More gluing and priming!

image from Magnific.com

Last week I shared photos of the start of the build although the work had been done some time prior to me actually posting them.  The same applies to the photos in this post ~ as always I'm rather behind with sharing, but methinks you will be used to that by now 😄

All the upper floors are now glued in place, along with all the internal walls except for the small piece which runs alongside the staircase.  I haven't yet permanently fixed the stairs in place as I'm still considering options for the hallway.  

This is the front of the house, with the hall on the right.  It's quite a good size even taking into account the area that the stairs will take up, so I'm going to made a rough floor plan to see what I can do with the space.  I've seen some very good ideas on the Facebook group, The Mountfield, and am seriously considering incorporating some of them into this build. 

image from The Dolls House Emporium

The porch is set into the house (see photo above), which does take up some space within the hall.  One of the ideas I came across in the Facebook group was to set the porch outside the house instead, which is an idea I really like.  It would enable me to fit in a downstairs loo more easily than if I were to put it beneath the stairs.

Susannah very kindly stood beneath the stairs to show the space we have to work with.  I think it would be very tight in there once a toilet and basin was installed, even with the door opening out from the area rather than inwards.  I've therefore decided not to fit a cloakroom into the space, as I know it would annoy me if I didn't think it looked quite "right" 😏  I am going to see if the floorplan will allow me to fit a small cloakroom near the front door by altering the run of the stairs, which is another idea from the Facebook group.   

Depending on what happens with the small room to the right, instead of a cloakroom beneath the stairs this will either be where a stacked washing machine and tumble-dryer will be housed or turned into a large larder cupboard.  

At the moment I am considering using the rest of the space for pull-out understairs storage, accessed from the hallway.  I've seen lots of good "real-life" ideas for this and am hoping that it would be fairly straightforward to make something simple for the space! 

Side view, without the stair wall in place.  If I can fit the master bedroom and en-suite bathroom in the loft space then I will make one of the two small rooms on the first floor into a guest bathroom ~ the large rooms will be guest bedrooms.  The other small room will then be used as an office.  If I can't make good use of the loft space, then the first floor will consist of the master bedroom, a guest bedroom, and two bathrooms.  It's all going to depend on a) fitting a sensible staircase up to the loft (preferably not a spiral one although I do realise that I may have little choice but to go down that route), b) being able to alter the shape of the roof to give more headroom up there, and c) being able to add windows ~ possibly dormer-style.

The plan would then be to use both the back rooms on the ground floor as a kitchen/diner.  Once again I will make a floor plan to see what the best configuration would be, but that's all rather going to depend upon the most suitable area to fit in a dining table and chairs.  And, of course, whether I can make those alterations to the loft space ~ if I can't then the small room downstairs will have to be the office and the kitchen/diner will have to be shoe-horned into the larger room!

At the moment it's all rather academic, as we're in full swing with the big real-life garden project.  Unfortunately that doesn't stop all the possibilities for Brunswick House swirling around in my poor brain, though.....😕  

Brunswick House

image from Magnific.com

I don't think that I have told you that this new build has a name: Brunswick House.  I don't know why that's what it's been called ~ I shall have to ask Ephemy and Susannah if they have any idea 😉  As I mentioned in my last post I am a fair bit behind with my photo-sharing but prior to my day spent filling my own head with new ideas, I had in fact made a start on the construction process.

 Unfortunately, due to a less-than-ideal combination of my poor building skills and the warping of a number of the panels, this has proved to be somewhat problematic!  I foresee rather a lot of fiddling about to get things looking half-decent in my future 😏   

When I opened up the bubble-wrapped bundle of panels I found a turntable being stored with them, which I had completely forgotten that I'd bought!  I decided to fit it in position at the start of the build and it's already been really useful in being able to turn the building around easily.  And, of course, it will be ideal for when the house is complete with it having those two opening side panels. 

It's obvious from the photo above that the base itself is a tad warped, but the first couple of panels that I glued in place went together fairly smoothly.  Alas that wasn't the case for all of them, unfortunately, so there will have to be a certain amount of sanding down in some places and probably some no doubt rather generous use of filler in others!

