Mid-Century Modern, Or Just Plain Modern?

The next step in the building process was to get the front window wall window frames figured out. I needed them done before I could truly do a "dry fit" and make sure there were no fatal flaws (remember the barn? Boy I do!). I removed a good part of that wall for windows, so I needed to add some strength back.





I had a general idea of the size and number of windows I wanted, because I had drawn them out on the piece before I took the scroll saw to it. I based them on the window cut outs in the kit.

I set off the smoke detectors taking measurements. Add a 3/4" x 6-1/2" piece next to the door frame, measure the hole height and length, add the 1/4" thickness of the trim wood, subtract the 1/8" mullions x 3... There is still soot coming out of my ears when I sneeze or cough!

Once I was fairly confident in my measurements, I decided to draw everything out in Publisher. This way, I could print it and hold the mock up to the window opening to see if I had measured correctly. Plus, I could then use the pattern to square my frame up. My gluing jig is not wide enough!





I had to cut everything for two frames, one for the outside and one for the inside. I made the cut list, and and just cut the pieces one at a time with my Easy Cutter. I ended up needing 32 1/8" x 1/8" mullions. For those, I broke out the rip saw and taped 6 pieces together so I could cut six pieces at a time.

Once I began gluing the pieces in place, I started to realize that with all of those mullions, the frame was kind of taking on a Mid-Century feel. Whoa! I had to stop and reevaluate my whole plan here! Was Mid-Century really what I was going for? No! No, no, no, no!





Too bad I didn't figure all of this out before I hacked 6 pieces of 1/8" x 1/8" x 24" into 42 1-1/5" pieces.

So, I glued only the outer frame pieces and the 3 horizontal inner frame pieces. Much better! But wait, what was I going to do with the pre-cut window mullions in the walls, the ones in the roof wall pieces, and the ones I'd purposely left in the door frames? Oh yeah! I can just cut those out!





Phew! Not that I am against Mid-Century in any way. I made a fantastic Mid-Century home in Sims 3 that at last count had about 300 downloads, but that was not my vision for this build!

Where I am trying to go with this build is Modern-Modern. In other words, the Contemporary, current version of Modern. Not the modern that was modern in the Mid 20th century. Make sense?

Oh, well. Whatever. I am not a purist in any sense of the word. I just want what I want and it is not vertical mullions... We'll see what I actually end up with... :0)

Alki Point Veneer Strip Flooring

One of the things I find myself ogling over in photographs of modern interior design are the wood floors. Sometimes they are very linear with thin, long planks. And sometimes, they are surprisingly rustic with wide reclaimed boards. Somehow, this combination of clean and minimal along with some well loved accents really works. In one of my inspiration photos, they even carried the wood planking onto the bed wall in lieu of a headboard.

With the interior of the Alki Point, white and grey are to be the prominent colors (a combination which can seem cold if you're not careful). I needed an element to balance their cool tones with some warmth. The floors seemed like the perfect palette! And what a perfect opportunity to branch out a bit in terms of working with a different wood medium.

I have used Houseworks wood flooring sheets a number of times, and I have even made wood floors and floorboards using basswood. These are great solutions and give you really nice results, but I really wanted to achieve a custom look with these floors. One option, which I have seen beautifully done on many mini blogs, was to make wood flooring from veneer, This seemed like an exciting endeavour!

I found a nice pack of wood veneers on Amazon, and they really had some great reviews. I got them within a few days, and I am very happy with the selection. After calculating what I received in my pack, I will have enough veneer to make ten 11 x 17 wood floors for the price of two. There are a couple drawbacks; 1) You never know what you are getting. They are truly a sample pack. 2) None of the veneers are labeled, so unless you know a lot about wood species, it's anybodies guess what they are.




I found 4 sheets that I liked the pattern on for this project. They were in the brown or grey-ish brown family to add some warmth. Kristine from Paper Doll Miniatures used her paper cutter on her veneer, so I gave it a try! I cut all of the pieces 1/2" in width, then made several lengths ranging from 6" down to 1-1/2". It was a great solution!




I had to be really paying attention when I made the cuts, as some of the types of wood were more brittle than others and wanted to shift. As long as I held on good to the piece I was cutting, they were pretty good. There was a bit of a scrap pile from my learning curve. I painted the floor burnt umber as a background in case there were gaps.




I read a few How To articles on real sized wood floors, and basically came to the conclusion that I just needed to start in the center and work my way from there. It took the better part of the day to get them glued down.






Although I didn't really have any trouble with the Grandmother Stover's glue, I still would do a section and put a lead weight on them for a bit. When it was all finished, I put a layer of waxed paper, then plywood, then all the heavy stuff I have on hand and let it sit overnight.

This morning I set about the detailing. There were some gaps that I thought were a bit large, and due to the slight variance in thickness, it needed a good sanding. I watched a couple YouTube videos, and was surprised to learn that even real life wood floors have gaps! One of the things that they do to fill them is to mix sawdust and a little wood glue as a filler. Then they stain it along with the rest of the floor. Who knew?






