It has been a while....

 In March 2018, I packed up my real life house, sold it and moved to a bigger place. Why did I do that? can't remember why now except maybe it was a nicer, quieter area. Of course extensive renovations had to be done to the "new" place, in fact it was gutted and refurbished. Not an easy task when the building material consists of concrete blocks, steel and cement mortar. We have almost finished that project now and I am setting up my new workshop.

In the meantime the Fairfield is still in its packing crate.

I was not idle, however, because I had ventured into 1:48 scale building which was easier to manage on a small desk. I have completed two of four house kits that I bought from Pat Morrison/Ann Bramlet

. I first saw her work on Ebay - a little kit called the Diamond Ridge (see below). The houses turned out really lovely and I am looking forward to complete the other kits.

        More anon... but I am definitely back.

ROOFING AND SHINGLES

Hooray I have completed the shingling on the roof, only the tower left to be done. This process is not my favourite  dollhouse activity but it must be done. I have been going at it for four (4) weeks now, but I ran out of shingles and had to buy more. I had to wait a whole week for the arrival of the additional purchase, because dollhouse items are not available in Jamaica so I have to import everything.

Well my patience has paid off because the roof looks really good and I am happy that I exercised some patience and spend the time to do the job properly. I think I will be staining it either a dark walnut or go with the golden pecan, we'll see.

Wile I was waiting for the shingles to arrive I painted all the porch rails and other trim, another time consuming and delicate operation. Some of the parts are really tiny and fragile and sometimes they start to splinter if the brush is too big. I did however manage to complete the task without any major mishap, Next time though I think I will spray paint, that is much faster and much easier.

THE ATTIC

I am back from my travels abroad, I had a lovely visit with relatives in London. I attended the Kensington Dollhouse Fair and bought loads of stuff, only reason I did not buy more is because I ran out of spending money. I went to visit a friend in Germany and had fun with her two lovely children. We then took some girl time and went to the Hague and Amsterdam for a weekend. The highlight of my Hague visit was not the International Court of Justice nor the Peace Palace but rather a visit to Madurodam a miniature park in Scheveningen in the Netherlands. This Park is home to a range of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks and historical cities; I was in ecstasy. 

I then traveled to Madrid for a week and coming from the chill of Germany to the intense heat in Spain was almost unbearable. It was a fun filled holiday and I got lots of travelling done and I had planned to go to Scotland and Wales next but I had to return home earlier than scheduled. The event that truncated my holiday was well worthy though, as my one and only daughter had successfully completed her medical training and was taking her Hippocratic Oath so as to commence her internship programme as a doctor. A truly proud moment. 

I was in the middle of my well earned vacation by this time, but could not afford another ticket to return to the UK, so I went to the USA instead. I was in Maryland for a month and spent some quality time with my two (2) sisters and my son. I have now returned to work, but this is the legal vacation so the pace at work is not as hectic as it usually is and soon will be again. During this relatively quiet time, I have gone back to doing some dollhouse construction. I must after all finish this house before December, so that construction does not overrun into a third year. 

What to do with the Attic? This is prime real estate that I cannot afford to waste; but the sloping ceilings are a challenge; I had postponed making a decision and waited until I got to that phase of construction to devise a plan. Well that time is now and decisions have been made.

I intend however to have a princess (little girl’s room) and a nursery to the rear of the house. The tower area depending on how I adjust the roof line will either be an adjoining dressing room for my princess or a reading nook (undecided). The baby’s room will be in the bunny parade pattern, I have already bought the wall paper and a matching rug. The area above the 2^nd floor bath will probably be an open library/sitting nook. 

I am afraid the plans were altered again, there is no nursery but there is a little princess room and grandma just moved in so she had to be accommodated. Grandma is a sweet old lady and the little princess loves her and has agreed to forgo a baby brother/sister and have grandma in the adjoining room. This room turned out quite well even though grandma's taste runs to the very floral.

The sitting area has also turned out well, it looks quite elegant and in keeping with the trend of the house. I have just the right settee for this cozy and comfortable nook. I just need perhaps two (2) armchairs and a side table and one of those corner cabinets to complete the decor.

I am having a difficult time finding just the right bed for my princess, I have tried several but I am not really loving the look. I was thinking a sleigh bed would go well in the attic space because it is low to the ground and will accommodate the sloping ceiling.

THE UPPER HALL

I expected that a half scale staircase would be cheaper than a one inch scale equivalent but surprisingly it is maybe twice as expensive and not necessarily in a style that you desire. Nevertheless since I had taken a decision to cut a staircase opening in the ceiling of the second floor to provide a realistic access to the attic; I had to follow through with providing a staircase.