The kit included two optional infill panels for the largest room at the back...

but at the moment I don't know if I will use them.  I've seen some folk using French doors instead of the panels, and this is something that I am leaning towards for between this back room and the living room at the front of the house.  I originally had concerns that it would cut down the space in the living room because I also want a fireplace in there.  However I am now considering adding a chimney-stack to the outside of the house, which would mean I wouldn't need a chimney-breast inside.  I could then position a fireplace flush against the wall.  And, of course, I could do the same in the room above 😊 

Because of my internet meanderings last week, I am now once again trying to wrap my poor brain around how best to fit the master bedroom (with an en-suite bathroom) into the roof space 😄  If I can successfully work this out, one of the two small rooms upstairs will become the office.  I already know that I want to alter the shape of the roof, so I'm hopeful that things will work out 🤞

In the meantime, therefore, I still don't know what the layout of the two back rooms downstairs will be.  If I can't work out all the alterations to the upper floors, then the small room downstairs will become the office and I will use one of the infill panels to close it off from the larger room.  I will also probably fit a washing machine and tumble-dryer beneath the stairs to free up some space in the larger room, which will be the kitchen/diner.

If I don't need the small room downstairs for an office, then I will most likely incorporate it with the larger room to make a galley-style kitchen running along the back wall, with a dining area in the larger space.  I have seen some examples of folk using the small room as the dining room so that is another option.  I will have to make some floorplans to see what will work best. 

I thought ahead for once and got some of the priming done ~ after the trauma of the gluing, I confess that it came as something of a light relief 😳  I've still got lots to think about and plan ~ oh well, at least it's giving my poor 'ole brain a bit of a work-out 😏 

The dangers of a dreary, wet day!

image from Magnific.com

It rained on and off for most of last Friday, which meant we couldn't really get anything done out in the garden.  Although I did get the hems of a new pair of Adrian's trousers pinned up ready for altering them, I then proceeded to spend waaay too much time scrolling the internet looking to see what other folk had done with their Mountfield kits ~ which included me finding a Facebook group devoted to the Mountfield (here's the link, just in case you're interested, too ~ you're welcome 😁).  I really, really, really should have resisted temptation but of course I didn't, and now I've got a whole lot of new ideas swirling around in my head.  Ideas which will take me down the path of alterations, which I'd said I wasn't going to do 😱

The trouble is that so many of the ideas I came across are just so good ~ and now I really want to copy them!  And, in fairness, I suppose I shouldn't entirely blame the good folk out there in internet land for leading me into temptation, because I had originally gone online to look into the possibilities of altering the roof ~ which I had thought about all by myself because the more I look at said roof, the more I dislike it 😏

So now I've given myself a whole load of decisions to make, along with all the measuring and planning that will involve.  All I can say is thank goodness I haven't got too far along with this build and can still make alterations fairly easily!  I'm behind ~ as usual 😐 ~ with photo-sharing, but at least I'll be able to bring you up-to-date you with what I now think I'm going to do when I do get round to posting them 😉 

Nothing is ever straightforward!

image from The Dolls House Emporium

It certainly looks like it would be a nice straightforward kit to construct, doesn't it?  But nope, I've come across some issues already and I've barely started!

To start with I had a teensy-wee bit of a panic when I opened the box containing the kit, as it seemed like half of it was missing 😱  It then dawned on me that way back in the mists of time, when we were still living in Hitchin, I had dry-fitted the pieces together but didn't get round to actually building the house ~ obviously 😏  When I dismantled it I ended up wrapping most of the big panels in bubble wrap as it was a tad difficult to get them back in the bloody box!  The bubble-wrapped bundle was just minding its own business, sitting with the boxes containing the Montgomery Hall Kit pretending it belonged there 😄

So, panic over, I did another dry-fit run-through of the body of the house although I didn't bother with the roof for the time being.  This is the front of the house, with the living room on the left and a bedroom above.  The hall is on the right with a small room above, which on the box is depicted as being the bathroom.  The house is described as having "seven spacious rooms" but that is rather like optimistic estate agent waffle, as three of the said rooms are really rather on the pokey side!

