Tuesday 20 January 2015

The Fairfield: Mood Board Kitchen



I ADORE this witch's kitchen, it's so full of cool things! It is in 12th scale, but I have bought the same Braxton Payne stone oven in 24th scale to add to my kitchen.




This kitchen by Studio Soo is also in 12th scale, but my goodness it's gorgeous inspiration.








I have been looking at sinks, and I have found the one used here, in bare wood. I think with some weathering it would come up well.



The Fairfield: Library I

Cut attic floor in half for ease of management. Cut arched section out of "bathroom" wall to see what it looked like, plus cut section out of attic floor.

Library area with possible wall in place.

Possible arched doorway

Don't think its enough so far. I love the arched doorway into the library but it closes that space off too much. Think I will leave it out and cut out a bigger section of the ceiling - back to in line with the stair rail? So that stair rail and attic rail line up?

I will almost definitely put in a wall at the opposite end of the gable, so that I can put bookshelves against it - I love the idea of entering the attic/ panic room through a secret door behind a bookshelf.

Library area experimenting.
I have no idea where to put the spiral staircase though - if I move the ceiling back in line with the stair case, the spiral stairs will end up in the hallway and the (theoretical) inhabitants won't be able to get around it to go up and down the hallway...

The third attempt

Still thinking...

Monday 19 January 2015

Noooooooooooooooooo! Secret Room Issues

I was looking at the tower this morning and decided to get my Weeping Angel out of it's packet to try it in the Secret Room whilst I had the flooring in... and, it doesn't fit!!

I really should have tried it out sooner - at the time I was fitting the round windows, I noted that they are in the center of the wall and that you might not be able to see the Angel's head, but I didn't get any further than that.

As you can see - you not only not see her head, but she's actually 3-4mm too tall for the space!


Argh!

I've been mulling it over and I think I can either:
a) cut the tower walls and add a price at the bottom to make the windows taller, or
b) add an extra (taller) floor to the top of the tower, and delete the pointed tower roof, making it flat like my inspiration house:

Knox House, Coudersport, PA
The easiest option is to add to the top, and by adding some detail above the round windows, I can probably hide the fact that the Secret Room is shorter than the top room, so that it won't look too odd. Not that odd is necessarily bad on a haunted house, lol.

I actually have three Victorian windows left over from the windows I was originally going to use, but having so many different windows in the one house might be really weird? Plus I think they would detract from the Gothic windows on the second floor.

Alternately, if I cut the Secret Room off, I could add detailing and trim around the bottom, like the bottom the the top tower room on Knox House, to cover up the addition (and the fact that the round windows would be higher and no longer centred on the walls.

Hmn, decisions, decisions.

Sunday 18 January 2015

The Fairfield: Siding II

I had a second go at painting the siding today.  I sanded it lightly, then coated again with crackle glaze medium, and then another coat of white paint. Much better.

Second attempt at exterior siding painting


I also painted crackle glaze on the window and painted the outsides black.




I also dry-brushed black paint over the frame of the French door which improved it a little.



 
I'm not 100% sure I like it all together this way either, but it's an improvement. I should have used an off-white paint rather then Titanium White, but I couldn't be bothered driving all the way to the craft store. However, I will definitely be doing a dirty wash over the top when I'm done, though I don't know if that will help with the stark contrast between the back windows and the white siding.

I'll think on it a little more...

Meanwhile, I undercoated the attic floor and applied textured ceiling paper to the bedroom and study ceilings.

Saturday 17 January 2015

The Fairfield: Siding I

I started experimenting with fitting and painting the siding today.

I glued the kitchen bay window together last night, and today I cut siding to size for the front of it, then undercoated in black. When it was dry I painted it with crackle glaze, then white paint.

Kitchen Bay Window siding undercoated

I deliberately applied the white paint sparingly, so that it would look faded and grey. Unfortunately, a) it seems that the thicker the paint, the better it crackles (up to a point), b) I think the black undercoat is too harsh-looking, and c) I really don't like it against the colour of the windows.

My first go at painting the siding

I'm undecided as to what to do at the moment. I could:
a) sand the siding lightly, recoat in crackle medium and repaint in white to see what happens, and/ or
b) repaint the windows in either all black or all white with crackle to match the siding.

I need to ponder it a bit more. Also - I'm hating the railing I bought. It's supposed to be 1:24 scale, but it's clearly not. I cut the top section off and it's still out of scale, which is annoying. I might look into buying something in 1:48 scale instead, if I can find something suitable.



As an aside, I also painted crackle glaze on the two round windows, which haven't been done yet. I will leave the front door black, although I haven't painted (or assembled) all of it yet.

Meanwhile, I experimented with mod podging tissue to the back of the kitchen bay window to see the effect. It's a bit too lumpy? Ignoring the corner, which I had to cut apart and reglue, I don't think I like the effect. Back to the drawing board! Perhaps I will try spackle next.




Speaking of spackle, I cut out piece of balsa to cover in above the kitchen door. Lots of spackling to do there, not to mention filling in that gap in the ceiling.

Kitchen: Basement door area

Thursday 15 January 2015

The Fairfield: Kitchen

I found the spare door I had prepared some months ago when I was looking for door casings and decided I may still use it in the kitchen, despite the space under the stairs ending up much narrower than I had originally thought.  I cut down the casing on one side and whittled some off the other side and found I could make it fit under the stairs.