Dollhouse crafting as far as I am aware is not a popular activity in Jamaica and I know of no other dollhouse aficionado here, so that dollhouse items are not readily available.  I am not clever enough to produce my own items and so it was with great trepidation I decided to make a staircase but with as little hassle as possible. It had to of course be constructed with imported components; here is how I achieved that feat.

I purchase the MDF basic assembled staircase (without banisters) from Maple Street Miniatures (UK) at a modest cost of￡6.95 per pair. There were spindles railings and posts available but none of them were wowing me. At Heritage Laserworks (Australia) I found some flat shaped spindles that come in a kit for you to assemble. Lots of choices and styles and also modestly priced at US$6.00 per set. The staircase turned out pretty well if I do say so myself and was the Victorian theme that I wanted. In addition I got matching balusters and railings for the landing.

I will be going on my long awaited vacation and will be visiting The UK and other European countries, so I will be on holiday from my project as well.

EASTER

It has been a long time since I did any work on my Fairfield house, but I have not been totally idle. I started and almost completed a quarter scale house that I bought from Petite Properties. That house is way cute and will be the subject of another post.

I have done some great work on the Fairfield over this long Easter weekend. I have 'tiled' the bathroom and also installed roof paper and ceiling light in the bathroom. I have installed the bathroom door and window trim and painted the little filigree mirror in a gold paint or rather gilt nail polish that I swiped off my daughter's dresser .



A DRY FIT OF THE FIXTURES IN THE BATHROOM

The second story hallway is almost completed, I only need to glue down the stairs and install the railing, I had previously decided that realistically the little people needed a proper stairs to climb to get up to the attic and so I made one. The two doors on the tower leading to the upper deck are pained and installed. I have done popsicle flooring on the deck and I am planning to stain it either a pickling white or gray colour.



The two bed rooms are practically finished on the second level as well and this includes the 'floating floors. I did floating floors because of the electrical wiring that is running along the flooring.  
I have glued on the bay window but I cant find the roofing I hope it was not thrown away by some undiscerning person.

The entry way got a lot of my attention today; since it is such a small space it needs to make a large impact. I have installed the flooring, installed the staircase, installed the door jambs and trim and installed the base moulding. I had previously installed the crown moulding etc. I have now decided that the doorway leading to the kitchen is too low so I increased the height to accommodate a door with a transom. This will also help to illuminate the entryway.

I will post pictures as soon as the photographer (daughter) takes some with her very nice phone,

THE ENTRY HALL

I was out of parish for work last week and this week as well and this will be for a duration of six weeks. I did however travel the 168 KM home by driving on Friday afternoon for nearly 2.5 hours. I did not get much work done on the Fairfield as I had some writing assignment for the real job.

I nonetheless managed to complete the crown moulding in the entry hall as well as the window moulding on the side wall. I even attempted the moulding around the entry doorway but this did not go well and I had to remove it and as a consequence the wall paper was damaged. I was not too disheartened as this can be easily repaired and because of the location of that wall, the repairs will not be very visible so any negative impact should be minimal.

UP WITH THE WALLS

All the walls are now up with the exception of the side wall of the extended entry. I will need to finish the entry space entirely before I can put this wall in. I have so far done the wallpaper and the ceiling paper, next I will install the crown moulding. I will thereafter install the floors, the staircase, the doors, the window and door mouldings and finally the light fixture which I will run across the floor above.

VIEW OF THE ENTRY HALL LOOKING THROUGH THE SIDE OPENING MODIFICATION AND THROUGH TO THE ARCH INTO THE PARLOUR.

THE FRONT DOOR OPENING AND A VIEW OF THE PARTIALLY CONSTRUCTED STAIRCASE.

THE MASTER BEDROOM ABOVE AND THE PARLOUR/LIVING ROOM ON THE GROUND FLOOR

The 2^nd floor houses the master bedroom a guest bedroom and a bathroom. On the second floor I have constructed a Bay window in the guest bedroom on the right side of the house, It had bothered me that there was no window in this room. This bay window overhangs the dining room windows on the ground floor and creates a nice architectural feature. I have also gained the opportunity to construct a window seat in the guest bedroom. Of course I am pondering where the bed will fit in this room but I will cross that river when I come to it.

THE GUEST BEDROOM AND THE DINING ROOM WITH WALL PAPER.

On the second floor instead of doing a roof around the tower, I will make a walk out porch instead, I will also do little balconies above the ground floor bay windows instead of roofing. I have however retained the same dimensions of the upper tower and converted the windows to doors.

THE UPPER PORCH/DECK AND THE ENTRY PORCH

THE KITCHEN BAY AREA AND A GLIMPSE OF THE DOORWAY LEADING FROM THE ENTRY INTO THE KITCHEN.