Front panel temporarily held in place with masking tape.  One of the nice touches to the house is that as well as the usual opening front, it also has opening panels on either side.

  On the left in the photo above is another view of the hall, this time with the staircase taped in position, and the landing.  The hole in the landing ceiling, by the way, is for the loft-hatch.

On the box the rooms on the right are set out as the kitchen, with a nursery upstairs.  These are both pretty small rooms, to be honest, as is the room at the front to the left of the landing.  The area beneath the stairs has potential, though, and I've had various ideas whirring around in my head for what I could do with the space 😄     

Both of the opening side panels are meant to be held in place with magnets, which I'm not keen on at all.  I assume that's why both of these panels are shorter than those that are fixed in place, to give some "wiggle-room" when removing them to access the interior of the house.  I'm still mulling over how to alter this to something that I will find more satisfactory. 

The other side of the house is shown on the box as the dining room, with another bedroom above.

With the side panel in place, which as you can see is where the "back door" is positioned.

As you have probably realised I'm not totally happy with this house as it is, and will therefore be making a few alterations.  However, they won't be as drastic as the changes I started to make to Fernleigh House 😉  I'll be telling you more about them as the build progresses.

Having seen that the picture on the box showed a bedroom up in the roof space, accessed via a ladder, I spent waaay too much time trying to figure out how to fit a proper staircase up there instead.  After all, who really wants to have to climb up a ladder every night to get to bed!  In the end, after giving myself a thumping headache with all the thinking, I decided that I will leave it simply as loft space rather than trying to fit another bedroom up there 😏  Because of the pyramid-shape of the roof, there is very limited headroom up there ~ and no window whatsoever.  Quite apart from having to access the potential room via a ladder, I think you'll agree that it is all very unsatisfactory and wouldn't comply with building regulations in the slightest 😉

  One of the side roof panels is removeable, so I think it will be nice to simply use the space as a straightforward loft for storing all those little things that we like to hold on to "in case they come in handy", or aren't used frequently such as Christmas decorations.

I have an idea of the alterations I want to make and some tentative thoughts regarding how the rooms will be used.  Upstairs is fairly straightforward, in that the two largest rooms will be the master and guest bedrooms.  The largest of the other two rooms (which are both rather small!) will definitely be a bathroom.  I'm undecided at the moment whether to make the other small room into a second bathroom (so that both bedrooms in effect have an en-suite) or an office.

As for downstairs whilst the room at the front will definitely be the living room, I'm still undecided about the layout of the kitchen and dining room.  I do have a couple of ideas in mind, I just have to make a final decision 😄

A completely new build

image from Magnific.com

I know, I know ~ I should just stick with one thing and get on with it but I've really been struggling with Fernleigh House, hence me being MIA since last October 😳

To be frank, for quite a while it was touch and go as to whether it would all end the same way as Augusta Lodge!  In the end, though, I took a deep breath and decided the sensible route would be to put Fernleigh House to one side until I feel more able to cope with totally kit-bashing it.  Instead, I thought I'd work on one of my as-yet unbuilt kits ~ all of which I've had for a number of years and which are still in their boxes 😏

My first thought was the Bellingham Farm House by Duracraft, who I believe are no longer in existence:

(image found on Google)

It's a nice house but as it's an American kit it has an open back, which I am really not keen on.  I knew that to make it work for me, I would most likely have turn the house around so that I could add an opening panel, turning the back into the front ~ if you see what I mean!  The Bellingham has therefore returned to the to-do-at-a-future-date list 😉

The second house I considered was the Montgomery Hall kit from The Dolls House Emporium:

image from The Dolls House Emporium

I must admit that I was very tempted to dive into this one as it's a lovely house...

