The story of a shed (Part one)

The initial inspiration

A vintage swan vase bought off eBay (the closest thing I've seen in miniature to the iconic Crown Lynn swan), and a picture of a New Zealand map ripped out of a copy of Yen (which I'd only bought for the CD on the cover), got me thinking of creating a New Zealand-inspired scene.

(And seemed like a good time to try out the rug that came with the IKEA Huset set to see how it worked in 1/12 scale) 

I added a few recent acquisitions that I thought might work, and then got sidetracked for a few days.

Stage two

My miniature Navi chairs arrived on Wednesday and made me (finally) finish the legs from the trestle kit I bought at the May show. To add a rustic-style top to the table, I pulled apart one of the damaged tea boxes I'd picked up at the Typo factory outlet.

And was happy to discover the side of the box was the perfect size for the table top:

I just needed to stain the sides to match.

At this stage I started to suspect the scene's theme was less about New Zealand and more about how my Kiwi heritage shapes me. And my favourite black-and-white-and-vintage theme was in response to the unease I feel that one of the most un-like-me scenes I have created was chosen as my first international magazine cover.

When I added my 'concrete' floor

and started experimenting with wall options,

I remembered the shed concept I was playing with in the final part of The Yellow Table Tales. And the next part of the puzzle fell into place.

Playing with the pieces

The vintage German cupboard just wasn't fitting in properly for me, so I swapped it out for an Expedit-style bookcase, which I felt fitted with the IKEA rug much better.

(At this stage, I must admit, I was tempted to recreate the Scandi studio shot using the colour scheme  I'm more comfortable with. That's an idea I might just return to: it could be fun to create a series of scenes based on different people moving in and out of the basic studio space, similar to what I do with the Limited pop-up shop every three months or so...)

 On the other side of the room I tried a vintage German cupboard unit I haven't used yet, but found that, although it worked colour-wise, it was a bit overpowering.

 Luckily, there was a sink unit as well, which worked much better (and meant that my garden shed had running water: very useful for tea making and brush washing!) You'll notice I momentarily  trialled swapping out the map and moving towards a more black-and-white look for the space, but I felt it deadened things too much so went back to the original plan:

A window above the sink added light to the space and balanced the grid pattern of the book case opposite, as did the french doors I dug out of stash. 

So now, it would seem, I have to build a shed. And decide if a run to the dolls house shop is in order so I can buy weatherboarding for the outside of it, or if I'll go down the cheap and cheerful route and declare it's made of asbestos or plywood.

Perhaps I should stop for a cup of tea and another perusal of the book My Cool Shed for inspiration?