Chantilly - Day 18

Friday night siding marathon - that's about what I did while laundry was going.  I have all the siding on aside from 1/3 of the right side of the structure, which will be tackled tomorrow once the paint on the strips dry.  I have to say, siding on this house is so very, very persnickity.  But should anyone else be working on it, the angle of the gables is 120 degrees - get a handy dandy cutter and it will make your life much, much easier!

Chantilly - Day 17

For varying reasons I had ample time to work on siding tonight.  I'm so glad I painted the strips before installing them, it's making it much easier to complete this than if I had to go back and try to do these tiny tiny pieces of siding with a seemingly mammoth brush.  Coincidentally, I want a Paint Zoom (was watching infomercials while working on the siding lol).

Anyway, I got some more siding installed, progress pictures below, total work time today was only four hours - still it's pretty good progress considering I forgot to take my clay out of the freezer!

Chantilly - Day 16

Siding is no longer new and exciting, in fact I'm still a bit disheartened by the window framing fiasco.  I did manage to get a bit more on this evening but it got rather persnickity up around the eaves.  I then decided to frame out around the central upstairs window.  On the bay window and inside this frame I will make scalloped shingles out of clay and paint them the same colour as the clapboard.  It won't be obnoxious but will still add some textural diversity to the house and pay homage to the high victorian siding styles found on older farmhouses along the coast.

However I soon tired of this as well and decided to do some more work on the shingles.  The watercolours have  firmly set and the shingles are now quite dry, so I added a coat of pecan stain to even out the tones a bit and saturate the cracks between shingles.  It's given the shingles a bit of warmth and has toned that blue/purple tinge out of them quite nicely.

The stain was applied heavily with a sponge brush.  I started in the corners and worked my way out (the idea to have darker shingles where moisture would tend to collect, lighter where the roof would be baked by the sun).  I'm debating adding moss to the shingles with my oil paints and a stiff brush.  It could either be really great or really not... I may need to make a practice roof :)

Chantilly - Day 15

Disaster!  It appears my measurements were ever so slightly off and the window frames aren't thick enough to cover the edges of the siding!!

After siding the lower half of the side wall it's painfully apparent that the frames should have had a subframe built.  Now I have to figure out some what to make window frames to go over the window frames and somehow have it still look decent.  I sense a lot of carefuly snipping in my future... oh so careful snipping.  Maybe the siding should be removed and a clay exterior constructed, or perhaps a flat board siding.

I was so pleased with the little window sills too, I think that's the true salt in the wound.  Especially after spending hours coating these things with layer after layer of white paint and then enamel!


 I know it's not ruined, I just need to figure out a plan so that I can continue on with confidence... to the doll house forum!

http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/index.php?

Chantilly - Day 14

When I got home I found that, to my dismay, the wood glue actually had done all promised and securely fastened the bay window walls to the ceiling of the veranda.  Pull and pry as I may, those walls weren't going anywhere.  Thankfully, I am the owner of a dremel!

I sanded the tabs off the bottom pieces and used this supreme wood glue to secure the walls to the flooring installed earlier and the floor piece.  A few taps with Thor and the veranda secured to the front of the structure quite nicely and was then secured with tape.. lots and lots of tape... and books... lots and lots of big heavy books.

I have also installed the rest of the framing on the corners of the house and have my first coat of paint on the siding strips.  A few coats of white paint prior to the siding install and I will be well on my way to the next phase - landscaping.

The dining room set I had ordered earlier arrived today, I forgot I had gotten one in a mahogany finish, I was sure I ordered it in white to compliment the dining room trim / paper.  This week I will have to run up to PM Hobbycraft and pick up some white enamel to correct this gross error in furniture judgement.  Otherwise I'm quite pleased with it - I hadn't gotten the tip that 1/24 scale furniture was a bit tricker to buy because of the difference in scale between manufacturers but so far everything appears to be golden.

I wanted to see how difficult installing this siding would be and ensure that my corner caps were deep enough to accommodate the siding, so I did the installation on the back side of the house rather than futz around with the windows tonight.  It went much faster than the shingling, so I'm pretty much tickled pink!

