Not Knowing is Half the Fun

UPDATE: I've been to the basement several times since I began this post. I am glad to announce that my tax report has been turned over the accountant, so now I get on with my life with a bit less stress. 

I do feel a bit more free these days, despite what the news people say I should be feeling. My husband and I have had both our COVID shots, but I guess we are suppose to carry on as though we are contagious. I had adverse reactions while my husband has had none. 

We devoted a couple of days to sick pony. He's 34 years old this spring, and has been healthy, but a week of really cold, sub-zero temperatures have been hard him and he colic-ed mid week. We had the vet out Wednesday night and then hauled him to the vet clinic yesterday, but he seemed to be doing better. Now on medication and restricted diet, we hope to pull him through. He's lost so much weight and with really poor teeth he can eat only a wet mash. We will do our best for him.

It will be cold today, but hopefully will warm up this week and maybe we can see some hints of spring. I will continue to spend most of my time in the basement, trying to get Fairfield half scale finished. 

Here, then, is the post that I started last week: 

 When I head to my basement, I start out with a plan, like today I am going work on my tax prep or I could clean up and organize my work area, but then I see something laying on the counter and I'm off and running in a different direction, making something. After all, I don't see the accountant until next week.

This morning was no different, with good intentions of cleaning up a mess here, there, and over there, I got distracted by the Fairfield. Actually, I am making an effort to work on it so that I can move it out of the workspace. I never realized when I tore it all apart that it would be such a project to renovate. So here's an update on this little half scale project.

Sourcing miniature accessories and building supplies has presented quite a challenge. There just seems to be limited choices and some accessories are non existent or too pricey, so I'm making more things, such as these fireplace grates. The Fairfield has 4 fireplaces, so I started playing with ideas on how to recreate the wood grates and add fire. 

I began by digging in the trash can for a greeting card that I had botched and cut strips about 1/4 inch wide then glued them together in a rough grate.

                         

I ended up trimming the original 3 grates down to two and gluing it the fireplace log andirons--that's what those little brass things are called--that came with the house. The grates are not very fancy, but functional and won't be seen that much. I'll cut really wood branches to make my logs.

  

The downstairs fireplaces will get the grates with the brass Andirons, while the upstairs fireplaces will have the simple grates. I added silver beads as feet and will paint them black, too. For flickering fires, I'm ordering fireplace kits from Evans Designs, conveniently located nearly in my neighborhood in Ft. Collins, so they should arrive in a more timely fashion that orders from out of state--we would hope. I have one more grate to make. Never mind my feeble attempt to make "fire." I glue beads on a clear sliver of acetate, hoping to "make fire." Scratch that idea.

So this is where I stand. I've fitted and refitted, cut and re-cut all of my wallpaper templates, made 3 lights, with more to to make, and I still have more floors to make. I've cut the Cricut walnut veneer, I just need to create the floors.

One side of the house.

The other side: a bathroom, a long, hard to access hallway and the kitchen.

Another challenge has been this odd wall in the kitchen. Inspired by a Fairfield on the Greenleaf Forum, I decided to turn this odd space into a cupboard. I had considered cutting away this bit of wall, but decided not to. You can see the challenges that I am facing. 

Instead, I set about fashioning a cupboard door, using card stock to design my pieces. I cut them on the Cricut Maker, making an extension for the wall and cutting the door that will have a glass window in it.

 

And I manage to get a perfect fit second time I cut the piece. Next I will cut the door from basswood in the Maker.

There's also more work to do the exterior; I've pieced together the porch railing, but I'm still fiddling with it. 

                

So there it is, a work in progress. I've been putting off the wallpaper job, but I think it is time. 

I've been working on this house for months, fiddling with so many of the little details, leaving it to sit for weeks, returning to work, forgetting what I had planned, and starting over then remember my original plan. In addition, there are just so many little details that take up so much time, like the trim work. This week has been dedicated to getting the rooms wallpapered.

UPDATE: Wallpapering

I ordered wallpaper from my favorite online source last summer, Itsy Bitsy, only to be disappointed in some of the half scale prints that are so small, the detail is lost and the color is off. So this week I dug in my scraps stash left over from other projects and came up with a very small pink print that that I had used in the toy it. I do hate to repeat wallpaper in houses because I want each one different an unique; however, I have a hard time resisting pink.

