After last night's entry I took the card templates & colored sandpaper sheets, steel ruler, pencil & fine-point pen downstairs to the diningroom table & for two & a half hours I drew grout lines on the templates 1/4" apart and then I marked 3/16" intervals down the sides & 5/8" intervals across the ends of the four sandpaper sheets and when I got out my lovely transparent ruler to connect the interval marks I discovered it has pica & half-pica markings!!! (a pica is 1/6"
I started out in a mellow mode rubbing pastels lightly over 240 grit sandpaper to color "bricks" and sprayed them with lacquer hairspray afterwards. I did four sheets with different combinations of colors on them. I calculated that a 1/12" scale brick face is approximately 3/16" x 5/8"; after I get them all cut I'll put them into a bag or box & shake them up really well & glue them on in random colors. I also calculated I shall have to do this sitting down with a FRESH knife blade and
I'll dedicate today's entry to the late JD Salinger, whose Glass family I first met in Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenter . Since I was tackling the roofbeam it seemed appropriate. Of course the roofbeam didn't want to go where it was supposed to, even with help from Merck's Manual (I knew my nursing reference books would come in handy after I retired B) ). I have a slightly different configuration that involved lots more glue & the Stanley stapler and the aforementioned manual, and in t
Reading over the blogs I realized I forgot to enter my blog for August 16, when I got a "rest" day between kayak paddling while we were at Lake Point State Park in AL. Joy of joys, the beams stayed where I had put them!
Then I realized I needed to paint the underside of the roof pieces, since that will be the upstairs ceiling; oops.
Finally I masked all the timbering lines on the upstairs walls to be half-timbered and spackled over the tape; when the spackle was tacky
I finally got to meet Tracy! As soon as she looked at the photos I took she spotted that I installed the stairway beam wrong.
Rain today made for good mini-working, so off I went to fix the stairway beam & install the other ceiling beams. I read the instructions & schematics 3 more times & decided to try to follow them. Many "magic" words & a bit of hammering later & some surgery I still don't know if the thing'll hold. The box of remaining plywood sheets is sitting
Not much has happened today. Jimmy has been putting the interior window trim in now. He says it is going in fairly easily too. He keeps eying that roof though, and says he is not looking forward to shingling it ... that will take some time too, since we don't use hot glue but use wood glue instead ...
Here are some pictures of the interior windows.
Compliments of LPCullen
Time for me to play again! Jimmy has put the little corner roof sections on, and now I need to paint the underside of the roof sections. First I have to tape it off so I don't hit the trim--taping off is not one of my favorite things to do either! This painting technique that I am using has been quite interesting. My first coat was my standard white semi-gloss as a primer, then I mixed my color to get the color that I wanted the house to actually be, and used that as a base coat. Then I mixed in
Jimmy is just about finished installing the exterior trim on the front and on one of the sides, and he is working on putting the exterior windows in too. This house has been quite interesting. Normally, Jimmy does a small amount, and then waits on me to do my thing, and then he does another small amount, and waits on me again. On the other houses that we have built, it has been--time wise at least--1/3 Jimmy and 2/3 me. This house has been quite different! It has thus far been 1/4 me and 3/4 Jim
Jimmy is very excited now because he is putting the exterior trim on the house. I stained it all, using the Minwax Provincial stain (don't know if I will EVER be done with staining on this house!). Jimmy is really liking the way this house is looking, and so am I. Here are pictures of the front trim going on. The house is laying on its back when these pictures were taken.
