It's been a while since I managed to get much done on the Fairfield, partly because I have been helping my son Nathan with his Toy Shop (I'll post about that soon on the Studio blog) But on Friday, Saturday night and Sunday I got into things again.
It's amazing how much time those 'bits and pieces' take, isn't it? But I have some progress to show you today anyway. I've put the roofs on both the bay windows and also on the verandah now, but have only shingled one of the bay windows - boy, they're little but they sure do take ages to shingle, mainly because of the awkward angles.
The tower roof looked as though it would be really tricky to put together but it worked quite well. In fact it wasn't as fiddly as the bay window roofs were to construct. I took my time and allowed the glue to cure properly between each step, and also used blue painter's tape to hold it together while it dried. It looked a bit like a blue mummy for a while but when I finally unwrapped it I was pleased with the result.
I'm sure that when I shingle it though it won't be a quick process with that shape :).
For the front steps I used vinyl bricks for the risers. Using Weldbond glue held it on really well - other glues I tried first weren't successful at all. They still need a bit of weathering. I'm planning on using the same for the foundation (probably) too. You can see the steps in the photo below of the porch.
Making a paper template for the front porch made it easier to piece together the tile paper so that I could make the best use of the border tile pattern before I glue it to the porch. I'm using Brodnax Halfscale Victorian tiles HVT307, because it reminds me a bit of the tiles on the verandah of the family home in which I grew up.
I changed my mind about putting the sconce light in the foyer, and decided to use it on the front porch. I don't know whether it is really suitable for an exterior light but I think it looks quite nice. I don't have it permanently in place yet but will run the wires down the crack in the
The hallway on the first floor is now all wallpapered, and I've put flooring down there as well. To do this I made a paper template, first putting a strip down the length of the hallway then adding pieces to fill in the other shapes, sticking them on with tape until I had the outline of the hallway. I traced this onto the wooden flooring sheets and put them down in sections, running a line of yellow wood glue around the edge with a few dabs of tacky glue in the middle of each edge for instant grip. To help them dry flat I placed paint tins on the pieces for a few hours.
The first and second bedrooms also have their paper templates made but I can't put the flooring down there until the lights are installed on the ground floor, because the wires for those lights will run across the floor under the boards. Even though the templates look messy with all the tape they give a good outline of the shape of the room if they are done carefully. Don't know why I've written Bedroom 2 on the main bedroom - I've looked at it 100 times in reality and only noticed that in the photo!
On the ground floor I have cut out the flooring and started to glue it in place. This floor was more fiddly to do - I wish I had decided to do it before I put the first floor in place but at that stage the plan was to hide the wires for the lighting under a false ceiling instead of under the the floor above. Never mind.
So there you are. Progress. I have the porch ready to put in too, but glue was drying when I was taking the photos and I didn't want to disturb things.
To finish I want to show you a photo of the front again, with some beautiful half-scale lavenders that I bought from Marianne who has an Etsy shop here
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