Ship Lap Ceiling Installed

Another day of inclement weather kept me inside. With more rain, cool temperatures and a bit of a breeze, yard work once again has been delayed. We did get in a couple of good days cleaning up weeds, planting tomatoes and other garden items, and getting perennials in. Today hubby and I  planned  to spray the stubborn weeds, like thistles and wild grasses, but that isn't happening.  Instead I thought I do a quick post to catch you up on ceiling's progress.

I hunkered down in the basement first thing this morning and in between loads of laundry to work on the ceiling of the 3rd level in the Blue Farmhouse. All of the ship lap is installed; now I have the trim and beams to put in.

In the music room/den, I began installation using hot glue.  Here are the advantages and disadvantages of hot glue:

• Advantages: Sets up quickly and permanently and stays in place.
• Disadvantages: Sets up quickly and permanently and stays in place.

As long as you know exactly where a piece of wood is going and that it fits properly, hot glue is the way to go, but mess up in placement and you have only seconds to remove the piece to reposition it. 

On the fourth row, I changed to a white craft glue because the pieces would be a tight fit against the wall and I wanted to be able to slide them in between the wall and the ceiling, which I could't do with hot glue. The white glue was okay. It does not set up immediately, so there is time to make adjustments in placement; whereas with the hot glue, such adjustments are not allowed. Once you have the wood in place, it is there to stay. White glue just takes forever to set up too, and sometimes doesn't give a tight bond.

I could have done a more accurate job of getting the craft sticks cut the same length, but since I am gluing the beams over the joints, I didn't think that it matters so much.

The hallway ceiling is a bit tricky because I want the ceiling beams evenly spaced at the end of the row of lap, but this room is just too narrow for such placement. It will have two beams anyway. I used a tacky glue with these pieces, hoping to get a better bond.  But I didn't. 

The ship lap ceiling is now fully installed. The trim has all been cut and taped in for a final fit. I have decided to do a white wash using craft paint thinned down with water and maybe lightly sand afterwards. I want to keep the ceiling light and airy. The beams are all measured ready to be cut on the scroll saw. I will install them before I paint.

My work doesn't always please me because I don't feel that I am very good at being precise, especially measuring and cutting. I am getting very good at covering up those imperfections, however. And at the same time, if we were to see behind the scenes of how our own homes were built we'd see where the mistakes were cleverly (or not so) hidden. Renovations are very hard to do, especially when the original builder didn't do things right. So I am hoping that once I get the beams in, I will like the results. 

I am wanting to get this old house finished; there is still so much work to do. Next week I will get the granddaughters started on their house. They are 9, 7, and soon to be 4. Now won't that be an adventure? I hope that I am up for it. 

I'd like to welcome Susan from Susan's Mini Homes to my Dollhouse Dreams. I know that I will enjoy visiting her, too.  I am discovering that dollhouse bloggers aren't as fervent bloggers as are my gardening blog friends who blog weekly or even much more often. The dollhouse bloggers have huge followings, too, and I have decided that as I do, they blog when they have a project to share. So I am trying to post more often to generate some more interest and I am trying to get around to visit other dollhouse bloggers, hoping to learn from them and make friends along the way.

The sun is popping out, but would you believe that I have fireplace burning? (gas logs, easy to start). I have been cold all day. 

A special thank you and appreciation to our veterans and to their families who sacrificed so much so that we can have our freedoms in this great land. Bless you all.

Have a wonderful holiday weekend. 

Hard Decisions

As the thunderstorm with warnings of severe rain, hail, and even tornado raged outside, I hunkered down in the basement and worked on the Blue Farmhouse. I finally decided on wallpaper for the what I have been referring to as the music room, the large room on the top floor, but I didn't get musical type wallpaper. In fact I had a very hard time finding wallpaper, settling on a horse-themed wallpaper instead. I will still have the piano and and music represented, but the room may be taking on more of a masculine look. We will see.

Before I can wallpaper, I need to finish the ceiling. I have had a hard time deciding what to with the ceiling, finally deciding on a rustic, unfinished ceiling with more of an attic feeling. Joanna Gaines on Fixer Upper might be thrilled with the ship lap look. Caroline who builds the most enchanting houses at Cinderella Moments certainly inspires me to go with the rustic look. So here is my progress.

First I made a paper template to work out the pattern. I had decided to glue the craft sticks to cardboard as changeable ceiling, but in the end decided not to.

I knew how many craft sticks I needed, so I cut the rounded ends off as I watched General Hospital.

I opted to use the hot glue gun to adhere the craft sticks because they set quickly and the hot glue won't warp the wood. Installation went pretty fast.

I like the look. I will add the support beams, I will do a white wash paint with craft paint, but first I will test out shades and colors on practice sticks. 

This window is in a very odd place placed so far down on the wall close to the floor which will prevent me from using a wood wainscoting. I am a bit bummed about that, but at this point there is little that I can do about it. 

And I have another problem. The paneling does not quite fit right up at the top. At first I thought that my crown molding would hide the problem, but it does not, not yet anyway. I hate to cut a new piece and have to stain a new piece. I'll figure it out.

Who might this be? Alice? 

Could be Alice. I wonder if the White Rabbit or maybe even the Mad Hatter might be close by?

No. It is Lucy, #2 granddaughter, "helping." She had fun putting furniture back in the rooms. She and her sisters have a dollhouse in a box, a Dura Craft San Franscican that we will assemble this summer, so I wanted to get her excited to build her own house. 

That's all for now. I'll keep you updated on my progress. Thanks for visiting. Love you comments, too.