Search My Blog!

Use the Search box below to find keywords that you're looking for quickly and easily!

Search Feature

Thursday, February 22, 2024

First Things First

Sometimes I get working happily away and then suddenly realize, with shocking clarity, that I'm about to make a big problem for myself. I am so grateful for that little voice that screams inside my head! Here I was, totally engrossed, making furnishings and fillings for Wayne's apartment. Thanks to that little voice, I began pondering when I should glue his partition wall and where I would run the wiring for his lights. Then it hit me: you're going to have to attach the roof. That realization sent me into an existential crisis about what I had left to do, how those tasks would affect future tasks and exactly what order of operations was going to be the most beneficial/least problematic!

That's when I totally changed gears from Wayne's place to the great room. As a reminder, it became "great" when I cut big swaths out of the second and attic floors leaving behind only the balconies. A three story room is pretty great, right? God I LOVE dollhouses!!!


You see, I always wanted something really great and worthy of a great room. And that meant a fantastic fireplace. Last February (Valentines Day to be exact), while gathering ideas about what the treehouse wanted to look like, I came across this photo. OMG instant crush!!! Cupid's arrow hit me hard. I knew I had to try and achieve the vibe of this amazing fireplace, but how? I've spent the last year working out possibilities.


First, because a lot of the wiring had to run behind the fireplace down the center of the treehouse, I'd need a hollow wall. But not a thick wall because the floorspace in the great room, thanks to the balcony, was already pretty limited. So a wall thin enough to be passable to the eye and also allow for the wiring. Thank goodness I did not attach Wayne's wall because that provided my pattern for the gabled roof. And thank goodness I did not attach the roof because I might have had a dickens of a time getting this hulking fireplace installed afterwards. I created a gabled roof pattern on cardboard from Wayne's partition wall and with this, and a few more measurements, I created the great room fireplace wall.


As you can see I used art board for the wall and lined three sides with 1/4" x 1/4" basswood to create the hollow, also providing a nice gluing surface.


And then I had to come up with a substrate for the fireplace. The gnarled tree bark will get created from paperclay or paper mache but I needed something with the basic tree trunk shape to attach everything to and to lend stability. Hello Design Space. Hello chipboard.


I started off with a bottle shape then sliced and welded until I achieved roughly the shape and size I wanted. Because my Cricut Maker only cuts chipboard that is 10.5 x 10.5 inches, I had to make the substrate in two sections to achieve the 22 inch height. The front would have a cutout for the firebox and a niche high up the chimney. The back would be solid. I was able to replicate the shape of the openings in the balcony and staircase windows to tie the firebox opening/niche in with the fairytale theme of the treehouse.


I attached the bottom and top sections of the front and back fireplace pieces, gluing art board across the inside seams to lend strength. For the sides of the fireplace I used more art board scrap. It can easily be scored to make the gentle bends I needed but also makes for a sturdy substrate. 


Once I had the sides securely glued it was time to make the firebox and the framing for the niche.


And that is where I'll stop for today, my friends. Today is mine and Russ' 37th wedding anniversary and he's playing hooky from work. 😉 

A shotgun, Vegas wedding, no money for rings and no clue what was ahead. But here we are, 37 years later, still in love, still really liking each other and proving love truly does conquer all. 💘💗💘💗💘

February 22, 1987

One last thing before I go... I made a bunch of newspapers for Wayne's apartment and thought I'd share the printies. They are great for filler or to use as props under mini art projects, on attic walls or shop windows, crumpled in trash bins or stacked in messy rooms. 


xo xo,

Jodi

21 comments:

  1. It seems that Wayne is quite the ready and caught up the daily news--my dad was like that; read the Denver Post every evening. I envy how you use different materials to create the walls and the desired looks that you want. And you are the master of Design Space. Happy Anniversary to you two. Thirty seven years is wonderful; congratulations.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ann! Wayne does enjoy knowing all the local news and having loads of newspapers handy just in case! I can't wait to get back on the fireplace, but it seems Russ and I have gotten ourselves into another home renovation project. I just wanted a new mattress in our master bedroom but now we're going to do new flooring and paint. It will be great to have it done but it's going to be hard work for the next couple weeks and that means sketchy mini time.

