Front Door & Vertical Siding

I spent most of yesterday figuring out how to add some vertical siding to the house.  And exactly where I wanted it to start.

I could not get past the horizontal lap siding over the porch, so that had to go.  And I figured the upper portion of the house would also need vertical siding.

So with some cursing, sanding, prying and a lot more cursing I managed to replace the horizontal lap siding with vertical siding in the appropriate places.  Then I painted. 

I also painted window trim and the exterior portions of the windows.

That was Saturday.  Lots of work.

So today I started out with something that I knew I'd like.  I painted the front door.  I love how the Cascade color pops against the Nautical and Warm White.

And I did a test run of the trim and the windows before I began to paint the trim. 

Here's a couple of shots of the whole shebang.

I'm so happy with that front door I can't tell you.

Granted, it is hard to get the full effect of the trim with the painters tape everywhere but I didn't want to mess something up.

I'm debating some roof braces/corbels, maybe one at each side of the roof extended from the corner trim?   Or would that be too much?

So far I've only got the trim for the front cut, I need to do the back and sides. 

But I did cut out my bathroom window glass so I could test it.

I'm debating with myself on these small side windows.  Do I add some mullions and divide them up?  The ones next to the chimney...I could possibly divide in two, similar to the bathroom window and then divide the upper portion into three panes.

I'm worried they'll look too busy.  But without some sort of detail they look very plain to me.

The horizontal sitting loft windows would actually be easier, just divide the existing pane into three with a couple mullions added.

I actually painted the exterior window trim and then had to stop from gluing it on because I need to add some wood so the window depth matches the wall depth.  With the siding on the windows don't extend to the exterior.

And while I was thinking about that I realized that the window trim really doesn't look very 'Craftsman'.  All the trim that comes with the windows are cut at forty five degree angles to make a nice little frame around the window.  A picture frame style trim.  That's fine for a regular house.

Craftsman windows tend to feature a slightly wider head to the casing with straight lines, very few diagonals at all.  They'll often have a crown to the head as well.  Like so.

It's not huge but it does make a difference to the eye.

Since I'm busting my butt to make this house look more Craftsman not less, part of the painting I'd done was wasted.  So I've got my work cut out for me. 

At least I hadn't glued anything on before I came to this realization.

I also realized that I do need some type of under the eaves trim as well.  Definitely need a frieze board and I want some rafters to show for certain. 

I'd love some opinions on the windows and the idea of corbels or braces for the roof.  I don't want it to look fussy.  Clean and classic is the idea.

Ah well.  Back to measuring and cutting.

Trim Test Run

So I've managed to goof up a few things. The door opening, the wainscoting sill on the corners... things that are fixable but its still annoying.

And rather than go crazy with different siding/texture mockups I thought I'd check out how some trim would look.  Obviously it'll be a bit lighter in color, but you get a sense of what I'm trying to do.

I also spent some time today adding trim to the windows so they look more craftsman.

What do you think?

Just a quick pic on my cell phone.  But with the door, the window and the trim you get an idea of what I'm trying to do.

If I change the texture it would be above the trim line on the front wall.

Opinions?

I've got all the window trim sorted and I'm planning on painting it up after I take care of a few chores.

Dry Fit With Roof

Okay!

Today has been...odd.

Let me explain... No...there is too much. Lemme sum up.

HVAC pulls moisture from the air.  North TX has a lot of humidity so far this summer.  Drain pipes get stopped up, overloaded, whatever.  This stops the AC so the water doesn't overflow.  If that safeguard is bypassed water overflows. 

Into the bedroom closet.

I spent the first few hours of my day rug vacuuming water up.  Four buckets later it's...reasonably dry.  Not dry. But better.

And we've put a call in to have the pipes blown out with compressed air.

Hard work done, I then got to play with the dollhouse.

I've done a dry fit with the new slanted roof. 

I had to extend the main roof so I had overhang past the chimney wall.

Once I add finishes it won't even show.

I'm a bit concerned with the area over the front porch.  I liked it in theory but looking at it altogether... it looks a bit heavy to me.  Though with the posts and porch floor its better.

I'm wondering if white trim around the bottom, where the flat roof meets the siding, will lighten it up? 

What do all of you think?  I've got to start painting trim and I'll try to paint a few pieces and see how it looks before I take the whole house apart again.

I think part of the issue might be that the porch is small compared to the roof.  I think I want it to be a bit wider since I want to do the half stone and tapered columns on it that are so characteristic of the Craftsman style.

See how these are slightly tapered going upwards?

The other option to make it look less heavy would be to use shingles or something besides the blue siding.

Here's a quick test run of the shingle look.  Obviously not colored or stained.

They're only taped on but having something besides the siding seems to lighten up the area a bit. 

The other thought is doing something similar to the top half of the house to break up the blue.  It's a lot of blue now that the house is together.  Its really BLUE.

I love the color but now it seems a little overwhelming.

Opinions? 

I'm going to start painting trim.

Painted Siding On the House!

So a very quick post to show all of you the painted siding now that its on the house.  Just two walls but you'll get a very good idea of how it will look. I actually have all the siding painted and on, I just didn't have time to do a dry fit to show you the whole thing yet.

Obviously I need to do a few touchups and there's no trim or windows, I'll probably paint those this weekend.

I need to hit Hobby Lobby for some balsa wood to make a sloped roof to go over the flat roof.  I'm hoping to do that tomorrow at lunch and then this weekend get it cut and do a dry fit of everything to see how it works. 

I also need to order another angle cutter because mine came apart on me last weekend.  I cannot survive without that thing. 

