My next project(s)

In my last post, I hinted about my next project. I guess I can elaborate a little more on that here. :) I've had the Canterbury in a box for a while and have been trying to figure out what it's going to be. At first, I thought about turning it into a library, a tea room, a bakery, or something like that. Then it hit me! I love history and one of my favorite places to go visiting, antiquing and learning about the area is Lancaster, PA and the surrounding area. This part of Pennsylvania is full of Amish farms and museums, as well as lots of Pennsylvania Dutch history. (For those unfamiliar with PA Dutch, these folks lived in PA around the 18-19th centuries and were actually German Descendants. The word Dutch here is actually an alteration of the word "Deutsch," the German word for, well, "German." My ancestors on my father's side were PA Dutch and Irish, and the PA Dutch side had lived in the Lancaster County region at one point).

Anyway, I digress... for my next project, I want to build a historical society of a fictional town in the Lancaster area with lots of PA Dutch, Amish, and historical artifacts. This is going to be a lot of fun. I foresee a tiny meeting room, a research area, and an upstairs museum. I know the Canterbury is small, so I won't fit a ton of stuff in there, but I think I have plenty of pieces already (and in kits) that will work. Plus, this house comes with its own furniture too, so I can fill in the empty bits.

I've already picked up some stuff from an antique shop in Cambridge, NY: tintypes (to frame and put on the wall) as well as a wooden nickel as an antique advertising piece.

We have a color laser printer again  and I am going to make some hex signs, advertising and more historical photos. I've also picked up a little working wooden filing cabinet (for the research room) from Mainly Minis.

 

I can't wait to start on it. I've been itching to build lately and this particular kit is small so there's actually room to display it and I may even finish it over the summer. This build also gives me an excuse to hit the antique shops for more ephemera. :)

One more find in Cambridge is a gorgeous Japanese box:

I think I am going to turn it into a room box and perhaps sell it on Etsy. Hmm, we will see. :-)