Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 11 Button It Up- Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

Spoiler alert! This is the second to the last post covering the construction of my Barton Tudor. Yes, I've named it the "Barton Tudor" as it will house my English Barton Tudor 3/4 scale furniture. Just seemed the thing to do!

 

The roof goes on...

 

INSTALLATION DEVIATION: the roof installation. The roof panels were shingled first, then are installed to the home.

The roof pieces are glued and nailed on to the back body peaks where I left openings in the rows of shingles. The front roof pieces are glued and clamped, I didn't want to nail them to the front peak for fear I would break the peak off.

After gluing the top ridge to the top of the roof I finish gluing the last row of shingles on the installed roof, butting them up to the top ridge. I also shingle the roof openings I left open for nailing to the home's peak.

Here I'm gluing and clamping the decorative trim to the front roof edges. I have used scrap trim underneath these new "eaves" to achieve the spacing between the peak and the eave trim and to insure the eave trim is square to the edges.

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Hinging the Door Wall... 

 

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: I pitched the hinges and clasps of the kit's, bought more decorative hinges and clasps and added an extra hinge as well. I also purchased little screws to attach the hinges.

I bent the tip of one side of each hinge so it curled around the trim on the outside edge of the home.

Well, I'm sorry, I was bad, I didn't take any picts of gluing the feet on, the hinge placement and the drilling of their holes and screwing in their wee screws. 

For the Door Wall attachment, I put the home on its back, set the Door Wall on, making sure to adjust it to fit properly and had at it! I did make sure the three hinges were space evenly to each other.

I then cut some trim and trimmed out the sides of the home and polyed the whole thing, even the shingles.

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Sooo..... if you haven't already guessed, I'm done!

I haven't taken the final picts yet but be sure I will. 

So the next post and last post will be the unveiling of my completed Barton Tudor!!!

Yay!!!

Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 10 Roof Roof! - Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

Gettin' close now. Every part of this project I've had nervous tummy but for some reason this is up at the top of tum tum list. A lot is goin on, the skylight cutout, the Greek art transfer, the shingling, the chimneys' location and installation! Enough beer... gee, I have a lot to think about!

Prepping the Attic ceiling.....

 I painted the two sides of the Attic ceiling the Attic wall color and the roofs a wash with brown. I figured if there was any spaces between the shingles, I wanted it to be dark.

 

Here I'm preparing the vintage Greek art transfer for the Attic ceiling. I've marked out my corners on the dry, painted ceiling and I'm readying the transfer for its 10 second bath to activate the adhesive. The insurance card is to squeegie the excess water and bubbles out once the transfer is set. Its very delicate. Once it dried I touched it up with a gold pen and gave it a couple of coats of polyurethane.

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Finally, the Roof!

Prepping the roof...

I followed the spacing given in the directions and laid out the lines for the shingle placement. 

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: Instead of putting the roof on the house, and then shingling the roof, I've opted to shingle the roof on my work surface, for more accuracy and control.

Clamping a straightedge to my guide lines has made for a even, easy placement of the shingles. I used my regular Aileen's glue to attach the shingles, I didn't feel confident with a glue gun. On the far left you can see I've left a shingle out so I can still nail the roof section to the house sides. The shingle that is place horizontally isn't glued in, it just hold the shingle up for proper alignment.

After a few more rows of shingles, I glue in the skylight (a House Works 8 divided light). A couple of pieces of house trim is used with clamps to firmly set it in place. The chimney is glued in and I carefully cut shingles to glue around it.

I give each row of shingles about a 1/2 hour to dry. Slow going but I can get dinner done or do a load of laundry. Multitasking is the dollhouse way!!

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Feets

OK, so I know the title said "Roof Roof". But for some reason I thought the dollhouse would be more functional and cute with some feets.

I found an awesome set on eBay for about $9, including shipping. Swankie! They came extra quick.
An easy stain and ploy mini project.

Well, next time the roof will go on!

Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 9 Push On - Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

Continuing the Door Wall...

 

Adding the Side Trim Of the Door Wall

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: I added a small piece of trim to flesh out the thickness of the Door Wall side trim. The Door Wall sides' trim depth needs to equal the kit's included trims' depth plus the depth of the trim I added over the wallpapers. This extra trim insures the Door Wall will lay flush to the home's body.

