sienna, Dark Chocolate, Yellow Ochre, Cable Knit Grey, and White.
This is the back view of the COMPLETED tile roof. So that long and arduous task is over and done with, and I'm satisfied with the roof - and thankful that I won't need to bake any more clay tiles.
(Not for a long while, anyway.)
There remains only one more blog post for Villa del Vigneto. I will spend most of the month of May, quite appropriately, preparing many pots of flowers to brighten the balconies, walls, and other outdoor areas of the villa. There will be time as well to put the downstairs rooms back together. You may recall that those rooms were complete with furniture and accessories before I began to build the second level rooms but were dismantled to avoid dust and damage. Now it's time for them to be reassembled, with only a few very minor changes to be made. I hope you'll stop by next month to see the final touches to Villa del Vigneto.
ENJOY THE FLOWERS OF MAY!
