Ikävä kämppä - Drab flat

Olen viime aikoina lukenut useita artikkeleita ahtaissa ja kosteusvaurioisissa asunnoissa asuvista ihmisistä. Siitä sain idean tehdä Ikävän kämpän pienoiskoossa. Tässä esimakua:

• Harmaat sementtiseinät.
• Yksi huone + parvi (työn alla).
• Kaikille pinnoille on kerääntynyt kestolikaa.
• Lautalattia on epätasainen ja sitä on korjattu erivärisillä laudoilla.
• Jääkaapin oven tiiviste on rikki.
• Laattoja irronnut seinästä.
• Yksilevyinen kaasuliesi, emali rikkoontunut.
• Säilytystila on rajallista.
• Ikkunasta näkee vain vastapäisen talon valkoisen tiiliseinän eikä kaihdinkaan oikein toimi kunnolla.

On muuten yhtä haastavaa saada aikaan kuluneen ja kauhtuneen näköistä kuin kaunistakin ja kuvissa kaikki aina näyttää paremmalta kuin todellisuudessa.

Lately I've read several articles about people ending up living in conditions that are not ideal in terms of space or health. This gave me an idea to start building this Drab flat. Here's a sneak peek:

• Grey concrete walls.
• One room plus a loft for sleeping (work in progress).
• Most surfaces have "vintage" dirt.
• The wooden floorboards are uneven and fixed with a different color piece of wood.
• The rubber seal on the fridge door is broken.
• Tiles have come off the wall here and there.
• One-burner gas stove, broken enamel.
• Limited storage.
• A view from the window is toward the white brick wall of another building and also the blind is not working properly.

Believe it or not but it's equally challenging to create the drab look as it is to create something lovely. And everything always looks better in a photo than in reality.



Keittiönurkkaus. Kitchen corner.



Likaisia astioita pesua odottamassa. Dirty dishes waiting to be washed.

Mistä ja miten huoneisto on tehty? Koko huoneisto on luotu puiseen viinilaatikkoon.

• Jääkaappina toimii pieni pahvilaatikko, mikä on päällystetty valkoisella tarralla. Kahva kuulakärkikynästä.
• Allas on 3D-tulostettu, samoin ikkunan alla oleva patteri ja seinällä roikkuva paistinpannu. Altaan hanoina haaraniitit. Kumikäsineet on tehty ilmapalloista, "astiaharja" keltaisesta, sitruunoita sisältäneestä verkkopussista.
• Pöytätaso on vanha Lundby-kaluste.
• Tason alla oleva kaasupullo on entinen, pieni konfettipurkki (party popper) ja kaasuliesi on balsaa ja korunosia.
• Kaakelit ovat tulostettua paperia.
• Lattian on koostettu puisesta tabletista.

How was this made? The flat is constructed into a wooden wine box.

• The fridge is made of a small cardboard box covered with white sticker. The handle is from a ballpoint pen.
• The sink is a 3D-print with taps made of brads. For rubber gloves I used balloons. The yellow sponge is from a citrus bag.
• The counter is an old Lundby piece.
• The gas bottle under the counter is made from a small party popper and the gas stove is from balsa wood and jewelry parts.
• The tiles are a print.
• The radiator under the window and the frying pan hanging on the wall are both 3D-prints.
• The floor is made of wooden placemat pieces.

Simonin kahvila on valmis - Simon's coffee is ready

Simon's coffee -rakennussarjaa tehdessäni kävi monta kertaa mielessä, että onkohan tämä ollenkaan minun juttuni. Tuntui siltä kuin toteuttaisin jonkun toisen suunnitelmia. Kun pienen sähellyksen jälkeen sain rakennettua seinät (ei ihan mennyt kuin Strömsössä), alkoi hauskin osuus: sisustaminen. Pääosin rakensin kalusteet rakennussarjan mukaan paitsi pianon, mikä on Lundbyn. Tyylillisesti se sopi paremmin kokonaisuuteen vaikka onkin mittakaavassa 1:18. Mittakaavahan tässä työssä on 1:20. Muita muutoksia tein lisäämällä vielä toisen tason sisäänkäynnistä vasemmalle, ikkunan eteen.

When building the kit 'Simon's coffee', I thought many times that this was not my thing at all. It felt like I was implementing someone else's plans. After many trials and errors, I managed to erect the walls (not well done), the fun part began: the decorating. I mainly built the furniture according to the kit instructions, except for the piano, which is a Lundby. I felt that it looked better in the café even though it is on a scale of 1:18 unlike the scale in this work, which is 1:20. Also, I added another counter to the left of the entrance, in front of the window.






Varastoistani löytyi pienenpienet hopeanväriset kupit ja lusikat sekä seinällä roikkuvat hopeiset metallimukit.

The tiny silver-colored cups with spoons are from my stash as are the silver metal mugs hanging on the wall.



