Just over 10 years ago Julie Jackson of Dee Daw Designs created Featherstone Hall Hotel for the 200th issue of Dolls House & Miniature Scene  magazine…

….And to celebrate its first decade – in October 2022 its coming out again and will be on display at the Autumn Miniatura show at Stoneleigh Park!

Julie brings us up right up to date below…

The creation of the house was featured in the magazine over 24 months and it went on display at Miniatura several times, and also to a show in Holland – but that was a trip too far and afterwards I retired the house from exhibitions.

It was only after realising I had missed the 10 year anniversary which happened during the Covid lock downs, that I took a good look at the house and thought how great it would be to spruce it up and get it back out there!

The only place to take it had to be back to the show it was launched at – Miniatura. I had a chat with the show organiser and we both agreed it would be great to have it at the show (1st & 2nd October 2022).

However there are a couple of complications before I get to that stage…

1. The house hasn’t been on display for YEARS!!!!!!
2. The electrics need some repairs.
3. It’s been on display at home and needs a good dust, and a few cosmetic repairs.
4. When its on display at home I don’t have the doors on – so I need to find them (hopefully in the attic!)
5. To make it easier to display at home I cut off the front of the base that the exterior staircase sits on with the car and valet unloading luggage – and I need to find those bits too!

…But apart from that it should be childs play (not!)

The biggest issue will be getting the electrics and light repairs done. Some of the lights have come down from the ceiling  during transit (Library and kitchen) and to repair them I’m going to need to lift some floors (this is a consequence of the house being my first one and it was a steep learning curve!)

One thing I have decided on is that all the repairs and reworking I will be doing to the house will be to get it as near as possible back to the same condition it was in when it was first finished. I have considered long and hard about this, as it would be tempting to update it and showcase all the new things I can do and have learned in the 10 years since first building it, but I think its best to leave it as a snapshot in time and exactly as its shown in the Featherstone Hall Hotel book. Perhaps I should make a new house to test my current skills… and perhaps another one in 10 years time (if I’m still capable!)

Even when Featherstone Hall has not been on display, its always a subject for conversation at shows – and it has fans across the globe with the book of the series having gone to Hawaii, South Africa, Australia and all ports in between!

….Over the years I have kept track of some of the most frequently asked questions I get asked about it…

1. How long did it take?

I started the house in July 2009, but after making the shell of the house had a panic attack at the size of it and left it for several months! I then realised that I had made a commitment to Dolls House & Miniature Scene for their 200^th issue, and could not let them down. So I gave myself a good talking to about not being intimidated by a (HUGE)  MDF box, and completed it in November 2010. So in all it took 17 months from start to finish, but if you look at time spent on it, only about 9 of those months were working ones! After it was finished and photographed the first article appeared in Issue 200 of Dolls House & Miniature Scene magazine in February 2011 with the room by room series running for 24 months, before I collected the articles together (along with new articles which cover decorating the insides of the doors) and published the book in 2013.

NOTE: ‘Completed it in November 2010’ is a bit of an understatement, as I was working to the magazine deadline, I had booked a session in a local photographic studio for one of the last days possible before I had to deliver the first article, and as the house was not finished I actually worked through the night to finish it, and went straight to the studio to spend two days photographing it!

2. How do you transport it

Right from the start of the project I had planned that it would have to go out to shows on display. I therefore glued everything down VERY securely as I was making it. When it is travelling, it is packed with scrunched up tissue paper (about 4 bin bags full when it’s unpacked!) the Perspex fronts are put in place then some fibreboard sheets, then the whole house is wrapped in cling film. It is transported in two parts, house and basement with a folding plinth which is set up at the show, draped with fabric then the house and basement sit on it.

3. Does it take long to set up and does anything get broken?

It takes about an hour and a half to set up from arrival at a show. After positioning the house and removing the tissue, the seven transformers for the lights are unpacked from the hatches in the back of the house and connected to the electricity. If we are lucky only a couple of light bulbs need a twist in their sockets, but occasionally a transformer or a light fitting can fail completely. Luckily my husband is always on hand when the house goes anywhere and as he is chief electrician he can usually sort it out!

I have been very lucky and had no major breakages – It never ceases to amaze me that the dining room chandeliers still work – they seem so delicate! The only recurring problem item is Mavis the cook – she is determined to not stay stuck to the floor tiles and I have to glue here back down at every show!

Hopefully after the restoration prior to its first visit out in years things should go quite smoothly – although I bet it will take longer than the hour and a half to set up that it used to!

4. How much did it cost?

More than I care to admit!

5. How many rooms/dolls?

The house, with the additional rooms I have created has 23 rooms (including ensuites, hallways and bathrooms) with 55 people.

6. How do you do the partitions?

The room partitions have been one of the most loved parts of the project, and I have to say getting the MDF strips cut to the room heights by my local DIY store which has a cutting service, was the key. The task was not so daunting when I only had to cut the verticals (not that I was any good at it even then!)

7. Is it finished?

Yes – One thing I have decided on is that all the repairs and reworking I will be doing to the house will be to get it as near as possible back to the same condition it was in when it was first finished.
I have considered long and hard about this, as it would be tempting to update it and showcase all the new things I can do and have learned in the 10 years since first building it, but I think its best to leave it as a snapshot in time and exactly as its shown in the Featherstone Hall Hotel book.

8. What are you going to do with it?

The revised Featherstone Hall will go on display again at the Autumn Miniatura 2022 – but I have no further plans to show it after that (at the moment!) So it will probably go back to being on display in my dining room!

The book of the series plus the extra new material about decorating the insides of the doors and a section on some of the room boxes I have produced for the magazine is still on sale on the Dee-Daw Designs website shop and copies will be available to buy at the show.