Second Floor, Walls, Doors & Wallpaper

Well I mentioned last week that I got the second floor up.  I've progressed to getting some walls glue in and wallpaper glued on.

I kept looking at the green paper on the bedroom wall and the more I looked at it the more I hated it.  So down it came.

In its place I put up some wallpaper I ordered from Miniatures.com, it's made to look like grass paper. 

I like this a lot better

So I went crazy putting that up and I'm almost out of it so I had to order more.  But that's okay.  I'm working on other parts of the house in the meantime.

I painted the doors for the upstairs.  All of them a nice off white/bone color.



See? Nice and neutral
 

I went back and forth on this next part, I worried the print was too big and it wouldn't look right in the house, but eventually I just said 'Go for it' and made the wall next to the stairs a feature wall.

I started by gluing the top part to the wall while it was still loose.  Once I got the wall glued into place on the second floor I glued the rest of it down, which hid the seams of the floors and walls being glued together.

Ta Da!

I love the combination of colors. 

After that, I needed the stairs in place, and that was...interesting.  But I finally got them in. 

They look slightly crooked in the picture but I've since gotten them straightened out.

In getting the walls and stairs in place I also had to wallpaper and put doors in the doorways.  I've learned that its much easier to put doors and trim on when gravity is working with me and not against me. 

I love binder clips. So versatile. Have I mentioned this before? LOL

I was pretty excited.  I got all the walls I have built wallpapered and the basic structure is glued into place.  See? See?  (I'm still pretty excited about it.)

Masking tape is awesome for keeping things tight together.

I'll get the rest of the walls in after a day or so.  I can't put the bathroom walls in permanently until I put the baseboards on the bedroom walls.  But I did make my closet.  I decided I wanted one but I didn't want it to take up any space.  So I cheated.

It's only a half inch deep.  Just enough to look like a closet.

I used brads for handles. And made a false wall to go above the doors too.  Here it is all wallpapered and finished.

Looks pretty real huh?

I got some of the kit pieces and cut them down to make steps from the garage into the kitchen.  I just glued three pieces together.  Then I coated them with glue and sprinkled them with sand.

This is not the finished product, don't worry.

I did the same thing in the garage.  Lots of glue and then sand sprinkled over it.

See? Glue.

Then we add sand.

And wait. And wait.

And wait some more for all the glue to dry.  I used a paint brush to sweep off the excess sand.  There was a lot so I used some cardboard as a dustpan and poured it back into my little bag. 

I had to touch up a few places and then wait for that glue to dry.  That took several nights this week and I'll tell you my back hurt from all the bending.  But it was worth it once I got it all painted.

I mixed glossy black paint with some water and applied it liberally.  And let it dry.  AGAIN!  I swear half my life is waiting for glue or paint to dry. 

But look!  When its all dry? Blacktop!

Obviously I need grass and some white paint to touch up the garage walls but still. Blacktop!

You can just see my steps leading to the back door.

You know what the hardest part was?

Keeping the cats from pawing at the glue, sand, paint.

Curious kitten is very curious.

I also need to sweep the floor because some of the sand escaped. 

But I'm excited still.  I got some art to put on the wall that doesn't have the bright fabric and the beams are almost ready to go up.  I need to paint some this week but after that?  Oh my, windows, tile, baseboards... so much to do!

See ya next time.