Hi all! I have spent quite a bit of time tidying stuff up and now I've begun to furnish the rooms! Because the kids attic bedroom is so small - despite my adding on to it, I wanted to build 'built in' beds. Well I am absolutely thrilled with how well they have turned out! I have started to work on the rest of the attic also. It's going to be Val's space for crafting and for apothecary stuff. Beginning to really enjoy this process!
So, I haven't added anything for a while, however I have been steadily working on my house. I'm mainly doing tidy up bits. I have put in the electrics for the attic, I've finished the large roof skylight. I'm putting scotia in - or at least I'm trying to. For the life of me I can't figure how to do the corners - being a weekend tomorrow I can get hubby to show me! Tomorrow we're also going to a Miniature Show! I've not been to one before so really looking forward to it! Hmmm.....seems I can
My roof (apart from the dormers and the copper tops and the shingles) is finished! I am very, very happy with the way my addition and skylights have turned out. I will need to use silicon in a couple of places to hide imperfections - but this won't be noticed once cladding and shingles/copper have gone on. To celebrate I moved the house to the smaller table in my craft room and given the room a spring clean (apart from my messy daughter's stuff) ready to start the next phase of building!
YAY for my hubby who told me to go buy a new tool on the weekend! I now have a Dremel Moto Saw - like a mini scroll saw which is absolutely brilliant. So my first 'straight line' wasn't so straight - but it was easy!!
Once I finished the ceiling how I wanted it (white washed timber) and put the trim on, the large roof's skylights look brilliant (if I do say so myself!). What a shame no one will see it once the whole roof is on! I'm gluing the large roof now and later I'll go put the m
Seriously?? Was I really that stupid???
I have realised today that I only ever share my successes! Now while this is a very human thing to do, I also recognise that it doesn't clearly show the blood, sweat and tears I have - thus far - put into my Pierce. No does it explain that while I may attempt to be a perfectionist - I very rarely create things as perfectly as I would like!
So I had the fantastic idea of putting in skylights and creating more space in the attic. When I had the
So my little attic room is pretty much done. I'm finishing off the ceiling for the bay - I'm not worrying too much about what it looks like on the outside as of course I'll put a copper top on it - plus all the cladding once the house is completely built. I have decided to do all the attic ceilings with wood white-washed. Because we seem to have lost our scroll saw, the cutting out of windows has been very difficult! However I'm getting there - I'm now keeping band-aids in my craft room!
So...unfortunately I've run out of wood. I've cut the three sides for the tower and I have enough to cut the roof once the sides are all on. I have marked out the windows on the wood. I'll have to figure out how to use the scroll saw in order to cut them out!
Then I have cut the skylights in the middle roof and large roof in the cardboard. I have decided I love the middle roof ones, not sure about the large roof. I am going to make them a series of smaller windows as opposed to one l
Okay - completely scrap the idea of a mansard roof. Far too difficult for me!! This is about the best I could come up with. I'll add in windows to mirror those on the first and second floors and make a copper roof similar to the one on the main tower.
What do you think?? I really appreciate your opinions - what can you see will be difficult? Do you think this would work? Any thing you'd change?
Please have a look at these....do you think this is relatively do-able for the Pierce? I'm thinking I could either do a bay or dormer above the kitchen. It's going to be a children's room - but I'd like to fit two children's beds.
[houzz=http://www.houzz.com/photos/19627319/Cedar-Creek-transitional-bedroom-other-metro]
[houzz=http://www.houzz.com/photos/13374972/London-traditional-kids-other-metro]
[houzz=http://www.houzz.com/photos/353117/Crisp-Architects-traditional-
Well I have to give it to my brilliant Engineer husband (don’t tell him I called him that!). He gave me a fantastic idea of how to build the tower on my Pierce! The wood glue I use is brilliant but it does take time to dry. Last night I tried to glue a couple of sides of the tower to the top and the bottom. I tried using masking tape and even tried hot melt glue. It was a complete failure – all I managed to do was burn my finger! So I took it out to hubby and asked for his advice. So hubby sugge
I have finished the attic floor. I decided to make the boards wider for the attic. I'm thinking that when the house was built (ie Queen Anne style) the attic was probably for the maids - therefore it wouldn't have had such a fine finish. I do however like the wider boards more than the narrower ones - I like the finish more too. So here is how I did it....
I made a template with lines 1 1/2 cms apart so that it was quick to mark the vaneer. I then used a paper cutter to slice
The tower room is now gluing. I put the roof on and measured where the sides meet the roofline. I cut those down in order to open the room up more. I also papered the room. This is going to be where Val's apothecary table will sit and she'll have her herbs drying etc.