Chantilly - Day 13

Today I attempted multi-tasking.  Now I was in a workshop a while back where I was told that multi-tasking is impossible for the human brain, you can only do multiple things with short bursts of attention.  Laundry and construction and television do not go hand in hand.  I rather foolishly followed the instructions and glue the bay window segments to the veranda roof, trimmed the whole thing and then realized that it will be exceedingly difficult to install.

I think my way around this is the cut the tabs off the bottom of the wall and glue very well, maybe installing deck boards to hold the walls in place.  Deck boards will make the front door more difficult to install however... bah.

Anyway, I started putting the corner pieces on for the siding, will continue with the window trim tomorrow, another coat of white paint on all of them and then I start installing the clapboard siding.  I will make clay shingles to scallop the bay window I think, and then the rest will the straight clapboard.  I may install siding panels under the windows for that victorian choppy siding look, that's still up in the air.

As my painted shingles dry they're turning more purple than I had anticipated, they will need another tamer coat of colour as it appears some blue got mixed in from my palatte.

Chantilly - Day 12

Today the clay was dry enough to through the first coat of paint on the shingles.  I used a thin wash of watercolours, burnt sienna and black.  It's going to be difficult to get paint in to all the cracks and crevices on this roof, I may have to go back with a detail brush and fill them in with black to add a bit of interest to the roof.  Overall I'm quite pleased, the roof isn't uniform and yet isn't blotchy either.  Once this first coat dries thoroughly and the cracks are tackled, I will put on another wash of a grey which will just hit the tips of the shingles to add some weathering.

Chantilly - Day 11

Well I finished the shingles tonight, and I have to say I'm glad that's over.  It's very monotonousness to say the least.  I am so pleased with the end result however.  I think this roof is going to look bloody amazing once it's painted up.

Siding is the next dilemma, but first I need to work on the porch and build up some rafters as I'm pretty sure I want to put a slope on the veranda roof... and then I guess that means more shingles... boooo

Anywhere, here's a picture of the final product.

Chantilly - Day 10

Day 10 wasn't terribly exciting, I sanded / varathaned the floors, this should be their last coat as they're starting to have a pretty good sheen to them.  I continued shingling, now all that's left is 1 & 1/4 roof sections, I should be able to paint it by Monday.

I'm still debating if I want to go with wooden siding or use these fettuccine strips as siding, I think I will have to do a test board - it will either work really well or not at all.  I have however pretty much ruled out stucco, stone, or any combo of the two - but brick would look sharp.  This would make it look more like an Ontario country house than a maritime country house.. decisions decisions.

I am happy to report however that there was no cracking whatsoever!  I think I may have nailed this technique :)

Chantilly - Day 9

Day 9 was spent shingling the roof which was glued on yesterday.  I figure 24 hours of excessive taping should result in a well secured roof.  I've looked at a couple of different methods of finishing off the roof.  There was the option of going with the railroad scale corrugated roofing, making shingles out of sandpaper, wooden shingles (which in my opinion are never the right scale for the house and look out of place), painting the roof, or fashioning a roof out of clay.  My intention from the beginning of this project was to have an end result that looks like it's out of the pages of a childhood book.  Mother is crafty, loves folk art and Americana, new and pristine would just not be what I feel would be a proper fit.

I searched high and low over the last few weeks for a tutorial on how these amazing little clay shingles were made but everyone is quite tight lipped about the whole procedure.  After examining some of the pictures, I formulated an idea - so far it's working,

1.  run your air dry clay through a pasta press several times until you get a uniform rectangle of clay

2.  Run your rectangle through the fettucini portion of the pasta press to get strips.  Lay your strips on a moist towel so they don't dry out.  I also spritzed the strips with my plant mister occassionally.

3.  Cut the strips about 3/4 of the way through their width to make individual "shingles"

4.  Apply glue to the roof section of your house and then lay the strip over the glue.  The air dry clay soaks up moisture so I'm not concerned at all about this stuff sticking, I am concerned however about cracking. Start at the bottom of your roof.  If you have gables, work both sides of the gable towards the top so your shingles are even.

