Sunday, 23 April 2017

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.




Monday, 17 April 2017

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,