Same process to finish this room: trim, light, and flooring. You can see the blue stripes the hallway. That will be a "fun" job to wallpaper with four 3 doors, and two windows with limited access.

The attic 3rd floor is a very difficult space with the slanted roof wall, the L-shaped floor plan and 3 triangle window walls to paper. I found just enough toile paper that I purchased on closeout at Hobby Lobby and used it in Lily's house, so I thought why not here, too. The print is 1:12, but next to the strip it doesn't seem too out of place, does it? The paper is not pasted in yet, perhaps today. But I need to order a 3rd sheet of the strip because two wouldn't allow to cut three triangles. 

                                     

  

                                       

After I had all of my templates recut and refitted, I cut the wallpaper then put each piece in place and began the pasting process. 

I am using an old Cricut cutting mat with a sheet of Press and Seal food wrap with sticky side up to hold the cut wallpaper in place and flat. Works like a charm. Thinner wall paper might tear when you peal it up, so be cautious. I spread a thin layer of paste with a craft stick.

             

Then I carefully position it on the wall. This bay window is especially hard to get the paper in place on the inside wall with the windows. 

                                 

Once the paper is in place I use an old gift card to press the paper into place and work out any air bubbles that might there. I keep a damp cloth handy to wipe glue from my fingers and excess from the wall paper.

                                  

The living room is now mostly done. I have to finish the fireplace, add the trim, and add the light, finish the flooring and build a fire. Oh and make curtains. 

                                    he l

 

Two rooms remain on the main floor, the kitchen and the tiny front entry. The kitchen has been problematic, too. I ordered 1 sheet of 3 separate patterns, underestimating the amount needed, so instead of ordering more paper, I decided to paint part of the kitchen and paper the bay window.

                            

I am a little more excited about the little house now that it is starter to look a little fresher and cleaner. There is still a lot of work to be done, but I am making good progress. 

I'v ordered bathroom fixtures for the Manchester from Shapeways that won't be shipped until this coming week and kitchen appliances for Elf that won't arrive for a couple of weeks. I am very excited for that house because it will be so different from the other houses I've done. 

Thanks for visiting. I enjoy reading your comments, so please day, "Hi." Stay well. 

Making a Plan

After over 10 years of blogging, I'm finally getting the hang of it. It has sort of been a hodge-podge series of posts one right after the other, maybe each week, but not always and little to no continuity. Stream consciousness-like writing. I can get away it over at the Garden Spot, which is more like a gardening journal, but here I hope to teach or at least inspire others to try new things and not be afraid to fail and to keep working and to do what makes YOU happy. So with the Manchester Country Home Kit posts, I have created on my desktop one folder and add new folders with categorized content for each post. Hopefully the posts will be more organized and focused and I more easily converted for my Facebook miniature groups.

So this week, I am planning the electrical for the country home. There are some challenges:

• getting the tape wire into the addition and up to the yet to be added 3rd floor. 
• which type of transformer to use
• waiting for supply shipments to arrive--which can be quite stressful because the post office in our little village has become grossly inefficient. We are all complaining about packages being returned for insufficient address. My Dec. 6 Bindel's order was returned and now that order has been canceled and I've reordered. Anyway. COVID, you know. 
• Making as many of the chandeliers that I can--again challenging sourcing materials and having the skills to create what I envision in my mind.
• I'm in the middle of making a chandelier for the bedroom from a Bindel's kit that did happen to get delivered, but I need to  buy a tiny file. More on that later when I show the kit and assembling it.

I decided to lay out my wiring plan using painter's tape to get feeling for where the lines would run. I'll be using Cir-kitConcepts http://cir-kitconcepts.com quick attach adapters that install directing in the tape line in the ceiling, making the chandelier essentially a plug-in light. I think installation will be much easier. Their website has great tutorial videos on how to use their adapters. They are expensive, but I think worth it. In the past, my tape wire has been installed on the floor above the ceiling lights, making it worrisome to glue in the floors, so I'm going to run the wiring in the ceiling. With the 3rd floor and roof not in place, it is easy to turn the house upside down to install lighting in the ceiling. 