image from The Dolls House Emporium

and I have the basement that goes with it, too.  In the end, though, common-sense prevailed ~ I realised that it was an awfully big kit to tackle as a "warm-up", as it were, for kit-bashing Fernleigh House 😄

image from The Dolls House Emporium

In the end, I decided that the Mountfield kit, also from The Dolls House Emporium, was the one to work on.  You'll be pleased to know that this will eventually be the home of Ephemy and Susannah, who I told you about in a previous post 😊

I envisage that I will only be working on the house somewhat sporadically until the winter weather sets in.  If you read my other blog you will know that we are in the midst of a big garden project and have to make the most of any good weather that comes our way.  I have made a start already, though, as we've had some rainy days which rather put paid to digging in the garden!  Needless to say, despite having barely taken the pieces out of the box, I've already come across a few issues which I'll share with you in an upcoming post 😏

  

Looking worse...

image from Clipart Library

...before it ~ hopefully 😳 ~ starts to look better!

Apart from the inevitable unrealistic stair situation, I suppose there was nothing particularly wrong with the house but mock-Tudor just isn't a style I'm fond of ~ nor are Ephemy and Susannah, and it is their house, after all 😉 

The rooms on the left, because they are all different depths, have separate opening front panels.  Over time, all the panels have "dropped" a little.  9mm MDF, which is what the house is made from, is quite heavy so I think that the hinges just weren't quite man enough for the task.

Ephemy and Susannah really didn't like the Tudor "stepped" design...

but the question was should the rooms all be trimmed back to the same depth as that on the ground floor, or built out to line up with the top floor 😕

It was extremely difficult to take photos of the ceiling area of the top room on the left-hand side!  However, I did manage it in the end 😏  

I'm not sure what the original plan had been but as a piece of wood had been attached to both the front and back walls (see also top photo), I assume that it had been planned to add a false ceiling.

As you have probably guessed, we had other ideas...

not least, a completely different roof-line!  Luckily the section on the right hadn't actually been fixed in position and just lifted off.

However, I had to cut away the section on the left...

and whilst I was doing that, it was decided that the rooms on the left would all be cut back to the same depth as the one on the ground floor.

Before I started work, I had noticed that the right-hand back wall had pulled apart from the left somewhat.

Luckily my demolition exploits haven't made this any worse, but realigning the wall into its proper position will have to be the first task carried out before any other alterations can be done.

It was decided to stop work at this point so that Sir Peter and I could have a series of discussions with Ephemy and Susannah about what they want done with their new home.  I'm pleased to report that the planning stage is very nearly complete now, so hopefully work can commence shortly!

Fernleigh House

image from Freepik

As per usual, all gung-ho I had made a start on the demolition/alterations to Fernleigh House, when it somewhat belatedly dawned on me that perhaps it might be prudent to make some plans on what actually needs to be done 😏  So work was temporarily halted whilst consultations took place with Ephemy and Susannah as to what they would ideally like their new home to look like, both externally and internally. 

Quite major alterations have already been made to the front of the house, which I will show you in an upcoming post.  Suffice to say not a vestige of the "mock Tudor"-look in the photo above now exists 😉 Discussions are still ongoing with regards to the roofline, and whether it should be completely altered or just made so that the third floor is more accessible for decorating.  It's not as easy to work up there as it might appear!

 As for the internal layout of the house, that's proving to be a little bit of a headache to be honest.  As I mentioned previously the stair openings are very unsatisfactory, as is so often the case 😒  However I think I can make it somewhat better by moving the internal door openings from the back of the house to the front, thereby giving a little more space for the stairs and landings.  The rooms on the left are good sizes, though, even after the alterations that have already taken place.  Likewise, those on the right are okay in theory.  However, on the ground floor the plan is to have the living room on the left and a kitchen/diner on the right.  This, of course, means that it is going to be a rather tight squeeze fitting the latter into the room currently ear-marked for it!

An extension is therefore being seriously considered on the right-hand side, perhaps using one of the many small kits that I've accumulated over the years and never got round to actually building 😏 One kit in particular might be a very good candidate for making into something else.  The question is whether to add said kit to the side of the house or perhaps see if it's at all feasible to add it to the front.  The house itself is made from the usual 9mm MDF but the kit I have in mind is 6mm, hence wondering whether it would be lightweight enough to possibly attach it to the front opening panel 🤔 Regardless of whether it goes on the side or the front, the footprint of the house will obviously have to increase in one direction or the other.  This kit is also double-storey, so it has the potential to create an additional room on the floor above.  This would give a little more scope for what to do with the rooms on the first floor.