Well, things are coming together quickly now! I have already decided that in future I will not put the skirting boards in until the whole house is built. Plus I really need to consider more carefully which parts will end up glued. I've had to shave skirting boards and wallpaper off when fitting the third floor. Its all fitted now and I'm beginning to build the tower.
I painted over the paper I had in the kitchen in order to get a lighter shade of blue. So much happier with it now. To make the aga backsplash, I made tiles out of polymer clay. I glued these on to card, grouted with spackle and then when dry I put a coat of clear nail polish over it all. Love it!
Today has been a good day! I seem to have achieved quite a good amount. I have glued the second floor floors down. I have made and painted the kitchen aga unit. I have a cream aga on order and apparently it's being sent tomorrow. I prepped the third floor level and applied the second floor ceilings. Now I have to consider what I'm going to use as the back-splash. I was thinking mirrored tiles to accentuate light, however I think that will just be a little too modern. Hmmm....time to visit Pinter
My 15 yr old daughter loves to sneek in and pose my dollhouse dolls every day. Normally it is something terrible they are getting up to. Especially Norm - who we think must be having a mid-life crisis - even though he is well past 'mid-life'! Now they have a granddaughter - Eliza, Norm gets himself into even more trouble!!
I have been working on my kitchen cabinetry and must say I am extremely pleased with how they have turned out. Apart from the sink, I have made it all. The wood used for the bench top is basswood - the same as the rest of the cabinet. I stained it using a mix of Mod Podge and various chalk pastels. When doing this technique, I use a craft knife to scrape the chalk pastels, essentially ending up with a small pile of various coloured dust. I then mix it with Mod Podge. Once mixed I brush on
After a big discussion with hubby, I've decided to go with his idea re the wiring. Rather than not gluing down the floor in order to get to the wire if a bulb blows, he has convinced me to recess power points into the ceiling by the ceiling lights. I'll do something similar for wall/table/floor lights. I have taken a set of photos in order to show the whole process. I hope this can be helpful for others!
I will describe the process here and add photos into a new gallery album titled 'E
After gluing in most of the walls and the second floor, today I sorted the electrical. I have made yet another table lamp which looks great - not so happy with the ceiling lights but they'll do for now. Tomorrow (Saturday) engineer hubby is going to show me how to add length to wires, run them etc etc. So while I waiting I finished my little wingback chair kit.
It's turned out okay but I think in future I'm better off doing it without instructions!
Meanw
So, I have been busy touching up paintjobs, putting in windows and finally I've started gluing in the walls. I had to sand and prep the staircase a little better and that is now gluing so will be ready to glue down tomorrow morning. It's exciting how things are finally coming together! As it takes time for glue to dry etc, I've been doing other little jobs in the meantime. I am making a wingback chair that I found as a kit. I've stained the legs tonight using Mod Podge and chalk pastels. T
What I've really enjoyed about this whole process is the opportunity to try other forms of art and craft. I have done stained glass windows in the past with window paints but have recently had to throw all of my window paints out as they were well past their use-by dates! So when I made the decision to make a couple of the oval windows into stained glass I had to try and figure the best way to achieve a look I was happy with. In one photo you can see the results of two ways. One where I used pla
Hi all! I have sort of reached a stale mate on my Pierce. I have made lights but I don't feel that I can fix them in until I have the second floor and the walls actually glued in. So, I want to do at least a couple of my downstairs windows before gluing the walls and floors. However I have been struggling to get the window pieces as nice as I would like them to be. Hubby has just bought me a collapsible paint booth with a fan in the back and I have sprayed the two bathroom cabinets I've bee
So I've been working on a spiral staircase from the second floor to the attic as I didn't like the idea of a ladder. At first I tried the wooden fan idea as I have seen others do. Even though I joined two pieces together to make them stronger, when I can to drill the holes they still split and broke. So instead I used the wide 'ice-block' sticks which I shortened, sanded and hubby helped me to drill the holes. I then used a left over piece of the sticks and a small piece of the fans to make the
Well I am getting there - very slowly. I've made another lamp and chandelier for the master bedroom plus I've tidied away hugely. All of my window pieces have a couple of coats of spray paint. I've decided to do them one level at a time - it will seem less tedious that way. Because of the wiring I've been doing etc it seems like my house hasn't changed at all over the past few weeks. I have to keep telling myself that it's fine!! I have also completed the dining doors and front doors. I have d
I had a period of about 2 weeks where I was trying to make lights. I knew I could make table lamps and wall lights fairly easily so didn't start those until I had a couple of chandeliers that I was happy with. THAT was the hard part! I finally made a black chandelier for the dining room using a nespresso coffee capsule, copper wire and some beautiful beads I picked up especially for it. Then I made the child's room lamp, two wall sconces for the bathroom, a stainless light fitting for the ki
