What's everyone working on?

[kfkelly]

Working in my little "inbetween" project just for the heck of it. Does anyone know if you can sand and spackle the edges of foamboard to make it look smoother after you cut it out? Oh Queen of Spackle?

That's a good question! I would like to put this house I'm making for my friend's new granddaughter on foamboard and try some landscaping too (like Paula's Artply Bobbie house although I know I can't match hers!)

Roxy and Mar - thanks for the tips on wallpaper. I'm going to strip the one wall where I used paste and try it again but if it doesn't work, I'm just going to stick to the glue sticks.

Kirsten

[havanaholly]

...Does anyone know if you can sand and spackle the edges of foamboard to make it look smoother after you cut it out? Oh Queen of Spackle?

I covered the edges with strips of card (to wallpaper) or really thin siding wood (for the beadboard wall in Maggie's bash). Because of the warp factor I would cover those edges first, then prime/ seal the piece of foamboard before spackling it; spackling compound is WET when it comes out of the tub.

[Roxxie]

That's true I didn't think about that plus it might make it warp. Since I am using natural materials maybe I can glue moss or something around the edges it doesn't have to have a perfect line.

[Muriel]

Roxxie, one idea is to cut a strip of masking tape the right width and stick that around the edges for a better finish.

[Sherry]

Well, I'm still mad at the molding, so I am not working on it right now. I could shingle, but I haven't made a chimney yet. So I'm making window shades and sofa pillows. Just not in the mood to deal with that house right now!

[Muriel]

I definitely get to that stage sometimes Sherry, have to walk away for a little bit. It is good that you have a few other bits to do still in the meantime!

I'm not doing much this week, will hopefully get plenty done this weekend, then I think mini work will take a break for 6 weeks at least until after the wedding.

[Debra from Olde Cape Cod]

Painted the doors for Vincent's gallery today--drove myself crazy trying to decide the color--still not 100% on the blue I chose. Also painted, crackled and glued the trim on and put the windows in.

[havanaholly]

I started the kit for the 1:24 combination desk & bookcase kit.

[Silvyr]

I am in the process of cutting the wallpaper for my Fairfield! This is SO exciting, it's really finally coming together, and looking like the picture in my head. SO MUCH FUN! I love it!

I'm using lightweight textured scrapbooking cardstock in pastel colors, so all of the rooms are solid colors but the texture looks fabulous on the walls (unfortunately I'm not sure it will come through well in pictures, but I'll tackle that when the time comes!)

The color scheme is:

Entryway and upstairs hallway: Cream

Living room: Purple

Dining room: Green

Kitchen: Yellow

Master bedroom: Blue

2nd bedroom: Pale lavender

Bathroom: Grey

Attic: Green

I haven't glued anything in yet (only have the bathroom finished in terms of cutting out) and I'm a little nervous to start. I'm not sure what I'm worried about - I have plenty of extra paper, one sheet covers a room - but I am anyway, haha.

Does anyone have any advice? I was planning on using tacky glue, so I think I'll try that out, but maybe go get some tacky glue sticks at the store tomorrow....

[havanaholly]

I found tablets of lightweight card for scrapbooking on close-out at Wally World in coordinated colors: blues, greens and brown/tan, wee prints on one side & solid on the other, as well as a tan paper I had; each sheet was large enough for a wall and there were four sheets of each design. I used tacky glue. Because the houses are so small I'm sticking with primarily green & tan, with a little blue.

What are you waiting for? You have my permission to begin! Come on and get started, you are going to have so much fun!

We spent most of yesterday paddling on Lake Jackson & meeting new people. I hope to work on the desk/ bookcase for the Fairfields and maybe make a few dressers.

I made up kits for three side chairs, but at the last minute decided to send one still in pieces as a kit as a surprise gift to someone; so I may simplify & modify the design for the bedrooms.

[Mar]

I had finished my wallpapering of the Westville and happely I have everything else ready so I be busy to put everything back at the outside, the new shutters, roof and restored porche and trim. After that I can do the electricity and put the new staircase back and the floors which all be also ready. I'm so happy that beside the furniture and landscaping finally it seems that one house is ready. For so far a dollhouse can be ready. Have all a creative day too.

[Sherry]

I got one set of bamboo blinds done and am very pleased with them! Then the overhead lights went out last night, so I can't do anything at the bar...maybe the bathroom counter in the guest bath? I'll finally have a use for that room!

