Fairytale Cottage First Floor

So I have four days off for the Christmas holiday and I'm enjoying every bit of it.  My time between the submission of the Architect's Abode and Christmas was taken up with wrapping, shipping and shopping for gifts. 

Thankfully everything arrived in time at least according to the post office.  So I'm grateful for that. 

And I didn't have to cook so I have plenty of time for my new project.

 My first kit of this type.

It's a big change.  There's a lot of sanding and double-checking pieces.  But I also find that construction is easier, maybe because the wood is thinner and therefore lighter? 

The way the walls are held together, with corner beams, routed with channels for the walls, is a bit...odd for someone who's used to working with MDF.  MDF is heavier but it also won't collapse if a cat (Tali) decides to be the building inspector.

It's also a small kit.  less than two feet wide, so its much easier to work with. 

I've decided to not paint the wood where I can avoid it.  Instead I'm using textured paper I found on Ebay and giving it a stone look.  So far I'm pretty pleased.

I liked this stone, not too dark but not bright and modern either.

I worried about having the dormers in stone but I think it'll look pretty good.

The kit comes with a lot of 'universal' trim which you have to cut to frame out the windows, doors, and just about everything else. 

I went with a pale ivory for the outer trim and I'm sticking with that color for all the 'wood' trim on the outside of the house.  I think the contrast will be nice against the 'stone' and the white I'm using for the porch.

For the inside I'm going with scrapbook paper for wallpaper.  I have a book of 'fairytale' scrapbook paper which has soft colors and suits my idea of a 'fairytale' cottage.

I really love the castle on the big wall. 

I'm pretty pleased. I got the walls and floor done, and the second floor added along with the front porch.

I'm finding that with such a small house that its a good idea to get the wallpaper and flooring added before I glue everything into place.  All the little nooks and crannies would make adding flooring and ceiling finish very difficult without being able to trace the entire thing out.

This would have been a million times harder with the ceiling in place.

I went with white for the front porch dormer and railings.  And used my stone for the porch floor. 

Here it is with some tape to hold the upper floor in place until the glue sets.

I'm excited about how quick this is going.  Hope to have more for you to see in the next few days.

Hmmm...I'm thinking

And thinking...about the newest Creating Contest kit.  It's called the Backyard Bungalow Kit.  I'm not terribly impressed so far.  Though I do like the shape of the windows.






































The dimensions are 12 1/2"W x 11"H x 20"D which is a decent size.  So I bought two of the kits...I have the idea of a smaller entry than the Architects Abode.  Maybe a two story house? Or a shop with an apartment above it?  Still thinking.

The husband is enabling me again.  'Buy what you want.'  Dangerous words really.  But he knows I love this stuff and it could be a lot of fun to do an New Orleans style building with the wrought iron railings.  A pretty curlicue above the entry?  A townhouse maybe? 

Still considering.

Here are some more pictures of the kit.  I'm in love with the shape of the windows.  That's why I bought two kits so I would have enough windows if I did a second floor.  The rest of it... well we'll see.  There's a reason why its a base kit.

 

 

I also want to work on one of the Ashley cottages I bought at auction. 

 

 

 

 

I want a fairytale cottage with murals on the walls and pretty furniture...like a guest cottage on castle grounds or something.  So the next contest build is not going to take up my entire table.  I want room for a couple of projects.  Not just one big one.  

Submitted My Entry... And...

Oh man do I have a problem.  All I can think of is where can I move the creating contest house so I can have my table to work on another project!  One where I can relax and have fun with it.  I really want to try something smaller. 

The house has an official name now, The Architect's Abode.  So if I start another Creatin' Contest I'll try to keep it smaller and change the labels on these posts to reflect that.  Fun right?

I took a few more pictures after Jodi sent me a link and the advice really helped!  These are cleaned up a bit and sooner or later I'll work on getting a better backdrop. I should go by Ross and find a nice white sheet to put up on the wall.  Or something...

For now...here are a few more pictures, and I can relax.  Thanks for all the encouragement and sympathy!

 

 

 

 

I messed with the camera until I got rid of the date stamp.  Thank God!

This has been doubly insane because I've been sick since late Thursday night and finally don't have a fever today.  Nothing like moving a dollhouse around and around when you're feeling like you want to keel over. 

Thanks again everybody.  I really appreciate the support. 

Complete!

Wow!  I'm done.  Pictures taken, artwork put up, garden furniture in place... I'm a little overwhelmed.  Got the digital camera working and hopefully everything uploads the way I want.  I can only submit four pictures so they've got to be four good ones.  God help me.  I'm gonna need it.

So here we have the entire back of the house.

I'm a little worried the detail will be lost but I can't do much about it.

Ignore the erroneous date stamp.  The camera is not behaving itself.

I'm going to just put up everything I've got and hopefully all of you will enjoy.

And there we have it folks.  Now I've got to go through these and pick four to submit.  Won't that be a joy?

Wish me luck!




Roof Garden in Progress

I'll admit that this is the part of the house I worried about the most.  Not the getting it done part.  No, I'm fairly confident that I'll finish it. 

I'm concerned with cat predation.  You see, Tali is just a little too interested in the flowers.  So in between working days the roof is covered with plastic and taped down.

The roof garden is an exercise in container gardening as I learnt it in my horticulture class. (Yes, a science credit and no dissection or chemicals!)  So I blocked off the areas for the beds and build up what would (in a real flowerbed) earth/dirt with florists foam. I covered that with glue and then sprinkled rubberized mulch over it.  I can't find the product anymore and I wonder if its been discontinued.  It's not this mulch, it's smaller and darker colored and looks more like soil than actual mulch.  I'm a little bummed that I can't find more.

But after I got the flower beds build up I put some flowers I'd bought from HBS Miniatures into a few strategic spots and build up the rest of the flowers around them. 

I was so busy getting this done that I didn't take any in progress pictures. So here's some of the finished flowerbeds.

The edges of the roof are still raggety and I need to fix that.  And I will.  But first I wanted to get my patio tile down.  I bought some on Ebay and then some from HBS Miniatures and they were two different colors.  So I cut them up.  And voila!

I'll grout tonight and then hunt down my picnic table.  I've got some furniture and a little fireplace for in the empty corner.  That's also tiled in the darker terracotta. 

So far I'm fairly pleased with how it looks.

Much nicer than the yard of my actual house. 

After this is done, all that's left is the grass for the front of the house and some pavers going up to the porch. Easy peasy. (I hope.)