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.....😕