[Anna]

So I have had another really "interesting" chat with the Haunted house kit today... I met with a friend of mine today who is now the boss of a newly established battered women shelter (a long story short) and she is doing a fantastic job as that I might add, but this afternoon when I got home, had waved bye bye to hubby who is at the new house over the weekend and me here at the ol' place getting it ready to go on the market finally so I ventured upstairs to start pack a few items when I heard the really determined voice coming from the HH, yo are so not packing me!!!! And then she went on telling me that my friend could use her at the shelter eventhough we have had and agreed upon her becoming the Greece inspired villa earlier... >sigh> these houses sure has a will of their own...

Oh well, I have her primed in a blueberry an d mil exterior right now, will tend to the floors as well and then I need to get a darker blue for the window and door trim to go with the soft blue... Sheesh like I didn't have enough to do huh??? Will have to talk to my friend as well to see if she might take the HH in with her.

Hugs

[Nileke]

I painted the crown moldings for the Laurel and have put them in. Now all I need to do is put strips of wood on the bare wood that is showing at the back.

This means that the Laurel is nearly finished, except for the shingles, and the interior decorating of course.

It also means that I can finally start building my half scale cottage soon.

I've been very strict with myself, and wouldn't allow myself to start another project before the Laurel was ready to furnish. My plan is to have both of them finished (interior and exterior), then concentrate on interior decorating. Funky furniture and a modern kitchen for the Laurel, and a traditional look for the cottage.

The Laurel has siding and the cottage will be bricked.

[New Day]

I love reading about what everyone is working on. I have just started the Lisa's Country Cottage for the HBS contest. I have also been redoing my craft room, and finally got all of the parts I need to build a new work table. I am using 2 medium bookcases and will add a counter top. It's supposed to rain all weekend, so it's the perfect time to get it put together.

Below is the inspiration table from Pottery Barn.

Mine is made with black bookcases instead of cubbies. They were half the price of the cubbies and I wanted a back on it anyway.

[Ravenswing]

I've been struggling for the last few days trying to get my kitchen cabinets painted :lol: Made the mistake of trying to paint over the existing finish. Not a good idea. Had to peel off all the paint and start again after sanding them. Still didn't come out the way I wanted it to, so I switched from a high gloss paint to a flat paint and I'm still not happy with the look. Tried thinning the paint, switching from brushes to sponge brushes to rollers and I'm still not happy with the finished product. The paint just doesn't seem to want to go on evenly.

On the furniture front, I had to send the little Victorian sofa back to the seller. It was similar to the sofa she advertised, but similar doesn't work for me. What she advertised as wood was really that fabricated plastic/wood stuff that they used to make in the 60's, and part of the front panel was discolored. It was so obviously not wood I don't know how she could have even imagined it was anything other than plastic. Along with that, the seat of the sofa was less than half the height of the sofa she depicted, and the back upholstered panel was wider by at least an inch where it tapered to the seat. She apparently has several of these sofas, and ONE picture of the perfect one. You would think that if you're selling dollhouse miniatures you understand that the person you're selling to is probably someone who's into DETAILS. No way was that many inconsistencies going to slip past me. The first pic is what she advertised, the next two are pics of what arrived. Needless to say it went back and she refunded price plus shipping.

On a good note I got 4 really nice pieces of furniture, an old fashioned hip tub, and several pitcher and basin sets for the boarding house (Pics in The Willow Gallery). In a little while I'm going to go back and wrestle with the cabinets again and see if I can get a better finish.

[Silvyr]

I started to do wallpapering and then realized I needed to finish staining and polyurethane the staircase and railings before I could wallpaper....and then I realized the living room stair railings didn't match the staircase railings...so I ended up cutting the railing out of the center wall and replacing it with one I made of some balsa wood I have hanging around to make books with, which has now been stained and is currently drying the first round of urethane.

*phew*

But the bathroom and kitchen are almost done! LOL I plan to spend most of this weekend on wallpaper, though - it's still incredibly fun!

[havanaholly]

I found a BUNCH of brass brads in the bag the bookcase/desk kit came in, to use for pin-hinging and also for knobs. There is no schematic for the individual pieces or what they are, and the schematics showing how the pieces look put together aren't quite to size..., so putting this together is a challenge! The plexi insert for the bookcase door is MUCH wider than the routed pieces that make the frame...

