Worked on the back hallway and the pantry again today.

Needed to paint some trim black for the pantry doorway into the kitchen.

Then cut out and glued on the black trim for the pantry walls.

Next it was time to paint the other side wall a light buttermilk color.

Decided the light should go at the bottom of the stairs so it would light up both the hallway and the flight of stairs.

And carefully glued the wall into place, making sure everything squared off neatly. Glued the doorway in, too.

Then it was time to paint both sides of the three-story center wall of the staircase. Also patched up the edge of it with wood filler so it would be smooth…

…before sanding it down and painting it. Then glued the wall into place (the landing and stairs are still only taped in for now).

(No, there isn’t a ghost living under the stairs…I just need to clean my camera lens.)

Next cut out, stained, and glued the pieces for the wainscoting on the landing.

Placed it on the landing to see what it would look like.

I know the wall will actually be twice as high as this when I do the next floor, and yes, there will be wainscoting all the way up the staircase, but still, something about it doesn’t feel proportionately correct.

Thought I’d get back to it later, so instead I started cutting out pieces for a table in the pantry.

Rounded down the edges of the table and the bottoms of the legs, stained the pieces, and glued them together.

Placed it in the pantry…

…added the table lamp…

…and decided the table was just a little too high. So lopped a little off the top of the legs, gave the table a quick swipe of varnish, and placed it back in the pantry.

This is the table where the pantry supplies book will be kept, and the records for the wine bottles, as well as the house keys. The wine cellar will be right behind it under the stairs.

Much more to do tomorrow. Until then, good night.

Went back to the wainscoting for the back hallway tonight.

Finished cutting out all the pieces.

Stained them with walnut stain.

Started gluing them together…

…and decided the spacing between the slats was too wide. So ripped them off and started again with narrower spaces.

Placed the wainscoting piece in place to see what it would look like.

Then realized I hadn’t glued anything down in this hallway last fall, so I took all the pieces apart.

Painted two of the hallway walls a light buttermilk color.

Glued the side wall into place.

Glued the “tile” floor onto the pantry under the stairs.

Glued the back wall into place.

Glued in the little black door step between the “tiles” and the kitchen to cover the crack there.

Started gluing the floorboards onto the back hallway (pushing them all the way to the kitchen doorway, once again to cover the crack between the two, since these are two separate sections of the house).

Finished those and then glued the wainscoting onto the back wall.

Then I had to deal with the crack in the corner between the two walls.

Used wood filler to fix it up and then painted over it.

Then pulled this section of the house away from the kitchen section, just to make sure I hadn’t glued them together accidentally. The house itself will be in three different interlocking sections, otherwise it cannot be taken through doorways and would need to stay here forever.

Here it is separated and pushed back together again.

Then I needed to paint the third wall of the hallway.

Cut out pieces for the wainscoting for this wall.

Stained them and then glued them into place, using one of the slats as a spacer.

Also cut out and stained trim for the doorway into the kitchen. Had to cut out a couple notches so it would fit around the wainscoting.

Then I glued the little inner wall into place.

And glued the wainscoting and the door trim on.

Tomorrow I will paint and finish up this last side wall and doorway (simply laid in place for this photo)…

…as well as this wall in the middle of the staircase (also laid in place).

I also need to continue with the wainscoting up the staircase, the staircase needs lighting, and the pantry under the stairs needs shelves and a wine cellar.

But for now, I leave you with this image of the unfinished area.

Good night!

Hello, hello. I am back!

So when I wasn’t at work, I basically spent the past three months on the couch dealing with 24-hour morning sickness as best I could.  And the house got  hopelessly neglected…

But that seems to be over now and I’m also back from the holiday celebrations, and so the new plan is to try and get as much done on the house before life becomes suddenly quite busy this summer.

So this is where the house was when I left it last:

I did manage to procure a few key pieces amid all the nausea, including this fabulous Victorian organ for the sitting room:

So the front sitting room will look vaguely like this in setup.

And I got this really cool pie cabinet for the pantry under the stairs:

Started work today by tracing out a pattern of the floor for this section (which I had forgotten to do earlier), so I could use it as a ceiling pattern and second-floor pattern later on.

Then I returned to the back staircase which is almost done. Decided that the baseboard I used in the hallway simply would not do.

This is the hallway/staircase where all the buckets and mops and coal scuttles would be carried through, and it needed to be better protected against all that wear and tear.  So I decided to make a simple wainscoting that would continue up the stairs.

But I needed more materials for that, so I went out to get some and then started creating the wainscoting.

