Welcome back to our small corner, and this week, we shall return to our tour of Mayfield House.
Last time, we explored the Lower Hallway, where servants and tradesmen entered from outside, delivering goods and seeing to other tasks around the servants' areas. If you'd like to revisit that part of our tour, follow this link: Back2OurSmallCorner: Mayfield House - The Lower Hallway.
We stand at the main tradesman's door in the Lower Hallway. As we turn to the door on our left, we find ourselves at the entrance of the Butler Office.
Now, let us knock on his door and wait to be invited inside.
Mr Albert
Jenkins is the butler here at Mayfield House. He has served the family
for many years, rising through various roles to reach this prestigious job.
This room
serves as his office and a space to relax and unwind in those rare moments when
all is well with the house.
A bedroom door and a small cellarage can also be seen at the back of this room. Mr Jenkins prides himself on providing the very best wines and spirits for the family.
He is mildly irritated today as the phone on the wall has been ringing constantly: it is not his favourite piece of modern technology. Last time, the phone made him nearly jump out of his skin and spill tea down his jacket, and that will need to be changed before he leaves the office. What a nuisance!
The cat, Sylvester, also demands some attention, making that cosy armchair in the corner a tempting retreat for Mr Jenkins. However, there is still a mountain of paperwork to complete before the end of the day, and the remains of his cup of tea are now cold.
The other job he oversees is directing Jones in the butler's scullery to clean the family silver.
After Mr Jenkins deals with that phone call we will follow him through to the next room.
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Putting the room together
Like the previous room, I made another false wall to give the illusion of more rooms and spaces beyond the main room. In this instance, one door leads to Mr Jenkins's sleeping quarters while the other shows a part of the cellarage. Over time, some of the bottles have become dusty as the wine matures to the butler's satisfaction.
I added a small fireplace with some details above the mantelpiece between these two rooms.
The two purple armchairs are very old furniture pieces that I inherited from my nan, and I'm glad to have been able to use them here.
On the wall, there is a small shelf unit with various personal items that the butler owns.
The phone on the wall was a version 2. The first one didn't seem right, and I know it would have irritated me forever afterwards if we had kept it.
As the butler would have been responsible for looking after the house silver, I have alluded to this with the cabinet on the left of the room. I used a few silver beads for this purpose.
Although the desk is messy, I had to add the essential tea cup. I created the letter rack using scraps of wood and card and the receipt spike from a paper clip, bead, and more cards. The ink pot is made of a few black beads.
Initially, Mr Jenkins wore a grey, somewhat oversized jacket, so I made a new one for him. I shall not be doing that again in a hurry - stitching in black on a tiny item of clothing and making up the pattern as I went along. Unfortunately, I didn't notice some of the glue on the front of his jacket which is why it became spilt tea in the tour narrative. To make the room scene more realistic, I positioned the butler doll rising from his chair to answer the phone again!
When we visit Mayfield House next time, we will check on Jones in the scullery adjoining the butler's office.
I'm still hoping for more sun than rain this week, but however, it turns out D and I wish you all a lovely week.
