The Featherstone Hall Hotel project was finished in November 2010, and the series of articles about its construction started in Dolls House & Miniature Scene Magazine started straight after – once the 24 articles had finished, I revisited the project in 2013 to do various repairs and renovations needed after its series of public exhibitions had taken its toll on the structure, and I decided while I was on to decorate the door interiors.
Looking at them now it was a no-brainer to do, but at the time it was a pretty rare thing. It also created new content to add to the book of the project I was preparing, and added something new for the next series of exhibition visitors to see. It has since become one of the most talked about aspects of the project, and I think its something that makes the house look extra special!
Its easy to forget in 2023, that this was my first house, and when looking at the doors, I felt like I had when I first stared at the empty shell now 13 years ago, a complete novice (more like a rabbit in the headlights!) What a challenge – How do you make something interesting from a flat board?
And before interesting, comes how do you decorate it? Obviously the doors would be shown attached to the house, therefore the room decoration should line up and not prohibit the doors from closing onto the house. And of course I would need lights. As the song goes I had more questions than answers – but when in doubt I did my usual and jumped in with both feet!