Scratch build - day 5

I've actually lost count of the days because I've been picking at this house between other tasks / while procrastinating going in to the office.  I don't know if it's burn out from the christmas house in such a short time or if I'm actually stuck on what to do next, either way it's extremely slow going on this little house so far.

I have been working on the staircase in an attempt to get something which looks authentic and is "functional" (as functional as a 1:12 scale staircase can be anyway).  I have the risers in place and now i'm attempting to figure out where on earth I put my newel posts!  I have a vision of these stairs of flowing arches with Victorian opulence oozing off every tread, and I have a saw and glue, but I haven't the faintest idea how to achieve it!

My next small step will be cutting the second floor - once that is done I can make my lighting plan and start getting some wallpaper up - once I hit that point I think the process will resume it's normal faster than lightning pace.

This house is much, much larger than I had originally planned it to be, I think I may be getting overwhelmed!

Glencroft Table and Scratch Build Progress

I have been spread between two houses today.  I started with a table for the Glencroft to sit on - just to get it off the floor if nothing else.  The kitten had far too easy access to the house while it was on ground level.  The table has some work left on it obviously, I'm going to dress up the table top a bit - I struggled to keep the design somewhat simple to go with the "basic" style of the house.

The centre of the table top was cut out so the wiring and fuses are still accessible.  The benefit to the table is that I can now do some landscaping!  The house oddly doesn't seem nearly as big now that it's elevated.

On my scratch build, it was a two steps back day - I had to knock down the walls I had up and rip the base in half.  I cut / added a 5 inch spacer to give a bit more room to the hallway and living room. Now I play the waiting game until the glue has fully set.

Scratch build - Day 4

Dear readers I am ashamed to say that in my haste to build this next house I ignored two cardinal rules.  The first of these rules was "measure twice, cut once" - the second, and possibly the most important - dry fit.  With my front walls glued firmly in place I came to realize that the measurements on my hallway were all wrong.  Nothing about these measurements was at all correct.  Had i completed my foam core dryfit I would have realized this.

My hallway was supposed to be 7.5" wide, this allowed room for the stair kit I have which is 2.5" wide.  I'm not sure why something didn't trigger when I realized that my double door kit was too wide - regardless my beloved front wall had to come off tonight and now I have to figure out how to cut my base without taking down all the other glued and nailed walls so that I can add a spacer of three inches.

I wrestled with putting a "tower" on the back of the house but in the end I knew that I wanted to have visibility of the hallway, and if it was only 4" across it wouldn't be very impressive at all.  Two steps forward and one step back it seems!

I will have further news once I figure out the best way to cut my base!

Scratch build - Days 1 -- 3

 Now that I've had some practice on three kit builds I have decided it's time to put that humongous bundle of windows and doors to good use and make my own house from scratch.  To the right is my inspiration photo from a set of blueprints dated in the early 1900's.

I have no idea how I'm going to do the roof on the tower yet, or how to tackle the bay windows (mainly because I have to fashion my existing windows into skinnier versions of themselves) but I will cross that bridge when I get to it.

Day 1 was spent making a pattern out of foam core in an attempt to conceptualize the house.  Now that I'm in the middle of the build however all this has gone out the window - at this point I find myself winging it and I have no idea where to put the stairs!  There have been a couple of points where I found myself longing for a kit build so I could feel like I was making some progress - but today I got a table saw and it's sped things up considerably - I am now making straight cuts and not spending hours sanding the wood down to square up corners.

Access to the two "tower" rooms will be from a side opening much like in the Lily kit.  If I get truly adventurous / confident I will hinge a wall there so when the lights are on it doesn't cast strange light all over the place.

So far I think it's managed to avoid making "a box with windows" - that's the one type of little house I can't stand.  I'm not sure what it is about them that drives me mental - maybe because I think anyone can build a box.  I love the Greenleaf kits because none of them, even the colonials, have such a boxy look.

A House in 22 days - Day 13 - Christmas Eve Eve

 The elves are thoroughly whipped and the house is thoroughly done!  The house wasn't quite 22 days, we actually did it in 13... with an average of 10 hours per day... each... so 260 hours all said and done.  I feel like I've run the Boston marathon!

The final trim bits have been glued in place, the paperclay is done on the chimney, and the cap is on (not pictured).  Ben and I came close to killing each other only once during the whole process which is pretty damn good if I do say so myself.

Things I would have done differently on this build - more time.  I hate a rush build, I like to agonize over placement of everything, this is a hobby that definitely appeals to my OCD tendencies.  I would have used a saw to cut the siding rather than a utility knife to get cleaner edges, and I would have added plexi glass to the sunroom rather than the GL plastic window.  I definitely wish we had taken the few extra hours to electrify the house.  I wouldn't use the wooden shingles again, I would go with paper clay and simulated the terra cotta shngles.

 Things I love about this house, I love the front entrance bash.  As much as some light was lost taking out the floor to ceiling windows I think the functioning doors and steps / planters more than make up for it.  The pink is growing on me, at first I really hated it but as everything came together I think it actually suits the house pretty well.

I really like the lay out of the kit, it's different than your standard four room box, I'm quite pleased with the stairway and we're already planning on getting some appliances for a kitchen set and finding a smaller dining room table for the "dining hall" (blue room).

I will actually be sad to see this house go in spite of my aggression towards it earlier today when I thought it might not be done in time for christmas :)

A House in 22 days - Day 10 & 11

Day 10 was siding and stonework.  Ben tackled the MDF siding boards while I slaved away at the pasta machine.  After the clay was secured to the wall I wet it down and scrubbed the pieces of clay together.  The slick surface is easier to work with I find - and often spritz it with a plant mister to keep things moist.  The lines were pressed in with the lever on a set of nail clippers, and then the wet clay drug back up over to create raised edges / texture.

The MDF siding appears to be extremely difficult to cut, I have to say I'm quite glad i'm not working with it :)

 The sunroom tip out has been a quandary - I really didn't know how to approach this one.  I had cut out a room sized rectangle of foamcore and was prepared to do the floor on this to keep it all on one level.  This involved bringing the paper clay foundation up higher however as the foamcore was visible through the windows.  In the end I used the foamcore as a pattern for a lino tile.  I then finished off the ledge between rooms with thin slices of lino tile.


The paper clay foundation was then ready to go on, I really like the look it gives to the sunroom, it makes it look more substantial!











The paper clay stone work which went on in day 10 was painted today with layers of watercolour paints.  I filled in the lines between the stones first and then applied different layers of yellow, brown, and grey over top.

 The next segment of paper clay to be done is the front entrance.  I have glued together the planters which came with the kit (pardon the tape) - the plan is to paperclay the planters and steps into one piece which can then be glued to the deck

I really wish we had electrified this house, I think it would be one of the neater ones to see lit up!  With 2 days to go until christmas, I'm beginning to think we just may make it (as you can see the roof is going up currently)

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!