Rooms with Views

In the morning the sun comes in through an east kitchen window streaming sunlight onto Pennethorne Manor.  It's a magical time of day . . .

I've been plodding away at the manor in what seems like endless trim work.  I finally got all the trim on the house and got the bay window sashes and trim painted and installed.  In real life, I'd rather be a builder than a carpenter.  Give me the big guns!

I had to install extra trim at the corners of the bays where the middle window meets the side windows because there was about a 1/4 of an inch dead space.  This is one of those serendipitous moments where a fuddle becomes a welcome detail.  Once the trim was glued on, I set about painting everything with cream paint.  I painted the inner part of the exterior trim with gold paint.  I painted the undersides of the top trim cream and will be painting the end and top with the garnet paint.  I'm thinking there's a little too much white, but when the siding goes on with the green I selected it shouldn't stand out quite so much.

I finally finished the main hall flooring and after two coats of super gloss Mod Podge, I set it in place.  It looks pretty nice!  I'll set it in permanently once the wiring is done.

I'm still trying to decide how to finish the foundation.  Brick or stone?  I'm thinking brick because that's how I want to finish the fire place.

Next order of business . . . painting more trim, completing the fireplace and installing the dining room windows.

Debating with Myself

I'm debating whether to put a door in the master bedroom with access to a balcony above the breakfast room.  What do you think?  If so, do you think it should be centered on the bay window?

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas . . .

Not really, but there is a lot of house trimming going on here.  It seems like I've spent days gluing trim to the manor and cutting new pieces to fit onto the breakfast and bath/dining extensions.  It's been a lot of work, but I've also had a lot of fun and am rather proud of myself.  All of the trim is in place and the next step is to paint it all before the shingles and siding go on.

This is what I started with . . .

I discovered later that some of this is door trim, which I don't need because I bought prehung doors.

There is one piece of trim that has me baffled.  Because of the bath/dining extension, the corner trim piece that is supposed to go on this side of the wall, I put at the far right of the wall.  That left no corner trim where trim was supposed to go.  I cut a new piece to fit, but it doesn't look right.  It throws off the balance and I'd have to move the right window over a few inches to center it on the trim, which means I'd have to move the dining room window over a few inches as well.  Eeegads!  I hope with siding in place it will help to visually connect this space.

No corner trim . . . actually it's center trim!  LOL!

Center trim . . . see how it throws off the balance of the right window?

I'm happy with the trim on the breakfast room.  It carries the same lines as the porch and dining room extension.

The mansard roof trim was difficult to get just right, but I think I nailed it.

Now that the trim is in place I can move on to more exciting things, like installing the screened porch.  Here is my inspiration picture . . .

This is where it's going.  It's a small porch measuring just 5 x 5 inches.  Just enough room for a chair, a side table with some iced tea and a few plants.

I bought the materials today so I'm off to create!  Anyone know where I can buy some miniature screen material?

Easy Does It

Well I'm nearing the end of the major part of the build on the manor.  Next up is trim, siding, and painting on the exterior.  On the interior, I'm set to do the wiring and lighting with a friend of mine near the end of the month.  All the lights have been ordered except for the chandeliers.  They may have to wait while I save my pennies.

I spent some time yesterday inserting 1/4 inch foam board on walls where there are doors and purchased windows.  Since the dollhouse walls are only 1/8 inch thick and the doors are 3/8 I had to make up the difference so that the door molding will sit right on the door.  The foam board will be glued in place once the wiring is done.  After that I can finish the wallpapering.

Speaking of wallpapering, the breakfast room has taken on a life of its own.  As I was working on getting the doors in, it told me it wanted to be yellow.  Yellow is not one of my favorite colors, but who am I to argue when a room tells me what it wants to be?  I found some pretty yellow paper with a lovely ceiling medallion to match.  The only problem is the medallion is larger than my small room, so I'll be cutting it to fit hoping the cuts won't be too noticeable.  I also found some sweet little yellow brocade chairs and a painting with spots of yellow in it.  This room is coming together all on its own!

I'm making progress on the main hall flooring, but I ran out of border so Brian has to print more pages for me.  I should be able to finish that up in an hour or so.  It took me awhile to figure out how to cut the angles (and there are plenty of them!) but once I figured it out it took no time at all to put it together.  I'll finish it up with a coat or two of super gloss Mod Podge.

The basement has been in limbo since I'm waiting on the door for between the kitchen and the butler's pantry.  I also don't want to wallpaper these rooms until the wiring is in for the lighting.  I did get the staircase stained though.  I also had to add a little block of wood at the bottom of the newel post at the bottom of the staircase because it was just a little short.  Sometimes these little annoyances can work out well because I like the added detail!  I'm still bothered by that staircase to nowhere, so I might create a faux opening . . .

And speaking of annoyances . . . the turet at the top of the tower is supposed to be held in place by 8 little tabs, none of which line up.  I trimmed until I was blue in the face and still didn't get it to line up.  Also that turet sits pretty precariously on that tower so I came up with another solution.  I cut (or rather Brian cut because I couldn't for the life of me get the crown molding to line up at the corners properly) four pieces of 1 1/2 inch crown molding to make a square under the turet, glued them in place and slipped the turet over the tower walls.  It's perfect!  No more worrying about that turet falling on my head.

Today I start on the windows.  If you don't hear from me for a while, send the paramedics.  I'm likely buried under heaps of sanding dust!

Friday Finds

Today's finds all come from Carol Clarke's Dollhouse Interiors.  I'd seen those beautiful Porter's chairs on the internet and wanted one so badly for the manor.  I thought such a beautiful chair would be out of my reach until I found Carol's website.  There I found the perfect Porter's chair for the manor!

The chair will be in the main floor hall with a side table and other paraphernalia once the house is move in ready.  But for now I'm playing . . .

What do you think of my choice for floor covering?  The darker copper color picks up the color in the ceiling and the colors coordinate with colors in the wallpaper.

I also purchased a lovely little working fire grate for the fireplace in the third floor study.  I can't wait to light the fire!

And lastly I purchased a ceiling medallion for the main floor hall.  I had wanted to put one in the dining room, but there is a beam running through the middle of the room.  Do I dare cut through it for the medallion?  Hmmm . . .  There isn't a hole for the chandelier wire, so I'll be drilling one, she says with trepidation.  Any advice you could offer in this regard would be appreciated!

Work on the manor has slowed a bit as I returned to my part time job at the library last night after having two weeks vacation.  I was able to get all the doors stained yesterday (well most of them, I forgot one that was lurking in it's opening.  I must have been playing!).  Today, I'll finish up staining that wayward door and the basement stairs.  I need to install foam board on those walls that are getting doors to allow for the 1/4 inch difference in width.  Luckily, foam board is easy to cut and glue!

Totally off Topic:  I have a peeping chicken!  She's a Silver Gray Dorking and is about 4 months old.  They're starting to get a little more brave making their way around the front of the house now.