Originally it was planned to simply have a guest bedroom and bathroom on the first floor.  However, if an extension is added to the smaller room, then those two rooms could become the guest bedroom and en-suite.  This would then enable the larger room to be used as a second sitting room/study/library combination.

The plans for the top floor are straightforward with the room on the right to be the master bedroom, and a bathroom on the left ~ there will of course be an internal wall put in place for the latter in due course 😉

So that's where things currently stand, with plenty of decisions yet to be made and plans to be drawn up!  Hopefully it won't take too long to sort everything out 😳

The new project...

...and another decision to be made.  As I told you last week, I had already decided to completely scrap Augusta Lodge but I still had a decision to make about Angel House Galleria.

Whilst I really liked the back story I had concocted about Captain Jack, I just wasn't at all keen on the Tudor style of this house.  Another issue, as is so often the case with dolls' house kits, was that the staircase situation was also not satisfactory.  I know some folk leave the stairs out of their little houses altogether but I don't like that idea at all 😏 Whether I went ahead with my original plan to turn the building in a group of little shop spaces or made it into a family home, there would have to be at least some alterations both inside as well as externally. 

 I must admit that by this point I had rather gone off the idea of the shop spaces to be perfectly honest, and didn't want to find myself getting totally frustrated with the project like I did with Augusta Lodge.  So, as I didn't want to scrap this house, I made the decision that it would remain a home 😌 There will be a lot of alterations made over the coming weeks, and it will definitely not be in a Tudor style 😉

I do still intend to have some shops in due course making use of my smaller kits, perhaps stacking them together so that they take up less square floorspace.

And here are the ladies who have taken on this enormous project: Ephemy Lamb and Susannah Lytton, along with their dogs Patrick and Bobby 😊  They recently told me that they aren't sure whether they are being brave or foolish 😄 

Still, I'm sure that they will have plenty of advice from their architect, Sir Peter Buchanan (seen in the photograph above with his mother, Lady Constance and uncle, Christopher Long)...

along with the best building contractors in town, Derek Landry and Albert Holland.  Methinks Graham (Derek's son, who they employ as a painter and decorator) is wondering how long it's going to take him to get all the decorating done 😉 Never fear Graham, there's a helluva lot of work to be done before you'll have to get involved ~ unless, of course, your Dad and Albert rope you in to help with some of the building stuff 😄

Ephemy and Susannah, both 39 years old, have lived together for 15 years although they have known each other a lot longer.  They first met through mutual (older) friends who were celebrating their silver wedding anniversary.  A few weeks later, those same friends invited them both to join them and a few other friends for a long weekend away.  They spent a lot of time together over those few days, and continued to see each other afterwards as they had many interests in common.  Gradually their friendship blossomed into love and they decided to move into a little flat together.

Ephemy is a senior lecturer in culinary arts management at Hazelton University, and Susannah is the practice manager of a very large veterinary practice in Hazelton.  They adopted their two little dogs a couple of years ago, which is one of the reasons they are now looking to live in a larger property.  Susannah is lucky enough to be able to take them both with her when she goes to work, though, so they are rarely left "home alone". 

Patrick is, obviously, a West Highland Terrier.  Bobby, on the other hand, is very much a mongrel ~ no one has been able to decide with any certainty what breeds may be in his ancestry, and suggesting ever-more outlandish combinations has become a running joke amongst Susannah's veterinary colleagues!  They are still young dogs, both being about three years old now, and were picked up together, as strays, on the same day.  The rescue centre suspected they had lived together before being abandoned as they didn't like being apart from each other, so it was decided the two should be rehomed together.

So there we are my lovelies, my new project!  No doubt there will be a lot of trials and tribulations ahead, but I am still looking forward to getting started 😊