I've been a wee bit absent. The summer is only so long and I've been busy....really busy. This is the first year that I've been able to get back to the "old" me and my project workaholic ways around the house. The Ikea cabinets are finished in the basement, and all the other shelving is done. Most of the items to be housed in it are out of storage too.
Then the sun was out and I thought, since I hate my deck, lets stain it! I went with "Slate" by Behr, essentially a soft black. This hid the ugly, worn wood and blocked out the old green stain. That took some weekend time and post Missy Kitty's bedtime till sundown time. I'm now staining wood and lattice each night to redo the bottom portion of the deck to keep out critters and make some access doors.
Not busy at all, right?
All the while I have been making small, incremental steps forward and backward with my other 3 projects. The 1:24 scale house is slowly moving. Had a few setbacks with wall paper bubbling in horrific ways. Then I started the room box.
The room box is going to be a blank canvas so I can make mini scenes and have some fun playing around with all my stuff. Supposed to be simple and easy. Don't even go there!
I chose a Houseworks two room room box. First, I wanted to paint, not paper, the walls. The grain and finish was horrible out of box. I spent A LOT of time sanding, and then pulled out the big electric sander and had at it......its much better now.
I used the Behr "Slate" stain for the exterior of my windows and CIL "Romance" for my inside trim. Wellllllllllll, did I pay attention to the fact the walls are 1/4 inch thick and the windows are 1/2 inch thick? Nope. Not at all. Didn't phase me as I excitedly worked away painting and staining.
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| Note the LARGE gap |
What's a girl to do? Swear like a sailor for a good 15 minutes. Stop and do some laundry. Swear some more. Then, I went to look in my wood pile for a solution. I decided I wanted the inside of the windows to be flush with the walls, so the gap would be filled from the outside. I also plan to practice stone work on the outside which should diminish the wood fillers appearance.
I grabbed a 1/4 inch square strip of poplar I had (80 cents-ish at Canadian Tire) that was supposed to be for bunk beds (that I haven't started.....sigh). It fits perfectly. So, I stained the strip of wood so I could start the gap filling sooner then later.
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| Inside will be flush |
And then.....voila! Another "challenge" (aka swear inducing event), I failed to put down wax paper on my furnace room floor as I glued. Some of the multiple layers of paint came off with the window frames when I lifted them up. I had to scrape and sand the inside frame and do some touch up painting. Agh!
The doors are a similar story. The internal door is getting a bit of extra wood behind the trim to bump each side of the door outward and distribute the gap to each side.
The front door was a bit more work.
I added trim to the sides and top easily. But the cornice was trickier. I traced the profile on a piece of trim and cut away the design. I cut WITH the grain so it was easier to cut and get the curves.
I just keep telling myself this will get done. One day. And Miss Kitty's bunk beds will get built in the attic space. It makes me feel unsettled. Grrrr.
On a happier note, my garden is looking fantastic this year! I just had my first cherry tomato and picked my first hot pepper. Delicious!