      Delete
  2. Hi Jodi! Good catch with the sub-conscious brain flashing the alarm! :):) It would have caused a lot of headaches to do the wall in the less-optimal order! And switching gears to the Great Room has proven to be a Great idea! I LOVE that fireplace!!! What an inspiration! And of course, you have the skills and the equipment to make it a quick but solid structure. I am always impressed with what you do with your cricut! This is going to be such an epic design feature! I am sure Wayne will not mind waiting for the rest of his "decor"... after all, he has plenty of reading material to keep him busy! :) Thanks for sharing your file... I just might figure out how to print it out... I don't have a working printer, but my son does!
    And lastly, Happy Anniversary! You two look so happy in that photo! And there you are, living proof that true Love is real! :):) I hope you have a wonderful day... year... rest of your lives together! :):):)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Betsy! It has been a bit unorganized trying to get into the mini groove again but thank goodness I haven't really caused myself trouble yet!
      I am so happy to have you on board with the fireplace! I am super excited to get to the sculpting part but it seems like a home improvement project has cut in the front of the line!!! I won't complain because it is best to jump on board with Russ when he's willing to do stuff to the house. Since making things pretty for other people is his day job, understandably he's not always so gung ho about home DIY.
      I hope your son can print the newspapers for you! You have plenty of mini scenes they'd be great for!
      We pinch ourselves all the time about how old we are and how long we've been each other's lives! It doesn't seem that long and we still feel like kids who ran away and live together in a treehouse, lol!

      Delete
  3. Love the fireplace - nice work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Troy! It must be amazing to get to do things like this for real life homes!

      Delete
  4. Congratulations on your wedding day! You look like a nice couple in the picture and your love story is romantic like in the movies.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mummu! We were so happy that day and our love story really is an amazing one! The odds that we'd even meet and then that we'd end up together were crazy! But we believe it was all part of a plan and that it was written in the stars!

      Delete
  5. Oh that fireplace is going to be soooooo cool! And I love that the shape of the firebox matches your balcony openings and windows! I can't wait to see more.
    Happy Anniversary!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Sheila!!! You and I are so lucky to have minis to direct all our fantastical ideas at, right?!?

      Delete
  6. Esa chimenea es más que fantástica y estoy segura que te va a quedar DIVINA!!! Justo lo que necesitaba la casa del árbol,
    Muchísimas felicidades para Russ y para ti En vuestro aniversario ,a por otros 37 por lo menos!!
    Besos.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ¡Muchas gracias Pilar! ¡Espero poder hacer que esa chimenea se vea como se ve en mi mente! Tengo mucho más que hacer en este proyecto y esta será la primera prueba real. ¡Espero poder empezar mientras tengo muchas ganas! ¡Abrazos!

      Delete
  7. Love where you are going with this fireplace and, with your skills I know it will turn out exceptionally!! Congratulations on 37 years of marriage. As the saying goes, the best thing to hold onto in life is each other and you two are rockin' it! - Marilyn D.

    ReplyDelete
  8. La chimenea es impresionante. Y en el espacio del que dispones lucirá muy bien.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gracias Isabel! Espero que resulte como me imagino!

      Delete
  9. Oh, what a wonderful post! ;O) And what a relief that there was this little warning voice inside your head! My, Wayne will easily manage to stand the delay of work progress in his home by reading all these newspapers and keeping in mind that it's important to do things first which need to be done first. He's a crafter himself, so if anybody understands it's him!

    And I love your inspiration for the fireplace... and seeing your first steps (Woohoooo, the dreamteam consisting of Jodi and her machine park did it again!!!) makes me really want to see more of it. Perhaps I should use the remaining time until then to add some foam protection around my computer keyboard as it seems very likely that my jaw will drop down in awe then. *smile*

    And although first things come first the best is for last... so congrats on your 37th wedding anniversary! The background you so kindly shared with us reminded me of an interview with a divorce attorney I once read who said: The bigger and more expensive the wedding the sooner my clients. *LOL* Well, here's to you and Russ for many more years to come!

    Hugs
    Birgit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Birgit! I am so lucky that the whole gang is so patient! Especially Wayne!

      I'm so glad you like the fireplace idea! I hope you won't be disappointed in my sculpting skills because I've done so little sculpting that I don't know if I have any skills yet! I am counting on YouTube videos to show me the way!

      I can believe the logic behind what the divorce attorney said. It seems to me that if you start out with very little and your greatest (and only) resource is one another you learn to become a team. If you have lots of other means at your disposal, you never really need anyone. Russ and I were definitely all each other had for a long, long time. The first ten years of our marriage we lived far away from my family's support so we were each other's everything. And as luck would have it, we spent our wedding night in a sleeping bag in the back of Russ' truck inside the camper shell. It was a motel parking lot in Barstow California. When we woke up the next morning it had snowed overnight for the first time in 50 years! If rain on your wedding day is good fortune we won the lottery with our snow!

      Delete
  10. Quite a fireplace coming up! And congratulations on 37 years of marriage!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Millimari! I am so excited to see the working fireplace in the great room! And as for staying married so long I feel so lucky to have a husband that truly loves me. We annoy one another like everyone but we know how to let things go.

      Delete
  11. Happy anniversary!!
    Your inspiration for the fireplace is fantastic. A truly original model, like the whole house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Faby! I'm so happy you like the idea for the fireplace! I hope I can come close to the look of it!

      Delete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.