5.  Every couple of rows, go back and texture your shingles with the edge of your knife

6.  Wrap corners with individual shingles, secure with glue.

I used white tacky glue in this case.  I will follow up with the state of the clay roof tomorrow, cracks and all

I will colour the shingles with washes of watercolour and then seal with a urethane, the urethane should still sink in if I use watercolours and add strength to the finished roof.

Chantilly - Day 8

Today was roofing and staircase installation day, as well as trying to figure out what the hell to do with this silly little fireplace.  I chopped up some balsa wood and framed out a case for the insert to see how it would look under the staircase.  Originally I had entertained putting it in the corner but the windows are in the way.

Alternatively, I could cover the two side windows with a chimney and put the fireplace front and centre in the living room.  I will slide this fireplace around for the next couple of days before making a decision, it's far too hot here to be thinking anyway!

The roof was .. let's say.. an adventure to put on.  it's a snug fit for sure, gotta love those laser kits for having zero give.  I was able to secure it down with wood glue and an insane amount of masking tape however - no mega clamp reqired.

Another discovery was with the staircase, although all the individual pieces go in nicely on a dry fit, when you actually put that bottom stair in it secures everything quite rigidly, and with no give, and with the hardwood flooring, that rail going upstairs is next to impossible to get in.  I ended up having to surgically alter the side rail by cutting off the tab and then compensating with glue, there was no way in hell that rail was going in any other way.  I think if I were doing this kit again, I'd install the stairs (or at least the case) right after the first walls go up, floor around it, and never have to worry about it again :)

Chantilly - Day 7

Day 7 was a rather mundane day as far as progress.  I spent most of the time sanding and varnishing (floors), staining and gluing (stairs, attic roof pieces).  I was having a difficult time getting the attic floor to sit properly until finally I'd had enough.  I'd just get one end glued and start working on the other when it would pop out again.  I tried my trust book trick but alas the house has a stronger will than first anticipated.  It was time for the clamp.

The clamp works rather well, I'd been concerned about using it on such delicate wood but it held up well and the snug fit hasn't budged in the last few hours.

While the glue was setting I started working on the stairs, adding trim along the edge of the case and decided on pulling the white paint down off the spindles on to the upper portion of the frame as well.

Chantilly - Day 6

Day 6 and I'm starting to get annoyed with slow progress on the interior of the house, for some reason today this all seems so very fiddly lol.  I managed to get some more wood strips so I could finish off the 2nd storey flooring and got in to the trim, and more trim, and more trim.  I even had the foresight to do a dry fit on the staircase before slapping too much trim down.  I have apparently papered over a very necessary hole for the 2nd storey railing - locating it again was tricky, I eventually resorted to backlighting with a lighter and then a delicate stab to pierce only the one layer of paper, then with the flooring down I had to trim up the end rail and now it should all fit.

I have to say i'm in love with this pecan stain for flooring, I wish I had used it for the dining room floor as well, and somehow I ended up with a brown side and a light side when it comes to the floors, I hope that doesn't make the finished product look too lopsided.

My fireplace is currently drying partially assembled and with its first coat of black enamel.  I just have to decide on the final placement, I still kind of want to put it under the stairs - but that damn chimney, somehow a natural gas fireplace insert just doesn't jive with me!

Lots of pictures from today, looks like by the end of it I was able to pull the rooms for the most part together!

Chantilly - Day 5

Day 5 was apparently a day of deliveries rather than shopping, which is just fine by me because I've already forgotten what I have ordered.  The result of this, well it's much like Christmas :)  The day started with the deliver of my Glencroft, followed by the delivery of my fireplace (remember I demanded it faster from the universe just yesterday), the brass bed, a stack of HOM furniture which is sadly in full scale (how do you think I justified the Glencroft), and the tiny doorknobs for the Chantilly which I haven't opened yet.

I then motored over to the hobby store to pick up more balsa wood, but missed them by 5 minutes, no biggie there's a Michaels around the corner and I wanted to go look at paper there anyway.  I got some of the wood only it was the wrong size, and some paper, as well as some pecan stain for the flooring.

 I'm not sure if the wallpaper is turning the floor orange or if it's actually the colour of the stain, but it's turning into an interesting room for sure.I did another dry fit on the stairs, which is good because my first approximation was completely out to lunch, got the floor laid, carpet down, and wallpapering out of the way. If only real life renovations were this quick to complete!

