WHAT is wrong with this picture of the Gryffindor Great Room?

Usually when I begin a miniature build, I put furniture and accessories into the space so I can visualize the end result... and magic happens.  In this case, the magic is missing.  "Why?", I kept wondering.  And finally it hit me.  Everything looks too new! Of course the raw plastic fireplace dominates the photo and screams to be coated with plaster and soot, but every thing else, except the study table to the left, looks as though there was never a messy teen aged witch or wizard anywhere close, so now I must figure out a way to distress the furniture.  Some time ago, I read in a miniature blog about using a nail file on upholstery to make it look worn. I tried to find that blog again to see if there were more details, but sadly could not.  If only I had pinned it on my Pinterest boards.  Some spots on the oriental rug would be good as well?

I began with the portrait of a young Professor McGonagle, since I was too busy yesterday with birthday celebrations to take on anything difficult.

 This little frame was ordered from Minimum World Ltd in England, along with several others, because of its ornate details, which you need sunglasses to see because it is so very, very shiny! So I got out my black acrylic paint to dampen down the shine.

 Better, but I think I still need to add a few white specs to represent the chips that must happen to all ornate gold frames over the years.  This frame is plastic, so I need to make a trip to a hobby shop and pick up some paint that will stick better than acrylic. The green color is reflected from an Arches watercolor pad I was using to block some of the sunlight so there was not so much glare on the glass.  I like that color and may try to add it as well.

I will also use those paints to distress the very bright and shiny light fixtures which will be installed once the walls and ceilings are finished.  I choose to purchase battery operated Led light fixtures because then wires do not have to be hidden.  As yet, there is not a huge selection of these, so I will modify what I could find. I love the shapes of them, just not the finish, except for the copper ones which could be used just a they are, but I intend to add a wash of verdigris  to patina them.

   
They came very well packaged, unlike the beds for the girls dormitory that needed some re-gluing after traveling from China in very flimsy boxes.

This little quilt is the practice quilt that my friend Rhoda made to check for size.  It will be replaced with one that more closely matches the Gryffindor colors. 



I am hoping that when my friend Jo Anne returns from her trip rafting the Grand Canyon, she will knit some tiny little house scarves to add to the scene, and of course there must be plates of half eaten food here and there.  

I ordered some cunning little plastic takeout containers that actually close better than full-sized ones, but somehow, I don't think they will feel at home in Hogwarts, and the house elves would be horrified!  So I will fill them with Sculpey food and use them in the planned artist studio, the only 'thought about" adobe dollhouse, and make some for my granddaughter's dollhouses.

 

Tacos for the adobe dollhouse, yum!  But I digress, so off to work on that fireplace!