I was worried that once I got all that blue onto the siding that I wouldn't like it as much but I'm not having that problem.  I love that blue.  I think with white trim and the front door in either a neutral or maybe Cascade for some pop I'll love it even more.

What do all of you think?

Paint Color Picked

The great paint debate has been resolved. 

The big problem with Nautical (dark blue) was how the detail of the siding gets swallowed up by the color.  So I made a trip to home depot and had them mix up some sample paints for me in a primer included semi-gloss. 

Here are the results:

As you can see, the semi-gloss really makes a difference in the way the siding looks.  Still gets that great pop of color but the details of the siding are more easily seen.

So I think I'm going with the Nautical. 

However the Cascade is such a gorgeous color I'm thinking I might use it for the front door.  Have to see. 

I love this paint though, one or two coats and no primer needed.  Awesome.

I spent most of Saturday cleaning and organizing and now my desk isn't overrun with miniature stuff.  New bookshelves for the bedroom means the old bookshelf got moved to the dining room and filled with miniature supplies.  It's not a perfect system but it makes it a lot easier to dust. 

Yeah, not perfect, and definitely not very attractive but the desk looks much better without all that stuff stacked on top of it.

I really want to remove that stupid CD holder from between the side shelves.  All it does is catch and keep dust.  I'm also planning on adding some more tape to my cardboard back, to keep a certain Building Inspector from getting in. Tape will be easy, dealing with the CD rack will have to wait.  I've been dealing with cleaning and 1:1 furniture two weekends in a row now and I'm trying to be done with that for a while and make progress on 1:12 houses.

So I'm off to paint my siding.  I have to take my house apart to get some room for the pieces to lay out and dry and thankfully I numbered them on the back so I know where they go.

I'll probably paint all my window trim as well.  Except the skylight.  I want to wait on that until I'm sure of my roof materials.  Though I've got some wood shingles that might look very nice stained a walnut or cherry. 

Any suggestions on that? 

Paint Samples

I decided to get some of my siding scraps and paint them the two primary contenders for the siding color.

The pictures aren't great but they will give everyone a better idea of what the paint would look like on the house and how it will show on the siding.

With these it's much easier to see what Brae meant about the detail of the siding disappearing with the darker color.  I still love how the blue pops against the white.

These are chalk paints though, and I can't seem to find the same colors in regular paints.  I wonder if I took the bottles to Home Depot if they could mix up some paint samples for me?  I'd like to get some of that paint that has the primer in it since I've noticed paint tends to seep into the wood quite a bit.

The colors are Folk Art's Home Decor chalk paint in Nautical (dark blue) and Cascade (teal).

One last look at the paint on the siding, against the trim and stonework.

Any more opinions?  Or suggestions for paint matches that aren't chalk paint?  I think if I found something that's a semi gloss the detail of the siding might come out more.

It's Already JUNE!

And oh yes, I am so shouting that.

I feel like I'm finally making some progress with the dollhouse.  As you know I've had bits and pieces of the inside that I've worked on and lately I've been concentrating on the exterior. 

I managed to get the mortar on the stone wainscoting last weekend but since it takes twenty four hours to cure I really couldn't do much past that.  I don't have a lot of time in the evening during the week, or at least it feels like I don't, due to various issues.  So I had to wait until this weekend to work on the rest of the exterior.

Saturday I was dealing with 1:1 scale furniture and the resultant mess that comes from transferring books to different shelves and then doing the same with clothing.  Man, books can get dusty!  The good news is the master bedroom has a new headboard and nightstands which fit better and have working drawers.  My dresser and book shelves are now more organized which is nice and I have another set of shelves to store miniatures stuff on.  I haven't moved stuff off the desk to put them on the shelves but maybe next weekend.  One day on 1:1 scale stuff is enough for a weekend.

The bad news is last night I was feeling every bit of my forty plus (plus, plus) years after all the bending, moving and then breaking down of cardboard boxes. 

Still, today the aches aren't as bad and I'm back to dollhousing.  Yes, I made a new verb, it's a verb we all deserve and use a lot of the time so why not. 

I wanted to protect the stone and mortar so I got some quick dry satin poly finish and gave the wainscoting a quick coat.  You can barely tell its there but it makes me feel better. 

I did some research on craftsman houses and how they look with wainscoting and I've noticed that white is a big color for the trim.  Which I actually like. Its a nice contrast with the stone and will pop against the siding color.  So I painted up some lengths of basswood and glued them on.  I've still got the tape to hold everything in place since the glue takes a while to dry.

Siding color.  I am sooooo dithering over this.  I've got a few colors sampled on a board.  I want the house to look somewhat traditional but not over the top khaki, brown or green the way a lot of craftsman houses are.

I mean this is pretty, but not what I want to look at everyday.

This is more my style.

Or this.

I really like that blue. I've got a similar color that I'm sampling. 

I don't think I can pull off the additional detailing in brown for the upper portions of the gables though.  Am I using that word right? Gables?  The triangle parts of the walls that go up to the roofline.  Geez, you'd never know English was my first language.

Anyway, the simplicity of the kit doesn't lend itself to more than a couple of colors on the outside, at least not as I've got it pictured.  So the wainscoting, white trim, siding color and then a pop of a different color for the door, or maybe a stained wood.  Not sure on the door yet. 

It feels like I've got so much to figure out and do and less than six months to do it. 

But here are my colors up against the wainscoting and trim.  What do you think?

I'm leaning towards that dark blue. Though I really like the teal, it's cheerful. The khaki color is just a little blah to me and the grey is barely there.  It feels like the blue is more earthy. 

What do all of you think?  I can't paint until I get all the siding cut out so I've got some time.