Off on a tangent

The other day I made a list of the little fiddly things I need to do before I can really go on with the next stage.  Then I made a list of what needs to be done on the inside after I do those fiddly little things and before I go on with the next stage.  It took up a whole A4 page!  So what did I do?  For three days I did - absolutely none of those fiddly little things :-o I painted another coat on the trim, I sat and looked at the house and thought.  I dry fitted the second floor and it split open the join between the front wall and the side wall in the process so I sanded the edges until it now fits better.

And then last night, after 2 nights of only 4 hours' sleep  - no, not because of the Fairfield :) and a day when I was so tired I couldn't be bothered doing anything, I got my second wind and tackled, not any of those important things, but shingling the lower part of the bay window instead!  Typical of how tired I was, I thought I was doing the kitchen bay, which would not be so obvious if I made mistakes (which of course I did since I was experimenting) but this morning I see that it is blatently obvious that in fact I did the front bay.

I have since replaced that narrow wood trim at the top with one single piece.  It looks much better without a join in the wood.

The fact that it is narrower at the top than the bottom wasn't by design.  It happened because I clamped the narrow wood corner trim at the top to make it join evenly with the light ivory trim.  The result was this shape.  I really like it.  At first I had the painted corner  trim all the way down but I prefer the wooden trim. It doesn't  overpower the shingles like the wider painted one does.

The plan was that I would paint the shingles in the light ivory to match the rest of the trim but I like the wood.  I think I'll leave the decision about the colour until I've shingled the rest of the house and decide then.  I wish I had one of those programs where you can put your own house into the computer and try out the effect of different colour schemes - wouldn't that be great for our dollhouses?

I was so pleased with the effect of the trim on the door and on the sides of the bay window I thought that I'd put some more on, just temporarily, to get a feel of the effect and perhaps gain some more inspiration.  Here is what it looked like:

As you can see, nothing is fixed permanently.  And I haven't cut the corner trims on the sides of the house so they are sticking up like some sort of weird aerials.  You probably can't see them but I've put the front and kitchen doors together.  I really like the design on the front door window, but I wish I had cut the plastic and separated the pieces so that the lines are centred nicely in the open panels of the door.

I've done the window sills in a much darker green but they don't look a lot darker now - you can see them if you click on the picture to enlarge it.

So now I feel much more enthusiastic again and hope to get lots of sleep over the weekend so I can tackle those pesky fiddly details with renewed determination on Sunday.