Stone, Hinges & Chimney

Progress this week isn't really super visible.  I got the chimney covered in stone and the rest of the wainscoting done and finished with the Delta Ceramcoat Finish.  It requires a full day to dry so that ate up a lot of time.

Originally I was going to keep the inset under the wainscoting and use some of the texture paint to make it look like concrete.  But I felt it would make it look clumsy and unfinished so I added a strip of the flagstone to the bottom.

I do have a few pictures for you.  Here's the chimney covered with stone and the bottom strip of wainscoting added.

I actually like how it looks.  I'm hoping to add the mortar to the flagstones today so that can dry for a few days before I add the finish to it.

But before I got much further with the wainscoting I wanted to get my two walls hinged together.  Maybe I would have had an easier time with that if I'd done it before I added the stone, but I managed to get some channels routed out and the hinges added.  The glue is drying now but the walls fit together at a right angle and that's what I was concerned about.

I've got some tape over the strip wood reinforcing the hinges while everything dries.  I'll take that off and get the raw wood taped off so I can spray some primer on the hinges so they aren't quite so obvious.

The color of the stone should (I think) darken slightly once I get the finish on, at least that's what the pictures show.  Once I know what color the stone will end up I'll have to choose a finish for the woodwork and the paint color for the siding.  I can add the siding though so if I can't do the grout/mortar I might try to start on that for the rest of today.  We'll see.

Either way, I need to make a start on that. 

The other thing I'm working on, (in my head mostly) is a way to make the bathroom something I can slide out so the kitchen isn't too hard to access.  I think a very thin floor, with a paper tile, so that it matches the height of the wood floor for the rest of the house.  Sort of a wooden box I can slide in and out with its own lights. 

I feel like I'm further behind in my progress this year than the same time last year, but I'm trying not to stress over it. 

As someone married to a veteran I'm a little more...cognizant of the meaning of Memorial Day.  So I hope everyone else is having a happy Memorial Day and we keep in our hearts all our absent friends.

Flagstone Wainscoting & Chimney

Last week I didn't get much done besides spending money.  Unfortunately the money wasn't for mini house stuff.  It was for big house stuff.  Gotta love buying new mattresses.  For the next year we'll be paying the amount of a car note but at least its interest free.

New mattresses mean a lot of clean up and clearing things so the guys had room to take the old ones out and put the new ones in.  So I was fairly exhausted.  But I did get to make a trip to drop things off at Goodwill.  We've got a center in town that takes donations seven days a week.  So Saturday, cleaning, clearing and delivery.  Sunday get rid of all the stuff I cleared out.

This week is a different story.  I'd been trying to figure out how big a bump out I'd need for the exterior chimney.  I also had to remove some of the stone I put on because I forgot I was putting a chimney in.  What can I say, two steps forward, one step back.

But I got the stone removed and then did another dry fit to measure just how deep the eaves of the roof would be.  I want the chimney to go under the eaves, not over, if that makes sense.

See the vertical lines?  Yeah, I forgot those are supposed to represent the chimney when I put the stone on. Oh well.

So my chimney is about three quarters of an inch deep.  It doesn't look like much now but I did match the angle of the roofline for the top and the little bumps to fit under the foundation.

Glue is still drying so I'm not sure if I'll get to add stone to it today or not.

It's balsa and bass wood with some interior bracing to keep it steady under the weight of the plaster stone. 

I'm actually getting excited about this build again.  Mostly thanks to the stone being pretty much done.  It takes me forever to get it laid out and glued.  It's like a puzzle without a picture to match it.

The bare spot under the front door is for the porch.

I'm thinking I might order another bag of the stone just in case. I need to go around the porch supports and also I need it for my pillars for the porch as well.

But my renewed enthusiasm is also because when I did my dry fit I put the fireplace and window seat build ins inside the build and make sure they fit.

Yay they fit!  The rallying cry of miniaturists everywhere.

I'm so excited that they fit. And they look pretty good I think. 

So the question is how to finish the interior chimney, I was debating using the flagstones again but I think I'd rather make it look like a drywall bump out.  I think any other stonework would look too busy and detract from the tiles.

I'm going to do a dry fit of my windows and tape the trim in place.  I need to make a lip for the wainscoting and it might necessitate changing the exterior window trim somewhat.  While I'm at it I might mess around with the windows and see how they look with mullions.  But first, see if my chimney glue has dried.

Well I'm off to check my glue and hopefully hinge a couple of walls together.  We'll see how that goes.

How is everyone else doing? 

Mortar and Brick and Stone

As the post title suggests I've been working with a few of the messier things this weekend.  I'd added some poly finish to my fireplace bricks and also to the woodwork during the week and it was about time to bite the bullet and add the grout.

Even without paint added to it the grout came out very light against the brick.

I honestly could barely tell the difference between the mortar I used for the brick and the grout for the tiles.  But I was planning on aging the brick so I left it as it was and continued on.

A sponge brush, black paint and grey chalk paint diluted with water helped to age the brick and the back of the chimney.  And I put my insert for glowing coals in to verify I'd actually gotten the depth right.  Yay it fits!

A bit better I think.

Had to let all that dry and so I decided I would get started on my exterior stone wainscoting.  Not too bad looking.  It'll darken up some once I get the finish on it.

I like how it looks but wow, my brain was bending in twisty shapes trying to make it all fit without looking bad.

I did a little more gardening on Saturday morning, but that wasn't too labor intensive.  And some house cleaning, again, thankfully not too labor intensive.

But this was the extent of my mini-ing for the weekend. 

How'd all of you do?