I've Been Lazy Today

I've not spent much time with Garfield today. Just taking a small break. I was able to install the window seat with no trouble and I did get on the third side to the Dining Room bay window and spackled inside and out at the joints. The spackling has been sanded and painted and it all looks great. I still have the fabric trim to put on the crown area...will probably do that tonight. It was even more difficult getting my hand inside to spackle, sand, and paint. Again, I was doing tricks with mirrors backwards.

I read a hint from Larry Marshall about diluting wood filler with denatured alcohol, so I practiced that, making it into a paintable substance and using it to fill in those tiny holes and notches that are left from punching pieces out of plywood. What a wonderful trick!!! and I plan on going all around Garfield and cleaning up those window edges and repainting. Thanks, again, Larry.

That's where I've stopped. I'm tired, the back is hurting, the meds aren't working, and there's no sense working on it if I'm not up to par, so I'm watching old movies and living in the past. Back to life tomorrow.

Tons of Garfield Fun and Photos

Wow, how 'bout some pictures, folks ! I'm trying to cover 3 subjects here..

First is working on the Dining Room Bay Window. I have 2 of the walls to the bay up, spackled, and sanded. I'm going to paint them in a little while. After the paint is dried, I'll start the crown moulding trim, which is fabric, and leave extra just hanging there for when I get that last wall up . Talk about a pain sanding, I had to do the interior sanding with a mirror sitting in the middle of the room, reflecting backwards and my hand stuck in the empty wall space. NOT fun, but, certainly entertaining. I have the window seat ready to install. I used the seat platform intended for the tower window seat and trimmed it down some to fit this bay. It's painted green, the same as the walls in the bay. Instead of using the same side wall panels provided, I just made some new ones, plain wood, nothing fancy, painted green. It dry fits like a glove. I've made a pattern of it's shape and, later, I'll put a cushion on it...or, leave it to "grow" plants inside. I think a hanging fern in the window would be pretty. It's not time to worry about that right now.

The next few photos are by request of the different sides of the house. I repeated one photo, but can't figure out how to delete it, so am just leaving it. Looking at these photos, I am overwhelmed by what a big baby this house really is!!!

And the last 2 photos are of the color project board for the 2nd story hallway. I misled some people with the blue color, making it sound like a lighter blue than it is. I'd thought I'd tested more colors, but ????? So, what's here is a darker, richer ( complimentary ) tint of the blue downstairs in the Parlor on the far left. Next is a tan, then terra cotta, and last, on the far right, bronze. I'm still leaning towards the blue. In real life, I think it looks much better than the other choices used. Te terra cotta's not bad, but the carpet is where the baby blue will be, so blue it will probably be.

I thank every one of you for answering and caring about helping me. Bless your hearts, the response to my cry for help was tremendous and so very useful. Ideas galore and none taken lightly, I assure you. It humbles me that you are following the progress of my Garfield. Proud? That too, I confess. ( It also made me realize that, if I were ill, you'd have sent a casserole too. ;) )

It's early yet and I don't know what I'm getting into today yet. I will try to finish up the Dining Room bay and then move back upstairs to the hallway. It's time to stop talking about it and getting to work. Thanks, ya'll.

The Dining Room Bay Plus Stuff

This is the printie wallpaper I am tossing around in my head to use for the 2nd floor hallway. I'm considering having it cover the bottom half of the wall with the fairly dark tone of the baby blue used in the Parlor tower on the top half of the wall. There would be a 1/2 " wide chair rail between it and the paint line. Remember that I have a baby blue carpet runner on the staircase and it will run the 2nd floor hallway, too. PLEASE tell me what you think. I want it, I really, really do, but I have still not convinced myself that it'll work. You won't make me mad if you don't like it.


No need for other photos...nothing exciting to see. I have one side and the center of the bay window glued in and spackled. I'll sand and paint those after the spackle dries well, inside and out, and will start a bit of the fabric trim. I'm working on the pieces for the window seat that I'll install and then add the final side piece to the bay. Not putting that last side in until last will give me some room to maneuver around in there. The space is smaller than my hand and, as I've said before, quite awkward.





While I had the spackling out, I also filled in the holes where the floors meet the walls on the exterior to assure a smooth outside wall. It's not necessary inside, as the trim pieces will cover those gaps. And, while I am waiting for the spackle to dry...I wait longer than I think necessary sometimes to be sure... I'm working on those never ending pieces of trim in the Dining Room and Library.





The library has 2 steps down from the room before it. In the company's master plan, they are simple steps. Since I've not let anything be simple up to this point and am always changing something, I've decided that these steps need to be a bit more elaborate that provided. I'm going to fashion a small landing with railing and banister, so when you come from that front room, you'll take 1 small step down onto the landing, hang a short left and come down another step. I think it'll add a bit of grace to the entrance into the room and won't look as hazardous as the simple steps appear.

Not much else going on in there. I have some new plants I must get it that I bought on my day with Melissa and some bulbs to plant on a kitty grave. There are some other outdoor chores that must!!! be done now. Autumn is moving in and there's no time left to procrastinate. Today is "Color Sunday" in the mountains of Colorado. While not in full color yet, the aspens are turning their golden yellow and it's something to be marveled over, even if by only a photo.

The Dining Room Bay Window

Today, I begin what I believe will be a battle with The Dining Room Bay. It will be painted with the Wedgewood green paint and the crown moulding will be the same fabric trim that I used in the room. There will be a window seat in the bay, also. The parts are being painted inside and out....several coats have already been done on the interior side with a couple of sandings in between to insure smoothness....the grain tends to rise at first. I'm doing a couple of coats on the exterior, but the final painting will really happen before exterior trims and maybe even the roof...we'll see.

