Second Floor Floors and Fireplace.

You ever have one of those weekends where you know you got a lot done but it still doesn't really feel like much?

Objectively I know I accomplished quite a bit.  There were a lot of details that took a while to get done but the overall look makes up for it.

First I painted the fireplace and added grout.

I knew that would take a while to dry so I started to work on the second floor's floor.  It's going to be partially removable, at least to start with.  Since I used tongue depressor woodsies for the underside of it I wanted to do the same thing for the floor portion of it.  Some continuity.

Of course that means I had to cut over ninety tongue depressors down so they had straight ends.  That doesn't include the shorter pieces.  Luckily I had some left over from doing the ceiling too.

I used a Dremel sanding head to make little holes/depressions in each end of my 'boards' to look like wooden pegs.

I'm going to use the same chestnut and American oak stain that I used on the downstairs ceiling.  The chestnut will sink into the divots a bit more to bring them out and the oak will brighten everything up. I hope.

That took me most of Saturday night.  I got them all cut, drilled and glued down to the basswood I'm using as the moveable floor.  Then I weighed them all down so they'd dry flat. (Mostly.)

By the time all the glue was dry the fireplace was also set to go so I got my charcoal and aged it.

I added my glowing fire inserts and then built some log fires around them.  I'm working on getting some colored charcoal and fixative so I can make the wood look a bit more burnt.

But hey, the fire works so yay for me.  Working electricity.

I need to put the pot arm in the larger fireplace but after that they're pretty much done.

Since the glue holding the wood in needed to dry I started to stain the floors.  Here's the first layer of stain, the Minwax Chestnut gel.

I've sanded it down so it'll take the American Oak better.

The rear portion of the floor can be glued in permanently which is handy.  The rest of it will wait for the furniture and lights.  But this gives you a good idea of how it'll look.  I think my holes/pegs look pretty good. Not overwhelming but a nice background detail.

Next, since I wanted to start adding my ceiling beams for the glued in portion of the roof I needed to add the chandeliers to the main beam.

They could be brighter but I was just testing them so they're both on one battery and thus not at full power.

Things went well until I got it glued in.  Then the chain snapped on one of the chandeliers.  I spent a very frustrating forty minutes fixing it.  Now I'm quite grateful to be sitting down since my back is killing me from all the bending over.  But they're fixed.

I've got to say, I'm having problems with all the lights I bought from Minimum World.  The sconces didn't want to stick to the walls, the metal bends way too easily and now the chains on the chandeliers are...sketchy.  As I was cursing the lights I said I was never buying them again.  My husband told me I sounded like Dennis Farina in Snatch.  'Anything to declare?'  'Yeah, never go to England.'

Most of the stuff I bought was the barewood furniture I'm using so much of, and I love it.  It's just something with the lights.  Maybe I'm just too rough with them.

But like I said, I got them fixed.  Finally.

I had to let the main beam glue dry so I cut a bunch of the other support beams, sanded them to roughen them up and then stained them.

By the time I got all that done the glue was fairly dry so I started to add my beams.   Once I got that done I decided that was it for the day and I would apprise all of you regarding my progress.

I need the glue to dry a bit more on the beams before I put the wall and roof back on for the night.  I don't trust the Building Inspector to leave the lights alone.

I was thinking I'd do boards on the roof like I did on the first floor ceiling but I'm worried about everything looking too dark.  Maybe plaster?  Or I could do a lighter stain on the ceiling than I did on the floors.  Maybe the Oak with just a bit of walnut under it?

I did get the wood for my base so once I'm certain of all my wiring I can get started setting the house in place.

A few more things done from my list.  Hope everyone else had a good weekend?


Drill & Route out channels for lighting wires.
Finish shutters & interior trim for all windows on main cottage.
         First Floor          
         Second Floor
Build Fireplaces & chimneys
        First Floor
        Second Floor
Cut bricks and stone for outside of lower walls and tower.
(Test Magic Brik) - in progress
Add brick/stone to fireplaces.
        First Floor         Second Floor
Age fireplaces
        First Floor
        Second Floor
Attach Tower to Main Cottage
        Doorway Finishes
        Hall Stone?
        Floors.
Bedroom mantle
Plaster upper walls and third floor of tower.
Add timber to upper walls and third floor of tower. (testing)
Paint stone.
Add grout to stone and brick.
Ceiling beams on first floor.
Ceiling beams and roof support for lofted ceiling on second floor.
Second floor Ceiling finish?
Ceiling beams and roof support for the tower.
Stain purchased furniture
          Bedroom
          Kitchen
          Stillroom
          Weaving/workroom
Build furniture:
          Make sink
          Make curved table for tower room
          Make loom
          Adjust tables for lab
          Make stool
          Make telescope 1/2 done
          Make orrey 1/4 done
          Make tapestry
          Make rush mats
          Make bedding
          Make books & scrolls
          Make paper pottery
Furniture in place finalize lights.
          Make sconce
          Make candelabras
                 Standing Candelabra
                 2 small Candelabras
Add flooring
Plaster inside walls
Build base for house
Create 'slate' roof
Create front garden
          Make tree?
          Make stream?
          Make lake/river to go alongside house
          Make stone wall to go around garden
          Iron front gate.