Well the glue is holding, Lily feels much more secure. I need to find some time and space to sand and paint the stair pieces and door frames. I also need to paper parts of the back and right-hand "half" walls. And I really should do something this week as Indy is on half term at my parents and the house is quiet, but I have a stinking head cold and am feeling lazy...
It did strike me though, as I lined up an impossibly bent left-hand wall (and wondered how on earth I would be able to weight it down as I glued it in place, given that the right-hand side has the bay window) that before I fixed the wall in place I would need to skirt and cove the rooms, my hands may be small but will never fit round walls and through doors once the main access is gone. So, I am drawing up a to-do list of all the things I need to prep and get in place before I finish off the walls. More painting in store, but it will buy me some time to think through the glue/weight issue! It is also a good chance to go through each room and snag them - the bathroom corner walls for example are gappy, not matter how much glue and pressure I apply, so I am looking at some remedial papering. Other papers need trimming and a little repair; gaps need filling and the ceilings and floors need touching up where the tabs have slotted in.
And my thanks once again to the Greenleaf Forum, I haven't been very active there the last few months, but I have spent hours surfing thorough their posts looking for ideas and info and basic sound advice - a great bunch of truely talented and wonderfully helpful people!
Showing posts with label dollhouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label dollhouse. Show all posts
Wednesday, 18 February 2009
Wednesday, 4 February 2009
Cat-astrophe!
Lulu and Rascal are in so much trouble! We've had some very unusal wintery weather and neither of my cats like getting their paws cold so they have been going a little stir crazy. I generally don't mind their running, around launching themselves over the furniture, but when Rascal (big, fat, tonne of a tomcat Rascal) decided to use Lily's bay window as a launch pad there were bits of bay flying in all directions... :(
It has brought my major worry about the Lily to the fore again, despite gluing in all the places I've been told to glue, she does seem very fragile. A little thought and research required; I don't intend to let her be played with, but I don't want Lily to be a "no go area". It would be sad if she just sat in glorious isolation because I'm too nervous of her fragilty.
It has brought my major worry about the Lily to the fore again, despite gluing in all the places I've been told to glue, she does seem very fragile. A little thought and research required; I don't intend to let her be played with, but I don't want Lily to be a "no go area". It would be sad if she just sat in glorious isolation because I'm too nervous of her fragilty.
Monday, 13 October 2008
My Willowcrest arrived!!
I know, I know, I've barely started my Lily and already I've bought another dollhouse, but this one is special. After so many years of looking, I finally own a Willowcrest, it arrived a few days ago and I can barely contain my excitement! Not only is the kit complete, it's in great condition; I couldn't have hoped for anything more. It sits on the floor of my workroom and distracts me from everything else I try to do...
Monday, 11 August 2008
The joy of repetition..
It may just be me, but I find a welcoming quiet in repetitive work and I am getting plenty of it in the sanding, filling, sanding, painting, painting and painting (with a little more sanding and filling in between!) of the 85 pieces to finish the majority of Lily's windows (part B in the instructions).
It was a struggle to get the pieces out, most of them needed some TLC (as the pictures show) and there were a couple of breakages. The sheet that held all of the casings and pediments was particularly bad, thankfully I had a duplicate pediments sheet so where breakages were too bad to repair I was able to replace them all. There was a huge sense of satisfaction once the sanding was all done and things looked better!
Before:
After:
I painted two coats on everything and have started assembling various parts before a final fill, sand and third coat of paint. The corner blocks I blu-tacked onto newspaper - they held fast and I didn't need to be too careful or fussy when painting!
Slightly off topic, there was huge excitement earlier in the week when I finally bought a Willowcrest dollhouse! Buying it also helped me finally decide the external colour scheme for Lily, so all white trims for her. The Willowcrest will indulge me and take a stronger colour scheme, so I can leave Lily to a quieter scheme: a soft green, white trim and extra railings on her roof lines - I'm thinking New Orleans pretty!
Speaking of paint, I had a slight panic with the white paint I have been using (an off the shelf, good brand, white satin). When I matched up the windows (painted a couple of months ago) with the newly painted frames I noticed that the windows were off-colour. This sent me shooting round the house, and I have a lot of full-size repainting to do as all my newly decorated skirting and doors are also discoloured! I was shocked as I have always been a huge fan of this paint and I'll have to see how much I need to do to repaint over it - I doubt anything as simple as just a coat of another brand's white satin will do the trick! I was also in a panic about the dollhouse as it would be far less easy to paint over everything, especially with plastic in the windows etc. However, I have reached a compromise, I held the green I've chosen for the siding up against the off-white and it works better than the bright white does so I am going to take the chance. I am touching up all the windows as I put the final coat on the frames etc so that everything starts again at the same colour and then I will let fate take it's course and hopefully not be kicking myself in a few months time!
Panic slightly abated and buoyed up on the success of the near completion of the sanding, painting marathon, I started to put up the wallpaper. I may be being a little pedantic, but each section of wall is being measured and a template drawn up before I cut the final sheet, I don't want any mistakes and I'm working hard to join the patterns too as a number of them are quite bold and I don't want bad joins to detract from the overall look.