My favorite Youtube tutorial explains in to instal the copper tape, install the lights, and how to connect lines between floors when there is not a stair opening to run the tape through. She uses round wire tucked away out of sight to make the connection. I'll be showing how I do that in future posts, too. Visit Dollhouses, Trains, and More  on Youtube to watch this video the makes wiring a dollhouse seem easy: "How to Electrify a Dollhouse." The narrator introduces a new transformer systems that appears to be more reliable than the hobby store transformers and she includes a shopping list in the video for Creative Reproduction 2 Scale. I'll be converting to this system, so I'll let you know how well it works for me. One advantage is that it will handle more lights and I think deliver more current for stronger  and better performance of lights. We will see. 

I have to add that there are a number of ways to add lights to you house, so you choose the best way that works for you. Some are intimidated by the copper tape wire and others have a hard time managing the small brads make the connections (as I am); still others worry about the longevity of the system. I will say that the three older houses that I bought that were wired with the copper tape, the systems have held up for all these years. Regardless of which system you decide to go with, there are plenty of Youtube videos that will help you decide which system to use and then how to install it. 

I will admit that I have had a lot of problems with installation. Now the transformers that I have purchased are failing, so I am going to with the transformers recommended in this video because I think they will be more reliable.

The addition will require tape wiring to pass through the door wllas or around the sidewall that will be covered with corner molding. I haven't decided on that yet.

I have decided that the wall for the stairs will be to left with an enclosure around the other side and the back. More and more in mini houses, builders are adding book shelves, entertainment centers, and such to that wasted space, as in real life. Pinterest offers a plethora of ideas for that space. With the main bathroom on the second floor in the Manchester, I've been trying to figure out how to put one in the stairwell, but the fixtures are just too big. I'll keep working on that.

The stairs in the middle of house really do break up the flow of the traffic, so even though I have assembled the the lower part of the house, I couldn't help but play around with the stairs to see if I couldn't get a better floor plan to include a quarter bath on the main floor.

Had I not cut such a wide opening between the house and the addition and moved the door on the second floor, I might have been able to move the stairs, but both pose problems. A word to the wise for the next builder who ponders moving the stairs, keep pondering and playing around with the dry fit until you are sure that you have the floor plan the way you want. Of course with the right hand held power tool, I could still cut a stairway hole in the ceiling, but never mind, but then I have to deal with openings that are already cut. 

                       

Which brings me back to the bathroom. I am still looking at Elf Miniatures for bathroom fixtures, but I am also looking on ShapeWays Market for Miniatures. I've found all the pieces, so I may just order from a shop there. Maybe I ought to invite Pink to help me shop around. She's always up for shopping.

Thanks for visiting. I'll have more in few days. 

Let the Fun Begin

 The sides walls and second floor of the 1998 Duracraft Manchester Country House are glued in. I used regular wood working 36" clamps to hold it together. They run about $30 each, so they are an investment, but you plan to build more than one house, they are easier and clamp more firmly than tape, but I had a really hard time getting the tape to stick to the MFD. I let the glue cure over night. Actually, I should have used 4 clamps.

Next I used an all purpose latex--clean up with water--primer. I had to buy this large can, but I'll use it around the house, too. Cost $11. 

Here's are the common questions about priming wood:

• Why Prime: To seal the wood (or in this case MFD and to create a smooth surface that will make a good foundation to add wall color and wallpaper.
• Should I prime before or after I assemble the house? I have done both. I like painting the shell after it is glue together. It's faster. I've done piece by piece and have to spread them out on a large table in the garage (it's winter and too cold now to work out there) and I have to paint one side, let it dry then turn it over and paint. It's just easier to paint the entire assembled shell inside and out.

Next I will add the copper electrical tape while the house is still open. I'll add the 3rd floor and the roof later after I've done more interior work: paint and paper walls, add flooring, and baseboard. At this stage, it is easier to do these things while I can turn the house on its side or front for easier access.

I bought a different painter's tape--that I don't like--. When I removed it from the edition floor, the floor pealed up because it is paper! I wasn't committed to this flooring any way. 

It's just so hard not to play around, so I'm using scrapbook paper to make my wallpaper templates--so much easier with the ceiling removed. Scrapbook paper helps to work out color scheme. I may even use it wallpaper. I've not clued in interior walls yet because I'm still trying to decide where they will be. As I said: just playing.

