'Singel 224'

End of February 2003 I bought a Dutch canal house at 'de Stolp'.  It is a hybrid between two houses 'de Stolp' had in their collection.  'De Singel' (named after one of the famous canals of Amsterdam) is a beautiful house with 12 rooms and a large attic.  The attic roof can be opened in order for it to be viewed.  The house is 1.33m high, 1.00m wide and 0.40m deep.  (52.4 inches high, 39.4 inches wide and 15.76 inches deep).   The nice thing about this type of house is that the rooms can always be seen without having to open the front or the back.                            

                                                                                          To the front of the house I stuck paper which looks and feels like brickwork.  The windows were painted in the typically Amsterdam colours 'canal green' (just had to use that) and ivory white.  I used good quality outdoor paint, so the paintwork should last at least 100 years!  I've changed the oval top window into a feature which can be found in many Amsterdam canal houses: a large shuttered 'window'.  Through these windows the supplies for the household would be brought into the house by using the 'hoisting beam'.  The hoisting beam still needs to be installed above the window.

I spent one afternoon in town looking at all the different dormers.  Result: a very painful neck and a head full of ideas.  In the end I chose a simple shape for the dormers on my house to match the shape of the gable.

I have changed the front door to look like the beautifully decorative one I have in my real house.  Above the door I have installed a lantern which I had seen in Amsterdam.  It protrudes both on the inside and on the outside, thus lighting the entrance on both sides.  Making the lantern so that the dimensions looked right and so that it fitted into the existing window frame gave me quite a challenge!  But I did it, and the light works too!

~October 17th 2004~                                                           Today I have found in the online Amsterdam archives an old photograph of the house with the real address 'Singel 224'. I chose this address for my house because 'Singel' is the model name used by 'de Stolp' and 22-4 is my birthday.  By coincidence the real 'Singel 224' looks very much like my house, while the other houses on the block don't look anything like this!  The two white 'blobs' at the top of the gable are two men in long white overcoats painting the gable.  Just like I do now, they liked to keep the paintwork in good condition then too!

The real house in the old photograph has probably been built in the 19th century.  The façade of my dollshouse will be 18th century in the style of Louis XIV  (Louis Quatorze)  which was used between ± 1700 - 1740.  For inspiration I have looked at many photos of houses from that period.

I've made the doorframe more monumental by giving it pilasters and a broken-bed pediment.  To make the pilasters I've used wood from the lid of an old wine box.  For the ornaments on the pilasters I have used bits of an old brooch.  The two lions on the pediment are holding the coat of arms of Amsterdam.  Even though the 'cast iron' grille on the front door is 19th century, I've kept it because I love the look of it.  The window above the door has become much bigger, so I've had to take away the lantern that was there before.  It was a lot of work to make that, so I'll try to use it elsewhere!

The banister on the front steps (partly made from chop-sticks) gave me a lot of problems , again!  (See 'The Hall')  I just can't seem to figure out how to cut the right angles.  Maybe someday I'll understand....  

I've made the steps (or 'stoop') and the basement as if they're made out of stone in stead of bricks.   I have used a sheet of ply-wood to cover the brick wall which was already there.  The small basement window keeps the sheet in place.  I've had to paint the stoop and basement several times before I had mixed the correct blue-grey colour. 

I used sandpaper to make the bricks used on the pavement and the road.  First I used acrylics to get the right colours, then I cut it to the right size, mixed the colours and glued the pieces down.  For the road I have used a herringbone pattern as seen on most roads in Amsterdam.  The 'concrete' curb stones separate the pavement from the road.

 Between the cracks in the pavement I've put some small weeds and grasses.   I bought some very fine gravel from a model railroad shop and used that in a few places between the bricks and the curbstones and by the steps to the basement.

Above the entrance to the basement I've hung the nice lantern which I had originally made for the window above the front door.  On the photo top right on this page the lantern is still in its original spot.  Because I made the window above the front door bigger, the lantern didn't fit in it any longer.                                                                          

I made the lantern from card stock and painted it using the same high quality outdoor paint I used on the windows and doors.  I cut the 'glass' for the lantern from blister wrap packaging.                                                                                                 

In front of the house I have put a few potted plants.   I made the hydrangea from a kit by Ria van de Kant,  'VaRIA's WorkshopBox'.   I bought the pots of lavender at a show in London.  They are made by a very talented lady who makes the most beautiful plants, but unfortunately I can't remember her name.

This potted peony I copied after a real one which was flowering in my garden.  I used coloured tissue paper to make the flowers and printer paper (painted green) for the leaves. 

There are some weeds growing between the bricks on the pavement.    A dandelion is flowering close to the stoop.    To make the dandelion I used painted printer paper.  I drew the shapes of the leaves in pencil before cutting them out. 

 

On the right a close up of a beautiful terracotta pot and some grasses between the bricks of the pavement.

This is the complete façade as it looks today.  I have made some changes to the gable.  In Dutch we call  a gable of this shape a 'klokgevel' , which would translate as 'bell gable'.  These types of gables in the style of Louis XIV are relatively rare, maybe because the bell gable was predominantly used on the more common houses.  The gables in the Louis XIV style were richly decorated with playful ornaments, often topped by beautifully architectural scrolls or a decorative vase.

The flower-ornaments on the gable came with the house when I bought it from 'de Stolp'.  I have joined the ornaments by adding some curved architraving and moulding (again made from a wine-box lid), which fits exactly around the ornaments.  I copied the ornamental vase from a house in Amsterdam and made it out of paperclay.

I used the same house as an example to make the hoisting beam.  I used several blocks of wood and different types of moulding for it.  The first pigeon has found its way there already.  A few floors down two house-sparrows have settled on the window-sill.  I don't think the façade will stay clean for very long with all of these feathered friends around!                           

As the façade is practically ready, I can begin work on the roof and the rear of the house.  I'm decorating the rooms in the house surely but slowly, one by one.  If you'd like to read the history of the house and its owners, click on the photo of the book below.  If you'd like to continue the tour of the house, please click on the photo of the front door below to enter the house.

                                                                                                                      The history of Singel 224.

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