Garfield's floor, wallpaper, many mini etc.'s

So much encouragement !!!! I thank you all !!!

I have done so many different things for Garfield these past few days....a lot of it hardly seems worth talking about, but it's always the little things that make a house a home. I have the 2nd floor holding on by masking tape and the wall tabs..no glue yet...to help me align the wallpaper. I'm sure you'll remember the wallpaper is a "printie" and I printed it all out, including "just in case" extras at one sitting, to assure color consistency..I did this immediately after installing new ink cartridges. (It's amazing how much ink it took. The printer told me right away I needed more ink soon.) I've also started gluing up the bead board, which I'll cap with trim ( note:time to make up a new order from my fav.."Ernie" @ Miniatures.com ) This part of the wall needs to be decorated ahead of time or I won't be able to reach inside easily.The walls on the right of the photos are also NOT glued in yet, just there for support.

It's here I have to stop decorating on the walls and, yes, place that order which will include the Palladian door and insert, prepare some windows, glue the tower extension floor to the main flooring, then glue the entire floor up, prepare some crown molding and baseboards, prepare the staircase post toppers, glue those walls that are loose right now, and then go back to wallpapering. WHEW ! It's as confusing at times as it sounds and easy to get off track.

I am normally a very organized person, but building Garfield has chucked that out the window. The lack of space IS most people's with dollhouses complaint, and I'm no exception. I'm in a small house's spare bedroom with bed, computer desk, storage cabinet, file cabinet and 2 other dollhouses....The Alison, Jr ( with additions on either side) and a smaller farmhouse of unknown name. I HAVE to stop every so often and clean up, put things back where they belong, and take out the trash.

Since I don't work and have only my dear Ed ( 4 cats, 2 dogs, no kids ) to care for, my working on the house is off and on all day. "Lucky me" I say.

Garfield's 1st floor ceiling Part 2

The photo doesn't do the finished look justice. There are 3 coats of the pearly white paint on the plastic small circles ceiling sheet. I watered the paint down just a touch. It truly has the slight shimmer promised and looks like the tin ceiling tiles of Victorian days. I have, once again, tested to make sure that the tabs all fit...perfectly, after a bit more sanding in a few areas.

This is one of those many moments I get when I'm pleased with my work...I just stare and grin at the how nice it all looks.

The 1st Floor's Ceiling for The Garfield

I am working hard at NOT getting confused. The directions for The Garfield do not allow for decorating as I am doing. The term "R&P", remove and prepare, to me means removing the piece from the plywood sheets, sanding, painting, staining, wallpapering, gluing the ceiling to the plywood, adding bead board, etc. So, I am lost in the "R&P" process.

Today, I've begun the ceiling work, as this part of the house must be ready during the wallpapering process, since sections of the wall need this part for structural support. Sounds confusing, but I've got all the steps I need to do written down as best as I can.

Like the wood flooring, the ceiling needs to pieced together, trimmed in the right spots, glued, then painted. I have but just the first piece of ceiling glued and am waiting for it to dry, will trim it, and move on to the next piece. Looks like it'll take me a few days altogether to complete the ceiling tiles ( sheets ). I will then paint it with Folk Art's Metallic Pearl White acrylic paint and, voila!, it should look like the tin ceilings of Victorian days.

The Walls Are Going Up !!!!!

For me, one of the most exciting parts of building a new dollhouse, other than the actual acquiring the house in the first place, is putting up the first of the walls. Today, I erected 2 walls, the front wall with the main door and, around the corner, the front left wall. I did take a photo, but will post that at a later date; it's just not all that pretty right now, not that that really matters.

I'm going to stop with the walls at this point and decorate the first floor section of these two before I move on...I'm ready to wallpaper here and put on the bead board: it'll be easiest if nothing else is in my way. I have my wallpaper cut..remember the printie I showed earlier?, but have a few more pieces of the bead board to stain and varnish. ( I DID go back to Hobby Lobby to catch the last of the 1/2 off sale, purchasing more trim and bead board. There wasn't much left of anything.)

My sheets of small circle ceiling arrived earlier than I expected, plus Fed Ex made a shipping error and delivered a package from Miniatures.com that belongs to a dollhouse enthusiast in Honolulu...got to get that straightened out ASAP. Kathleen, I promise it'll get there!!!! I need to pick out the paint I'll be using for the ceiling after I get the ceiling glued to the underside of the 2nd story flooring. I don't care for a stark white, but will find an off-white that'll work soon.

