It generally looks worse before it gets better...

What lies unseen, can be a scary thing.

Luckily this is mostly just some mildew.  I am very glad J decided to coat most of the surfaces with a protective layer of paint before laying the original flooring.  I wasn't able to keep the floor in the kitchen like I originally planned, it was mildewed and buckling, and there was just no saving it.

I removed 95% of the paper I had glued in  for the kitchen to strip it down and get an idea for what I was actually going to be dealing with.  J's younger kiddo helped peel the paper and take the sanding block to some mildew on the floor.  His smaller hands could reach some of the corners I could not.  I love that he likes helping me.  Below is the much cleaned up floor and nearly clean walls.  I will need to take some water and a scraper to it before I either paint or repaper the walls.  I will also need to decide how best to restick the siding where the glue gave way.  You can see the bottom two inches or so lifted away from the wall on the left below.

Speaking of dexterous little fingers... The paper had to come off of the dormer for the attic, as it was just too waterlogged and stained/faded. My construction manager made quick work of removing it and gave it a quick sand.  Chip came by to supervise, and decided that we had things well in hand.

Because I cannot be patient, I decided it is cleaned up enough at this point to try out a new flooring option.  Just to see what we think...

Scrap book paper that resembles linoleum.  It would keep some green in there and allow me to make other choices on the walls.  I think this means I may be repainting the stove, and now have more research to do on the colors used at the time.  I may also need to put something under this if I am still going to make my own floor in the living room. Need a smooth transition rather than a step down to the flooring  in the kitchen. I can figure out what to use after I lay down the wood in the living room.

Finally I took some thieves oil cleaner and wiped down the floors to remove the last of the dirt, leaves and whatever else I can't see against the brown.

This spot was just a super temporary one to assess and clean up.  We are discussing options for a workspace inside.  Thanks for reading, and we will update when we can.

Until next time...

In which we encounter a storm...

So, last week the greater Sacramento area had winds with gusts between 55 and 70 miles per hour.  My lovely little house was out on my friend's porch, as we hadn't thought to bring it in, and I hadn't worked on it in months, due to weather and life both interfering.

Along comes last Wednesday... Sometime overnight between Tuesday and Wednesday, J's pergola (which had been screwed down to the deck) gets a leg loose and bangs slightly against the house. The wind and rain are driving full force.  At some point the pergola breaks free and cartwheels around the yard.  Thinking quickly J throws blankets over the area where our dollhouse resides, after replacing the split plastic bag we were using as a dust cover.  Wednesday morning comes along and J tells me the backyard is trashed, the pergola did a cartwheel around the side of the house, over the fence into the garden, where it pole vaults over the garden to land right by the side door to the garage. 

She can't bring herself to look at the sodden pile of blankets and debris where our House that J's build once stood.  She has insurance claims to file, a house to manage, and a family to keep on track at least until Monday when the adjuster will be there.  I totally understand.

We schedule for me to come over while there is daylight on Sunday, help remove the garbage debris from the patio and have the fateful look...

I remove soggy blankets, paper and cardboard debris, and finally see the plastic covering the house.

It is surprisingly rather intact...

Looking at the kitchen and living room, it does indeed look like it was hit with a 1/12 scale hurricane.  There is some mud on the floors, the wallpaper in the kitchen will need replacing as it is sodden, warped and stained.  The floors are buckling in the kitchen, in exactly the way they do in a full scale home when you have heavy water damage. The siding on the exterior kitchen side wall is peeling up.

But the supplies I had bagged inside the house in the bedroom upstairs are completely dry and usable.  The front door is only damp.  We did have more wallpaper loss in the attic.  A piece I wanted to save is unsalvageable and will need to be scraped, removed, and replaced.These are all relatively minor and it could have been so much worse.

Below are a couple pics taken mid-clean-up of the supplies.  The plastic drawer had two inches of water in it. Most of the shutters were gross and black and not worth saving, some of the trim lived.  The shingles came out unscathed because they were in a bag.  None of the tools were harmed beyond a little rust on a hand saw that came right off with the sanding block.

The original box and directions were too sodden to save. As were many of original porch rails. (That is alright as I had other plans for porch rails anyways...)  We reboxed supplies, dried them off, and made ready to bring the house inside.  It will live in the office closet for a bit while we strategize next steps.