I dug out the book of 1:12 patterns I used to make kitchen items, I'm going to make a dough box after I figure out the desk/ bookcase. Meanwhile the carpal tunnel flare calmed down and I've been able to crochet some more squares.

[Sherry]

It is funk isn't it, Abby?

Roxxie, your fairy house is precious!

I got my lights fixed and am back in business! Got my blinds finished, pretty much. I still have to stain the ends of the stripwood. But they are in my PL album if you want to see. The bamboo mat was not like the ones at the Dollar Store. I got it at World Bazaar and it's much finer bamboo and natural, not dyed. The most important thing is that it's woven the entire width with fine black thread, so you can cut it any width you want and don't have the out of scale cord holding it together. Still only $1 in the bargain bin!

I went to hobby lobby and bought all the baseboards and casing they had and will try to get it stained and in the house this week. I want to get that stuff done so I can move the furniture in and start decorating! The wind is blowing so bad, and the dust, I don't imagine I will be doing any yardwork, anyway!

[pdlnpeabody]

I haven't been able to fit any mini work into my schedule. I'm turning my workshop into a guest bedroom for my in-laws visit in 2 weeks and tomorrow I get to assemble my son's crib.

[kfkelly]

I'm in the process of fixing all the screwups I did last week - what a hassle. When I wallpapered the attic/roof wall before installing, it turns out I wallpapered to the edge of the roof, which actually overhangs the outside of the house (which I KNEW - what was I thinking? Oh yeah, I wasn't.) So now I have to strip that 3/4 inch piece off each side, sand and paint. Still have 5 pieces of wallpaper to put up.

I did get all the windows made and first coat of paint on them. I tried the sample paint from Ace Hardware - won't do that again. The sample Valspar paint from Lowes is way better. I've decided to make an internal door between the living room and kitchen, so hopefully I can start on that tonight as well as the second coat of paint on the windows.

We are going out of the country this Thursday for a week and I want to get everything done up to the shingling - hope I can make it. My friend's granddaughter was born yesterday (yeah!!!) so I want to finish this by the time she comes back to Detroit from helping with the new baby.

Kirsten

[Sherry]

I'm taking a short break from the PL to do something else mini. My mother in law had a shadow box of minis hanging in her kitchen for years. Mostly odds and ends, but some MIJ and West German dogs, figures, that had belonged to her mother, as well as some cute actual dollhouse minis. It disappeared, and when we were moving the freezer out of the old house, I found it. I asked if I could have the minis when she was ready to get rid of it (which she had already done, really). Last time DH was out there, she sent the whole thing home to me.

Not what I had planned, but since there are three generations of knick knacks in it, I am redoing it. Had to take it apart to clean the dust off, so I papered the back, behind the cubbies, while I was at it. I think I will put hers, and Great Grandmother's things back in it, add a few to round it off, and decorate it for my guest room. Something that doesn't take crown molding and doesn't have to be to scale should be relaxing for a few days!

[Sherry]

It turned out to be a really short break! I just spent the last two hours staining and varnishing 9 miles of trim. I'm going to get this done this week, so I can start decorating!!

[Ravenswing]

I'm in the process of fixing all the screwups I did last week - what a hassle.

I know exactly how you feel. Lately it seems like I take one step forward and three steps back when it comes to my farmhouse. Today I was supposed to put together the two gables and insert the windows. For some reason I couldn't get any of the pieces to fit properly in the slots. Then I realized that the reason why was because the pieces were upside down :yes: . I shingled the gable the wrong way . So I spent the next hour removing all the shingles and resanding the pieces and now I have to reshingle. Add to that, the fact that I painted the gable front and sizes white, like the trim...they should be yellow like the house, so I have to do that again too .

The only saving grace for the work I did today, was that I finished my kitchen countertops, I did a faux granite paint job on them and got them sprayed with the first coat of polyurethane. The highlight of my day was receiving some of my goodies in the mail. I got my French doors and door knobs for my dining room, and the folding door for my pantry. For the Willow boarding house I got a Victorian tin bathtub and a beautiful little dresser. I'm hoping for a little better luck this evening. I plan on selecting my wall color and papering the kitchen and dining room, putting the first floor stairs in and painting the French and pantry doors. Fingers crossed, hope I don't muck it up...wish me luck.

[havanaholly]

I hinged the 1:24 desk door with only one small split in the wood, and then a major split trying to hinge the door to the bookcase side. Oh, and the measurements in the schematic were 'way off...