I am using normal wallpaper paste which I blitzed to ensure that there would be no lumps and which is mixed by eye to a thicker and drier consistency that I would normally use. I then paste the wood and leave it for a few minutes before putting the paper on and the system is working extremely well. Also, most of the papers that I picked are heavy-weight so I'm having no issues with bubbles etc. The only (bubble) exception has been the stripes, but I am not changing it! It was hard enough to find in the first place as I wanted a striped paper as I'd decided to bash out the wall between the hallway and downstairs main room and needed a wallpaper that would sit well in such a large space and also be quite calm against the stronger kitchen and bathroom wallpapers (Basic Grey's Archaic "Rock", I just love those Klimtesque circles!)
In rooms (i.e. the kitchen) where the wallpaper covers slots for other walls, floors etc. I was originally going to cut out the slots but thankfully realised in time that doing so would leave an unfinished piece of wood visible right in the middle of my wall! I am particularly pleased with the kitchen, the pattern is so pretty and the join onto the back of the staircase is perfect.
I can feel the house coming together, it's lovely to see and spurs me on to do more. I'm now going to start to paint the skirting and coving so that the walls will be complete for when they are slotted together.
It was a struggle to get the pieces out, most of them needed some TLC (as the pictures show) and there were a couple of breakages. The sheet that held all of the casings and pediments was particularly bad, thankfully I had a duplicate pediments sheet so where breakages were too bad to repair I was able to replace them all. There was a huge sense of satisfaction once the sanding was all done and things looked better!
Before:
After:
I painted two coats on everything and have started assembling various parts before a final fill, sand and third coat of paint. The corner blocks I blu-tacked onto newspaper - they held fast and I didn't need to be too careful or fussy when painting!
Slightly off topic, there was huge excitement earlier in the week when I finally bought a Willowcrest dollhouse! Buying it also helped me finally decide the external colour scheme for Lily, so all white trims for her. The Willowcrest will indulge me and take a stronger colour scheme, so I can leave Lily to a quieter scheme: a soft green, white trim and extra railings on her roof lines - I'm thinking New Orleans pretty!
Speaking of paint, I had a slight panic with the white paint I have been using (an off the shelf, good brand, white satin). When I matched up the windows (painted a couple of months ago) with the newly painted frames I noticed that the windows were off-colour. This sent me shooting round the house, and I have a lot of full-size repainting to do as all my newly decorated skirting and doors are also discoloured! I was shocked as I have always been a huge fan of this paint and I'll have to see how much I need to do to repaint over it - I doubt anything as simple as just a coat of another brand's white satin will do the trick! I was also in a panic about the dollhouse as it would be far less easy to paint over everything, especially with plastic in the windows etc. However, I have reached a compromise, I held the green I've chosen for the siding up against the off-white and it works better than the bright white does so I am going to take the chance. I am touching up all the windows as I put the final coat on the frames etc so that everything starts again at the same colour and then I will let fate take it's course and hopefully not be kicking myself in a few months time!
Panic slightly abated and buoyed up on the success of the near completion of the sanding, painting marathon, I started to put up the wallpaper. I may be being a little pedantic, but each section of wall is being measured and a template drawn up before I cut the final sheet, I don't want any mistakes and I'm working hard to join the patterns too as a number of them are quite bold and I don't want bad joins to detract from the overall look.
I am using normal wallpaper paste which I blitzed to ensure that there would be no lumps and which is mixed by eye to a thicker and drier consistency that I would normally use. I then paste the wood and leave it for a few minutes before putting the paper on and the system is working extremely well. Also, most of the papers that I picked are heavy-weight so I'm having no issues with bubbles etc. The only (bubble) exception has been the stripes, but I am not changing it! It was hard enough to find in the first place as I wanted a striped paper as I'd decided to bash out the wall between the hallway and downstairs main room and needed a wallpaper that would sit well in such a large space and also be quite calm against the stronger kitchen and bathroom wallpapers (Basic Grey's Archaic "Rock", I just love those Klimtesque circles!)
In rooms (i.e. the kitchen) where the wallpaper covers slots for other walls, floors etc. I was originally going to cut out the slots but thankfully realised in time that doing so would leave an unfinished piece of wood visible right in the middle of my wall! I am particularly pleased with the kitchen, the pattern is so pretty and the join onto the back of the staircase is perfect.
I can feel the house coming together, it's lovely to see and spurs me on to do more. I'm now going to start to paint the skirting and coving so that the walls will be complete for when they are slotted together.
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Time flies..
The summer holidays are so busy I've not had a chance to do anything on the dollshouse lately and I've missed it! Once the first batch of wallpaper arrived I was able to choose the rest and I am generally very pleased with my purchases... including all the extra "I'll just have one of those sheets" which I've added to my general stock! I have also decided not to put any lighting in Lily, I was looking forward to trying it but couldn't find any lights that I liked. Best not to do it, rather than put in something I will not be 100% happy with.
I'm back to part B, R&P of the first batch of walls, all visible ends I am sanding, filling and painting white. Then the wallpapering starts and I am jumping around like a kid at Christmas in anticipation. I also have a lot of window casings to R&P too, plus all the sills, casing bottoms, pediments, corner blocks... and much the same for the doors...
I'm back to part B, R&P of the first batch of walls, all visible ends I am sanding, filling and painting white. Then the wallpapering starts and I am jumping around like a kid at Christmas in anticipation. I also have a lot of window casings to R&P too, plus all the sills, casing bottoms, pediments, corner blocks... and much the same for the doors...
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