Previous Customers Photos of Her Furnished House

"Maria's Tudor Rose Apothecary"

I always love seeing what my customers have done with their houses and especially welcome receiving photos of them.

Maria's Tudor Rose at Miniatura Show March 2011.

The picture above shows the Tudor Rose house that was commissioned by a customer, Maria, who specifically requested the double height "|Great Hall" feature, and this was the first house I used it in and have now used it in almost all of the houses I have subsequently built. The house was a hybrid of my Deluxe Canterbury and Deluxe Rochester style houses, with the central stairs of the Canterbury being moved to the outside leading up to a first floor balcony as in the Rochester design, and being replaced with a hand painted Tudor Rose relief panel which was again Maria's choice and hence why she aptly named the house the "Tudor Rose".

I first met Maria back in December whilst exhibiting at the Kensington Dolls |House show where we briefly discussed what she was looking for. Over the coming months I started emailing her sketches of how I envisaged the house working, then on a regular basis throughout the build sent her emails containing photos showing it's progress.

The very first time Maria saw the completed house was when she walked into the hall at the NEC during the Miniatura show, and to this day I remember the look on her face and the bear hug she gave me to say thank you. Maria went on to explain that she had done research into the period and wanted to make it an Apothecary and was determined to make it as authentic as possible.

I delivered the house to her home a short while later and received the following photos in early February 2014, and can't believe its been 3 years since I delivered the house. It was fantastic at the time Maria first saw the house, then again when I delivered it and in a couple of emails since she has said it is her dream house but it was even better to receive the emails with these photos in with the following comment when I asked her if she minded me using these photos on my blog pages and my website:

" Hi Sure!!!! Use them wherever you want!!!! I am so proud of it!!!

I still have more to do but the rooms are all furnished and dolls sorted. i want to do more with the detail and fill the shelves etc with books and other items. More artwork I need to sort too!

I have learned a lot about the period so it wasn't just a matter of buying typical tudor period things but researching medieval times and studying in great detail the period.
I will send you more photos to update when I get more done!!!
Thank you so much for building my dream house!!!!! 
Maria"
Its seeing the results of the work and efforts that my customers put in after getting their houses that make all of my work so worth while and rewarding.

BEFORE

AFTER

Well done Maria it looks stunning.

WIRELESS PINHOLE CAMERA COMPLETE WITH TRANSMITTER AND 7" COLOUR FLAT SCREEN

WIRELESS CAMERA SYSTEM.

As well as the hidden speaker system I have recently built into a house I have also been working on a wireless camera system.

This package includes everything you need to be able to position the pinhole camera anywhere inside the house either on a tripod or with fixing putty etc, this then sends the picture signal to the transmitter which in turn is connected to the 7" colour flat screen also included in the package.

The transmitter can be connected to a variety of other devices including computers, full size televisions, smart phones and other hand held note pads etc.

With the appropriate cables and software to suit a customers hardware device it will be possible to capture still images and even print them off as photos.

This package gives you the capability of completely furnishing and dressing a house and then viewing it from the perspective of a person who is 6" tall who lives in the house. The signal will transmit for quite a few metres through the walls of the house so once positioned the front access panels can be replaced and the images viewed through them.

The quality of the images look far better than those I have included in the following photos because as most people know it is almost impossible to use one digital device to take a clear picture that is being transmitted and shown on a screen by another. 

This system can be used in anyones existing dolls house and I would be more than happy to supply the complete package for £125.00 inc P&P.

Please email me kjbc@hotmail.co.uk

CAMERA OVER MARKET FIREPLACE

CAMERA IN GREAT HALL LOOKING DOWN TO FIRE SURROUND

CAMERA ON BACK WALL LOOKING TOWARDS FRONT OF GREAT HALL

CAMERA SITTING ON PAVING OF MARKET LOOKING TOWARDS BACK WALL

Latest Market House Commissioned By Customer With Undercover Market And Additional Add On Area To The Side

Latest Market Style House.

I was recently commissioned by a customer to build her a house which was based on my Deluxe Rochester style house but which had an under cover market beneath it and due to the fact that she had a restricted depth in which to display the house she requested an additional walled market area to the side of the house. the resulting house, which she named "Ye Olde Market House" is featured here.

The area of walled market to the left of the house when viewed from the front, has the same Tudor herringbone brickwork plinth as the main house with a dummy gothic door at the back. It has 2 additional medieval style wall lights on the back wall which are connected to the remote control system via a 2 pin plug so if at anytime it needs to be disconnected and moved its a simple job to do. This also means that it can be used as a stand alone room box if at some point she wants to accessorise it and display it elsewhere.

This house also features a double sided fire place on the ground floor which opens out to the undercover market and the additional market area to the side complete with a spit roasting pig. On the undercover market side I have clad the fireplace wall with a large area of herringbone brickwork using individual realistic Tudor scaled brick slips. As for all other electrical elements of the house this fire is also controlled via the remote control system.

                        

The roof of the undercover market is also very ornate being divided into a grid of square posts and beams with decorative mouldings to the underside of the beams and approx 80 hand made support brackets forming the post supports and the ceiling roses where the roof beams intersect.