I'm so tickled about having the 2 walls up....it just isn't as much fun until I get to that point for me. I like to think I have patience, but not always. From now on, I'll be spending a lot of time just standing there and staring...letting the imagination run wild.

The Garfield Manor's 2nd Story Floor

The second story floor to Garfield sits wet from varnish on the work table, looking beautiful, however, unfinished. After piecing together the flooring sheets, I glued them all to the wood provided in the kit, taking care that the tabs and holes were not covered. ( Lots of sanding, cutting, and whittling away to make that happen.) I dry fitted all the slots to make sure of proper fit and then sanded it all well, cleaning the dust by vacumning, air blowing, and wiping off with a damp cloth, then brushed on 2 coats of the Cabernet stain, matching the staircase. I have but one coat of the varnish on at this point, but will lightly sand, clean, and apply one more coat. The floor has a deep rich color to it and a shine that glistens, but does not glare. After letting it sit for several days to completely dry, I will flip it and work on the ceiling for the first floor. That will end up with the ceiling sheets of small circles, which are ordered and on their way to me. While I am waiting for delivery, I think I will start with the wallpaper for the walls in the main room on the first floor. I am still a long, long way from fitting the pieces together to make it look like a house.

Planning Ahead, Buying Ahead

I just love a good sale and Hobby Lobby is having one on dollhouse miniatures and accessories, all half off !! My local store does not stock very many different things and few of what is available. I was able to stock up on trim pieces...crown molding, baseboard, bead board, and hardware. I, also, picked up 1 small circle ceiling sheet and 3 of the wood flooring. A good solid $50 was spent, providing a savings of a good solid $50. When it comes to building a dollhouse, we all know that it's a pricey hobby and every penny saved helps.

Almost everything was sorted out and stored for later, except for the flooring. I decided to use the wood flooring for the 2nd story. Originally, I was just going to score lines in the floor and, then, stain it. Using the sheet of floor saves me a lot of time and aggravation ( a fact I have learned from the past ). I have cut down the 3 sheets to fit the floor and am about to dry fit to the walls to assure a neat joining. I do know already there will be some trimming/sanding down for the floor and walls to fit precisely.

I will go back to Hobby Lobby in a few days, just in case they restock their shelves, but I'm doubting they will. In the meantime, I will prepare an order for more of the ceiling sheets that I will use for the first floor and work on the flooring to get it ready to stain and glue...something still days away.

The Garfield Dollhouse Walls

After over a month of working on my real house, I am able to return to work on the Garfield. The first step was reorganize, as I had moved things around so much in my spare room that I felt lost.

I am at the point on the Garfield to install the walls, but wait.......there are many "must do's" before I reach for the glue. The front left corner ( the entry area ) on the main floor of the house will be very difficult to reach if all the walls and flooring are assembled. I must do a lot of the interior decoration first, THEN assemble the walls. On top of that, I wanted to paint the exterior before assembly, in order to assure complete coverage. So now, I will confuse you, as I have confused myself. This is not as simple as following the directions of construction, but I will try to keep things in some semblance of order.

The interior of the entryway, the living room, and the room, called in the plans "dining room", will all end up as one large room with like design. I have chosen a wallpaper from a "printables" site, an art nouveau print with doves on it in mixed colors of blue ( shown here ). I want the top third of the walls to be the wallpaper with the bottom two-thirds a stained beadboard and trim . Just in case there are gaps in the beadboard, I stained the walls that will be behind the beadboard the "Cabernet" stain, so the gaps will not show too much. After that dried, I flipped the walls over and painted the exterior of the house a dark tan color ( "Executive" from True Value ), putting on two coats.

That is where I am sitting right now and, before I move on, will do a bit of cleanup on the walls, removing the paint from the edges and slots so they'll fit smoothly, and sand any spots that may need a bit....I know there are a few, since I painted outside and got a few cottonwood seeds stuck in the paint.

Still to do before trying to put things together, think and think.......I know I must wallpaper at this point, but I also must prepare the 1st floor ceiling and the 2nd story flooring before assembling. This is where it seems to be so much to think about...the "which comes first" for Garfield. Well, no hurry. While I read somewhere it only takes 20 hours to build this house, the painting, etc. was not included in that time......just finding the right plan of action takes a long time. Perhaps those of you that have built the Garfield before me will offer some hints, as my mini-friend, Sumaiya, has done......you are more than welcome to, please and thank you.