The Fairfield: More Bits & Bobs

Since I want to glue in the central wall, the chimney and floor section, and the front wall all in one go (so that it all ends up square, in theory), I am trying to decide ahead of time what I can do on these sections that will be easier to do whilst I can lie them flat or manipulate them. Hence, more bits and bobs getting done, instead of actual construction.

I've sealed the wallpaper in the hallway with Mod Podge. It looks far more like actual wallpaper now, not so much like glossy paper, which is great.

I've also painted the windows and French doors and applied a crackle medium glaze. I ended up using Stone Grey paint over the glaze on the surrounds and I don't like it. I should have used a proper grey not a greige! I might sand them back and repaint them once I have completed the siding, depending on how it all looks together.  The siding will be off-white over a black undercoat and crackle glazed.

Windows and doors painted, but in a need of a clean!

I was happy with how the crackle glaze came out though, I don't think it's too large for the scale of the house. I was very wary of putting it on too thickly and ending up with giant cracks, but I could have painted on a thicker coat without too much worry. I will make note of that for when I am doing the siding.

I really must clean the acrylic in the windows too, they are filthy!

Close up of the crackle glaze on a window after drying

I also finally decided what I wanted to do about the fireplace in the lounge room.  Essentially I can't afford to buy what I really want to put in there, so I had to make do with trying to make something up myself.

I constructed a facade out of bits of balsa wood, based on some photos I found on Pinterest. I'm not able to do any fancy turnings or anything, but I wanted the feel of the room to be fairly masculine anyway, with lots of wood paneling, so I stuck with relatively easy rectangular pieces. I sanded the edges to bevel them, but the wood is so thin that you really can't see it! Oh well. For a rank amateur, with no artistic skills, I think I did OK overall.

Glued and ready for staining

I then painted it with Walnut stain.  I did a practice run on a scrap piece first and it turned out well, so I was disappointed with the uneveness of the stain on the fireplace :-(  Even after a second coat it remains splotchy. Gluing before staining caused some if the issues, but not all.

Aftef the first coat of Walnut stain

I may do a final coat of stain with a watered-down Wenge stain to make it darker and therefore appear less uneven. Hmn.  I still need to decide what to do inside the grate - I'd like to lay bricks and paint them, but I'm tempted to just leave it as is and add a tiled hearth when I do the flooring. I'm also debating whether to build in a bookcase on the left hand side of the fireplace wall.  It's an odd space to decorate otherwise.

Two coats of stain, and resting in place on the fireplace wall.

Whilst I was playing with the balsa wood, I also started fiddling about with possible treatments for the arched lounge door frame. There is no frame included in the kit for the foyer side of the doorway so I will have to make something up. Given the masculine feel I am going for in the lounge room, I am tempted to square up the arch and add some thick, chunky moulding at the top and sides of the frame instead to link in with the paneling I will add on the walls.

I did most of these things whilst I was undercoating more of the walls and painting the ceilings in the lounge and work rooms, after deciding on the ceiling treatment in the lounge room.  The lounge room ceiling will be white with some sort of feature around the central ceiling rose. Maybe using three-dimensional lace scrap booking stickers?  The work room ceiling will also be white, and I think I will use the white textured ceiling paper in there. I only have one sheet and I was going to use it in the bedroom, but I think the bedroom needs something fancier.

I've also decided on, and ordered, a new front door and two round windows for the tower. I decided on the Grandt Line door, primarily because it is larger than the Houseworks doors, although I'm not too fussed on the door window detail. Meh. And also on the Grandt Line round windows, primarily because they are larger than all the timber ones I could find and I definitely want to be able to see the Weeping Angel I am planning on walling up in the secret room ;-)

They are coming from the US, so they won't arrive for a couple of weeks yet.  In the meantime, I think I am close to gluing my first set of walls in place!