Tile

 This weekend I still hadn't figured out exactly what I wanted to do with the stairs or floor. So I decided to work on the kitchen backsplash.

Tile work seemed appropriate since our bathroom floor tile has been pulled up almost completely in order to dry out the subfloor.

I put the rugs back down over the subfloor since my washer and dryer are back there and I don't want splinters in my feet when I'm doing laundry.

I'm doing a lot around the house because my husband is now using a cane to walk. MRI says torn meniscus. Among other things.

Then he spilled water on top of his c-pap machine so it wouldn't work. Thankfully we got that dried out and working again so we don't have to buy a new one.

He sees the doctor on Tuesday so we'll hear what can be done or get a referral to another doctor who can tell us what can be done. Hopefully it's fixable with PT and won't require surgery.

So doll housing was a little more of an escape than usual.

I made a cardboard template and got out my beads/tiles.

I tend to use Weld-Bond glue because it will make just about anything stick. Then it was row upon row of beads/tiles. 

Can't forget to leave space for the open shelving.

And then a dry fit.

Once the glue dried completely I needed to grout it. I tend to use drywall spackle for my grout because it's cheap, you can tint it, and it's easy to clean up.

Now for a dry fit with the cabinets.

I like how it looks with the cabinets and countertop. 

I plan to make the open shelving look a bit like live edge and the stain to match the window frames and flooring.

I ordered some tongue depressors and I want to do wide plank flooring that looks like this:

I need to figure out if I can match that stain with what I have. If I start with the weathered grey, apply a coat and sand it down, then put something like golden oak over it maybe that would work.

I ordered more tongue depressors so I'll have enough for the floors on both levels. Obviously we don't want wood in the bathroom but everywhere else...yeah. 

And the blonde tones to the wood will warm up the space too.  I'm concentrating on the dollhouse because I can't do anything to our bathroom until the insurance company agrees with the estimate the restoration company gave them.

So we're in a holding pattern regarding the bathroom at the moment.  We do know that we'll have to gut the space completely.

And since that portion of the house is pier and beam we figure we'll make it the way we want it. A walk in shower (with a bench) and higher toilet, double vanity, all those will make life a lot easier for someone who has trouble walking.  Pier and beam means moving the plumbing wouldn't be as expensive as anywhere else in the house which is on a slab.

Plus if we go with a stackable washer/dryer (since ours are dying) and replace the hot water heater with a tankless we'll have more square footage and we could conceivably still have a small closet back there.

So I have plans. And we've been saving up because we knew we'd have to do this eventually anyway.

I'm crossing my fingers that this can start up soon.

In the meantime... miniatures are a lovely distraction. 

How are all of you doing?

Windows and Redoing the Front Wall

 So I have actually been working on the dollhouse this weekend. I started with the stairs again.

I still need to work on the floors but I decided if I'm going to use these stairs I want to move the window up further so I can put either shelves or a sitting area there.

And since I wanted to make the kitchen window smaller I'd have to redo the front wall anyway so away I went.

The windows are almost to the ceiling this way and it gives me more space for the backsplash and some open shelving. 

I need to do some sanding and a bit of touch up paint but I think the black frames against the dark blue will look good.

I think this will work better. It reminds me a little of my mom's kitchen window. She had spider plants hanging from the ceiling in macramé holders and that could be fun to do too.

Here's a look through the accordion doors.

So far I like how it looks. I need to prime the walls and paint them before I can do anything like the backsplash. And I need to do the floors before I can put the cabinets in. 

Hopefully I'll be making progress a little more quickly now.

Stairs

 So quick post about the stairs. I've been looking into options... Jodi suggested another container on it's end so it could be a stairwell.  Which I like. It just increases my footprint and that's not a good thing for me because I need a place to put this when it's finished. 

But it's something to keep in mind for certain.

I put my dilemma up on Instagram and got a suggestion of the stairs  with a slight turn, extending over the side wall.  Unfortunately the side wall is actually the container doors.  Since I went to a lot of trouble to make sure they'd open I'd like to keep them that way.

So I considered maybe doing one of the doors stationary and the other opening and making a squared spiral stair. Yeah that sounds weird I know. But do a search and oh yeah images come up.

I want a mid-century modern feel to the home, so I love the stairs without risers. The straight stairs are the perfect look but they obviously won't fit.

In exploring my options for stairs that have a minimal footprint I came across these.

I like them a lot. They're a bit sculptural and remind me of Marion's Spiral stairs that I love so much.  and they're minimalist which fits the look of the house.

I like these too, though doing that curved central post could be an issue. Something to think about though. All these options above have the railing along the central post though which has a very clean look.

This is a slightly different look and I like them, especially the railing and the look of the spindles. It reminds me a lot of Mid Century Modern stairs with the vertical slats.

Like these:

Something like this requires a lot of open space though and I don't want the house to feel cramped.

I was debating changing the windows over the kitchen counter, which would mean redoing the front wall anyway. If I change the windows on the other side of the front door it would give me a bit more space to work with.

No matter what, before I cut the ceiling/roof I need to have the stairs figured out.

Soo...the debate continues.

Hope you're all having a nice weekend!