Day 2 - Beacon HIll

After a week of procrastination I decided it was high time to tackle the 2nd floor staircase, which of course meant tackling the wallpapering as well.

The second floor is a much plainer room, less room for furnishings and only one light, it couldn't handle the floral wallpaper of the ground floor.  I opted for a stylized yet relatively simple fabric which was again mod-podge'd onto the walls.  I will be able to carry the single square around to the front wall, which means I only have to match one seam on this wall (score!)

Before the front wall goes on I also decided it would be a good idea to get the flooring started as my head doesn't fit in this house what-so-ever.  I'm going with coffee stirrers again, I liked the grain that comes out when you stain them, they are fairly cheap, and you can say it's real hardwood that's been installed!

The flooring is possibly my favourite tedious part of a house, it's just mindless enough that you can watch TV or listen to the radio while doing it, but not so tedious that your hands cramp and eyes cross after the first ten minutes. I may find it so easy solely because of my easy-cutter, I really can't imagine doing it without.

Beacon Hill - The beginning

I finally have a measurable amount of work done on the Beacon hill kit that arrived a few weeks back.  I can tell already this is a very persnickity build.  The two sub-assemblies went together rather easily, the stairs are complicated but all in all I can't say they were terribly difficult.  However getting the stairs into the sub-assemblies.. well that's a different story!

As I'm not one to build and then decorate, most of the work has been determining where lighting will go, how I will conceal it, and then figuring out the priority in which to get the paper on the wall and the paint on the ceiling!

I went with a floral fabric for the hall/dining room paper.  It's bold, but I am still reasonably convinced I can pull this off.  It lends an over the top victorian aspect to the staircase, and I'm sure that once the room is filled with dark furnishings it will be toned down considerably.

For some reason the photos always make the paper more yellow than it actually is, the background on this fabric is cream, not yellow - but you get the idea :)

As far as the exterior goes, I've been waffling between two styles of masonry, but I think I have finally decided to go with the red brick.  Every BH I've seen (with the exception of one) has had siding, so I want to avoid that at all costs.  So here is my inspiration photo, lol and I'm about to learn a lot about bricking in minature!

A House in 22 Days - Day 7 & 8

I have to say this kit goes together pretty darned easy, I haven't had near the fight with it I did with the Chantilly and Glencroft.  After pulling 14 hour days on Saturday and Sunday, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The floors are down and the walls are up.  The two wings have been glued into place (this house is freaking huge) and the roof should be going on today.  The house was reinforced with corner moulding on the corners and the siding will be fitted between.  The only thing i'm not happy with is the ladder to the loft - I don't like the look of it.  I don't think I will have time to build a new ladder however.

 We also started the furniture from a Greenleaf kit as a hold over until better pieces can be found - at least christmas shopping will be easier for H for the next couple of years!

The only downfall I see to these kits is the room sizes are so strange, they are either far too big or uselessly small.  I really can't wait to start a scratch build so everything is exactly how I want it - as you can see the temporary occupant feels the same way!

Glencroft - Day 4 through 6

I've been working sporadically on Glencroft while I was sick this last week, mostly because everything I need to finish off the Chantilly is still in a box, somewhere, probably wrapped in paper and dust.

I have the second floor installed and glued.  I put white cardstock up in the living room rather than try to plaster, and I was very sure I didn't want stucco on all the walls.  I then undertook the paperclay fireplace.

First off, Paperclay is vastly superior to the DAS modelling clay I used in the Chantilly.  It has virtually no odour, isn't sticky, and takes longer to dry so it is far easier to work with.  Also it goes through the pasta machine much slicker which is again because it isn't sticky.

I rolled out numerous strips of paper clay and glued them to the bare plywood, then with a moist paper towel I smoothed the pieces together and built up some texture.  Next the stones were shaped by pressing the lines in and pulling the clay towards the centre of the stone to add depth.

After the clay dried I added black watercolours to the cracks in the stone and blocked in stone colours with the left over paint on my watercolour palette.  A few dirty washes of grey with a bit of yellow or red and the tones were evened out quite nicely.

The wiring was a touch trickier than I thought, i dug out a channel for the right wall sconce with my dremel and built the clay up over top.  the left sconce and the candles on the second floor have individual holes for the wires to run through, at this point I know the power strip is either going in the chimney or in the foundation,either way the wires are traveling through the chimney to get to their destination.

When I built the baseboard in the living room I left them high enough to accomodate hardwood flooring, they will also accommodate the roundwire should I decide to add table or floor lamps.  The dining room / kitchen will have ceiling fixtures.The hardest part of the wiring so far has been the planning by a long shot.  It's hard to know where you will want lighting when all you have built is a portion of a large box!

Glencroft - Day 1 through 3

Well my move is finally almost complete - almost because I still haven't finished unpacking everything.  It certainly will be nice to be able to use the garage once this endeavour has been completed.  One of the boxes that did get unpacked however is my Glencroft.  I really have enjoyed working on the Chantilly for mom, so I have decided to build another slightly larger (ie. full scale) house, with full electrification, to sit in the hallway of the new house.  I've had my eye on the Glencroft for years so this is actually quite an exciting undertaking.

The first difference is of course the scale, this house is freaking huge!  The second massive difference is I'm now working with a die-cut kit rather than a laser cut.  The difference in detail is definitely noticeable, but then it will be easier to add detail to this scale as well - it all comes out in the wash.

The third difference I've noticed is the cost to work on a larger scale house.  I got wood for the 1st story flooring today and it cost about as much as all the flooring for the Chantilly, and possibly the siding as well.  The entire Chantilly will easily fit in the living room of Glencroft.

That said, I have a stack of HOM furniture kits kicking around, so it will be cheaper to furnish :)

I completed a few dry fits and I think I have narrowed down the problem areas in this house - they are the ceiling beams, the stair well, and the yard if I choose to install it.  Today I papered the stairwell and started staining the lower portions of the living room walls and exposed framework with Minwax Jacobean.  Any of the wood with the "good side" exposed seems to take another coat of two of stain to match the stain put on the "bad side", but at least I'm getting it to match.

I also think I will forego the kit mantle for the first floor fireplace and fashion a more elaborate fireplace to compliment the siding, and then plaster or paper the upper portions of the walls to keep the room from becoming too dark and depressing.  I also need to mark out the lighting and find a place to hide this electrical panel.

 

Chantilly - Day 22

I'm on the home stretch now!  I finished off two rooms tonight by tackling the ceilings.  I hadn't thought of them at all during the build and then about 2 weeks ago as I was examining it from the sofa I realized that I could see the tabs on the second floor ceilings!

I covered the ceilings in watercolour paper and added beams to the living room and upstairs room.  I'm still on a hunt for a medallion for the dining room as I'm not in love with the one I made .  I may go with a patterned paper... or i'll just continue with my beams throughout - who knows!  I may wake up tomorrow and hate it.

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 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.