I've been trying to nail down the external architectural details, window pediments, roofing, bracket/corbel styles... At least that's my excuse for wasting three quarters of an hour at a time looking at pictures of different styles of homes in New Orleans.
This did start out as something fairly productive. I was trying to find a style of pediment that wouldn't look odd over an arched window. And the internet was such a help!
And it looks like a Yorktown style pediment will work pretty well. I found some on Ebay that almost perfectly match the first picture. So I snapped them up really quick, along with a couple of small Yorktown windows for the bathroom and maybe next to the stairs. That has yet to be decided.
I also started looking at what sort of siding the homes in New Orleans typically have. I haven't seen a lot of brick homes. Foundations yes. But an entire house? There were some buildings on Bourbon street but I didn't find many traditional row houses out of brick.
What I did find was siding. Not clapboard though. I think its batten and board siding? Anyone know?
The second and third pictures have that pretty corner detail that I like and it goes so nicely with the curved windows and simple pediments over them.
I've been debating shutters but I don't think I want them. For one thing, I have some double windows and shutters won't look the same with them. Plus there is such a thing as too much detail.
And the detail I really want and I struggle to find are the brackets. The homes I'm looking at have those gorgeous filigree supports for the porch roof/balcony and reproducing them in miniature is going to take some work.
See how pretty?
This last picture has a lot of color (and helpfully captioned noting it). Not sure I want to do this but I do admire all the details, arched windows, pediments, shutters, corbels and siding without overwhelming the house.
So I did order some siding in that style with the cool 20% off coupon Miniatures.com sent via email. This weekend I have to run some errands so I'll be making a trip to the Hobby Lobby or Home Depot for the wood for the dollhouse.
I also want to keep an eye out for some half scale fishscale shingle strips because that would be some nice detail along the roof peak. Kinda like this...
See what I mean? It needs something to make it pop...and I'm a little worried my circular window will be too big. I might have to make my own window in a smaller scale. We'll see.
Thankfully roofing doesn't seem too difficult. Though I find the combination of regular shingles and clay curved shingles on the roof corners a little odd. They're in several pictures and they're all the same orangey clay color irregardless of the house color. Weird right?
The other debate is whether or not I should use wood for the walls or get some foamcore board and use that. It's certainly lighter and easier to cut. And if I use wood siding for the exterior it would be sturdy enough. My tools don't run to table saws or drill presses so the more forgiving my work materials are the better.
Suggestions? I've seen some great tutorials about foam core and card stock over on Kris's site and I'm planning on bookmarking her one on making windows until I have it memorized. I think that'll be the only way I can recreate windows to match the kit.
So wish me luck this weekend!
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