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Starting on my new Fairfield


Thimble Hall

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I decided to start a new topic for my new Fairfield as I have abandoned the original Fairfield . I worked on it during a bad time , have lost all my notes etc and not sure what is what with it so getting a new start,The older one will be finished as something else later on down the road and I will be using the Houseworks windows bought for the original in the new one ..

and so we begin.

First off, I have to say I am nervous,nay scared, John always helped me with building, he did  the electricals and usually siding. I was the stucco girl. He also did any woodcutting for me.Now I am flying solo and not sure if I can do this .I am going right back to basics and with a big leap of faith going for it. I had made changes to the original one but have forgotten why and where but it will be there as I start again so things may come back..I have forgotten which glues I preferred, ditto with paints.

 

Opening the box tonight, painters tape,sandpaperm notebook and pencil at the ready..Wish ne luck folks, I am struggling with a few health problems but reall want to do this.

Jusr as a reminder Fairfield is my maiden name and I grew up in a vicarage with a tower so this house will be filled with memory things

 

I will post progress here ..

 

XX Jeannine

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Excited for you, and the Forum Family is amazing at helping out, so any questions or if you're unsure about how/where to cut a piece of kit, just ask away and we'll all help. Answers might not be immediate, so with patience being a difficult trait for many mini builders, try and find it while you wait for an answer ;-) 

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I made a start I got the base papered toether,a;;  sanded it seemed more difficult than I remember from the fitst one. I am going to glue that tomprrow but just that, Then I will dry fit the rest.  The dust is causing a problem but my epipen is standing by and I keep a damp face flannel by my side  and I keep wiping my face etc.. I am glad I have the old house to use as a model as the  instructions could be a bit more thorough.Just taking my time.

 

I got my 1st Covid shot today, they made me wait 30  minutes after due to health stuff but nothing had affected me..

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Update.. I have the whole house dry fitted together, a couple of new walls built and so on. I am struggling a bit as the wood bothers me a lot especially if it touches my forearms, my fingers are sore ..to much scalpel work I think..but having got all the negative stuff off my mind the postive is I am making headway,still a few architectural things to ponder but.. oh boy

.The mail brought me some lovely things yesterday.It amazes me when I look at this Bespaq stuff how they do it. . I got a dining room suite, a pump organ and chair, a harp,  a three mirrored dresser and chair, wardrobe.. it is all very nice. I think I have given up on the Victorian living room suite. Mums house was all antique but she never had those sorts of sofas etc. She had big rounded comfy ones with Sanderson  chintz loose covers on them. Yesterday I found a set that was ideal for size and shape, it was very nice but in a seafoam green..I hate green.So the plan is to attempt to make suitable loose covers for it, or I will dress it up with cushions ,antimacassaas (sorry spelt wrong) and lace trimmed arm sleeves. The whole color scheme will have to change now so I am glad I didn't start my curtains..not sure wat to do here. Unsure what to do for color round green other than cream or peach which again I hate.

 

I am still puzzling about floor tile colors in my kitchen as the mid blue and cream may not look as good with the dark wood as the white kitchen set I had planned. I am thinking red..or terracotta with some deeper blue in but it hasn't clicked in my head yet  May be something like the picture below but without the heavy border.  Ideas gratefully welcomed at this point.

Well off to have a cuppa and pick a few more splinters from my fingers.

 

One question.. I am noticing that the Woodworks doors that I bought seem to be made for thicker walls, the door looks fine from one side but juts out too much on the other, the trims that come with the doors won't change that so what do you folks do.

wp9d0171c8_05_06tiles floor.jpg

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I shim the excess space with scrap wood from the kit.  If you're going to side the exterior walls the shimming will be less noticeable.  If you hate green,m look for some fat quarters in a wee chintzy print with colors you like and make new covers for your sofa and chairs.  My grandmother used those covers, too; what a shock when they finally wore out and Mother removed them, to see what color they had originally been (not green).

