Tuesday 26 May 2015

The Fairfield: Exterior Paint II

Early this morning I applied the crackle medium to the house siding, and now I have painted the final coat of Tuscan Red over the top. I don't think it is cracking very effectively, probably because the paint seems very thin. You can see where the thicker strokes of paint are and that is where fine cracks are forming. There is still a lot of the black undercoat showing through, although that doesn't bother me, as I think it looks more worn and creepy that way :-)

In reality it isn't as bright as in the photos. I wish I wasn't waiting on the siding, I would love to have all the siding finished! Oh well, at least I can now install the French doors and a few of the windows.


Half the siding finished and painted. I will wait until it is all done before weathering.

Only minor cracking is evident after applying the crackle glaze. I suspect the paint is too thin to get a better result.


I've also been plugging away at the rocks on the chimney, but it's such a boring job that I can only glue a few pieces at a time before I feel guilty about the housework and leave.

Monday 25 May 2015

The Fairfield: Exterior Paint & Chimney

Well, I got to the craft store on the weekend and although the usual brand of paint I buy didn't have any shades of suitable reds in stock (nearly all the reds were gone, how odd), I did find a Semco Tuscan Red which I thought might be acceptable.

After one thin coat over the black undercoat, I was a bit worried as it looked a little too bright for my liking, but once it had dried I was sold! It dried to a nice barn red, which I think will look great with the black trim.  I've used a mini chisel to go over the first coat and weather it lightly (sandpaper seems to just sand out the bumps of the siding planks). Later, I will paint it with crackle glaze medium and paint the final coat of red. It is quite a thin acrylic paint so I don't envisage the final coat completely covering the black undercoat, but I think that will look OK. I plan on adding lots of (dead?) ivy over the house, and some brown (dirt) washes, moss etc too, which will cover up a fair bit of it anyway.

First coat of red paint. Crackle glaze & a second coat to come.


Also, I finally decided to add rock to the chimney, rather than bricks. Cutting tiny 24th scale bricks seemed tedious, and I doubt my ability to lay them straight anyway, plus I figured rock would look more sinister in dark the attic. I started gluing the egg carton "rocks" on this morning. 


Tuesday 19 May 2015

The Fairfield: Mood Board Exterior

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am torn about my original choice of distressed white for the siding.  My muse is this house:



But now I am wondering if something like this wouldn't be more imposing and scary-looking:



I love the black trim against the dark, Gothic red! I don't know if I would go really red, but maybe a faded red over the crackle glaze. Or a really deep, deep red.

I am also considering a Mansard roof instead of a whole new room on the tower, with one or more of the Victorian windows I abandoned early on in construction - they are similar to the ones in the roof of this house.

And, as you can see, I've been fiddling with the Juliet balcony railings again. Meh. I might have to try making something myself.



Monday 18 May 2015

The Fairfield: Today I...

* Finished re-fitting the windows into the walls which have had siding added to them. I used a craft knife to carefully shave away excess siding around the holes.

* Undercoated the siding with matte black acrylic paint. I'm half-tempted to leave it that way, ha! I'm still not 100% sold on the white top coat over the crackle glaze. I like the crackle effect, and I've bought antique white paint to use, but still... I'd like something a little more sinister.




* Fixed the plaster around the kitchen door.

* Fixed the broken French door. For future reference, I cut the pin part off a push-pin and threaded it through the hole where the hinge fell out. It is slightly larger than the hinge pin so it shouldn't fall out again.

* Trimmed the end off the coach lamp for the front door and threaded the wire up through the hole in the floor I made yesterday, proving that the hole is big enough, yay. I coloured the white wire with a black texta where it runs up the inside wall of the entrance, so it shouldn't be too noticeable against the black wallpaper.

* Started staining the components for the stair case railing. I ordered two sets of rails - hand rails and bottom rails - but the dog has gotten to them and chewed them though the plastic packet :( He broke one set and has left teeth marks in the other, but hopefully I can work around it and the marks will just add character! I also can't find two of the three sets of down pipe kits I bought from Petite Properties - I think someone has knocked them onto the floor and he's eaten them too :(


The Fairfield: Main Bedroom I

Now that the siding has stalled, I am looking at finishing some of the room details. With the siding done on the bedroom gable, I can glue in the French door - and then install the fireplace, cornice and skirting boards. Now that I look at the photo, I need to fix that last piece of wallpaper too!  I still have a wire from the coach light at the front door to run under the bedroom door, so I can't glue it in just yet.

The bedroom so far.

A major issue I have with the room is that the four poster bed I've been playing around with, is almost too big for the room! It looks out of scale when I put it in there, and I can't fit any other pieces of furniture in there around it. Maybe a bedside table, but the Armoire definitely doesn't fit.




