Huyze Herkert, morning room: the walls and the ceiling

During the months I spent waiting for the cabinet that would include my dollhouse to be installed, I chose wallpaper for each room. It needed to reflect the Victorians' love of rich colours and elaborate patterns. On top of that, I wanted the colours to be well balanced throughout the house and to create a harmonious whole. Unlike a real house, after all, every room in a dollhouse can be seen at the same time.

I browsed through hundreds of wallpaper designs online, made selections, reached decisions—and changed my mind at least ten times before I was finally satisfied. I then had all the wallpaper for every room printed on heavyweight paper at a local print shop. All that remained, I thought, was to cut it to size and add the wainscoting.

My, oh my... how wrong I was!

This was going to be the wallpaper for the morning room, with a ‘wainscoting’ made from a leftover piece of the dark green wallpaper we used in our real bedroom.

But as soon as I tested it in the morning room, it just didn't feel right.

At the DIY store, I found samples of a light green wallpaper that paired beautifully with the dark green one. I matched the colours of my rug to it. Even so, I couldn't bring myself to part with the bird wallpaper. By then, parrots had become something of a theme in the room! So I came up with the following solution (This was also the first time I used my miniature mitre saw—and oh, how wonderfully relaxing and satisfying I find sawing!).

I thought this looked so much better! That is, until I made the desk and realized it completely disappeared against such a busy background. I thought the piece of furniture was far too beautiful for that. Then again, I had already invested so many hours in sawing the decorative mouldings, painting them, and cutting all the panels. Perhaps toning everything down a little would help?

It only made things worse... (At this point, I have to admit, my heart really sank.)

The Victorians may have believed that more is more, but after much deliberation I acknowledged that I genuinely liked the plain light green wallpaper. It was time to let go of the parrot wallpaper.

I still tried all sorts of ideas to give the wallpaper some pattern. I tested a stamp with gold ink. I tried a watermark stamp. (Neither worked because of the wallpaper's texture.) I experimented with Dresden paper ornaments. And then I decided enough was enough.

So it looks as though this is what the morning room will look like after all:

I will add paintings and the corner above the fireplace is busy enough as it is. I bought the laser-cut wooden frames at a fair, gave them a coat of gold paint, and added mirrors. The wall shelf between them is made from 2 mm thick heavy cardboard, coffee stirrers, model boat railings, and a strip of molding along the bottom.

There will eventually be a decorative cornice where the walls meet the ceiling, but I can't install it just yet (which conveniently allows me to postpone deciding what colour to paint it!). First, I need to cut the grooves for the electrical wiring before I can permanently fix the floor and walls in place.

The ceiling has been another real headache by the way. At the moment, it looks like this:

For the design, I took inspiration from the ornate scrollwork around the mirror frames. But will this be the final version? (Perhaps I can do more with it than this?) Only time will tell...