I've even fashioned faux kitchen cabinets. The photos are not the best. Sorry. In the beginning the addition was destined to be the kitchen, but it has a very nice double window the that seemed to go to waste in a kitchen and I thought I needed more wall space for a kitchen, so I decided to put the living room in the addition with the dining room next then the kitchen on the other side of the stairs.

That floor plan just didn't work. So I went to the original plan and moved the kitchen to the addition, which really does make more sense for the dining room to flow into the kitchen. I cut out the wall (well, hubby did) to create that open space--you know--for large family gatherings. The disadvantage to that is loss of wall space, but  the kitchen will be modern, full of light, and functional. 

In real life, I'm over the plain color pallet for the modern home: essential shades of white--gray--black--ecru. I was watching HGTV Flip or Flop where the designer brought in this beautiful slate blue for the backsplash. Love it! So I'm playing with scrapbook paper again to work out my colors. I cut faux paper cabinets on my Cricut Maker. Still working on them. Fashioned my exhaust hood, but it will have to a rectangular box that will fit between the upper cabinets. I spent days creating my own refrigerate, but it's not very good. I'm looking for a kit online, specifically at Elf Miniatures in the UK where I will also source my stove, (this one is paper) and modern bathroom fixtures. Yes, it takes a while for orders to come from the UK, but have you ordered from online shops in the USA located on the other side of the country? The Denver USPS hub is awful. Sometimes my shipments linger there for weeks--yes weeks before being delivered. COVID. 

Anyway. Elf has wonderful service and authentic looking kits. You can email the company and Elizabeth is quick to reply.

So here is the kitchen assembled in the addition with the large window. Not as much wall space. The stove will be 3" wide, which leaves less room for counter space.

For he center island, I use Julie Warren's instructions, but with modifications. This piece was failure, so I'll build a new one. I don't like the legs either, so. I'll cut my own using 1/16 or even 1/32 bass wood on my Cricut Maker. Stay tuned.

Conversely, here is the kitchen on the opposite side of the house where a living room would naturally go. More wall space, more counter top space, but once I moved the pieces to the addition there was just a better use of space and a more natural movement though the house.

A final comment on planning; making faux pieces out of paper really helps to get a feeing for the space and using scrapbook paper helps visualize color and patterns. 

I don't think I will use such a bold peach for the bedroom. I've been playing with the colors, maybe a teal blue for the walls or stripes. I haven't worked it all out. Definitely using this fabric for the bedding. I'll be building a modern 4-poster bed, too. 

This will be my 3rd big farmhouse from a kit. I have learned so many things and grown so much over the years since I built my first kit, the Ballet Studio. I can now make some of my own furniture, but I prefer to use kits, but the cupboards will be truly custom By Me, especially since I purchased my Cricut Maker--truly a wonderful addition to my workshop. 

Next to come will be the electrical. I've purchased two kits from Bindles in the Netherlands, another fine company to order from if you want to make your own lighting, so the next few days, I'll be assembling my two chandeliers kits. I'm also going to use Cricut-Kit Concept's quick connect adapters to attach the chandeliers to the electrical tape. Stay tuned for that tutorial.

So I'm off and running. It's still winter and cold. We are still social distancing. I have had my first COVID vaccine--no side effects other than a sore arm at the injection site. I'm scheduled to get the second shot Feb. 9; still I'll be social distancing a a couple of weeks for the shot to take effect, so I have plenty of time on my hands until the weather warms and it's time get my hands in the soil. 

I am very excited for this house. One problem I faced before I even took it out of the box was how to make it different from other two large farmhouses. I tend toward the traditional, 19th century furniture, the rustic farmhouse, but I've 3 houses that are just that, Victorian and traditional. The Texas Farmhouse, the Bellingham, is a little more modern, but this house will the departure for me: a more modern, clean, less cluttered house. It'll be fun.

Thanks for visiting. Stay Tuned. 

Just the Beginning

 I've been at this dollhouse building for a while now, fumbling my way through each build not really knowing what I was doing, making mistakes then trying to figure how to fix them so that they don't show. Seldom satisfied with my work and ever curious to find out how others do their miniature things, I discovered bloggers who are master builders, artists, and interior designers, and I learned where to go for help. So I am tackling another big kit house, with the hopes of building a charming house that looks well planned and well crafted, with as few amateurish mistakes as possible. I came close with Lily's house, the Cranberry Cove, but I followed the kit exactly without any modifications.

