Lavender Fields Forever

There is a reason I know I am excited about sharing this project with you. After working on this blog post for about a week, adding details, writing out directions on the things I wanted to highlight, adding all of my Alpha Stamp product links, and being happy that I finished ahead of time, do you know what happened? I will tell you what happened. I lost it, the whole damn post, poof, gone! I tried for over an hour to recover it and then just had to go outside and breathe for a bit. Luckily the star gazing calmed me down. But even though I have to start all over again, I'm still really excited to share my work.

I was shown these gorgeous Vintage Lavender 12x12 Papers and my imagination just went nuts. It was even more intense when I saw the matching Rice Papers (full supply link list below). I suddenly saw my dream bathroom that my husband and I have already planned out, and decided to make a miniature with an 8x10 Room Box With Curved Façade. The room would focus on the view of the lavender fields out of a huge old window.

Obviously it had to have an old bathtub and pedestal sink. 

I love how it came out!

The wallpaper, floor tile, ceiling, molding, sink tile, window seat, sides and back all came from the Vintage Lavender Paper Pack. 

I have always been a fan of toile patterns. I wanted the outside of my Room Box to display the beauty of this toile paper. And the young lady holding a huge bundle of lavender, yep, came again from the same papers. 

But now, I am going to get back to the many goodies within the interior of my dream bathroom.

The 5 Inch Tall Double Windowpane Windows remind me of the tall apartments you see around France. I'd love to sit there and enjoy the view all day and night. The bathroom naturally, would have a Window Seat with a comfy cushion. This one just happens to be upholstered with the Versailles Stripes Rice Paper. I'll tell you more about that below.

The Streets of France 2018

By Rhonda Thomas

I used some batting as my "cushion" and wrapped it like a present using the Versailles Stripes Rice Paper. 

Instead of using tape on this package, I used just a touch of glue as not to ruin the paper, but it is actually very thick and durable rice paper. 

Next, I used  glue to attach the cushion to the 4 Inch Wide Window Seat that I had made beforehand. It is wrapped with, you guessed it, more of those beautiful papers. The rice paper gives the cushion the appearance of fabric. 

I added a nice basket of bath towels and a bottle of lavender fragrance. A vintage table runner was used to make the rolled towels as well as the hanging towels that are behind the bathtub on a towel rack. 

All of the metal items in my bathroom are naturally made from gold. Ok, they are all just painted with the same acrylic gold paint to make them match. The Bathroom Accessory Set contains the towel rack along with many of the other items I used in my bathroom.

An oval frame displays a tribute painting of Marie Antoinette (Portraiture Collage Sheet).  The frame over the sink is the same and came from a Set of Oval Frames. The frame pops open so you can make it into a mirror, photo, or whatever you like. 

The mirror looks so real and was made using Nonbrakable Mirror Material that can be cut using scissors. 

 I used Glossy Accents Dimensional Medium to make the window look like it had actual glass panels.

I traced the bottom of the sink onto the Lavender Sisters Rice Paper and after trimming it out, cut small 1/4 inch slices around the edge of the paper. This aloud me to glue the paper inside of the sink basin and make the edges curve inward more uniformly. What gorgeous "tile" this made and there is even a gold drain, (dab of paint with a cotton swab).

If you are going to soak in your bubble filled tub, one must have a side table to place things on. This table with it's wrapped bath towel and handmade farm soap was created using a Tiny Metal Birdbath. 

There also has to be a bath tray to place various toiletries, a drink and a book. This one was made by using a Large Rectangular Bronze Filigree piece. 

A curved edge (pencil) was used to bend the edges of the filigree inward to create the bath tray and allow it to slide onto the edge of the bathtub.  

And now for the Piece de Resistance, the "real" crystal chandelier. I am so proud of how well it turned out. It was created by using a Large Silver Candelabra that was turned upside down and attached to the "ceiling".

I really had to ponder how I was going to pull this off for a bit, but it worked out so well. 

Years ago I found a crystal chandelier at a yard sale for $5 bucks. You KNOW I wasn't going to let that one get past me. I took all of the crystals off, gave them a good soak and cleaning, and have been using them in projects ever since. 

I used a piece of wire and placed the end through the tiny hole in the crystal. Next, I took the opposite side of the wire and wrapped it to created a spiral. This created a small piece that could be inserted and glued into the "chandelier" candelabra. 

 

After the glue dried, the chandelier was ready to install over the tub. I carefully poked two holes into the "ceiling". One piece of the same wire was placed into the top, wrapped once around the chandelier, and then fed back up through the "ceiling". Both wires were then tightly twisted and placed down which I then "disguised" with paper flowers as shown below. 

After attaching with wire, glue was also applied between the chandelier and the ceiling, to hold the chandelier in place. I also rested the room box upside down (floor on top) so the chandelier could become good and tight on the ceiling while the glue dried. Gosh, I hope that makes sense. 

I purposely left a tad of the wire exposed so that you could see it. I cut the stems off of some paper flowers and glued them directly over the wire. A few green leaves were added as well.

The paper flowers add to the elegance of the toile designed papers.

So not only is there a tribute to my art muse Marie Antoinette, there is a tribute to her Hamlet, which I swear I lived at in a past life. This picture came from a very old set of postcards from Versailles. I couldn't resist but to share a pic of me during my trip there. I didn't care about going into the Palace, I just wanted to experience the Queen's Hamlet and it is honestly one of my favorite life memories. My oldest took the picture! 

Wow, I just wrote that entire redo in one joyful sitting. And I like this second version of my post much better, and I hope you enjoyed it too. 

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Thanks for visiting!

xoxo

Rhonda