Didn’t get  terribly far with it, but you have to keep in mind that a lot of my house-making time was spent driving very slowly in the slightly freezing rain to a town 15 miles away where I get my supplies…and then just as slowly back again afterward.

I’ll get more done on it tomorrow. But for now, it feels good to be back at it again.

I’ll leave you with a photo of this awesome organ which will find its home in the music room on the second floor (I pity the movers who have to bring that one up!)

Good night and happy New Year to one and all!

Got to work on the back hallway today. Started by painting the floor base black so the cracks between the floor boards would look better.

Cut out some floor boards…

Stained them and laid them down in place.

Also stained the door frame, a base board, and a few extra spots on the staircase…

Then, because I can’t seem to leave well enough alone, instead of making the landing simple floor boards, I created a pattern.

Stained some of the boards…

And here you go….I may still stain the lighter boards the same color to make the pattern a bit more subtle…these are the back stairs after all.

Next I created the back wall for the pantry under the stairs.

Painted and trimmed it and placed it in the correct space (nothing is glued in yet…not even the floor boards. I want to make sure everything fits first).

Here’s the view of the pantry and the back hall from the kitchen….excuse the reflections in the glass.

And viewed from the drawing room doorway…

Next I will need to create the second set of stairs…laid a piece of white cardboard here to show how it will look.

So happy to be back at it again…looking forward to receiving the lights for the hallway and stairs in the mail. Stairs next…and a wine cellar and shelves…

For now…good night.

With the framed picture finally hung above the fireplace, I decided it was time to do a photo shoot of the nursery.

Enjoy.

(PS This seems to be my hundredth post!)

So this is what happens when you go to a conference for work…you spend the next week trying to catch up on everything you missed while you were gone. Which means I’ve been neglecting the house for the past two weeks.

On the other hand, I did go last weekend to the Philadelphia Miniaturia, which is the largest dollhouse miniatures show on the east coast…and what an amazing set of vendors there. Artisans of the finest quality abounded. I even got to meet several I had bought from online. What fun.

I got a good supply of tiny-patterned cloth and lace for the curtains downstairs, some old sheet music, a couple of laser-cut doilies, and a frame for the picture in the nursery.

Also a little basket for the pantry, and a glazed, fired pot from the woman who made the tiny butter churn in my kitchen.

And the most fabulous little metal-cast giraffe for the nursery. And a tiny Spode plate depicting the Castel Sant’Angello in Rome.

Funny thing about this plate is that I own a life-sized copy as well.

So I had to get it.

Finally was able to put the nursery print in a frame…

…and place a tiny piece of wood in back so it will hang at a slight angle.

And here you go.  I’ll get back to work on the pantry later.

For now, good night.

Had a list of different items that needed finishing tonight. First I needed to finish up the support beams between the floors, now that I had the supplies I needed.

Cut the rest out and glued them in.

Then glued the sub-floor to the base floor. Also painted the edges of the pantry black so there would be no white cracks showing on the edges of the tiles.

Glued on the last two treads of the staircase.

Painted the bottom of the pantry walls brown and the top cream.

Next I touched up a couple tiny mistakes on the tiles I had painted. Sprayed them with acrylic to protect them. And painted some of the trim for the walls.

Placed everything back in the house (the wall trim is only taped on)…still haven’t cut out the back wall, but I put a white piece of cardboard to show where it’ll be. It’ll look more appropriate when it’s brown and cream like the rest of the walls…

….starting to look more like a pantry now. Here’s a view from the kitchen side (excuse the reflections on the plexiglass).

Traveling the next few days, but I’ll be back again soon.  Good night.

Got back to work painting the tiles tonight.

Amazing how much time each little one takes to paint correctly.  First I finished off the black ones.

Added the yellowish cream ones…

Continued on with the russet ones…

And there it is.

It’ll fit quite snuggly onto the pantry floor…

Which I’m hoping will both contrast with and match the pattern and colors in the kitchen next door.

Of course the whole thing will look better without all the masking tape holding it up, but here’s what I have so far…

Good night.

Started on the tiles for the floor of the pantry under the stairs. Tried out a pattern with a few colors that matched the tiles in the kitchen.

Decided to go with the lighter of the two yellows. Then I drew out the pattern on a piece of cardboard the size of the floor.

Scored the lines between the tiles with a utility knife.

Then started painting…

…and painting.

Still a long way to go, but I think I like the way it’s turning out.

I think I might run the green wainscoting from the kitchen into the pantry, too….but I’ll see. Maybe I’ll make it brown instead…more utilitarian.

For now, good night.