Yesterday I made the windows from F-6 (the triple that goes in the left front window opening downstairs. Today I made the rest of them.
I took the four frame pices and stacked them together keeping the inner edges as even as possible, spring-clamped them on the sides and clamped them into the benchtop vise and sanded the inner edges smooth with an emeryboard sanding stick and the outer edges with the Dremel drum until they fit.
I also had to perform corrective surgery on each
Today we worked on Beam Section 2A and 2B, which is an area a lot of us had problems with--figuring out how they go. These beams are support for the staircase. Here is how we did it.
In reading the instructions where the beams go, Jimmy says that if you look at the diagram/schematic on each sheet it actually tells you what slot each beam goes in.
The next step is building in the staircase sides and back side of the chimney. Jimmy says this part wasn't d
I worked my tail off, but have little to show for it since it was mostly finishing type work. Here I am assembling the staircase and priming the wall for painting.
This is the brick paper I am using inside the fireplaces.
The wall is primed, textured and painted and the stairs have been carpeted with felt. The felt made for excellent carpeting, I was surprised because I wasn't sure how it would look. I still need to finish off the outer edge.
The bookcase
I have been finished for a few days now. When these pictures were taken, the kitchen did not have the stone floor finished yet but I will update it later. I have added paperclay to the complete base of the house and added trim around the doorways. I am VERY pleased at how this house has turned out. My houses NEVER end up looking the way I imagine it to look in the begining. The finished product has left me very happy. The hardest part was adding the beams and the next hard part for me was doing
I have a picture! <_< There is some minor work to be done, like permanently attaching the windows and door, adding the door knocker and handles, chimney stuff, etc. I am assembling the garden/yard separately, it just seemed easier that way. I hope to finish the yard by this evening <cross fingers>.Compliments of CatColorado
Not really "finished", but the construction is DONE!!!
The front yard did not want to fit levelly across the fron t of the house, so I got insistent.
The short fence sections take the seven pickets nicely at 1/2" intervals (center of one picket to the next); however, to continue this spacing on the longer (left front) fence sections takes only NINE pickets, not the ten suggested in the instructions. I used seven pickets on the gate. The whole fence got two coats of paint. &#
I popped out the yard pieces and began prepping them yesterday. I applied the edge pieces and step piece WRONG,
I discovered today when I was able to collect all the scraps into the box bottom & study the picture on the box top. All the pieces have been popped off & glued back on.
The gate went together really well, although the instructions tell you there are 12 gate pickets and you actually only use seven of them. I found the gate hinges in the first place I looke
Well, we have a little problem. I looked and looked and looked for the top to the chimney, and it is nowhere to be found. We even cleaned up the construction area, and it is still nowhere to be found. So, either the minutemen or Chloe took off with it, along with the rails to the staircase. So, the house will not have either one of those, unless they are found hidden somewhere at a later date.Now, I have gotten the fence painted, and the house is mostly finished, I am just waiting on Jimmy to pu
Not too much exciting going on today. I have finished staining the interior doors, and have put them together with the hinges inside of them. Jimmy had to trim down both interior doors and the exterior door so that it would fit, and he has hung them on the house. I have also been doing so touch up painting here and there.Jimmy has been building the little picket fence. Way too many pieces to that fence, and I now know why most everyone else has elected to leave it off.Compliments of LPCullen
Now that Jimmy has completed the shingling, I have been staining the roof shingles. I've also been staining the interior doors, and the exterior door has been painted. Because the recipient of this house's favorite color is blue, so is the front door.Compliments of LPCullen
Poor Jimmy, he's still shingling ... It's kind of interesting how he has to tape down the shingles on that one side. Here's that picture:He is almost done though. In this picture, you can see most of the roof done. But, pay close attention to that double window behind the house. Next time you see that area (see the Westville blog), that window will not be there.Compliments of LPCullen
Jimmy is still shingling, poor guy.
He is also creating a little side line down the sides/peaks areas of the roof using pieces of siding. Just look where the small pieces of blue tape are, and you can see what he is doing with that.