I filled in a couple slivers with scrap pieces, then kind of left the sawdust in the cracks as I sanded. I wondered how my sawdust was going to blend in since I was going to leave the floors natural. I started with 220 grit, then did a 400 before my first coat of satin varnish. It was nice and smooth! I let it dry for a couple of hours, then came back with an 800 grit light sanding before the second coat.







After the second coat, I wasn't liking the satin finish. It was just a little too shiny. The cabinets are going to be shiny, so shiny floors would just be too much! I sanded again with 800 grit, then applied a matte finish.


Here is the end result, and for my first time, I am completely happy!











Here is the three sided mock up with the wall lifters. One of the slots I cut on the back was is a little off, so I need to work on that. Before I can dry fit the last/front wall I need to make the window frame. There is barely any wall left to stand up as of now! The walls have been spackled, sanded, primed, sanded and probably need another round.



My Shapeways order is almost finished in production, so hopefully soon I can do a little decorating mock up to make sure everything will fit.

Best Adhesive For Thin Wood Veneer?

What is the best adhesive to use on thin wood such as shingles or veneer for flooring? I posed this question on the Greenleaf Forum recently, and the answers were as varied as the species of wood available.

Some liked to use hot glue, but the drawback was the longevity and the fact that getting burned was common. Some liked to use rubber cement, but others pointed out that eventually it dries out and loses it's bond. Some said contact cement, but others reminded us that you only get one chance to position it correctly. Once it's touched to the other piece, you're out of luck. Also, the smell was terrible. Still others said regular wood glue, securely clamped until the glue cures. Yet some said they had bad experiences with wood glue not drying clear and wood still curling in spite of clamping. Then there was the super glue camp, also pointing out the mess and the expense.

What this told me is that we've all experimented and didn't like some of the results with different products. But do we all have our favorites in spite of certain risks?

I had a terrible time finding a good solution with Encounters Gifts & Grub. I had thin veneer strips from HBS that I wanted to use as clapboard, wainscoting and paneling. Plus, there were all of the shingles! I had a lot to do, and needed whatever it was going to be to work!

I started out with Tacky Glue and quickly realized that the only way to prevent curling was to put a thin sheen of it across the piece then get it down immediately and clamp it. That's okay if you have a lifespan of 1000 years and can wait for glue to dry. Even the clamping quickly method sucked. When I lifted the clamp off I now had oozed glue to clean up. Tacky is not a good candidate for sanding, either.

Then I tried contact cement. Oh it stuck! To me and everything else within a 10 foot radius. And, if you aren't a pristine crafter, you'll end up like me with little rubberized gobs sticking out between your seems. :0(

I tried Quick Grab. I was just as messy with that. I couldn't get it applied fast enough! I'd put out a little squirt on waxed paper, try to get the cap back on quickly before the oozing became too incessant, then try to spread it on the wood before it became too crusty to stick. I always somehow ended up with it on my fingers and didn't realize it until I had touched something. At $7 for that tube I'd have needed to be a millionaire to get all my wood attached. <insert sad sigh>











In my pout, head on the table, 1000 mile stare, I just so happened to look at my wallpaper paste. It was sitting at eye level. It said "A Stikflat Glue". What? Could it be?!? It was the one and only Grandmother Stover's. I've been using that on wallpaper for ever! And it makes other stuff stick flat? At this point I really had nothing to lose.

I took an old paint brush and painted a nice, thin bead across the wood strip. I stuck it on the wall. It stuck. I stared at it for what seemed like a full week. I never caught it curling. After several cocktails hours, I tried to pry it off. Nope! It was not coming off! Success! I used it to glue the rest of my veneer without a problem. It was easy to wipe off any excess with water, dried clear, and over three years later is still holding on great! Plus, it's like $5, and goes a loooong way!

Okay, so I thought I might get an answer from the collective genius of the forum. Some magic product I had never heard of, and it would change my life. Not so much. It seemed everyone was just as dissatisfied as I had been. So, for the Alki Point flooring, I decided to experiment again.

I used what I had on hand, because I assume most miniature enthusiasts would have the same type of adhesives, too. Quick Grab Tacky Glue, Titebond Wood Glue (the clear drying kind), and good old Grandmother Stover's.

I have a pack of very thin veneer to use on my project, so what better to experiment with. I cut several long and several short pieces using my rotary paper trimmer. I took a piece of the 1/8" plywood from the Greenleaf kit (cut out left over from window) to use as the gluing surface.

Then I added the adhesives to the long and short pieces, and affixed them to the plywood scrap. I pressed each of them a few times, but didn't want to clamp them. What would they do on their own without any force over time?

They have been drying for a couple of hours now, and the results are pretty much as I expected.

The Quick Grab Tacky - dried with edges curling up
The Titebond - Significant curl initially, drying somewhat flatter but still not flat
The Grandmother Stover's - Never curled, Stukflat, Stayingflat!

Please do your own experimenting and please share your comments! I'd love to hear about what has worked (and not worked) for you!

I know what I'll be using for the wood floors on the Alki Point! Good old Grandmother Stover's!