In the picture below, I was thinking about adding a false wall on the side that opened up so that you could see the hallway.
Well, after looking harder and also building it, my mind started thinking something else. I closed the wall up permenantly and opend up the kitchen wall
I will be adding paper clay to this house too.
Today, I started on the Bay Windows. I have also decided to add an extra room to and omit the porch. I created a wall in the front that will have the front door.
This house has one BIG tricky part and it is with the bay windows. It is almost imposible to assemble it with out breaking a part. You can glue it back together and it will be almost as good as new. Don't panic if this happens . Everytime I have done this kit and the Storybook Cottage, I break one of the window sill
This house one Small tricky part and it is locking the second floor in. These instructions are updated because the picture in the instructions is MUCH more clear on what to do and how to do it. Here are a couple of pictures of how this is done.
This one shows the right wall:
Last night was the first day I had to finally get started on my Coventry Cottage. I was still thinking to myself, "Will I have a tower, if so how can I make the adaptions quickly since I have only a limited amount of time to work on this one." I have been reading the instructions trying to come up with ideas and decided last night it was time to start the build.
I Love this kit and this will be my third time building it but my first time bashing it. This kit is fun and it sort of lock togethe
Well, I have had this in the box for about 3 weeks and I keep changing my mind on how I want this one to be done. My first thought was to try to tole paint it similar to the one Sally Eckel did for Greenleaf. There used to be a decorating packet by her that shows you how to create your own original like hers pictured below.
I then decided that I wanted to create a tower where the porch is at. But, as with all of my projects. It seems they sometimes have a mind of there own. I h
I discovered the bottom pieces on the porch side will need to be shortened (mumble, mumble), we'll see if I can do it without totally destroying the thang! Meanwhile I painted the front door inside piece white & stained the part that the exterior door's cutouts will show, and I stained the exterior door, and installed the acetate "pane" and then the hinges, and lastly the doorknobs, and then I glued them together & sanded the bejeezus out of the edges when it dried.
I have been working on the trim for the house, wallpaper,inside trim. It seems to be a comming along well. I had to use a lot of clamps to get the porch trim to attach correctly.
I am making a room divider out of porch punchout pieces. It will be the walls for the dressing room. So far I have managed to do everything myself. Darrell still has not touched this house, but has been advising. I am pretty glad to be doing things myself , as I needed to learn some skills,
I kidnapped my neice and put her to work this weekend.
we punched and sanded and painted and stained all the trim Peices
along with swing and flower box.
I also stained some leftover siding to use as wainscoating and I think it will work out ok.
I also got her to do all the prep work on the shingles! yeaaaaa! I dont mind putting them on if I dont have to do the prep work.
Here we have started adding the trim and the porch has made a reapearence. &
Over the weekend, my real house had to be cleaned so not much was accomplished on the cottage, except getting out my clamps, glues, and various other tools which had been packed into the spare bedroom, last time Lori and family were home.
But today, I was out with a stomach bug, and what better to do, but start on the cottage. I started out by punching out all the pieces needed for the building and grouping them together as called for in the instructions and placing them in plastic
When I got ready to put the "screens" on the porch side I ran (pardon the expression ;) ) into a snag (ooo, I just can't resist!!! B) ) and ended up cutting a wider piece of hose that would go from edge to edge.
Then I decided to assemble the left side porch post to the front of the porch post and discovered I had mixed up porch post pieces, but trimming seems to have rec tified the situation and I shall do a paint touchup when I paint the exterior trim for the front door. When the side ha
We got home & I took the clamps off of the door & sanded all the non-hinged edges, touched up the paint and glued on the door handles.
I cut bottom trim/ spreaders from scrap wood for the bottom of the porch [osts, to hold the "screens", and glued them in place. Then I primed and painted them.
Next I glued the chamois hinges to the "wrong" side of the front porch post and clamped it to dry.
I cut the rest of the pieces of
I got the camera to download pics to the comp now so I can show what I have been up to.
This is when I test fitted it in the middle of the livingroom on the floor, and had so much fun laughing at how it just snapped together.
I placed it upside down to glue the next day.
By that evening the Mc Kinnely was off the table and I could put it there to work on it.
I added siding to the porch area, as it
I cannot leave this Cottage alone! This AM I have installed the screen in the interior screen door frame and I applied the hinges to the other frame, and now both halves are firmly clamped together. Then I shall pop the door into the vise to finish sanding all the edges nice & even & paint a last coat of green around the edges, and then glue on the handles. I'm amazed, Melissa is absolutely correct, old pantyhose nylon makes perfect "scale" screening! B)
I finished priming the porch posts & trim.