 

Rest assured there was much bumping of elbows, and happy dancing, and perhaps a few tears at the revealed fate of our little home.

Her big home is okay too, insurance will be helping cover the damage so she can once again have a lovely little haven, blooming, green, shaded, and comfortable.  All will be well again, I know.

 

Moving, progress, and dry-fits.

It has been a long time with out a post.  In June I moved apartments.  Old place was getting ready to tear out all the apartments and redo them from the studs out.  I did not want to wait until they gave me 60 days notice, so I found a new place and I love it!  However, this meant not even thinking about the dollhouse for about two months, to the point that I forgot I had the images for this post uploaded and ready to go.  

A little color progress happened in the living room.  I decided on a buttery yellow, because the house will be decorated roughly late 1920's or very very early 1930's.  This shade of yellow is all over architectural drawings and interior decorating magazines of that era.  I also have fabric for the sofa I am planning for this room, it picks up this same shade in some of it's accent bits.

The stairs are again dry-fitted into the opening so I can more easily see where things go. I have not made a decision on whether there will be closet space under the stairs. It is a look I like, but completely makes it impossible to have a formal dining table. There just isn't enough space for that and  living room furniture both. I am also reconsidering the french doors I got for the right hand wall.  They would lead out to the porch/patio area, but they take up so much wall space, and the idea of cutting into that siding and wall is kind of scary.  I guess we will see 

It appears I have a J rather interested in my progress.  as you can see by the smile on her face in the window, she is very amused by my being startled.  :)

Next, I wanted to do more dry fitting. I was excited to really get an idea of how it might end up.  I started with the kitchen.  The stove I made has been painted in a peachy yellow  and white (again, a popular combination for these in era...).  I almost want to raise the window up to the height of the back of the sink.  That would give me more options with arranging the kitchen.  

The china hutch is standing in for a baker's cabinet (also known as a Hoosier cabinet) that I bought as a kit from https://www.bentleyhouseminis.com .  I have yet to assemble it.  When I do, I will paint it to coordinate with the stove (somehow, but not necessarily match the paint scheme by being so much covered in yellow).  I like the small table set for in here, it fits without taking up too much space.  There will also eventually be an ice box in the room.  It came with the house kit, and has not been assembled. I have not made up my mind as to whether it will match the other free-standing furniture or if I will leave it with a wood finish.  Both were done commonly.

Next up we have the bathroom!  Yes, indeed, the bath surround will be gold.  Yes, I may in fact be insane.  :)  No, the walls will not stay white.  I have a purple stripe paper to go on the walls.  Not sure if this room gets three foot (inch) white wainscoting or not.  I still need to fill and sand the shelf before painting it white and adding a backing. I think I will also paint the toilet seat white. That wood tone reads too close to the gold, and this is not a gold-toilet-having kind of place.

And finally, I mocked up the bedroom. The stairs don't have a railing yet, and I may put a wing-back chair in place of this dining chair, for a comfy reading area.  I am still debating making the window on the right into a door, for access to the porch balcony. I think it would be a very nice touch.  I may also make a wardrobe to go to the right of the bed.  Having places to hang your nice clothes and jackets is important.

And that is the progress I made before the move.  Hot weather also prevented me from starting up again recently... Now that we are back down to the 80 degree range, I think I can start up again.  I have to decide on door and window options before I can begin laying the floors.  We will find out what I decide when you join us next time, for another thrilling adventure on The House That Jays Built!

In which our heros color correct the floors, paint the ceiling, and preview furniture...

Hello again, I am a few weeks behind on posting.  The purple sub-floor has been fixed!

Here you see the hand of my construction foreman and co-decorator. He did a fantastic job of making sure the brown covered the purple. And, unlike me, he did not get any paint on the walls.

Teamwork makes the dream work!

Job's done! Even something as simple as repainting the floor can be fun.  I admit the change is rather striking. The living room is the color as it is dry.  Now I can refocus on the original plan.

In the mean time I have sanded my kitchen walls and applied scrapbook paper that is green with small white flowers on it.   I am going for a 1920's-30's theme in general.  I have a feeling there will be bubbling on the wall on the right, it didn't seem to stick very well.  I also had to patch over a couple places on the window wall. The glue was too wet, and soaked the paper, so while I was smoothing the paper down, I ended up with a couple tears at the edges.

