Making Windows and the Front Elevation

The Building Inspector has decided that the empty space provided by the wall repair should be occupied.  

What I wasn't able to capture on camera was her apprentice actually on top of the dollhouse roof.  I'm so glad those magnets are strong.  Nothing came crashing down but now I'm really wracking my brain for some way to keep the cats off of it.  Maybe Cecelia Alyce could put a spell on it to make it impervious to feline predations.

I'll keep working on it.

Though it is good and sturdy when I think that Jack weighs almost twenty pounds and nothing broke.

He also decided to look over the living room from a greater height than usual.  Crazy cat.

But I did decide on Saturday to bite the bullet and make the windows for the Downtown Loft.  I'd purchased some but the tall side window and the skylights would need some custom frames made.

That took me a pretty good part of Saturday. 

I also did some more work on the spiral staircase.  I got it primed with gesso and I think having it a uniform color looks good.  I'll paint it black sooner or later.

I'm not entirely thrilled with how the spindles are leaning a bit but I think once I get it into the house it won't be as noticeable.

Sunday I started to work on the front elevation for the bookstore.  I wanted to fancy it up a bit so I tried a few different things.  Some of my jewelry findings and wood trim.

The jewelry findings and the smaller wood trim didn't really work for me.  But I liked how the larger pieces looked.  

So I added some raised panels to the second floor lower sections.

That gave the second floor a little echo of the first floor.  And I added my trim back.

I thought about adding some of the jewelry findings to the panels.

I still might.  But right now I think simple works better.  I added some crown molding to the upper portion of the second floor and some quarter round and half round trim.  I also added some baseboard to the bottom. It fancies it up a bit and disguises the joins between the two pieces.  I only had one piece of it and it was broken so this was a good use for it.

I also cut some pieces for my mansard roof out of foamcore board.  I painted them black because it's my experience that if you don't no matter what something white shows through when you take a picture.  Then I got my dormer openings cut out.

My biggest concern is that it's looking more Parisian than Victorian London.  The good news is that if I decide I hate the scrollwork I can pry it off.

I'm thinking about how to finish the outside, the type of floors I want and the layout of the third floor.  I've got some fancier flooring and beadboard left from NOLA House so I might try to use some of that.  But I don't want to complicate things too much.  Maybe I could do a herringbone floor on the ground level?  I'll need to think about it.

Some good news is that if I need filler books I can borrow from the study in the Gothic Victorian.  And I have plenty of kits to make furniture.  Still debating whether I should paint the bookshelves in the shop or stain them.  Stain might be more traditional.  And I've got plenty from when I was working on the barewood furniture for the WQRC.

I'm trying to remember to post to Instagram as well as the blog but I'll admit it's not my favorite.  I'm better at writing than I am picture taking.  How are all of you doing?