Well, That Wasn't so Bad

The plan for Sunday included gluing in the main floor, wallpapering the dining room and the stair surround, but that didn't happen. Instead while the grandpa took the grandson to a fly fishing class, I watched the oldest granddaughter run her horse around some barrels. It was actually a great way for us to spend our Sunday. Spending time with the grandchildren is the only other place I'd rather other than fiddling with miniatures. So now the week is filled up and I'm not sure when I'll back to workshop.

So here's Ellie now 15 on Hank. She's determined to train him to be a barrel racer. 

As the saying goes, "The apple didn't fall from the tree" for here I am at 15 running barrels in a Little Britches Rodeo--62 years ago.

Ok. Back to work.

I built the stair wall enclosure a while back, using Julie Warren's YouTube tutorial as a guide--sort of. Then I went rogue. You can see some of the work here: https://annsdollhousedreams.blogspot.com/2022/02/happy-place.html

With Saturday to myself, I spend a good share of the day finishing the back of the enclosure that hides the area at the back of the stairs. I began by making a template out of cardboard then cut the pieces to fit for 1/16 inch basswood. Now in retrospect (hindsight is alway more enlightening) I may have been able to just cover the raw edges with wallpaper, or rather the the heavy card stock that I'm using. At any rate I have the structure finished, ready to paper.

The triangles cover the side of the stairs, crudely cut, they won't be seen. I figure if the poor workmanship is covered with wallpaper, who knows. Well you do and hopefully you can relate.

Using computer paper, I made templates for the side walls for wallpaper. For the back, I measured and cut the card stock to size.

I did a lot of dry fitting.

Then cut to size and scored fold lines 

And cut the rest of my papers

After a trip to town to the see the doctor and a trip to Hobby Lobby I came home and decided to glue in the first floor flooring. 

 

When I made the floors, I glued my wood boards to scrapbook paper, which works well, but when I made the the floors for the addition, I glued the boards to 1.5 mm Cricut chip board which gives a much heavier, firmer floor. Since this paper probably wouldn't handle white glue, I used Grandmother Stover's wallpaper adhesive, which spreads so nicely and will remove easily with water if anyone ever wants to redo the house.

Wow. I love it. Nice fit.

I used my Cricut brayer to work out the air bubbles and press the floor into place.

Pink showed up and the first thing she did was to take a selfie. Really, Pink? They are just old books.

As if one wasn't enough. She always shows up after the work is done. I could use a little help, you know.

I'll let the glue cure over night or whenever I get back to the project. I have the kitchen blue plaid to put on and then the stair surround will be done. 

The paper turned out nicely, I think. I will do a bit of trim with a sharp blade around the top edges, but really that very top of the wall won't show.

I like the way it turned out. My original image of an all white house with a bit of colorful wallpaper just couldn't be realized. Wallpaper will cover every mis cut and bad measurement as well as the wiring, so I'm fine with wallpaper. 

This particular paper is actually double sided card stock. The reverse side has the polka dots. I like the heavy paper because it holds up well during the gluing process.

My poor stairs have taken a beating with all of the shuffling, but I'll have them back to good shape soon. Once the paper on the surround has cured and the floor is tightly bonded, I'll wallpaper the dining room, install the woodwork around opening, door windows and floors. Then I'll install the stairs so that I can install the kitchen. The lights will go in last before I move to the second floor. 

Thanks for visiting. I hope don't delete this post as I did last week's.

What will you be doing this week?