Compliments of LPCullen
All of the exterior trim is now on the house, and Jimmy has begun shingling. Because this is a complex roof (what part of the house has not been complex?), this is going to take a while!Compliments of LPCullen
It took all of an eighth sheet plus one row of shingles from a ninth 9"x12" sheet of paper to complete the roof; for you math-impaired (like me) that is more than 800 sq in of roof.On top if that the first coat of lacquer sort of dissolved the pastel chalk pigments; they're there if the light is just right. After I touch up the roof seams with black paint & it dries I'll hit the roof with a second coat of lacquer and then go over the slate "lines" with colored pencils. Or maybe just leave
The "slates" look more like asphalt shingles according to DH today, I have shingled the right & left ends of the roof and the rear and begun the front, and it does look as though the lacquer layer was not sufficient to keep them stuck down without rippling and rippling makes them look like wimpy asphalt rather than sturdy slate.
I did try going back and regluing the edges down and where it worked they look better, so this is what I'll try before the last coat(s) of lacquer. It
I "guesstimated" that seven sheets of 9"x12" black construction paper would be sufficient to make roofing "slates" 1"x1", knowing I can make more if I must.
I had bought a pack of all black construction paper on sale at Michael's a while back. First I pulled out seven sheets of paper and painted one side with lacquer and let it dry.
On the other side I drew 1" grid lines with a #2 pencil, the graphite shows up really well & by using a bit of pressure to draw the lines the
I got the trim & kitchen door off in one, trimmed the door to FIT and rehung it.The stair "carpet" was a wee bit wide, but turned out not too bad; wish I'd found the ribbon before I had to install the left wall, it would have made the carpeting easier, but then I'd have gotten spackle on it & THAT wouldn't have come off! The red leather will work nicely. I had to piece the snug's windowseat, but it doesn't show. Somewhere I have some narrow braid to hide the jaggedy edge of the leathe
Although I haven't blogged in quite a while due to losing my password (as well as being entirely too busy to remain sane), I have been working on the Glencroft. I'm at the truly tedious part of the house, the shingling. The windows are hung and the doors in place. This turned out to be a very handsome house and I am very happy that I was given the opportunity to build it. B) I even have the perfect rug for it, or more accurately, part of a rug. I'm still stitching it and I have misplaced my
The windows are hung!I readjusted the door to the bathroom and rehung it; I'm still trying to prise off the trim around the kitchen door to fix it. I've masked around the inside of the right bay to finish spackling "stucco" in there and when it's dry I'm going to cut a piece of the wallpaper I used on the floor to do the window ledge. I need to make a pattern for shelves for under the right front window in the kitchen.If the woven red ribbon I bought isn't too wide I'll carpet the stairs tonig
I began by hanging the front door
and then the windows.
Remember the care I suggested taking with the window frame pieces, because it goes double for the window surround trim. In order to remove the trim sheets from the plywood there is a minimum width the pieces can be die-cut. In order for the windows to hang and be able to open & close the surround trim must be cut down by 1/3 (3/8" to 1/4") from the inner edge. For me this involves combined whittling and sanding. &
It didn't seem like much until I got going, but I have installed all the half-timbering & spackled/ filled the "stucco" areas on the second floor and have washed it all with burnt sienna.
Then I assembled the tapered upper chimney, chimney top edge & flue. I masked the flue, spread a smooth coat of spackle over it & painted it terra cotta. I'll install after the rest of the chimney's done. I attached the chimney top to the tapered part and then I spackled the top edg
Short entry today because most of it was spent running errands. I located all the window frame pieces. I want all "working" windows, but the left front downstairs window is a triple so think I'll hinge the two side windows and leave the center panel "fixed".
Note: Use extreme care prepping the window frames, they are only 1/8" thick & 3/8" wide and the plywood sometimes has brittle spots (note one of the F-6 frames in the vise).
I also cut a 1/4" wide strip of chamois to
