Customizing The Willowcrest Continues...

One of the most challenging rooms in the Willowcrest kit is its kitchen. It's a long, skinny room with little wall space and two doorways to work around. Though it's typical of older homes where kitchens were compact and not well laid out, I think it's actually part of the kit's charm. I've seen some super successful and adorable versions where the builder made the most of the original layout, I've seen radical remodels and I've admired versions from true pioneers who completely relocated the room. Having so many wildly different ideas to look at is inspiring, and the opportunity to make even mass produced kits into our own unique versions is exciting! I decided on a happy medium for my kitchen. It won't be big or fancy, but it'll have everything a little cook needs to produce delicious home cooking. And hopefully, it might be my version of adorable, too!

This sweet kitchen has been left as the kit intends.
Photo courtesy of Judy Evans, Pinterest

In Elaine's version, she not only extended the bay, she changed the back
left corner of the kit, removing the jog in the wall to create more floor space.
Photo courtesy of Simply Curious

Elizabeth (Studio E) swapped her living room with the kitchen, then created
a hallway with a door at the end which leads to a patio behind the kitchen. So genius!
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's Astonishing Finished Kitchen - Incredible!
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth.

It seemed to me the most efficient way to gain some needed square inch-age was to simply expand the bay. I extended mine by a measly 2 inches, but it's just enough to add a run of counters with a sink under the windows. That leaves the long wall with room for a small stove with counters on either side. A good cook needs to spread out a little! No matter what I tried, all I could come up with for the fridge is to park it across the room between the two doorways. Maybe I can find a way to turn that into an advantage, somehow. We'll see!

Looking in from the dining room.

You can see my "expansion joints".

My grandma cooked delicious meals for a family of nine for many years in an
impossibly tiny kitchen. This space should do our mini folks nicely!

I like to use wood glue as caulking in all my cracks and crevices.
The tape keeps the glue from oozing out as it dries.

I was able to cut the plywood pieces I needed from the unused bedroom/bathroom wall. I cut 2" strips from the piece, then cut those to the lengths I needed. I laminated them with wood glue to the kit's original bay window pieces, adding slots and tabs to make things fit together squarely. I did not want to extend the footprint of the kit by too much for fear of making the facade look weird.

Kit's original kitchen bay pieces laminated onto strips I cut from
the unused bedroom/bathroom wall piece.

Future bathroom bathtub alcove will sit on top of the extended kitchen bay.

Stairwell wall is still in dry fit here.

For the interior kitchen window, I replaced the kit's wood frame the same way as the others: scan, turn into an svg then bring in to Tinkercad.

The kit has the bottom of the window opening at 3-1/2'. I wanted to raise it up a bit for the future faucet, and I wanted a design with a longer apron to accommodate fancy shelf brackets. I also wanted to have an inner trim so it looks like the windows can open.

Here's what it looks like from the outside, but the exterior frame and filler will fix it.

And speaking of windows, I was able to get the stairwell wall window installed, and the wall attached to the house. So much of what I did to the entry, stairs and hallway is impossible to see now, but it feels great to know it's there!

Thank heavens for abundant clamps!

I put a couple sconces in the stairwell. It'll have a ceiling fixture, too, once the third floor gets installed. Hopefully, they will be enough to provide a nice ambiance in there. Before I install the third floor permanently, I'll test to see if I need to add hidden supplemental LEDs. I don't want it too bright, just enough to be able to see the peek-a-boo views of it's features.

And here is about all you'll ever see of the hallway from the bedroom doorway...

This view will disappear once the third floor goes in.

And the entry with the stairs and wall attached as seen from the living room doorway. Once the side wall for the living room goes in, it will be difficult to get this view again....

You may have noticed that there's an archway cut into part of the stairwell wall. This is the bathroom's original exterior wall, but I took advantage of the extended kitchen bay to add a little arched tub alcove to the bathroom.

Here's what the bathroom space feels like with the alcove extension...

View without the bathroom/bedroom wall in place.

Just the bathroom's floorspace.

With the bathroom/bedroom wall in place...

"Efficient" but functional.

The tub alcove arch's frame will match the rest of the window and door frames in the house. With the exterior window, I am hoping to experiment with a stained glass or leadlight window using 3D printed leading. We'll see how it goes...

It should be large enough to fit a Chrysnbon sized bathtub.

If the leadlight works out, it will provide a little privacy for the bathers.

Toilet and sink placement are still being mulled over.

And here is a glimpse of what the exterior facade is shaping up to look like with the bay extension and the alcove...

I don't think it feels too obtrusive, but what do you think?

Next on the To-Do list is to make wall, floor and ceiling templates for the kitchen and bath. Would you believe I still have not settled on colors/papers/tiles/era or overall style yet? It's been so stinkin' hot here, though, I may just lie down in front of the fan and think about it until cooler weather returns!

I hope all my northern hemisphere readers are finding ways to stay cool! And that everyone is making  project progress in spite of all the challenges they are facing. No matter what is going on in real life, doing minis just makes you feel good!

xo xo,

Jodi

Always Checking... Always Fixing...

Since our last meeting, my work on the Willowcrest has continued with pretty much the same "figure it out as I go" process. Not necessarily always in the "right" order, but when you're not sure what to do next, my modus operandi is just do something... I needed to know where to make the stairwell opening in the third floor, but had to see how the kit's third floor walls were supposed to go together so that my opening did not interfere with it. And, I had to consider my own third floor layout so that the staircase opening would not create any other unforeseen problems there, as well. It was as good a place as any to start.

