Ready to wallpaper now

Wednesday 20th February, 2013

Well it has been a little while since I've posted.  I had a wonderful time with Val visiting (see Snippets from my Studio for more about this) and we did make a half-scale writing cabinet from scratch while she was here, using a pattern from 1inchminis by Kris and halving the measurements. Mine will fit perfectly between the chimney and the wall in the living room of the Fairfield.  I haven't glued the front on the cabinet yet because I need to fill the shelves but here is a photo of Val's (on the left) and mine (on the right).  It also needs knobs on the drawers and door, and a varnish finish over the lot.

I am so appreciative that Val was willing to come halfway across Australia to spend time with me.  We had lots of fun doing minis together and visiting places for mini supplies.

After her visit I started back on the Fairfield.  I am determined that I will not start on anything else until this house is finished.  You heard right - and it will be a record if I manage to do this lol.  I want it to be completely constructed and decorated and landscaped.  Now if that's not a commitment, nothing is!  Not necessarily furnished, that will have to happen as I find the things I need - but I am buying as much as I can when I see something appropriate.

So, what have I been doing? I hear you ask.

Monday 19^th February 2013

Saturday night – I finally started construction Yaaaaay!  Not much to show for it, just the central wall at first....

Then when that was reasonably dry, I added the front right wall.  And left it to dry overnight.

On Sunday it would be time to add the fireplaces but first I wanted to finish the insides while I could still access them easily.  So I rolled some Creative PaperClay into a thin strip, cut it to the height of the fireplace and scribed horizontal lines on it, then marked vertical lines for bricks.  Then I took the strip and  lined lined the fireplace, making sure that the clay was reasonably sharply creased at the corners.   This process was repeated for each of the fireplaces. The lines had to be re-scribed a bit, and once the clay is properly dry I will do them again and sand the clay a bit before I paint it. 

On Sunday I could do the next step, which was to insert the chimney assembly down through the first floor.  The side wall is added to this, and I glued it together and left that to dry, clamping it for a good connection.

The first floor is then fitted into the main assembly, and the chimney glued to the base and the first floor.  After leaving the glue to dry as it is shown below, I clamped it together with 2 lengths of clamp: the shorter one  to keep the first  floor in good contact with the chimney where it was tending to sag a bit, and the longer one to keep the base of the chimney in good contact with the ground floor, where it was tending to try and leave a gap.

In the periods where I was waiting for the glue to dry I continued with (yet another) coat of paint and/or wood filler on the edges of the window frames and trims, the windowsills and the brackets.   I think this will go on forever!

Today the kit for the kitchen arrived from Judith (In Some Small Way).  It is a kit that she and Susan of sdk miniatures designed for people who were buying the Lydia Pickett furniture in half scale and were disappointed  when no half scale Pickett Hill was released.  It has the 'flavour' of  Pickett Hill without being a copy.  But it doesn't fit in the kitchen of the Fairfield just as it is, so I've done a fair bit of kit bashing to get it to fit.  Unfortunately I forgot about the door into the kitchen from the outside so I need to do even more kit bashing unless I change my mind about the layout.  I won't do it until I have a good think about it all.

Wednesday, 19th February

I've continued with those frames, windowsills and brackets.  They feel as though it will never end, but I am slowly getting to the end.  I suppose it's the price of being so fussy - I fill and sand, gesso and sand, undercoat and then paint.  Lots of light sanding.  But at least most of the grain is covered and most of the edges are smooth.  

Today I would have jumped for joy if my back wasn't so sore - the order of halfscale wallpaper arrived!!! So that means I can wallpaper the stair wall and go on with assembling the left side of the house.  And have a break from the endless painting of trim too :)  I have slowed down because I can't sit for long in the chair with my back being so sore, but even so there are a lot of trim pieces.  I know I'll be happy to have them finished though when the time comes to add them, and not have to take the time off to do them then.  I'll finish up the trim pieces before I go on with the papering.

Thursday, 20th February
I did more of the trim yesterday but by then my back had had enough.  Tonight I papered the side of the staircase that will show in the foyer

 I wanted to make the stairs a little bit special - they are so boring as they are.  So I put a piece of stripwood straight below the bannisters.  It's hard to see it in the photo because it's painted cream the same as the bannisters.  Underneath the stripwood I put a piece of edging like I did in the John F Craig house, to represent the carving often seen on stairscases.  I probably shouldn't have wallpapered underneath it, I realize now, because carving wouldn't have it.  I can't do a lot about it now though, except paint over it.  that will make it more difficult to see in the foyer, but will be more realistic.

I want to make a broom cupboard under the stairs, so instead of putting the support piece straight under the rear of the stairs I have cut it into two pieces, at the height of a door.  I've painted both sides of both pieces and will glue the small piece to the back of the stairs.  For now, the two pieces will be taped together to give support to the staircase until it is glued into place.  Then the 'door' will be taken out and glued open or hinged, so that the contents of the cupboard can be seen.

I wallpapered the kitchen/rear wall of the foyer, and it looks really pretty.  I did take a photo but it's blurry.   Then I fitted the first floor over the stairs and and slid that wall temporarily into place.  The floor doesn't fit properly though.  As you can see if you look closely at this photo, the slot in the central wall needs to be extended in order for the tab to fit around the existing tab coming from the right floor.

That means of course that the floors don't meet at the front either.  It's too late tonight to do anything more about it, so I'll leave it until tomorrow.  It will also need a very firm hand to force the two halves together and to hold them there.  I'd suggest you buy a small rubber mallet if you are building this kit.  I'll buy one tomorrow.

I'm very happy with the way the house is looking.  Each step makes a big difference, as usual.  I have a pretty wallpaper to do the main bedroom and might do that tomorrow, I think.  All the hallways will be done in the green, and I think I might do the living room in the same paper.  If it is not too much.

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