With my project there will be modifications or more accurately, I'll be kit bashing-- a very big leap for me.

Every now and then I cruse through the local Craig's List and eBay looking for good bargains on the vintage kits no longer in production. I am finding, however, that bargains are hard to find as the dollhouse building hobby seems to be regaining some popularity. But I got lucky and found this house for $40 in Denver on Craig's List not far where my daughter lives, so she was able to pick it up and deliver to me.

This kit is MFD wood, not the kit with the punch-out pieces from sheets splintering plywood, which makes it a solid, sound house that will easier to assemble with not tabs, slots, gaps between walls, and splinters. The floor plan is similar to the Real Good Toys Vermont Farmhouse.

        

Even with the seven room floor plan, I wanted more rooms. Both of my big houses have 3 room areas across the house, and 3 floors, so I decided to purchase Real Good Toys addition to add two more rooms. I assumed that it would be a perfect fit based on the photos on the company's website. I suggested to my husband what he could get me for Christmas and he was paying attention.

                       

Note that kit does not come with doors pre cut in the side panel that will fit next to the exterior of main house as shown in the photo on the box.

After putting away Christmas--the basement is the staging area for all the decorating that goes upstairs--I unboxed the main house and did a dry assembly and partially assembled the addition. At this point the second story floors don't line up. I am hoping that they will line up once the the buildings are placed on their foundations.

The stairs in these kits are either right in the middle of the house or set off to the side, neither are very good locations. A third option for the house is to eliminate the stairs all together, but I am a literal thinking and I would be bothered without the stairs. So, I played around with an old stair case that I didn't use because I did such a poor job of assembling it, so I cut it apart to see if I could fashion a stair with a landing.

In some old farmhouses, the staircase is in center of the house and perhaps in the main entry, so I tired facing the the stairs toward the door, but they are too long and crowd the door, so the only choice is facing them  the way the kit is designed, to back of the house. I did some research to see how other builders customize and redesign the stairs and liked the idea of creating a landing to add some interest. I am thinking that the stairs will go on the other side of the wall and the landing will go other direction into the living room, for this room will either be the kitchen or formal dining room. I am trying to decide if the kitchen should be in the addition, but the big bay window screams dining room.

I like to switch out the windows in these older kit houses because the windows and doors are punched out the plywood sheet and have to be assembled. The RGT addition came with a lovely double window so I ordered replacement windows doors from RGT, hoping that they would fit and prepared to modify the openings if I had do, but I did not.

Here I need to mention that I wrote the company a not not to send the Lilliput doors if they wouldn't fit the Manchester to which they responded on the invoice that they had no way of knowing if they would fit. In all fairness to RGT, it is important not to assume that their pieces will fit the old kits. I got lucky. Certainly measure your openings before you order to compare with the dimensions of the parts that you are ordering. 

I ordered a door to connect the master bedroom to a library? Not sure which room will be the bedroom.

Worried that the second floors won't line up, I glued the foundations together, hoping that I wouldn't have to modify one or the other.

When I first began building my first house, I purchased these corner clamps but I couldn't use them on the houses. 

But they are perfect for lining up and clamping the corners of the foundations.

Because the addition does not have precut doors, I set about measuring to cut out a doorway on the side wall of the addition and the side wall of the main house.

I decided that the kitchen and dining room would be an open space, so instead of standard door, there will be a wide opening. Easy for me to plan, but a little harder to execute; however, my husband came to the rescue.

Another gift: a Rockwell Blade Runner jig saw, a sander, and a vacuum that attaches to each one to suck up sawdust. The man knows his stuff and is sweet and generous. He created a little workshop in the storage closet in the basement.

          

The saw rather intimidates me, but I'll get the hang of it. My first project today required his expertise, though.

He had to drill holes in the corners of the cut to make the turn at the top of the cut.

The saw worked so well. The alternative would have been to use a box cutter. No way. My old hands don't have the strength anymore.

Next we have to cut out the door on the second floor between the bedroom and the addition. Oh, and the floors do align now with the structures on their foundation.

Once we have the upstairs door cut, I'll be able to glue the main floors of the house together then I'll plan the lighting for the first two floors. 

Thanks for visiting. See you next time.