Jimmy has begun installing the front livingroom window. I really like the windows in thi
Roof's up and just waiting for the glue to finish drying before I spackle the joins. Next step involves preparing my shingles and windows so they are ready to go when I get to that step.Compliments of CatColorado
Of course I feel like I've been saying that for a week now B) I don't have new pictures yet but the exterior walls are finished except for some touching up. I used a product called Sculptamoid on the walls and it takes several days to dry. I'm now priming my roof sections, I ran out of the texture paint I was using for the interior so I had to substitute a different kind. I'm hoping that there won't be a noticeable difference once it's all together. My exterior trim is already up because of
Because we've gotten the majority of the exterior painted, and the wallpaper up, and some of the exterior trim on, I thought I would go ahead and give you an update and show pictures so that you can see where we are on this house. Even though I am not very fond of tudor style houses, I am really beginning to like this one--especially now that the exterior trim is going on.And in case you wanted to know what it looks like to look down the chimney, here it is:Compliments of LPCullen
My staining thus far has been done (at least until he takes out the next round!), so Jimmy has begun applying the stained pieces to the exterior of the house. Again, because of the way this house is designed, we had to put one side of the trim on, and let it dry. We also used various paint cans to hold the trim down on the house while it dried. Jimmy used the pro-bond wood glue to glue the trim to the house.Compliments of LPCullen
Jimmy has taken out my trim pieces which go on the front and sides of the house, and I have decided to stain them using the same stain that I used for the floors (Minwax Provincial). I have already stained the window trims themselves, and they are sitting to the side.Today I have done only staining, lots and lots and lots of staining. And still more to go of staining ... And, of course, before I can stain, I do have to sand all the edges ...Compliments of LPCullen
Jimmy has put the majority of the roof on, and so I have put my ceiling wallpaper in on the top two floors. I like how it has turned out, too.Jimmy has also caulked in certain areas, and I will need to go back with the paint brush on the angles/edges and paint those white. Again, I have a preference for semi-gloss white.Compliments of LPCullen
Now that I have finally finished my room wallpapering, Jimmy has begun putting the roof sections on to the house.
Here's where he's at now:
Because I have decided to use the "popcorn texture" ceiling paper in the upper floors as well, he has taken out some additional roofing pieces for me to prime and wallpaper. Yes, believe it or not, because of some of the difficult angles in the top floor of this house, I have decided to go ahead and wallpaper
For the past two days, I have concentrated on getting the remainder of the upper floors finished with their wallpapering. I am very pleased with how they have turned out thus far. Again, because of the layout of the rooms, I have to finish one wall, let it dry completely, trim it down, then do the next wall. Additionally, in the bedroom, there are several angles in which I have to repeat the same process, so it takes a little longer, but I am still pleased with it.Here are some pictures:Complime
I have now begun painting the remainder of the front of the house. I am really pleased with how this paint texture is working out. It is very funny, because while I paint the "front" of the house, I also have to go ahead and paint the sides of the "bay" windows and other areas which are showing while the front of the house is face up--meaning I have laid the house on it's back to paint its front. I have also removed the tape on the beams in the front.Here are some pictures:Compliments of LPCulle
I have begun painting the "underside" of the eves on the front of the house, and also the back of the house, where the staircase is. Again, because of the mixture of the paint on this house, I have to paint one area and allow it to dry completely before I can move the house.Here are some pictures:Compliments of LPCullen
I have now flipped the house over and have begun painting the other side. I have discovered that this "paint mixture" works best if you apply it in kind of a circular motion, and apply it thickly. Here's a picture of the other side:Compliments of LPCullen
I am now painting the exterior of the house. For the actual "base" coat, I had mixed about 2 tablespoons tan paint with about 1/2 quart white semi-gloss paint. For the actual "finished" coat of paint, I have added some sand that I got from St. Pete Beach the last time I was in Florida. It gives it sort of a stucco finish.Because of the way that this house is built, and because of the texture to the paint, I have to paint one side of the house, and then let it dry completely before I move it. I h
I have been staining upper beams and still working on wallpaper. With the way that these rooms are designed, I have to wallpaper one wall, let it dry and then trim it out and then re-paste any sections that didn't take (and repeat for the next wall). I have discovered that for those areas in which the glue/paste didn't quite adhere that if I take a small paint brush and dip it into my paste, and then run the paint brush down behind the wallpaper, in between the wallpaper and the wall, that works
I have picked out my wallpaper and have begun the wallpapering using the same method that I used on the Arthur regarding paper types and paste application. For the livingroom (which will probably double as a dining room as well), I have chosen a pre-pasted vinyl wallpaper, and here is what that looks like:For the kitchen, I have again chosen a pre-pasted vinyl wallpaper. Those two rooms had the most difficult angles, and so I chose the easiest wallpaper since I would have to manipulate the wallp
Well, Jimmy has finally gotten the house to where I get to play for a while. Poor guy, since we came home from vacation he has not gotten into the house earlier than 10pm. We have been under a heat wave, and he does heating and air conditioning ...
I have finished with my "textured" ceilings, and I am pleased with how they have turned out. I have begun "priming" the inside of the house for wallpapering by using two coats of semi-gloss white paint. Here's how it looks:
