Going Up?

Last post I left off working on the trunkhouse's front door alcove. I thought I'd get that finished, but in my continuing habit of skipping around on this project, I moved on up to the kitchen. Before I delve into that adventure, here's a refresher of how the floors of the trunkhouse are laid out...

And here is where I left off in the parlor. I installed the ceiling, though I switched to the kitchen before I installed the ceiling beams. I might just wait until all the ceilings are in and do the beams all at once. 

The inspiration that captivated me to work on the kitchen was wainscoting. You see, I have been thinking about what type of wall adornment I wanted for the kitchen and how I could achieve it with the rounded walls. Then it struck me... Why not continue with the accommodating cardboard where the round shaped walls wouldn't be a problem? I cut 3" cardboard wainscot panels and affixed coffee stirrers vertically at 3/4" intervals. I made 1/2" cereal box baseboards below it and 1/2" "carved wood" (Dresden) railings on top. The half oblong shaped breakfast nook received the same. 

I utilized the natural fold line in the cereal box as a feature in the wainscot.

I measured each uninterrupted run of wall space and cut the cardboard strip accordingly. Then I placed a wooden coffee stirrer in the center of each panel and added them every 3/4" to the ends.

Before I could begin the wainscoting installation, I had to create the floor for the breakfast nook. I traced the curve of the trunkhouse onto a piece of chipboard then cut it out. I was able to place it under the breakfast nook to trace the outer circular shape. I cut, fit, marked and trimmed until I liked it. I laminated three layers of chipboard for a sturdy floor. For the top layer, I left an overhang that protrudes through the arched opening to create the step. I made a "knee wall" piece to stretch across the curved underside of the step to make it straight. The floor and riser got covered in wood flooring and stained.

When the breakfast nook floor was finished, I painted and installed the baseboards. I base painted the wainscoting and then glued it in above the baseboard.

For the wainscot rails, I added a bit of Dresden to, hopefully, look like a carved wood detail. 

At this point I installed the ceiling "rim joists". These are also made up of four layers of 1/2" cereal box cardboard strips. They will hold up the ceiling/bedroom floor and also provide the border for the Paperclay walls. The tricky part is marking the height every inch onto the walls, then connecting those marks so when I glue the strips in the floor/ceiling will be level. Luckily, my transparent ruler bends to the curve so it is easier to draw the line. 

Once the "rim joists" were installed, I got to work on the Paperclay walls. The most challenging aspect to working on this trunkhouse is maneuvering it around while reaching into the openings to work. 

While I waited for the Paperclay to dry, I installed the parlor's windows...

And I began prepping the light fixtures. I attached the fixtures to wooden craft circles. I like to have sconce plates on all the fixtures because it adds a nice detail and gives me extra gluing surface. I used Beacon Gem Tac to adhere the metal to the wood.

I primed the fixtures with Kilz 2 Primer, base painted in Lamp Black, then pounced on the rustic finish using Glazing Medium, Asphaltum and Burnt Sienna acrylic paint.

Once the Paperclay was dry, I glued in the kitchen and breakfast nook's windows.

Above sink window.

Breakfast Nook windows.

My next steps will be to blend in the window seams with more Paperclay, then paint and age the walls. Then I can make the ceiling template for the breakfast nook and move on up to the third floor bedroom. Lighting will have to be weaved in sometime, though I hesitate to do that while I'm still jostling the structure around so much. I'll go with my gut and hope I pick the perfect time.

Until next time, friends, hope you find the time you need to see your dreams progress!

xo xo,

Jodi

Fragments

Hi Guys! I've missed you! As usual, my summer is filled with fun, life sized activities that leave less time for minis. And the time that I do find is comprised of short stretches of work that leave my progress (and my chronicling of it) fragmented. As I begin to assemble my photos to recreate the story of my progress, I am a bit weary of how well I can make it flow. Please bear with me as I try!

I believe I last left off with trying to finish up the trunkhouse's first floor living room. I had made a mess applying Paperclay between the timbers and needed to sand and touch up the paint. I've done that and managed to get a very rustic look. Here is where the room stands today. It is ready for window frames and ceiling.

I stopped there to begin getting the small entry/front door attachment sorted out. To refresh your memory, it is made up of a foam core floor, walls and roof, and will have a fairy shaped door.

To the walls, I've added "stones" just like the wood stove hearth.

The floor is covered in wooden floorboards to keep it simple. Part of them will show on the "porch", and part of them will show inside.

With Fred's Weathering Stain applied.

I can't be sure if the underside of the porch will be exposed after I apply all the bark, so just in case, I finished it with deck boards and wood beams.

After staining.

The ceiling/roof were finished similarly, with a rough wood ceiling and a standing seam "metal" roof. Beams and paint to come...

I said I wanted to cut a window in the fairy door and I did, Then, I made an interior and exterior window frame out of a couple laser cut Tudor style windows that I had in my stash. In the photo below, it is hard to see that the door is painted in a satin purple paint called wisteria and that the window frames are painted in a contrasting, sparkly metallic paint called Amethyst. It is a nice contrast and, hopefully, will show up better in later photos. I have yet to "glass", embellish and install them, but hope to this week.

In the photos below, I have all the stones applied, sealed, grouted, age washed, sealed again and the door frame installed.

In this photo, I have installed the timbers and applied the Paperclay inside. Though a little cleaner job, I still have a bit of touch up to do.

But not until after I get all the moss applied into the exterior stone's crevasses.

With a little luck and some quieter days, my next post will have better continuity. Maybe the first floor living room might even be completed! I know Roz and the gang will be delighted to reach that milestone!

Until then, my friends, work on making your mini dreams come true. Even if tiny piece by tiny piece!

xo xo,

Jodi

Learning Curve

Last post I left off with waiting for the mail. Story of a miniaturist's life, right? 😊 But this wee package held the big hopes of Roz and I, as they were potentially the last two windows for the trunkhouse. I saw them on eBay: Calico Critters replacement windows. While they're a little outside the box for a regular dollhouse (they are closer to half scale, too), Roz and I loved the size, the carved detailing and the working shutters. We thought it was worth taking a shot that they'd work for the living room. We weren't disappointed!

Like all the other windows in the trunkhouse, they had to have a little customization in order to work with the curved walls. The way the plastic windows are constructed, it was really easy to attach a box made of chipboard using wood glue.

Unlike the rest of the trunkhouse's windows, the boxed part will be outside of the room. This way, Roz can enjoy all their pretty details while she's sitting in the living room. And she can close the shutters when she wants a little privacy.

Of course, even more customization to the windows was requested from Roz, but more on that next post...

The next task to tackle was getting the living room ready for it's heat source: a wood burning stove. Being inside of a tree trunk, it was imperative that we have some kind of heat shield. So, I went over options with Roz, showing her photos to choose from. She really loved the look of natural stone, but again, we faced unique challenges because of the curved walls. The solution was quite simple, and in fact, also allowed us to recycle part of the Sonotube. We simply had to cut a scrap to the width and height we needed - the exact curve of the wall was already formed! For the hearth piece, it was only a matter of tracing the curve onto a scrap of chipboard and then cutting it out. I had pieces of nicely textured cardboard packaging saved, which proved to make perfect fieldstones.

The "fieldstone" has been applied to the wall and hearth pieces,
has been sealed and is getting ready to be grouted.

The wall piece after grouting, age washes and affixed to the wall.

With the heat shield and windows ready, it was time to begin the wall treatment. For this, I needed more "timbers" which I cut from cereal box cardboard. They are 1/2" wide and are glued together in three layers to achieve the right thickness. 

Here's where time has skipped far ahead and you see a jump in progress. Unexpectedly, I found myself with only tiny stretches of mini time (as a consequence of my real life activities hoarding my time). Something had to give and that was my chronicling process. In the photo below, you see I have already painted and installed the "timbers" to the living room walls as well as the baseboard and header timbers (which hold up the ceiling/kitchen floor).

Part of my "learning curve" was figuring out how to work in this tall, awkward, unbalanced tube. Laying it down on the table proved to be the best solution, though working in through the various openings was challenging. Here, I am applying glue to each "timbered" panel before I applied Paperclay to it.

I'm not sure at this point how the "tree bark" is going to tie into the openings, so I'm adding an outline with Paperclay to cover the cardboard edges.

Below you can see that I have applied Paperclay in between all of the "timbers". I tried my best to be neat, but wrestling with a round tube, this was the best I could do. I have plenty of painting, sanding and clean up ahead of me.

Here in the US we'll be celebrating our Independence with a long holiday weekend. Hopefully, with all that behind me, I'll have more interesting progress to post about!

Until then, hope you're enjoying a fun and busy summer, too!

xo xo,

Jodi