The battle will be because of accessing the bay from the inside for the final painting, crown moulding, and window seat. There is limited space to get in there and work on it. After I get the parts glued on to the house, I'll need to spackle at the joints ( inside and out ), sand that spackling, and then paint over it. It's gonna be tough getting to it and doing the best job I can and it'll probably be a blind application of the fabric trim. I'm actually looking forward to tackling it, just to see if I can.

I will be able to reach in only from the open back side and from the window on the side of the house, but that's not going to make the area easy to see and do at the same time. This is where we all wish we were Munchkins to get some of the work done.

I'll keep you posted.

Not Much Here

Oh, I've only been sanding, painting, and staining. How many times can one make that sound interesting? I've got a big pile of parts, I'm cleaning them up, sticking them in their spots to see how it'll look and either staining or painting the part, and placing it in a little tray until it's time to glue them in...there you go. It'll stay that way until tomorrow.

Today, my good friend, Melissa, is taking me on a birthday adventure. My day was August 31st and our schedules haven't worked together until today. I have no idea where we're going, how long I'll be gone, what we'll be doing, or anything else. I was told to wear comfortable shoes and nothing else. I am so very curious about what's to happen. The best I can say is that any time I am with Melissa and anything she has ever done for me has always been fun and heartfelt. She's a special lady to me and it's gonna be good. I'll let you know.

Scrapping and Journaling

I spent the better part of yesterday at my friend, Angie's, house, working on my scrapbook for the Garfield. I got four pages done, with journaling, and am almost current with my progress in building the house.



In my idle time before and after going there, I sanded and sanded trim pieces that will go into the Dining Room and Library...44 all total. Each window has 4 pieces, each door 3, and there are 2 doors that need sanding. Even though the store bought doors come pretty clean, there are always some rough spots, especially on the inset panels. There are also kitchen bay pieces and tower pieces.



The kitchen bay is to be assembled directly on the house and it'll be at such an angle that getting into it to decorate will be terribly awkward, both reaching and seeing. I had wanted to cover the walls with the same fabric, but realize that will be harder than I want to mess with, so I've found a matching paint and will get her done that way, needing only touch up once it's assembled. Even that will be a pain. I've chosen an acrylic called "Wedgewood Green" and have started the painting of the section that'll need it on the body of the house and the bay sides pieces.



Today, I'll do more staining and then varnishing. I hope to have a nice pile of trim ready and spend a day just installing it.

Back to the journaling part...a member of one of the online forums had asked if anyone kept a journal. I have the scrapbook, which I do "wallpaper" the pages, but I don't do any fancy details. I use the little journaling cards and document the photos. I've also been keeping a notebook that has pages of this blog that I print out every so often. I need to kind of catch up on that actually. And I have a notebook/inventory of each house I have built with a running cost of the construction and then the furniture and accessories. My very first house, 30 years ago, the journaling was started in an already bound book. I ended up with 3 volumes of books..."The Dogwood Plantation" trilogy. HA.

The End Wall

I have not committed to the wall coverings in the 2nd story hallway, though I have printed out the "wallpaper". Since it takes so much ink, I'm pretty sure that I'll use it, but am waiting for me to think more positively about it. In the meantime, I'm doing other things that can be done.

I've added the end wall to The Garfield....it closes up the Dining Room and the Library..and I finished covering the walls to both rooms. I'll root around and find the trim pieces or use whatever trim components that will be extra and get them cut, stained, varnished, and installed.

We all know how many mini things there are that often get overlooked or need re-doing, how many thoughts of something we'd like to try, and how many ideas pop up while we're doing something else. Like many people, I keep a running list of "things to do" on my work table, a 8x10 legal pad, and it is full of those thoughts. At this point, there are 3 pages of "things to do" and I guess it's time to do some of them, while I'm waiting for my mind to make itself up about the walls in the hall. I could probably fill up a month's time doing the little things.

Yesterday, my husband started on his annual Autumn yard display. He gets some hay bales and decorates around them for Halloween/Thanksgiving/Autumn. The neighborhood kids and cats love them. While he was doing that, I got out the "around the house" decorations and started putting them out. It involves packing up knick knacks out right now that'll be in the way and too cluttered. They won't be seen again until after Christmas. CHRISTMAS!!!! Not all that far away and it's all made me realize that I'm going to have to completely put up things in this spare room to make room for Christmas boxes of decorations, presents, supplies...you know how it is. It means that I'll have to put away most of my dollhouse tools and supplies because they'll just be in my way. Like I said...tiny house...and, for me, Christmas takes priority over anything.

Well, I certainly can't put away Garfield...I couldn't even get it out of this room without major pains, so it'll remain on it's 4 ft. long table and I'll pack up it's supplies and toys and store them under that table. I'll have to move The Alison, Jr. out of the dining area and into the spare room to make room around the diningroom table. I have another 2 months before it's absolutely necessary. I now have a card table up. I use that for my working space, spreading out parts for staining and painting, cutting and assembly. Once it's put up, my working on the house will be limited until January, when everything Christmas gets packed up and stored for another year.

So, back to Garfield, the next few days will be small chores and nothing very exciting, but, I'm sure, will have lovely effects on the house. I'm going to ty my hand a plaster casting, using the pin I found in the antique store. As Holly has pointed out, the dining room will look good with 2 of those and the casts will be easier to work with, but I do need to learn a few things about it first.

Today's a scrapbooking day...I'll be updating my Garfield book with photos and journaling. Isn't it amazing how many things we have to learn to "play house"? Wish I could get paid for all this knowledge and expertise.