Pictures will be forthcoming of the lovely buttercup yellow and creme stove I made based on the tutorial from the Bently House Minis tutorial on Youtube.  Here is a preview of it in progress...

Painting also happened on the ceilings.  Between cutting the hole for the stairs bigger, me smudging on accident and discoloration from age, they needed to be done. Living room and kitchen got a flat white in a matte finish, and for the bedroom and bathroom, I mixed in some pearlescent to the white paint I used in the downstairs. I flipped the house upside down to make getting to the ceiling easier, and to avoid dripping paint on the sub-floors

First floor is dry in the above picture and fresh wet paint on  the upstairs.  It is not this shiny dry.

Here is the shape I chose for the bathtub arch. Below you can see I sealed the edges with wood filler to help strengthen and stiffen it, as well as smooth it after sanding.

And finally, here is the bed I made from a tutorial using clothespins and craft sticks. I am really pleased with the way it came out.  It is the equivalent of a queen size.   This now goes in with all the furniture that J made and/or collected with the house.

Until next time, dear readers... remember to be kind!

And we continue onward

We begin this weeks adventure a little farther than where we left off.  This is the house after a couple hours scrubbing up the old glue.  It finally feels like it is all up, practically a blank slate.  

First thing I did after taking this image was to paint the bare spots with white acrylic paint.  I had help with this from an adventurous young man, of seven years, who learned to pull the paintbrush rather than try pushing it. Together we painted the floor and walls of the attic, then he helped me by sanding rough spots on the underside of the dormer while I was sanding another section of the house. We also confirmed that sandpaper is rough like a brick. :)

I decided that since some of the paper in the bedroom had gotten wet and a little torn, that I should put up a high wainscoting.  I chose a dark teal coloration that I blended myself.  This was applied to corrugated paper, which stands in pretty well for bead board.

After a first coat of paint I wanted to make sure I liked it against the  wallpaper.  I really do. Also evident in this image (barely), is the area where I widened the opening for the stairs.  I ordered a new set as I didn't recall seeing any in the box, though J remembers putting them at least partially together.

First, let me start by saying it was dark outside by this point...   

I picked up what I thought was a dark brown paint, to base-coat under the areas where I might be laying down individual floorboards, so gaps in the wood would be less appartent.  Having watched other bloggers do so, I decided I should too...

That doesn't look very brown to me, let me try the flash...

!!!  Yep, I have deep purple underlayment. And I splotched it onto the wall. Attempts to wipe that up failed utterly and spread the paint more. Good thing I had already planned on covering the walls 2/3 of the way up.  

Below, the wainscoting is installed and the windows very roughly cut out to get a feel for it. I do plan on painting over the purple in a dark brown.

Below is my second or third dry fit of the stairs.  I have not yet decided on stain and/or paint for the staircase.  I do think I want a runner down the center of the stairs, but need to pick living room colors and find something I like that complements both the living room and bedroom.

And the view from downstairs.  Looking at this, I just realized I did not paint that wall the stairs are against.  It will get a base coat of white when I next pull the house out and work on it.

Do not be alarmed! The gold is intentional, and really has a purpose, I promise. 

It is going to be an arched alcove area for the tub. It might even end up with a Moroccan shape to the arch.  I have seen these in architectural drawings from the 1920's and 1930's.  Granted, They aren't usually gilded, but I wanted something that would really throw around the light and be eye catching.  

The lady of the house deserves a touch of glamour after spending all day cleaning and cooking.  I am still not sure if my idea is genius or insane.  Stay tuned to find out!

I also have picked up the french doors for downstairs.  Since I am wrapping the porch around this side, I figured it might be nice to have them here at the back of the living room.

I have to show off the very thoughtful and lovely gift that J gave me.  (Platonic Life-mates totally rule!)  This sewing machine will likely end up in the attic space, after I rejigger the roof-line and decide on the deco up there.

So, there you have it for now.  I spent part of last weekend working on a bed.  I found an adorable idea on Pinterest that involved taking clothes pins apart and using them for the bedposts.  Unfortunately I did not snap a shot of it before putting everything away for the evening.

Stay tuned for more adventures!