I was going to dress the bed something like the one below, but now I think I may have to cut the canopy off, to scale it down a little for the room?




I'm still umm-ing and ahh-ing about the fireplace, but I think I will go with the black Victorian I already have, and use the little lit grate that should fit into it.





As you see, I used the worn roses wallpaper in here, and the textured paper on the ceiling. I haven't yet definitely decided whether I will put another light on the mantel, or just stay with the double wall sconce. Lots to do!


Sunday 17 May 2015

The Fairfield: I played "chicken"...

...with the siding. And I lost :(


Over the last couple of days, I finished wallpapering the Library and both sides of the library dividing wall, and wallpapered the Work Room, using the Acorn paper. I only just had enough to do two and a half walls, so the fireplace wall is bare and I'll need to do something about that when I do the fireplace and mantel.

Then, I started on the siding. First, I cut and glued siding to most of the work room/office outside (back) wall. The thin siding definitely wants to lift up, even using Super-Tac glue, so it definitely needs weighting while it dries.

Yesterday I started on the siding on the kitchen/ library (left) wall. I did the main part of the wall, and today I filled in the sides of the bay window. At that point I had only three full sheets of siding left and some scraps!! Panic time.

I moved onto fitting and gluing on the return of the rear gable wall, and then left front wall and I made a start on the left hand side of the tower. At that point, I had two full sheets and some tiny scraps. Eeek!

I think I had originally planned to add fish scale shingles to the gable ends, so maybe that's why I haven't got as much as I thought I had, as I have continued the siding all the way up the gable ends.  I will add heaps of trim to make it less plain, although I am not a big fan of gingerbread, so it will likely be fairly formal-looking.

Anyway, today I started on the front gable wall, and got as far as the facade and the sides of the bay window, with just enough to do a little more of the left tower wall, before I ran out :( Pooh!  I'll need at least two more sheets, three or four to be on the safe side, so at least I'm not half of one sheet short, which would be seriously annoying, lol. Ah well, I guess I will start on the undercoating of the rest of the siding when the glue dries, while I wait a few weeks for my order to come in.

The left hand side kitchen/ library wall siding finished.


The front wall siding in progress. I need to finish the front of the bay window.


The rear wall siding and return finished. This was my first wall and you can see where I stuffed up the first joint between the siding panels. Ooops! But that's why I started at the back!

Still to do is:
* the top strip of the left hand tower wall,
* the front bay window,
* the front tower wall,
* the right hand side and rear of the tower secret room, and
* the three tiny returns on the open walls.

Before I place my order I had better check how am I going to go with the corner trim - it would be incredibly annoying to run out of it after I receive the siding when postage is so expensive!

Saturday 16 May 2015

The Fairfield: Work Room

This room keeps changing in my vision, from one extreme to another! I just can't decide until I get some furniture and things in there, but it will most likely be a sort of Sherlock Holmes-style laboratory/work space/apothecary.


I couldn't decide on the wallpaper. The one I had allocated, which I originally purchased for the living room, I used in the office, and I don't like the acorn paper I bought to use in the office! Meh, I  used it anyway, although it is a little "busy".  I have also used the textured ceiling paper I have in here too.




For the ceiling light, I have used this, which I originally had earmarked for the kitchen, but it has more of a vintage work room vibe:





I am now stuck on choosing a fireplace. I *think* I may rough plaster that whole fireplace wall and use a well-weathered rustic beam for the mantel, with perhaps a few tiles around the fireplace. I don't know, I can't decide. I could also use the one I made for the living room, and make/use a more ornate Victorian one for the living room.


The Acorn wallpaper in the work room.

I need to fix the chain on the lamp to the ceiling, and I may colour the wire black.





Friday 15 May 2015

The Fairfield: The Office

In my original vision, the Office was going to be the Library, and the Work Room was going to be Office! Anyway, as things go along, things change. I still LOVE this inspiration picture I found however, so elements of this will be incorporated into the Office and Work Room.


I printed out a map of Middle Earth I found on the 'net, but with the window on the main wall in the War Room, it wouldn't fit, so I moved it to the Office.



I've now glued in the map, and wall-papered the rest of the room.




Although it isn't finished in this pic, I've also glued in the door and the timber framework. And, as you can see, the flooring is fitted, but not varnished. Can you believe the colour of the wallpaper when I ordered it was called olive? It looked like a lovely green on my monitor, but in real life it's an ugly brown. Oh well. I now notice I've also glued it in sideways - ooops!



Now I need to work on the fireplace. I bought two of these Victorian mantels:



However, it's not really fitting with my mood. I think making something more Art Deco might be more appropriate, like this:



There will be something mounted on the wall above the mantel, though I don't yet know what, possibly a mirror or a painting. This would certainly fit the mood:




I also need to decide whether I am going to put in some timber paneling along the bottom of the walls - I think that would look great. Then I'll need to make a decision about bookcases and whether they will be built-in or not, before I do the skirting.