Basement/ Dungeon door in kitchen
I'm not sure though if the stained wood suits the kitchen? I'm thinking maybe painting it and weathering it some more, or perhaps using crackle medium on it underneath a coat of dirty white paint?  Now I need to close in the space above the door before I decide on the wall treatment in the kitchen. I saw some terrific plaster-textured wallpaper in a blog post somewhere but I haven't been able to find it in 24th scale, so I will probably go back to my original thought, which is to Mod Podge tissue onto the walls to add a rough texture, and then paint white over the top before aging the cornices and corners.

Kitchen so far. Much work to do.


 One of the other things in the order I received yesterday was a piece of "worn flagstone" flooring paper. It was inexpensive, so I bought one for the kitchen floor, just to see what it would be like. It's actually not too bad, although of course it has no texture. It's a bit pale for my liking so I am thinking of perhaps giving it a dirty paint wash. Then if I seal it, I may be able to emboss it along the joints of the flagstones to give it some light texture? Nothing venture, nothing gained! If that is successful I could use the offcuts for the two Juliet balconies.

In other news, I think I may have found some affordable and NICE small laser-cut brackets for use under the eaves, on Etsy. Hooray! I will have to dry-fit the roof now so that I can double check the size of the brackets I will need. I am going to trim the edge of the roof in several spots so that I can fit an eave and brackets, which I think will look much nicer than the original eaves. I am certainly not going to use the brackets which are included with the kit, as they are really quite awful.

Wednesday 14 January 2015

The Fairfield: Plugging Away

I placed an order for a few things which arrived yesterday: cornices and skirting, more wood flooring (after I worked out I wouldn't have enough), a table for the work room (which is morphing into a meeting room) and a metal fireplace kit for the living room.  Lots to do there, starting with assembling and painting the fireplace and staining the skirting and cornices.

Meanwhile, I moved onto some more wallpapering. I finished the last wall in the bedroom, papered the study - including the Middle Earth map as a feature wall - and added textured ceiling paper to the work/meeting room. I wanted to see what the floor looked like too, so I cut out the dark timber peel-and-stick flooring to shape in both rooms, and started using the scraps for the hallway/library. It's all coming together, I'm really happy with how it is going :-D

Bedroom


Office



Middle Earth feature wall


Dry-fitting the hallway flooring



I also glued in the floor feature in the foyer while I had the glue out, as it was beginning to warp so I figured it would be better off flat, glued in place. Then I finally got around the gluing the cross pieces onto the french doors.


Foyer



Bedroom French door



I also had a look at the library area as I am still undecided as to whether add the wall in that area or not. With the flooring sitting in place, I think I may cut that wall (which was the original bathroom wall in the kit) in half, dividing off the library a little more, and providing a support wall for the attic floor when I cut that section out of it - to make the library double height. I might leave a small edge on the far wall, and add a railing along it, which will continue along to the edge of the attic floor. I still have to decide whether I will add a false wall between the library area and the rest of the attic - which will now include a panic room featuring the devil trap on the floor.


Hallway/ Library with wall in place (which may or may not stay)

Tuesday 13 January 2015

The Fairfield: Lighting

I haven't been working on the dollhouse for a few weeks because I got fed up with the teeny tiny fittings on the 24th scale lights, in particular fitting the bi-pin bulbs. I need a magnifying glass on a stand so that I can see what I am doing properly!

The first light I fitted was the foyer chandelier which is actually a small 12th scale light and has a larger plug on the end. I had no trouble taking off the plug and refitting it. The second light was a 24th scale light and I couldn't for the life of me get the plug off, so I cut it off, and then could NOT get the plug refitted. I did eventually get it on, but after the trouble I had getting the bi-pin bulb fitted, I haven't yet checked whether it actually works.  It was at about that point that I decided that whether the lights actually work won't worry me - I just want them fitted, and if they work, then hooray! I have a very low patience threshold, so I need to move on before I get fed up with the whole project and shelve it, lol.

Anyway, I moved onto fitting the lights in the lounge room, work room, and the second hall way light. I then got out all the remaining lights and double-checked where I want to put them all. My current lighting schedule is:

Fitted:
Foyer: chandelier
Living Room: double hanging gas light
Work Room: swag light
Hall: two single candle wall lights

To fit:
Entrance: coach lamp
Living Room: gas lamp
Kitchen: single candle stick on oven*
Bedroom: double candle wall light next to french doors, and single candle stick on mantelpiece*
Study: Tiffany hanging light and matching lamp
Library:  double candle wall light next to french doors, chandelier from (attic) roof
Attic: two single bulb lights

* I'm thinking that perhaps only one light in the kitchen may not be enough, so I may take the candle stick from the bedroom and put it on the work table in the kitchen.

Thursday 1 January 2015

The Fairfield: Progress So Far




Front
Left Hand Side


Right Hand Side



Rear



Porch Roof/Upstairs Balcony

Kitchen


Work Room
Parlour


Upstairs Hallway/ Library

End of Hallway and Secret Room
Bedroom

Study

Bedroom Balcony & French Doors

Second Floor Gothic Windows



Front Door