January 19th - Day 19/346 days to go!

Well, I have to tell you that today....I was like a miniaturist on crack! No, I wasn't actually on crack since drugs aren't my thing....I'm too high on life! But I was in high gear and accomplished much more than I thought I would.

I sealed the wood on the first and second floors, installed wallpaper on the two staircase walls, completed a counter top for the kitchen, made a wood floor for the kitchen, added the staircase bannister for the second floor staircase....and still had time to get my blog done before my brain shut down for the night. I definately surprised myself today....and that's not an easy thing for me to do.

One of the things I like to do for my mini projects is make my own wallpaper. I know, I could buy it, but I like the diversity of making my own. Once I have printed a sheet, I head over to Staples and have it colour copied on 100 weight card stock. It's definately more work than purchasing wallpaper but the end result is more to my liking.

I have worked out the wallpaper layout for the whole dollhouse. The main floor dining room, the second floor hallway and the third floor hallway will all have the same paper. It will tie things together nicely. When picking wallpaper it is always important to remember that unlike a real house, a dollhouse, particularly an open back one, lets the viewer see all the rooms at the same time so it usually looks best if the wallpapers compliment each other. I think I've managed that with my colour scheme and the theme of the house.

Here is the paper I installed today on the staircase walls on the first and second floor:

I'm going with a French Country Rose theme so there will be lots of pinks and that french butter yellow colour. The trim will all be in white.

I did learn one thing today and that is that I'm going to have to paint the interior walls white before I install any more wallpaper. Even with sealing the wood, the glue wasn't that fond of the finish and I almost panicked when the wallpaper didn't look like it was going to stick. But sometimes more is better....and that seemed to do the trick when applying the glue. I like to use "Yes" glue....it holds well (at least it always has in the past), doesn't yellow and is easy to clean up.

I still have to finish the second floor staircase and as you can see from the picture, it doesn't sit flat on the second floor so there will be some.....sanding to do to get it level. It's only about an 1/8th of an inch but in miniature that make it look like a huge space.

The first floor staircase was a nightmare to install. I read the instructions and then failed to get the stairs to fit. Tried both again and again failed to squeeze them into place. Yes, there was some grunting....and some blue air around my fierce facial expressions. Then I cut off one of the tabs on the dining room side and....poof, it slide into place with a few stragicially placed shoves. It was much like trying to fit that preverbal square peg into that round hole.

There is a small space along the bottom of the staircase that the flooring will fit under....and that will give it that finished look that I want. Notice I'm being very optomistic about the "fit" thing.

I was also very disappointed in the trim that "they" gave to finish off the bannister on the stairs. Even after I cut it out with an xacto knife and didn't punch it out, it still disintegrated at the first sight of the sandpaper. I only did a few pieces as it was becoming an effort in futility. I have some 1/8th inch cherry strips that I used to trim the first floor staircase and it actually looks....okay. At least it didn't fall to pieces and...no sanding required!

So, that is what I did today. I doubt I'll accomplish as much tomorrow since it is "Mini Day" with my two friends. And who knows, we might actually get some minis done between chatting, eating and drinking tea!