The Dresssmaker's Cottage: Flooring

As per the cottage tutorial, I have used balsa sticks as floorboards.  These came in a packet from Spotlight and are thicker than coffee stirrers - around 5mm wide by 3mm thick (ECObalsa Basics Sticks).  I tried to stagger them for a more realistic look, but I didn't concern myself with getting them too perfect, as I am going for the "shabby chic" look!

Getting started:

Ground floor done!

Lightly sanded:

Now it's time for the second floor!  First I dry-fitted a piece of foam board cut to size, with a hole cut for the future stairs on the right hand side.

Once I was happy with it,  I glued the floorboards to it before attaching it to the actual house, so that I didn't have to put pressure on the foam floor.  Plus, it's easier to do when it's flat on the table!

A light sanding and it's time for white-washing!

I used Titanium White acrylic paint diluted with water, to white-wash the floors in order to show up the grain and accentuate the shabby chic look :-)

It's starting to look more like a cottage now!