• Upper pict: The extra trim piece and side trim glued and clamped to Door Wall sides.
• Right pict: The sides of the Door Wall after clamping and gluing all the trim pieces; side, extra and front trim. The front trim goes beyond the wall, it will be cut off.
• Bottom Pict: Slicing off the extra length of the Door Wall's front side trim with the angle of the Door Wall's roof peak (The kit's instructions don't show this, but it's advertising picture does). Careful!

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Prepping the Roof Parts

 

Preparing the Chimneys

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: Tossed the included chimney parts and used a Houseworks set.

• Left pict: Painting the chimneys. Dan cut the proper angle off the bottom of the chimneys for me. This is very important or the chimneys will stick out like big ears!
• Bottom pict: Gluing the brick paper to the chimney using Yes Glue. The brick paper wasn't quite the full widths of the chimneys, so painting the side edges of the chimneys made for a nice, crisp look without having to cut the paper to odd size bricks.
• Right pict: Slicing the excess paper off.

Finished chimneys, polyed and drying.

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Shingles and My Kitchen Sink

 

Note the stainless steel sink. If you use an enamel sink, you'll have to bleach it to regain it's color. DON'T EVEN TRY A PLASTIC SINK!!! Remember, you can always use a big bucket!

• Left pict: The hottest H2O, salt, vinegar, 1 black, 2 brown and 1 gray Rit dye. This dye mixture was a big guess, and all the dye I had! Oh and rubber gloves! I had to soak the shingles about 2 hours, stirring every now and again.
• Right pict: The shingles dried and counted into 5 lots of 100 count one 38 count pile (538!). I needed to find out the count to insure enough for all three roofs!! This pict also shows figuring the size of the shed roof for the Door Wall.
• Bottom pic: My trim cut tool taped to 1/2". This makes the under layer of shingles easy to cut and consistant. The under layer of shingles go under the first row of shingles to provide the correct depth so they lay properly.

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Finishing the Door Wall

 

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: Of course the bay and it's roof continue to be an instruction deviation. The whole Door Wall is one!

• Upper pict: I had to cut and glue little triangles to both sides under the bay roof to cover the open space where the shed roof meets the bay.
• Bottom pict: Applying the bay roof shingles and the bay side and bottom trims.

A few more pieces of trim and the Door Wall is basically, done (!). I will be adding the transom window over the door, curtain rods and a couple decorative circles from the fabric wallpaper.

Finally I am onto the big roof! So close now!!

Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 8 Details, Details - Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

Finalizing those detail concepts that have been in my head:

Window and Door Glass...

 

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: The kit has plain "glass" and mullions to suggest divided lights. Of course the 2nd floor windows were completely blown out to accommodate the bay window.

• Left pict: Checking size and placement of a diamond pattern printed from the www.
• Middle pict: Plastic window anchored to pattern and metal tape applied over pattern lines.
• Right pict: Completed windows. Trims anchor the windows in their openings.

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 ... and Finish the Door...

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: Replaced the kit door with a Houseworks Dutch door (the kit door was used earlier to create the stair landing).

• Left pict: Purchased crossbuck Dutch door, Houseworks.
• Middle pict: Crossbuck and mullions removed, hinge side swapped and door stained.
• Right pict: Bottom Dutch fitted out with trim to cover crossbuck area.

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  Working On the Door Wall...

A piece of trim is placed under the Door Wall for needed clearance. The Door Wall will be on side hinges.

So now it's just putting into practice, once again, methods developed, to finish that fourth wall, the Door Wall. Inside and out.

I try to keep steps in order for this massive Door Wall of three floors and an outside:

1. Install 1st fl. crown with Door Wall taped on (left upper pict).
2. Mark final base molding and 2nd fl. crown lines (middle upper pict).
3. Untape Door Wall. Gather courage.
4. Glue and set in the bay (see picture at bottom of list).
5. Paper the inside walls based on marked lines and the wainscotting height.
6. Paper the outside where needed (the door and window trims should cover the raw edges when installed) with brick wallpaper using Yes glue (right upper pict).
7. Set and glue the door (it's trim will cover the wallpapers on both sides).
8. Install the wainscotting and trim of all floors on the inside wall door, overlapping the wallpapers and such.
9. Poly the entire inside.

Gluing in the bay window before trimming the inside.

Ta Da!! The finished inside of the Door Wall!

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Stairs: Finishing the Banister... 

 

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: Replaced the kit's banister with a Houseworks banister set.

• Left pict: Measuring, creating a template, gluing and clamping.
• Right pict: Polying before installation (and a couple of extra items).
• Bottom pict: Banister installed on the outside of the stairwell with glue.

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Installing the Back (yay!)...