I still have to cut pieces to go between the bottoms of the porch posts to hold the lower edge of the "screens" and I shall do that next time.
I made the screen door frames from scraps of kit wood. My little magnetic gluing jig & the EZ Cutter made the job easy B) I also primed them and cut the "screen" & the "hinges" (chamois strips).
I have begun to paint the screen
Today I made the swing and hung it on the porch, since once the screen goes on the posts and the posts are installed, that's the last of accessing the porch; so I'll need to apply the siding & paint it, hang the front door and make a small table to set next to the swing.
I also sanded tabs and filled slots & gaps with spackling compound & when it was dry I went back and began sanding. It wasn't all quite dry, so I'll finish another time.
I folded a
since I textured the outside i am Happy again and the roof went on just as nicely the 2nd time as it did the first.
I took step by step photos of how to do the roof because I had to think on it a minute before I got it right.
The first photo is where I was first confused.
Now its on
The inside view
The kitchen side....this is where you install the center finial. the first to go on is the peice with th
I finished priming the bay parts and assembled & installed both bays. BTW, remember how I said
Well...
Because parts of this kit seem a bit more jigsaw puzzlish than I'm used to, I went ahead and glued some of the bay parts (they kept shifting & it was disconcerting).
On the front bay I tried Nutti's skewer approach to filling the gaps. WOW. I still have to go over the seams with spackling compound, but it fills SO nicely!
The primer was dry so I got the instructions and gathered my pieces so far and began to put them together. This kit is more snap & fit than the others have been, so I read the instructions sections again before assembly and applied glue when appropriate. I used masking tape to clamp the pieces tight whilst the glue set and then I went back with my stapler at the corner tabs; siding will cover this.
Twisting the second floor into the front wall was a tad tricky, b
well I had a few days off to think about what I wanted to do next.
but it didnt need much thinking
I tore the porch off....was glad glue hadnt had time to completely cure so no damage to porch rails...yea!
than I mixed myself some more textured paint and repainted the cottage.....Happy nutti dance!
when it dries I will than add the roof again.
since this is a small cottage done in pastel colors I will be shingling.
photo is of cottage as it sits on m
I did the R&P of this house and test fitted it in the middle of the living room floor. I was having such a good time putting it together that i was laughing and giggling. darrell had to come out of the other room to see what was going on in the livingroom. He quickly asked where I was going to put it to work on it. I just stared off into space, turned around and placed it on the couch, and there it sits. I have about 1-2 days of work to finish bith the Mc Kinnely and the lighthouse, taking u
Yesterday, here in middle GA, it was a lovely sunny day. So I get the cottage, take it outside to DH Big Green Egg table (that's a grill/smoker for those that don't know what a Big Green Egg is ) and decide to try something different. I've looked this kit over for a week, the wood looks good. So I decide to save on some hand sanding and take the buzz sander out and give each sheet a good sanding, before I punch the first piece out. I was so glad, nothing fell out and got lost; none of the wood s
For once I began at Step A, Part 1, R&P walls & floors. Time & how this little house wants to wind up will determine how long that lasts.
Today I finished scribing the first floor, sanded it and stained it with Min Wax golden oak stain with polyurethane, which I applied with a rag, like I do gel stain. I have determined I prefer the control this gives me to lay in the color, and there are no brush marks. It took two fairly light coats to bring up the lines. When it was totally
it is a real good idea to paint the porch peices BEFORE attatching them to the porch....
anyone want to guess how I know that?
yup tomorrow I am going to have to take my porch apart or find some mini person and mini paint brush to paint the inside.
I dry fitted the roof. when I put it back on after I repaint the house with some textured paint I will take step by step photos. I was very confuseded!
yup you heard me...Textured paint! I am sooo unhappy with how my seams lo
well I started on wed night around 9:30 pm
the house just yells to be cute. so Im keeping it simple.
I started by making sure I had all the sheets....check
and than a dry fit. after getting it all together I realised 2 things
first I took no photos of the process and 2nd it was really sturdy already because of the locking slot and tab system it comes with. so instead of taking it all apart to stain the floors I just started gluing.
and than I stained my floors. whil
Well, maybe more like off & hobbling.
To R & P the first floor involves scribing the floorboards. This little house reminds me of little S GA houses like DH's grandparents' house in Lumpkin, GA, with wide wooden floorboards and a screen porch and gas fires in the bedrooms and a big ol' claw-foot bathtub 6' long in the bathroom made on part of the back porch.
As I described elsewhere, I mark the boards' width intervals across the floor and then