The house also features one of the smoking chimney units adding real character to it.

The house has feature support beams and decorative brackets to all external areas and has another couple of wall lights fitted to the first floor external side balcony.

The inside of the house was as painstakingly created as the outside with real oak panelling to two of the upper rooms complete with raised centre panels. Because I have used a cavity wall design for the external and dividing walls it means that they are a substantial 1" (25mm) thick it gives the house a  really good substantial appearance. This is best appreciated when viewing through the windows or door ways between one room and another. It means that there is now a really generous window sill on which accessories can be placed.

The additional area of market provides space to create a lovely street scene. I wanted to make this area about twice as wide as it is but the customer was tight for space so I had to keep it to about 300mm wide.

ANYONE INTERESTED IN ORDERING A HOUSE SIMILAR TO THIS PLEASE CONTACT ME. kjbc@hotmail.co.uk

REMOTE CONTROLLED SMOKING CHIMNEY

Remote Controlled Smoking Chimney

Its taken me a while to transfer files to enable me to upload videos to my blog, but at last I have managed to add the video clip of my first working smoking chimney which is controlled via the remote control system I have installed in the house.

Its a fairly lengthy process feeding the wire all the way from the back of the house from the base all the way through to the top of the chimney but as the unit itself is only about £15.00 for me to buy I think it is such a nice addition that I am planning on installing it on all of my houses from now on and to date have done so in a total of 4 houses.

Oh what to think of to add next, any suggestions?

"The Olde Curiosity Shoppe"

"The Olde Curiosity Shoppe"

The "Olde Curiosity Shoppe" may be small in stature but its absolutely packed with details and features including for the very first time a house with hidden built in micro speakers that can be connected to an MP3 player.

The house sits on a base approx 20" x 20" and is about 36" high.

It is the first house I have built that is only 3 storeys high instead of the usual 4 but this in no way means that it is not big on character.

Some of the features it includes are:

Remote controlled electrics

2 Working fires

Smoking chimney

Projecting 4 panel feature window to first floor

Brick plinth with Tudor herringbone brickwork

Pot hanging rail over ground floor fire complete with 6 hooks

Mouseholes complete with 2 mice

3 Bulb chandelier

Dormer window

Removable internal staircases

Hand sculpted roofing and paving.

Bay fronted shop window with real scalloped lead flashing

Double arched feature gable window

2 Hanging signs

2 Hanging baskets

All light fitting bulbs are replaceable

3 Built in micro speakers complete with an MP3 player

So you can see that even though its a smaller house than I usually build it has more features built into it than some of the larger ones.

Ground and First Floor Rooms

Bay Fronted Shop Window with Real Scalloped Lead Flashing

Front Elevation of House

The main feature to this house is the sound system that I have built into it. There are 3 hidden micro speakers which can be connected to an MP3 player or similar device via the 3 audio sockets built into the brickwork plinth. They are on separate circuits so you can play music or sound effects either through 1,2, or all 3 of them or by adding more than one device you can play different sound tracks in different rooms. You may have the ground floor set up as a pub and play crowd noises in there, the 1st floor could be a music room with medieval minstrel music playing. I have even included an MP3 player and all of the necessary leads so that you are ready to go.

All of this is available for what I think is a very reasonable price of:

£1500.00

SMOKING CHIMNEY

SMOKING CHIMNEY

 

I HAVE NOW COMPLETED A COUPLE OF HOUSES WITH THE REMOTE CONTROLLED SMOKING CHIMNEY UNITS BUILT INTO THEM AND WHILST IT IS A BIT OF A NIGHTMARE TRAILING THE WIRES ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE CAVITY WALLS OF THE HOUSE FROM THE START TO THE FINISH I DEFINITELY THINK IT IS WORTH THE EFFORT.

 

 

THIS IS A PHOTO OF THE SMOKING CHIMNEY WORKING ON THE LATEST HOUSE I HAVE JUST FINISHED FOR A CUSTOMER AND AS SOON AS I CAN WORK OUT HOW TO UPLOAD A VIDEO USING WINDOWS 8 I WILL DO.

 

THIS HOUSE IS CALLED A "SPECIAL DELUXE ROCHESTER" AS IT WAS SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED TO HAVE A MARKET AREA BENEATH IT AND AN ADDITIONAL DETACHABLE MARKET AREA TO THE SIDE OF IT. I WILL BE PUBLISHING THE FULL DETAILS OF THE HOUSE ON THE BLOG SOMETIME NEXT WEEK. IN THE MEANTIME HERE IS A PHOTO OF THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE.

 

 



KEEP AN EYE OUT

I haven't updated my blog for a while but intend to start doing so shortly.

I've recently developed some new ideas and features, the most exciting being the remote controlled smoking chimney, and will be posting further details shortly.

Once I have completed the commission I am working on now I will be starting the build of what I intend to be the most exciting house so far complete with sound effects and built in camera, so please bear with me and keep an eye out for more news.

Many Thanks,

Kevin