Fabric Choices

You would think that I'm someone who plans shopping trips carefully.  Everything listed out, things I need to match safely stowed in my purse.

You would be very wrong.  My approach to shopping only rarely meets the above criteria.  Usually its more of a 'I need to run to Hobby Lobby at lunch for stuff'.  And stuff always ends up being a lot of things that I'll use but not a lot I planned for.

This occasion was one where I did have a short list. 'Find Fabric for house'.  But did I bring my beads/tiles to match? No.  Did I bring a sample of the cherry stain? No. 

In short, did I bring anything that would help me make this purchase easier?

No. Of course not. 

But in spite of all that I don't think I did too badly.  Hobby Lobby was having a sale on quilting/calico fabrics so I got 30% off.  That was nice.

And I lucked out in that I think I found some winners.

Here's all four of the fabrics I bought together with the fireplace.

One pale teal with white dots. One off white with multi colored dots/circles.  One plain turquoise.  And one darker teal with white flowers and darker teal centers.

Here they are, one by one, next to the fireplace.

Teal with white dots

Darker teal with white flowers and darker centers

Turquoise... looking a bit washed out for some reason.

Off white with multi colored dots

Of all of them, I think the multi color is something that matches multiple colors of the tiles and will look the best as the window seat cushion. 

I don't think I want to make an upholstered chair with it, mostly because it'll be too much.  But I do think a set of chairs in a plain offwhite or maybe a creamy tan will look good and I can make cushions out of this fabric. 

But I could use the turquoise to make some trim for the cushions and chairs.  Tie it all together that way?  Not sure about that.  Have to see.

The darker teal with the flowers will be nice as a bedspread, with some off white sheets and pillows?

That's the other thing I was thinking of.  The bed in the loft.  I was thinking of doing a Murphy Bed, folding up into the wall.  Then I wouldn't need a huge loft. 

But it would have to be something like this, to have the side of the bed as the axis, not the head or foot, otherwise it wouldn't fit properly. (I think I'm using the word axis properly. Hopefully.)

Obviously I couldn't do anything massive like these pieces of furniture but a simple box with a hinge, a cabinet next to it for the pillows and it'd be all set.

My other question is window treatments.  After all the trouble I went to on the trim and mullions, I'm not sure I want to fuss with curtains or anything. 

What do all of you think?

Windows, Windows, Windows

Guess what the theme of today's post is? 

Doors.

Ha! No, you're right, it's windows.  Although there is a door in here too.

Most of the weekend was dedicated to fixing up the windows so they looked more craftsman in style.  My dremel got a workout because the smaller windows didn't come apart the way the larger ones did. 

And I stained them all a nice cherry once the glue dried and tested them out.

Forgive the bad light on this last one.  I'm thinking of doing another layer of the stain before adding the poly to seal it, just to get the color a little darker.

I added some mullions to the smaller windows.  I think it's just enough to make them fit into the house without getting too fussy.

I also got the window trim cut and painted for the exterior but I haven't wanted to put it up yet until I'm ready to glue the windows in.  Too easy for the trim to get knocked off the house when I'm moving the walls around.

I did adjust the trim around the front door and painted it.  I think it looks a bit better. It'll mirror the trim on the big window.

I like that a bit better.

So now I'm looking around for door handles.  I really want to find (or make if need be) something like this.

Or like this.

That wall lamp is something I'd like to find or recreate for the house as well.  It's the style I want.

The trim for the rest of the house is in progress.  I ran out of the right width of wood so I've ordered more.

I also went shopping for fabric for my chairs, bench cushion and bed.  I forgot to take pictures though so I'll try to do that after I get my stain and sealant done.  That way you can all see what I'm thinking of and let me know how you like it.

Hope all my fellow Americans have a Happy Fourth of July.  And for my lovely readers in other countries, enjoy the rest of your weekend. 

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?