nuttiwebgal Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 today I started a deep clean of the niche and long discussion with the houses....the Taft has agreed to sit quietly but decorated with what we have so far... it is agreed that the hubby and I will spend one evening a week together painting the Queen...so tomorrow I am going to saran the back to things cannot fall out and have it ready to be turned so the painting can commence...it will be white...eventually I see touches of blues with a red door...but for now it will be white all of it....fall decorations wait the porches when that is done and wont all my greenery look wonderful??? I got my friends gift out...it is the house in a glass ball I got from China last yr...never figured out the lights but I can live with that...lol.. found cute Dollar tree figures to go with my hauntings...hoping to get into the box of the haunted house and clean everything and then the house... not sure how or where I can make a display for Halloween with my dinning table being used for Wedding preps...since my kitchen is making the wedding cake as well I need all surfaces ready.... there is always next yr.... my latest obsession is covering the Orchid started looong time ago in fabric...a Christmas house....I have ooooodles of Christmas stuff and papers and fabric...just have to figure out exactly the best way to go about it... I have all yr to work on this kind of stuff why must I wait till its here and needs done now...I mean really glue does need time to dry...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smjsome Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 My daughter and son in law came for 3 days this weekend, and I told them we were starting our diy remodel of kitchen "soon" of our real house. Saturday after dinner, they just started ripping out cabinets! and I'm ever so grateful, as my husband can't lift more than 6 lbs per Dr's orders, and our house is very very old. We were only going to do a "few" and in 36 hours the entire base, and 100 years of backsplash layers were removed, floor was repaired, sink/dishwasher reinstalled and half the counter tops installed (we are doing butcher block). my entire house is a maze, but we are weeks ahead, my miniatures work is suspended, so I'm going to be reading all your posts and wishing for the day I can be back to work on the bakery! the reason this is a dollhouse post, at 11 pm Sunday, we got loopy, and complained about not finding anything cool behind the cabinets, and gathered some fun stuff and set up a scene to leave for the new owners in a pocket between cabinets 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Oh, Sharon, what a wonderful little surprise for whomever lives in that house in future! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathieB Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 1 hour ago, smjsome said: ... at 11 pm Sunday, we got loopy, and complained about not finding anything cool behind the cabinets, and gathered some fun stuff and set up a scene to leave for the new owners in a pocket between cabinets What a great idea! Are you planning a move soon? Judging from the progress picture, once the kitchen is finished, you're not going to want to leave! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smjsome Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 No, I don't think I am leaving any time soon... I am not used to living anywhere this long, so it's weird. thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryKate Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Sharon, I love that idea! Things that occur to you when you're loopy are sometimes the most gorgeously creative things you can do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodentraiser Posted September 6, 2016 Share Posted September 6, 2016 Sharon, I love your sink! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 On 8/28/2016, 7:21:23, KathieB said: On 8/26/2016, 11:32:35, jbnmini said: For some reason,when I click reply I get quotes from these people. I can't figure out how to remove quotes. Please delete this post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Back to my San Fran roof. I had it glued in place. Then when I went to add wallpaper, I noticed the roof was peeling away from the strip of wood that holds it in place. Then it hit me. I had spackle and painted where the roof and strip of wood connect. I glued the roof right onto the spackle painted roof. Off came the roof and I scraped all the spackle off. Glued it back down. Think I used half a tube of glue. praying to any doll house gods it stays in place and looks good. Still can't believe how this roof is attached. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickyfingers Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Sharon, that's adorable! My brother and his friend hid a beer and $20 in the wall of his kitchen when they did a reno. No dollhouse work today, other than using some caulk to fill in the holes in the ceiling where the old fixtures were. Normally I wouldn't bother, because it's all going to be covered in templates, but some of those holes were as big as my thumb! I have some housework tomorrow morning, but then hope to spend some time on it. I was looking at the stairwell today. The fireplace wall in front of it is at the wrong angle, so I may have to reconfigure that whole wall. I'm going to sleep on it a few days and work on other parts of the house before I rip anything out, though. This is AFTER I ordered all of the separate stair parts...maybe I could have used that stair kit after all? Meanwhile, I've been looking at French décor eye candy online...drooling! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minikelli Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Theresa, have to say you're making me rather glad my San Fran build isn't going to be for a while yet! lol Bright side, I'm going to be doing a buffing of my Brownstone floor tomorrow -and I think I'll be sufficiently happy with it finally... Still working on my windows, but am fairly pleased so far with how they're coming out. One definite plus to being able to research various ideas on-line! (Pinterest has become one of my favorite time-wasters of late!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryKate Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 Today I primed and started painting the main pieces for the Backyard Bungalow, which in my case is going to be a fairly simple barn. It's for my 5yo nephew, who wants it for a 'barn' for his John Deere trucks. He picked out the kit and has very definite ideas about the colors ("It's a barn, so it has to be red, with white trim. The walls inside should be yellow, but the trim should be white inside, too."). I was lucky enough to find all the colors he wanted in sample sizes at Lowes (they even had two small jars of white paint as "mistakes" for .50 each!). I also made arrangements to go pick up the RGT Front-Opening Shoppe I found on Craigslist, as I mentioned on the "Showcase" thread. I did some looking around online and found I'm getting quite a bargain--if you can even find the kit anymore, it's up near $200, and I'm paying $30(!). I'm bouncing around a few ideas as to what I'll do with it. Will have to see what lands when I go through my stash of stuff and my Pinterest boards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted September 7, 2016 Share Posted September 7, 2016 9 hours ago, minikelli said: Theresa, have to say you're making me rather glad my San Fran build isn't going to be for a while yet! lol ................... It is a rough build but i am learning a lot. It had been years since I did a dollhouse too so maybe its my inexperience that is the real problem. .naaa...its this house! lol ( san fran 555) I read the other san frans are more build friendly. Today is going to be hot and humid. I need to get this roof and tower done. Deciding if I want to deal with the heat or stay in house. I can't resist the call! I must go out today and do some work on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickyfingers Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 What do you do if your rooms are bigger than the flooring sheets? I have at least 3 rooms in the yellow house that are too big for a standard 11x17 wood flooring sheet. I did find a seller on ebay that has sheets that are a bit bigger, but the sheets are pre-finished. Not sure I want to do that, although they may work. I did think about doing my own flooring, but I've done that for the last two builds. It takes me days and days and days of work, gluing each plank, etc. Was hoping to do something faster and easier for this build. If I splice together sheets, how bad will that look? I also had a thought about cutting up a sheet into strips to use as a border around the room, but that also seems pretty fiddly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterine Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 16 minutes ago, stickyfingers said: What do you do if your rooms are bigger than the flooring sheets? I have at least 3 rooms in the yellow house that are too big for a standard 11x17 wood flooring sheet. I did find a seller on ebay that has sheets that are a bit bigger, but the sheets are pre-finished. Not sure I want to do that, although they may work. I did think about doing my own flooring, but I've done that for the last two builds. It takes me days and days and days of work, gluing each plank, etc. Was hoping to do something faster and easier for this build. If I splice together sheets, how bad will that look? I also had a thought about cutting up a sheet into strips to use as a border around the room, but that also seems pretty fiddly. You have a few choices. First, you can switch direction of the planks so you can butt the flooring sheets side by side, but flooring tends to follow the longest line in a room. Second, you can splice the sheets together end to end, but it's not easy. I personally think it's easier than doing a large flooring one plank at a time, and it definitely takes less time overall. If you scroll down to the entryway and stair case, you can see how I did this in Otter Cove. I would try to put the area to splice into a less conspicuous place that might be covered with furnishings, rugs or further away from the front. I put mine toward the back from the open side so you're not looking right over it. http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php/otter-cove-a-pictorial-review Third, I have also cut the individual strips from the flooring sheets for a border around a different style of flooring sheet in the Heritage. Both methods can be done - but it will take patience. http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php/fancy-parlor-floor-the-real-6 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 I acquired a flooring sheet or two over the years (I'd have to check my stash *shudder*) that I have yet to use; for whatever reason my houses seem to request that I make their floors, either board by board, painted or some other treatment. At least none of them have asked for parquet... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickyfingers Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 Thanks Brae! That Heritage floor is a work of art! Well, the top floor and the living room is going to require piecing both width-wise and lengthwise, so I think I'll just give it a try and see what I get. I think I'll use the unstained flooring, that way I can sand gently after the piecing, then stain and finish it all as one piece. Hopefully that will make the seams less obvious. The top floor (master bedroom) of the house is about 18.5" deep x12.5" wide. Huge! I'm still picking at the exterior, so I have plenty of time to think of all of the possibilities. I could always add a wall to make another room, but that doesn't solve the depth problem, and I'm kind of excited to work with these big rooms! I'm also open to suggestion about how to fix the areas of broken styrene. The shutters, trim and corbels are all molded into the sheets, and a few are broken. The ones that have small cracks, I'm going to use some Tester's glue to secure them, but what about the pieces that are just shattered and gone? Small areas of missing plastic, I'll use spackle. I figure if it sticks, then it can be sanded and blended into the rest before being painted and primed. For the larger areas, I was thinking of using wood trim, dowels, etc glued into the void, then filled in and fine-shaped with spackle. I had thought of using water putty or plaster, but I think spackle will give me adequate adhesion, strength, and sandability. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 11, 2016 Share Posted September 11, 2016 You can always mix a bit of white tacky glue into your spackle... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thresadep Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Spent 6 hours today working on doll house. Got the front door on and it opens. The top door, I could not get it to fit properly with the trim and pins that allow for door to open and close. The door is glued shut. Yep! That will fix it. Dollhouse- 1 me- 2.... Lol I'm doing what I can to make it look good and keep my sanity. Since the floors and bay windows are not flush and baseboards don't cover some of the spaces, I made window seats. They look good for basic seats.(I'll get pics later. ) Had the 4th floor /attic in then realized,I needed to do the walls. Took the floor out. ..geez. I did get window trims cut and put in a bundle to paint later. Also got some of the front house trim cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 I cut some of the trim for Brimble's downstairs interior (the store part) and finished painting that today. Once it's installed I can work on baseboards and horizontal interior trim for the store front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otterine Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Thank you, Linda! I wish I could help with the styrene, but I am at a loss on how to repair the exterior. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaryKate Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Linda, I wonder if some kind of silicone-based caulking would work? I have no idea if it would; just had the thought because I re caulked my RL tub this week. Yesterday I punched out and labeled the pieces of the Orchid kit my mom gave me. For the most part they were in decent (for die cut plywood) shape. Staining beforehand definitely helped, as did wearing gloves to keep splinters out of my hands. One sheet had some crumbly pieces. Luckily most of those were trim that I was going to trace on basswood and replace or eliminate entirely. (It's entirely a personal preference, but I find it easier, and the result more satisfying, to spend time on that instead of the sanding-filling-sanding cycle, which for me always ends in splinters and tears.) IF I have time today, I want to get back to painting the barn project and maybe start on reworking the window trim on the Orchid. Big if, though. I have two different meetings today & tonight and need to prep for both. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickyfingers Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 I'm going with the spackle, only because there are smears and blobs of what seems to be spackle on it from the prior owner, and it's so securely on there, I'm having to scrape it off with a craft knife. This is going to be a tricky repair, because I have to try and match the profile of the rest of the trim, but can't carve or sand too vigorously, because it's kind of delicate. And hollow. I'm a few days of work away from getting to it, so I'll keep you posted. I also thought of using the Testers putty (made for plastic models) but don't know how well it would do on these larger areas. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickyfingers Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Oh, and has anyone used the Greenleaf vinyl tiles? What do they really look like? Marble? Ceramic tile? The tile might be a possibility for the kitchen, bath, or living room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minikelli Posted September 12, 2016 Share Posted September 12, 2016 Linda, if you look at a couple of my albums the Brownstone I'm currently working on I used the Greenleaf tiles on the third floor of that. I've also used a different color of their vinyl tiles in one of my previous donation houses in the bathroom. I believe that was the Cassie by the HJB if you go searching. They are a bit thick, but I personally love to use them as they're easy to cut and glue in without issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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