I'm thinking of adding 1920s style accessories - vintage typewriter, vintage fan, library card file, industrial vintage lighting. Sort of a vintage office, war planning room vibe.




The Bunker from the TV show Supernatural.



Detail of the flooring from The Bunker.





I've bought this Monticello chair for the room, though I will need to find a suitable table for it to go at! I should have bought at least two, but funds prohibit it. Next time!



Thursday 14 May 2015

The Fairfield: Kitchen III

Update on the kitchen plaster: one coat wasn't enough to cover the walls properly, so I painted another, thicker coat of spackle/paint mix over the top and it looks pretty good. I'm satisfied with it anyway, considering most of it will be covered up anyway with the oven, sink and various bits and bobs.

As you can see, it's a bit rough and ready above the door, so I will sand that bit back a little. I won't add the timber framework around the window arch which came with the kit - I will leave it as bare plaster.

Kitchen "plastered".


 I hadn't considered the joints between the bay window and the wall however, so once I was satisfied with the finish inside the bay window, I glued it to the main wall, and painted over the joins with the spackle/paint mix. While I had the house on it's side and the bay weighted down, I also glued on the siding, so it would also be weighted down while it dries.


Kitchen bay window in place and plastered.

I bought a piece of worn flagstone paper to use on the floor, hoping that I could somehow emboss the grouting and make it look more three-dimensional, but now that I've looked at it, I'm not sure if that's possible. It's such a tiny room though, and so much will be covered by the work table, that I'm not sure if it's worth the effort of making my own flagstones? Hmn...

I had to go back and check what my lighting schedule was as I couldn't remember what I had decided to use in the kitchen. I will put the two single candle sticks in there, so I won't need a hole in the ceiling after all, although I will need to work out where I will feed the wire through for the candles. I've already fitted the double wall sconces in the bedroom and the library, which were on my list of things to do. Now I need to fit the lamps in the living room and study - the other lights will have to wait until the attic floor is in place.




Wednesday 13 May 2015

The Fairfield: Kitchen II

My goodness, time gets away from me. It's been months since I worked on my dollhouse. All the things that weren't working got to me and I got a little overwhelmed. I've decided to add another room to the top of the tower to house the Weeping Angel, so that I don't need to modify the existing pieces of the tower, so that solves one problem.

One of the other problems was the finish on the walls in the kitchen, but after some quick searching on Pinterest for plaster finishes, it seems that everyone has their own version, using what they have on hand.  Thus, I have powdered Spakfilla and I have paint, so I mixed them together in a roughly 1:1 ratio and painted it on. I'll await judgement until it dries, but I think it will do the job. I tried to paint it in a cross-hatch pattern to approximate dodgy plastering, and minimise obvious brush-strokes.

Prior to painting, I glued in the piece of filler timber above the cellar door, and filled in the gaps as best I could with timber filler. As  I want to age the walls considerably, I wasn't too precious about the filler, and I didn't sand it before painting it.

I've now glued in that piece of balsa, filled the gap in the ceiling join and finished off with wood filler.


If nothing else, the Spakfilla/paint mixture has filled in the joins between adjoining walls and the walls and the ceiling nicely.I won't use skirting or cornice in here, I want it to be very rough-looking. I also ended up having enough mixture left to paint the ceiling too. I'll add some "water stains" to it when I age the room :-)

So that's that step done. I was waiting on the kitchen finishes to drill the hole for the kitchen light wiring, which will run under the flooring of the library, and that was holding up a lot of the progress on the first floor.

Speaking of the library, I was also deliberating about whether to put in a wall along the hallway or not. I liked it but it was in the way of the spiral staircase. Well, I've decided not to build the spiral staircase, and just put in a simple ladder up to the attic level. Thus, I will now put in the wall with the arched doorway. NOW, I have to decide what wallpaper to use in that room!

I've decided I'm definitely going to use this wall.
 THINGS TO DO NEXT:

* Use wood filler to fill in the gap caused by the slot in the kitchen ceiling.
* Wallpaper the walls of the library x 3. Use the hall damask for the reverse (hall side) of the partition wall.
* Install the kitchen lights.
* Install the timber floor in the library.
* Install bedroom door.
* Fix broken French door.
* Continue with the siding so that I can glue in the window and French door surrounds.

That should keep me busy for while!

Oh, I'd forgotten about a few things I bought earlier in the year. When I ordered skirting and cornices, I also bought a Monticello chair for the study:


Plus a few laser-cut kits, including three downpipe kits and a kitchen sink kit from Petite Properties.