There was some prep work to do to the floor both before and after I cut the stairwell opening. The original layout of the kit has the third floor stair opening toward the back opening of the house. They leave the die stamped opening piece in the floor so that if you should decide not to have a staircase to the third floor, you can leave it in and put flooring over it. The plywood was very dry and brittle, and the piece had started to delaminate, so I added wood glue in all of the seams to secure and strengthen it. Then I cut the new stairwell opening with the jig saw.

Third floor dry fit with new stairwell opening. The masking
tape marks the kit's original stairwell opening.

I made the stairwell opening wider to allow light to penetrate,
to add viewing interest and to help it feel roomier.

Where you see the slots are where the kit's mansard
walls will go, reducing the usable floor space a bit.

Below is my working 3rd floor layout. Half of the kit's front window will let light in and allow a view into the staircase. The other half of the window will have a built in window seat in the bedroom. There will be a dividing wall in the center of the window between the arches. I love an old house with funky features, and this will be one! I know it's hard to envision now, but stay tuned...

Red walls are the kit's, green walls are what I'll
add and the yellow is the front window.

With the opening cut, I was able to do a dry fit to see if it all looked good. The dry fit allowed me to mark the ceiling so I could design and install the ceiling paper for the hallway. 

View with the ceiling.

Marking angled walls onto the ceiling.

To make the ceiling template, I measured the key points I had marked on the ceiling during the dry fit and then transferred the measurements to graph paper. 

Then I recreated it in my graphics program. I cropped, cut and pasted sections from the Grand Hotel paper pack I'd scanned into my PC until I liked the design, then printed it onto matte photo paper. This time I sealed it with matte spray sealer instead of Mod Podge. It was a much better choice and didn't smear the ink at all.

The transferred template is overlaid onto the ceiling
paper design, though it's really tough to see here.

Template and design printed then cut out.

Test fit looks good. Just needs trim, a ceiling rose and a fixture, someday...

I also had to make a template of the second floor hallway's odd shaped floor. It was a tricky one with all of the angles and stair parts to go around. It's great to be able to cut a removable floor template so I can lay the flooring outside of the house. So much easier on the eyes and back! 

Using kraft card scraps to make the template.

I transferred the template onto nice kraft card.

Floor template and walnut and cherry strip wood.

For the flooring in the second floor hallway, I decided to use up some of the leftover 1/16" x 1/4" walnut and cherry I had from doing the herringbone floor in Natasha's Kitchen. This time, though, I wanted to do a simple parquet pattern. Some label this "mosaic" and some "standard block". Really, it is just three alternating boards going one direction, then the opposite three turned 90 degrees. Each board length should be multiplied by the measurement of all three widths, in my case, 3 x 1/4" = 3/4". I laid my floor diagonally.

There was a lot going on in that hallway, so dry fitting and adjusting was a must. I floored over the openings for the railing and the attic stair banister so I could mark the exact position/depth in dry fit. It was a real custom job!

Does it fit with the first floor staircase in place?
Not quite. Mark and trim a little.

How about now? Still not there. Mark and trim a little more...

One last time...

Looking really good! Did I mention I'd installed the window frame?

In fact, to get 'er done, it required a little remodeling. The bathroom wall was cut at the floor with a hack saw, and the right bedroom/left bathroom door frames were carefully loosened from the floor to allow them to move out of the way...

The bathroom wall was cut at the floor.

And scooted out of the way for fitting/installation.
Shhhh. Don't tell! When I'm finished with the house
the new owners will never know!

Once the fittings were done and the floor a perfect fit, I could sand, sand, sand, stain, wait, clearcoat, wait, sand, clearcoat, wait, sand, clearcoat, wait, install. I know! The floor is supposed to look like it belongs in a 150 year old house, but I can't help myself. We'll just pretend that the floor has been refinished at some point.

After stain application.

After several coats of satin polycrylic, sanding between.

Here I have installed it and am beginning to fill in gaps with wood glue. I'll get "completed" photos after I finish installing all the trim.

Before/after/in-between all of the above, I painted and aged the window and door frames for the first and second floor entry/hall. Most of these had to be installed before I could trim out the wainscoting. I used about four base coats of beige and then applied dirty water washes to bring out the detail and add a century of grease/smoke/furniture polish.

Entry-kitchen arch trim, bedroom and bathroom door/frame,
entry/living room arch frame, front door interior frame
and stairwell window frame.

The first floor staircase got its stringer, trim, "carving" and grime.

I got the entry doorway frames installed, as well as some crown molding and wainscot trim. The chandelier is installed, too, though I may add more "hidden" supplemental lighting soon. 

I had to carve the arch into my crown molding in order to fit
because the living room arch is so tall.

I went over the brass light fixture with gold paint pen to give it age and tone it down.

I made cornice blocks for the corners because the entry has limited
places to reach your hands in, let alone see very well. 

With the entry light on. It is only run by a 9 volt battery to test it, so it will be a little brighter when connected to the transformer. I will likely add a lamp on a table to the room later on.

Looking in from the front door.

View from kitchen door.

There is still more trim work to do, too, after the staircase is installed. For now, I check the fit again and again from every angle... Fixing what I see...

View from living room.

Slow and cautious with many "think breaks" is the name of this Willowcrest game. If I forget just one thing, I will make a great deal of trouble for myself. Though the repetition gets a little tedious, at times, I'll keep checking and fixing with each new step. Hopefully, in next week's post, the entry and second floor hallway will be officially completed and I can begin planning which room is next!

xo xo,

Jodi