Chantilly - Day 4

Day four.  Lesson of the day - don't try to work on a house when you're tired.  I started the hardwood flooring in the living room of the house, and then after the strips were glued down I realized (shortly after marveling at how fast it was going) that I had chopped my baseboards rather than the floor-boards.  They look good, but it stymied the progress I was hoping to make today.

I struggled immensely getting the front shell piece in, for some reason that little sucker just didn't want to line up properly.  Thor (the hammer) was involved, as well as two breaks, numerous cups of coffee, and a lot of language normally reserved for working on cars in a remote location where no innocent ears might hear.  It's amazing how many names you can call an inanimate object!

I still have no idea what I want to do with the upper two rooms, to simply paint them seems like a cop out, but I can't really think of an alternative, the selections of wallpapers are somewhat limited in Calgary and I don't want to continue on with the ones I have.. although because of the stair well I may be able to carry the orange up into the second floor and throw a piece of moulding over to cover the gap.


Tomorrow I will need to make a trip to get more balsa wood regardless, so mayhap they will have some new and exciting stock to spur my creativity.  I am still enamoured with this mitre-scissor thing, I'm sure anyone that does any amount of work on dollhouses has a pair of these already but I think they are just about the greatest things ever invented by man (or woman).  I'm also debating painting the floorboards, I think the living room is going to get very dark very quickly if I stain it the same as the dining room.  Also i require the fireplace insert I ordered a week ago to arrive very quickly, as now I'm not entirely sure where I will put it, originally i was thinking of tucking it in a corner or under the stairs, but that would require some chimney making, and under the stairs just wouldn't make any logical sense at all.

I dug out my pasta press and rolled out some polymer clay to start on the ceiling medallion.  Once i got my circle cut I realized I don't really know what a ceiling medallion looks like other than it's round.  After some quick research I decided to keep it simple, added a smaller circle and baked.  And forgot about the baking.  And burned the medallion.  The resulting colour was amazing but wouldn't go with the room at all (boooooo). I then added some leaves and a hook for a non-functional chandalier I will tackle later one.  A few coats of magic white paint (does anyone else tire of white rather quickly?) and it's ready to be glued on once I square up the second floor.

The Pesterhood of the Traveling Stain

To my horror, this morning I discovered that the stain from the floor had travelled up the wallpaper on one of the shell sections.  This just happens to be the section that I hammered in much like Thor, I don't know if it's bad enough to warrant a repapering or not..  I'm going to have to go to work and think about it.

Chantilly - Day 3

Day three consisted of tackling the hardwood flooring I wanted to put down in the dining room.  Pardon the pun, but this was no small undertaking.

The good news is that the cutters I found are amazing,they slice through the wood with no issue and don't damage the ends of the pieces.  The bad news is my fingers are covered in glue, I mean literally covered!  I've spent the last four hours hunched over this tiny house making very slow progress.  Thank the gods for television, that little bit of white noise is what really carried me through.

Of course the cat felt the need to help, and every time I turned around there was another piece of trim, flooring, or moulding trotting off around the corner.  One even got snapped as she pulled it against the table leg, I am so happy to have a cat today :O/

I put my first layer of stain on the floor and played around with the baseboards and door mouldings, after popping the door frame out and trying to paint it, I decided it was best to paint  the front of the frames while they are still in the plywood, then I should only have to tackle the edges after I pop them out.

One thing I have noticed about these kits is that you can't work one room at a time, as I was going along I realized that I needed to paper the living room ASAP or my progress would be immediately fubar'd when it came to papering this tiniest of homes.  No time to agonize over colour schemes here I'm afraid.  The living room is now very orange :)





I have also rediscovered a love for my hammer.  Try as I may I couldn't get the front gable wall to slide in to place to mark out where the flooring had to go.  After 45 minutes of trying to do it quietly and with dignity, I gave up, walked slowly to the storage room and came out with my full sized bammer.  A few whacks (I pictured it much like Thor building a dollhouse) and that wall will never come out again - which is just ducky in my books.