The boys were off school for the half-term holiday last week so the shop had to be put on the back burner. I did get to help two of my sons make a Roald Dahl themed project & a story shoe box for World book day.
With the shop box (mostly) finished, I made a start on the shop fixtures. I had bought 4 unfinished shelving units, a garden style shelf unit and a mahogany glass fronted display counter.
After a lot of thought, I decided to stain the unfinished shelves to match the counter as much as possible. I want a dark wood look which is similar to the style found in real Victorian stores.
I bought a small can of mahogany varnish and applied the first coat. The shelves are difficult to paint and you need to be patient. The last time I painted this type of shelf unit, I used a spray paint which was much quicker & easier to get into all the awkward spaces.
While asking for advice on one of the Dollshouse forums, a wonderful lady told me about furniture repair liquid. This can be brushed on, then the excess can be wiped off. The liquid comes in medium or dark (brown) shades. I will definitely be giving this a try in a future project.
I wasn’t impressed with the colour after the first coat & knew it was going to take a few more to get something similar to the counter unit. At this stage, I customised one of the triple shelf units by adding some fake drawers. This was just a piece of balsa wood glued across one of the shelf spaces. I then added 6 smaller pieces to resemble drawer fronts. Once the glue was dry, I could continue with the varnishing.
After 4 costs, it wasn’t an exact match but I am happy with the colour of the shelves.
The last stage was to glue some brass style handles onto the fake drawer fronts.
I applied some green Dollshouse carpet to the fruit & vegetable rack to give a smart finish similar to greengrocers. I also added some mirror plastic to the back of some of the shelves to create a look similar to one I saw at Beamish Museum in the sweet shop. The mirror will add some light to the dark interior but the reflections will also make the shelves look more full.
The (part) finished look…
Next steps…
- Custom shelves (for above fruit & vegetable display rack)
- apply skirting board trim to unify all shelving units
- customise the counter unit & fill with produce (🍞🍰🍪)
Lindsay & Sons General Store 