The Grand Hotel Made from Blocks

      Every year for Christmas, my son and I built a block hotel and used Playmobile and wooden doll house furniture to accessorize it.  When he went away to college, and then started a new job as an architect, we stopped building the hotel.  This year, though, we built it again.  Since it had been years since the last construction, the wooden boards we used as floors had disappeared.  So, out came my party bamboo trays to use as rooms.  In the photo above, you are seeing the outdoor terrace.

  This second photo shows the salon/library under the terrace.  The maid is waiting by the door, and the guests are relaxing in their arms chairs by the fireplace.

  Here are two of the bedrooms.  The top bedroom is a master suite with bathroom attached.  You can see the twin beds in the bottom room, with lounge chair, lamp, and plastic bathroom on the far left.  This shows how we've mixed the two types of furniture.  When my son was small, and the blocks tended to crash, I purchased the wooden furniture, which has lasted twenty years.  it was a good investment.

  Here is our sign with the cannon on either side of it.  Below, you can see the tea cart in the master bedroom.

We set up an outdoor tea area by the porter's stand.  His little cart has suitcases ( which I hot glued, so that they wouldn't get lost).

Hotels need music, so here is our piano player and saxaphone player.

 Reception is a little dark.  It includes a dining/lounge and check in desk with its own tiny cash register.

 Here is a picture of the whole hotel sitting on my fireplace hearth.  You can see that the train runs right through it.  My husband built wooden bridges on either end of the freestanding fireplace that sits between my dining and living rooms.  So, the train runs in a loop through both rooms.  I provided Playmobile cars for my small visitors to play with.  They liked stopping the train and loading the passengers the best.