The back is glued and carefully nailed into the sides and floor. Finally!!


OK, good enough for now!

Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 7 Stairway To Heaven (NOT, Just the Art Studio) - Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

Oye!!!!!! Once I finally made the "jump" to attach the stairs, it went pretty fast! With Thanksgiving and getting my wisdom teeth pulled, it just got put off. Dolly's gonna be living in an igloo at this rate!

 

Gettin' Ready

 

Figured I'd better set the back up to get just the right position for the stairs:

 

Earlier I centered and applied the wallpaper on the 2nd floor back. After taping the back securely on, I glued the stairs to the back, not the landing or ceiling. I still want to be able to take the back off for when I work on the inside front. Having thru and thru access has proved to be a smart idea.

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Pulling the back off, I'm able to apply the paneling and chair rail to the back wall:

Left pic: Why even clamping is so important!!!!                   Right pic: Morticia Adams lent me Thing for hand "clamping".

 

Since I don't have an unobstructed back wall anymore (the stairs), I get a glass of wine and set to "clamping" each paneling piece by hand, until they they are firmly set, about 15 minutes each. OK, so I had more than one glass of wine!!! I then fitted and cut the chair rail and glued it on.

 

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Attic Art Studio

 

 

Well, I've been bad girl. I went to the local home improvement store and sampled some of the laminate flooring samples, about four matching ones of each kind that I was interested in "installing in my home". And the attic's side walls of this Tudor seem perfect for the sandwashed look of "Alpine Elm". Luckily I could get two sections out of each sample! They're easy to cut with a utility knife and straight edge, though you have to score them a few times.

 

I had enough chair rail left to use on the raw top edges of the attic's side walls. I glued and clamped them in first, then glued and clamped my "flooring" panels on, snugging them up into the chair rail bottom.

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Well, it can't be helped, I had to test the furniture pieces for the Attic Art Studio!!

Now I'm really glad I dropped the floor about an 1 1/2 ". This is fast becoming my favorite floor in the house (I say that about each of the floors I'm sure!).

 

Oh gosh! I can hardly wait, once again, to be done!!!

Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 6 Leaps Of Faith, the Second Floor - Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

The second floor is problematic but exciting. Lowering the ceiling, adding a bay and moving the stairs to the back of the dollhouse all require a consortium of measurements, thought, much deviation, testing and patience. Thank goodness for Thanksgiving break. It increased my chance of getting a bunch done!

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Preparing the Front's Components For Determining Ceiling Height and Bay Cut

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: (This step actually comes later in the instructions but I figure I need to do this so I can get accurate measurements). As per the instructions, I glue the front peak parts together and install it to the front sides of the house.

 

I prop the front up into the peak so I can test where I want the ceiling height to be, making sure to include the height of the crown moldings with the height the bay components.

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I glue the bay parts together, to insure accurate measurements and placement for the bay cutout.

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INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: The second floor bay cutout.  

 

 

After placing the new bay component on the inside front, insuring it clears the floor and making my marks, I cut out the bay using a jig saw. Oh my!

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The Stairs, Determining Their Height and Placement

I realize I have to construct the stairs to get an accurate measurement for the height of 2nd floor ceiling and the stair opening. Here are the original kit's stair parts and the added items used in constructing the stairs; stained and marked for cutting.

The pic shows:

• stained wainscot panels.
• the kit door, being repurposed for the landing, stained and marked for cutting.
• the kit stairs, the upper marked for cutting.

INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: The kit's door is cut and repurposed into the landing and the stairs are cut for the shorter ceiling height.

Keep the stair cut parallel with the stair treads. This is very important to maintain the angle of the stairs and it's squareness.

The left pic shows:

•  Fitting the landing and preparing to cut the base molding for it to fit properly.

Right pic shows:

• the two stair sections glued together.
• the stairs glued to the back panel, and the inside "stringer" glued to their side.
• the work table face and it's side used as clamping stops to insure squareness.
• the ruler clamped to the top, forcing the stairs into the back, insuring even pressure to insure there is no stair or panel bowing.

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After drying I remove the clamps and check for squareness. I was lucky! That clamping concept worked out well! Now I cut the angle on the decorative stringer so it matches the tread angle. I glue and clamp it to the stair component.

 

 The left pic shows:

• the joint in the stairs where the stair parts are glued together.
• the back panel glued in and sliced off to the outside stair side.
• the outside decorative stringer, ready to be glued on.

The right pic shows:

• the decorative stringer, glued and clamped to the outside stair side.