Kahviautomaattiin lisäsin kahvia, mukin sen alle ja hieman kahviroiskeita pöydälle. Suomalaista väriä tuovat Fazerin suklaarasia, postikortit kahvitiskin reunassa ja Jaffa-keksipaketti. Muutoinkin leivonnaiset ovat itse tehtyjä; rakennussarjassa niitä ohjeistettiin tekemään vain paperista. Valkoisten tuolien selkänoja on myös taivuteltu oman pään mukaan ja kasveja lisäilin miten halusin.

I added coffee in the coffee machine and a mug under it with brewed coffee dripping on the table. A touch of Finland is displayed with Fazer's box of chocolates, the postcards hanging in front of the counter, and with the Jaffa cookie package (Jaffa pronounced 'yaffa' are orange-flavored dark chocolate covered cookies - probably not as Finnish as I initially thought). Also the cakes and other cookies were made by me as the kit offered only any food items to be made of paper. The backs of the white chairs are bent differently from the instructions and I added the plants as I wanted.



Kiitos kahvilan sähköistyksestä puolisolleni!

My spouse was responsible for all the electric work in the cafe. A big thank you to him!



Kaikki pienet omat muutokset toivat kyllä mielekkyyttä rakennussarjan tekemiseen ja kaikenkaikkiaan sarjan rakentaminen oli kiva kokeilu. Ehkä laadukkaampi rakennussarja olisi toistekin mieleen, kuten esim. Miominimondon blogissa oleva kakkukauppa.

All the small personal changes did make building the kit more fun and this was a nice experiment. In the future, I might be interested in another kit if it were of higher quality, like the cake shop shown in Miominimondo's blog.

Hyvää pääsiäistä! - A Happy Easter

Pääsiäisaiheisesta suklaarasiasta makeiskaupan ikkunaksi minikoossa.

A candy shop window constructed into an Easter-themed box of chocolates.

Simonin kahvila edistyy - Simon's Coffee is progressing

Kahvila-rakennussarja on edistynyt mukavasti. Kuten tavallista, haluan tehdä asiat omalla tavallani ja lisäsin vasempaan alakulmaan muutamia omia minejä, kuten kahvimyllyn ja kulhoja, vaikka niitä ei tästä kulmasta näkyisikään. Myös Fazerin suklaarasia ja suomalaiset postikortit ovat lisänneet paikallista tunnelmaa.

Kahvilassa pitää olla syötävää, minkä vuoksi lisäsin kakun ja keksejä varastoistani. Kahvinkeittimessä on kahvia ja sitä on roiskunut pöydälle, jotta kahvila näyttäisi siltä kuin siellä todella valmistetaan ja tarjoillaan kahvia. Myös hopeanväriset kupit ja lautaset sopivat hyvin kokonaisuuteen.

Just showing a bit of progress in the coffee shop. As usual, I want to do things my way and I added some minis of my own like the coffee grinder and some bowls in the lower left corner of the shelf even if they can't be seen from this angle. Also, there's some local touch added with Fazer's box of chocolates and the Finnish postcards.

I don't think you can have a coffee shop without something to eat, which is why I added some cake and cookies I had in my stash. The coffee machine has some coffee in it and a cup underneath appears to have spilled it - all to make this café look as if coffee is really being made and served there. The silver cups and saucers are a perfect fit, too, and they didn't come with the kit.

The café project from a kit

Well, I opened the kit and lo' and behold, everything you need in included, even the glue & white paint, some tools, and electricals! This is probably no news to anyone else who has used kits before but this is news to me; it's the very first time I'm using a kit.

I've studied the illustrations to figure out how to put everything together. I've managed to "build" some of the furniture. the scale appears to be 1:20. I also covered the walls with some "brick" - I didn't want to paint them white as instructed or use the white brick paper included.

What I've discovered so far is that the brown, wood lookalike paper for the furniture gives a nice finish to it but it is very brittle and not very easy to glue. I already painted some of the furniture covering them with the wood lookalike paper only where they will be visible.

I decided not to add the piano to the scene. Why? Do I dislike pianos or music? No, on the contrary. I even know how to play the piano and have one at home but somehow this piano intended for this scene just does not appeal to me at all. Maybe I'll use a Lundby piano instead unless it turns out to be too big. We'll see.

Below are a couple of photos of the furniture (with a coctail stick to give an idea of the size), the walls, and some of the kit contents.

Flower girls and new items in the Children's playroom

These two young twins were the two flower girls at the wedding.



One of them was "snatched" from the Children's playroom (the blog banner) and she got a new pair of undies matching her dress.



In the annual calendar swap, I received new items suitable for the Children's playroom, the red teddy bear and a candy dispenser. I thought that the latter is very cleverly put together.





And here's the entire Children's playroom with all its new items.