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I painted over a red checkered Lee's Line sofa with fabric paint. It has a sort of leather look close up, but once it's in the house it looks like smooth fabric. You could do something like this to make it the color you want and then still add cushions and lace, which would make it harder to tell that the sofa has been painted.

kashkuli-square-rosedale6.jpg

 

For the doors, on the exterior the siding will make them the right depth, as Holly mentioned. For the interior doors you can add wood to both the inside of the built-in casing and to the edge of the loose casing to make up the difference and make them an even depth on both sides. The sticks that came with your windows are great for this.

Here are a couple of posts that show how I do this:

https://www.emilymorganti.com/blog/?p=7036

https://www.emilymorganti.com/blog/?p=8196

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  • 3 weeks later...

Sorry I missed this.Thank you fr the info re painting the sofa,.It has arrived and is a nice color so I may just dedorate it,.Still not certain though about geting the Hanna mini set so waiting to decide..

 

My electrical kit finally arrived yesterday, the tape one I bought by mistake,I read the booklet cover t cover but I know I can't do it.My husband was an electrical engineer so I never had to do anything even remotely electrical and the idea of pounding anything sdares me. I think I will have to buy more and stick to the round wire which seems more like regulatr electricity. Maybe if I felt well I could tackle it but right now it seems overwhelming.

Allthe dry building is down and I am starting to bilid it up now. I only do a little each day as I am still so tired but I am making progress. I decorated the bathroom, then ripped it out as it just wasn't what I had envisioned.What a negatative post..sorry,I guess I am struggling..but determined .

My lovely Stringer furniture arrived and it is amazing.Thanks to all of you I have found some of the pieces I need too which is great. I even found a lilac tree.

I still haven't decided what to do with the second Fairfield.I think that may be easier as it doesn;t have to be so exact. Christmas house maybe..I think I could have fun with that.

 

Thank you all for the encouragement and to Muriel especially as watching her has egged me on..thank you Muriel.

I have realised that I seem to find it easier to work on a regular size house, funny really as I love the finished looks of the half size

 

Oh I need to re polarise myself I think, I sound depressed when I read this back. I am not by the way but I will admit to being frustrtaed..

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Oh bless you, everyone goes through frustrated phases I think, where sometimes things keep going wrong or not how you imagine, sometimes you can't find what you're looking for even though you know it exists, sometimes I'm determined I should be able to do something quite easily, but why is it being so difficult to do?!

Take a break if needed, but sounds like you're going along fine. If it gets overwhelming, take a break from your extra special house and do some 2nd Fairfield that doesn't feel like it has to be just so. My 'just so' house is on a 10 year + break at the moment! 

And as you're doing, ask away with any questions! We'll all happily help. 

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Thank you Muriel, I may just do that.It may be a Christmas house. I am not copying. I have a house in progress that is a dressmakers mouse house and I am not keen on spooky ones, a fairy one maye but again that would take a lot of searching for things..so some sort of Christmassy house is most probable.Today I have been laying mahogony wood strip floors and a few bits and pieces so am moving forward but I may shelve it till thr special fireplaces I have ordered arrive.

 

Thank you for your support again  XX Jeannine

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Well today things are looking up.The eye Dr pulled out all the stops for me.I have cataract surgery booked for the first week in June,, seeing the surgeion for a chat next week, iron by infusion starts tmorrow so maybe things will be on a better keel shortly...meanwhile I got the ground floor of my house finished.

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19 hours ago, Thimble Hall said:

Well today things are looking up.The eye Dr pulled out all the stops for me.I have cataract surgery booked for the first week in June,, seeing the surgeion for a chat next week, iron by infusion starts tmorrow so maybe things will be on a better keel shortly...meanwhile I got the ground floor of my house finished.

Ooh, sounds like things are moving in the right direction for you! Hopefully the added iron will reduce your tiredness nice and quickly. 

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Muriel if you are reading this,you are my Farifield guru right now.

