Wednesday, December 16, 2009

And we have a shell!

Well it's been long enough since I've posted last. Real life has definitly gotten in the way of dollhouse building, in the greastest way possible that is. I am now 18 weeks pregnant with my second child. I am so excited, but with the nesting already taking control I haven't spent much time on the Gloucester . . . until recently that is. I now have a rough shell put together. This was extremely hard as I have added legs to the bottom of the house. I stained them to match the furniture in my RL living room. Because of the legs I used about half a roll of masking tape to hold it together while the glue dried. The proudest moment was when the tape was removed and it didn't collapse! I have a nice celtic knot wood trim that will go around the base of the house to give the appearance of it resting on a real table. Unfortunatley that won't be added untill later as I am restricted from using stain till after the baby is born. I abandoned the skinny stick flooring and splurgered on wood veneer flooring. I am so much happier with it now. Just wish I had done it sooner as I think that would have made me work on the house earlier than I have.

The bottom right room's floor, soon to be the kitchen, still shows the skinny sticks that I laid. I want to add either slate tiles, marble tiles or linoleum to that room but just haven't found the right one. Electrification is already in progress, I've found it soooo much easier to do this as I go. And guess what?! It actually works! This takes some of the monoteny out of the shell building. Wallpaper is still eluding me. I have so many choices put aside just waiting till after the Christmas bustle to order it.
The stair case is not installed yet, just wanted to see how it's going to look. Out of all the house this is the only thing that dissapoints me. The stair case when put together like the instructions show is very ugly to me. i like a nice dainty banister and spindles so have taken off the left side of the stairs to incorporate this and make it seem more traditional. Also the treads do not overlap the risers which gives a very boxy look and the steps are very steep to fit in the area designated. I am trying ways to make this less apparant with the white risers and stained treads. It seems to help, plus I plan to add staircase runners. As the staircases face front this should make it easy to accomplish after I've wallpapered and chosen the color schemes for each room.
Painting all of the little spindles, banisters, and need to construct the second floor staircase still. Then I will finish working on the roof and the front trim that will hold the door.

Originally this house was supposed to reflect a very authentic mid-victorian interior but as I started building and choosing furniture it has morphed into my dream home, with pieces from early to late victorian taking hold. I figured this way I get to have all the pieces that I have been drooling over and if I accidentally put something in that wouldn't have been available in 1845 my excuse is the lady of the house is from later in the century with a love of the old. We'll see how well this slides. : ) Hopefully I will have more to report soon. . . .