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Voila! The stair component, finished with the exception of trimming top and the bottom. Goodness! That was a lot of thought and work!!

Upper pic: the top of the stairs. Bottom pic: under the stairs.

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Determining The Stair's Opening Cut In the Second Floor Ceiling 

I cut spacers to test and set the floor/ceiling height and to figure where the stair opening will need to be. I clamp them in place and prop the back up to mark the stair and it's angle.

The baseboard has been cut for the landing and the landing is glued in.

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INSTRUCTION DEVIATION: Stair placement and new floor piece.

Since I decided to move the stairs to the back of the home, my hubby had to cut me a new 3rd floor (2nd floor ceiling). The one that came with the kit has it's stair's opening cutout for the side of the house.

The left pic shows:

• the "new" floor being prepared for the stair opening cut.
• the original kit's floor stair opening used to determine the cuts on the new 3rd floor.
• the difference in lengths of the back and the side of the dollhouse, necessitating the creation of a new 3rd floor.

The right pic shows:

•  the new 3rd floor, stained.
•  the new 3rd floor with the stair opening.

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"Now Is the Time To...." Decision: the 2nd Floor Ceiling

Sometimes in a project you have to make exceptions. Now is the time, I realize, to do something with the 2nd floor ceiling. Less construction hassle if I do it now than with the home is completed!

 So I glue, paint and trim the ceiling. The stair opening is sliced out in the paper used for the ceiling.

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With all these steps done, I glue and nail the 3rd floor/2nd floor ceiling in.

Crossing my fingers that this will all pan out when I  add the front and it's bay! Yiksees!!

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Dreaming and Planning: Outside, Front Panel. Which One???

So, of course, one must play. Mind candy is extremely important!!

Since I've finished the bay component I'm going to experiment with a couple of thoughts for the outside of the front panel.  Here they are:

What do you think????

Retrofit the Kit Tudor Dollhouse: Part 5 Making Walls Out of Moehills - Real Good Toys Country Tudor CC15

Take a breath!!! 

Well, once again, uncharted territory. At least it includes fabric, clamps, glue and patience. Oh, and a glue rag, don't forget to have the nice, wet glue rag ready!

Breaking Down the Walls Of Unconfidence!

(or, Breaking Down the Wall Treatment Construction)

 

INSTRUCTIONS ALTERATION: Here I've strayed from the RGT CC15 directions (I think this will be an ongoing step!), I have not attached the back. In part 4 I decided to leave the home open, back and front, for now, so I can fit and clamp the wall treatments more accurately and successfully.

Straightening the design. The weave of the fabric is not square with the print. Oh well!! Gluin' up with Yes Paste.

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Moment Of Truth:

 

I've made a few cuts with a craft blade to the wainscot panels and wall mullions and have done a dry test of position before adhering the pieces. I've used Aileen's Clear Gel Tacky Glue to glue down the crown, wainscot and wall mullions. Wood glue seemed to curl the edges of the 1/16" wainscot and mullions pieces too much. Aileen's Gel had a more consistent initial grip and quick drying time whilst clamped.

Clamping through the front and back of the assembled part of the home to hold the wainscot panels tightly while drying.

Clamping the wainscot panels of the back.

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Ta Da!!!!

 

I've dry fitted and glued down the "chair rail" pieces to finish off the 1st floor wall treatment. Except for the front panel, the 1st floor inside is done. I'm still debating on a possible ceiling treatment...

INSTRUCTIONS ALTERATION: I left off the kit's "hinge blocks" along the inside front wall edges. They were used in Part 4's instructions to set the height of the ceiling. Upon measuring, I determined the depth the hinge screws will be taken up by the timber trim thickness on the outside of the home, so don't need em'. They protrude 1 1/2" into the wall area, taking up a lot of usable wall space. I think it looks better without them as well.

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Much Thinkin' and Planning To Do

Well, here is a look at the final 4 of the 8 contenders for the 2nd floor, bedroom wall paper. I'm using the Barton Tudor bed, a Napoleon and Josephine porcelain table set and a slipper tub to compare my choices. Not having a wallpaper figured out has really slowed down my progress!

Oye!!! 

UL: Banburry  UR: Palais  LL: Gold Ring  LR: Gold Leaf

 So, what do you think? Be my guest and leave me a comment with what you think is best!!

 

Beware thoughts!!

I know the 1st floor, especially, will be very dark so I'm toying with wiring for lights. Oh, that seems like it could be a big waste of money and time!!!! What am I thinking!!