 

Still trying to decide what to do  with the spare Fairfield and am curious. Did you use the original staircase from the kit.I built one yesterday and it is sure different.I can see it in a Christmas house all dripping with garlands. Wondering what you have done with yours.Still not sure what to do with the house itself though.  I am stuck on the memory house as am waiting for stuff to come that is delayed from the UK so switching to the old one for a bit. 

I am thinking about a  working mans boarding house right now, with red flannel underwear hanging out of a drawer etc .Run my 2 sisters  1930 ish. Sort of shabby but very clean.Might be fun to do.It might be better in a ful size house though.

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I'm using the Houseworks stairs rather than the Fairfield kit ones. Mainly because I wanted the extra space under the stairs in the kitchen, but also because I wanted stairs to the top floor and I wanted the two to match. I also want bare wood stairs and I thought they'd be nicer and lighter not being plywood. I've still got railings with the HW ones, so hoping to garland them. I think the HW stairs are a tiny bit more compact and don't protrude as far over the doorway gap to the sitting/front room - though it is probably less than half an inch difference. I'm also leaving off the banister on the doorway side so it's a bit more open. 

I'm all for Christmas house, I think the Victorian style suits a Christmas theme. But the boarding house idea is great too, I can picture it! 

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Muriel, have you thought about cutting your Houseworks stairs and making a 90-degree landing? Here's a nice post that shows how someone did it: https://tinydistinction.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-tiny-staircase-tutorial.html

She bashed her stairs out of the ones that came in the kit, but you could do something similar with Houseworks stairs. I like how these fill up the space in the entryway and don't jut into the doorway.

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Ooh, that looks good! I've made stairs from scratch before - I think cutting out the zigzag for the stairs/risers wasn't actually too bad, and I can use my HW stairs and just cut them this time if I wanted too.

I'll probably leave straight, quite like the idea of coat hooks on the (outside porch) wall behind the door and a little table, but will definitely have a measure and try out during my next dry fit! 

Definitely something to consider if you're starting your second Fairfield build Jeannine, keeps them out of the way of the sitting room doorway. 

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I saw my eys doctor r prior to surgery in 3 weeks yesterday  and it appears there is something else wr[ong with my yes and they will not operate.I am going tomorrow to have a dye in an arm which may be able to answer the questiion as to what it is.. so another blow..I am stopping work on the older Fairfueld and giving i tto a friend,I have a house standing b y that I wanted to for  a Chrustmas house originally so am switching to it. It seems I am going to be losing some sight so I am not wasting time on something I intended giving away when finished.  Gutted right now and very sad

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Holly, I am a procastinator when it comes to health.I have been wearing magnifiers for some time, getting stronger all the time but my left eye has got considerably worse over the last few months. The first  DR said I had cataracts , the second one said I had cataracts but I also had it was wet macular disease and had bleeding at the back of my left eye which made it the priority, then he sent me for injections in the eye and the 3rd Dr sais he saw no signs of wet macular disease or bleeding. he said it may be dry macular.The dye job this afternoon should diagnose what it is.He also said he suspected I had had it some time as I had not had an eye test in more than 10 years.

So far everyone is correcting the one before and it is most frustrating.I know nothing about this disease and so far the 2 doctors who brought it up don't seem to have the time to explain it. I guess that will come on Wednesday.

 

Anyway, back to houses.. as I was bored last night so  I started on my Victoriannas. I have two.I got a lot of the basic shelsl done on both, they seemed easy to put together so I got on well. Next bit is wallpapering so have stopped till tonight.

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Once you get a firm diagnosis, ask one of the nurses there to explain it to you.  One of my pet peeves when I worked as a nurse was having to tell patients what their doctors were too "busy" to tell them in language they could understand and in a way that they could take in without going numb.

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Thanks Holly, I tried that today but they said the Dr would explain.. I have a call into the 1st one I saw who was my husbands eye Dr and he is phoning me back tomprrow . He is getting all the info. He is very nice and will take the time I think.  I got the dye test today and should have the results of that on Wednesday, hopefully I will know then just what I have. Once I know that I can cope.. gee what a run a round though...still we move on.

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