Meanwhile...

image from Magnific.com

the headache continues with the stairs up to the roof space *sigh*

I've had this metal spiral staircase in my stash for, quite literally, years but have never got round to actually using it.  It is nicely detailed and I've been tempted to make use of it in Brunswick House but something about the style doesn't seem quite "right" to be honest 🤷 

Admittedly, it does fit on the landing very nicely and there are a couple of ways I could sensibly position it.

It doesn't interfere with any of the doors on the landing, nor with folk walking up the stairs from the ground floor.

In fact, it would be the ideal solution.....if I could only get the thought of a wooden, more "square" staircase, up to the loft out of my head.  Just by looking at the space available, though, I really don't think I can realistically make such a staircase work.  I've even bought three (I know, I know, but hopefully I'll make use of them somewhere else at some point in my dolls house building career😏) other spiral staircase kits to see if I like them any better ~ which I don't 😖

image from The Dolls House Emporium

All things considered, I think this may have to be one of the compromises I make to create the room spaces that I want in the house.  I will definitely have to make alterations to the roof to make the space in the loft properly useable.  I'm leaning towards creating large dormer windows on both this (staircase) side of the house, as well as at the back.

I'm also considering altering the roof section at the front of the house a little.  At the moment the piece above the top bay window is simply glued to the roof which of course means that there is nothing behind it, just unreachable empty space!  I think I may cut out the section of the actual roof that this piece sits on to create some storage space.  I have seen another Mountfield alteration where this front piece of the roof has been cut out and a window fitted behind the gable piece.  I did consider this as a possibility but in the end decided that adding two large dormer windows would be sufficient for both light and headroom.  I also suspect that Ephemy and Susannah would much prefer some additional storage space 😉   

So much thinking and planning!

image from Magnific.com

No actual work, mind you, just still planning 😄 These are the last of the photos I've recently taken ~ goodness knows when I'll actually have something

"concrete" to share with you 😏

image from The Dolls House Emporium

The two windows that came with the kit have solid semi-circles of wood to position beneath them to create the effect of a "bay".  I am going to try to create the same effect from the outside, but cut a chunk out of the space for the window so that I can make window seats or even storage cupboards in the rooms.  I will have to be very careful, though, not to completely compromise the integrity of the front panel!  I haven't quite worked out how to do this but do have a couple of ideas that could possibly work 🤞

I have the solid blocks to use as "templates" and was thinking that I could draw round them onto thin plywood to make tops and bases, then wrap something suitable around them to create the bay.  I'm wondering if perhaps fairly stiff cardboard might be suitable?  Of course if I could manage to cut through them straight, I could even slice up the solid blocks themselves to create the top and bottom pieces ~ but that is a rather big "if" as my cutting skills are rather haphazard 😏     

I mentioned in my previous post that I had also decided to alter the windows and door configurations on both sides of the house...

ta-daa ~ behold, the new bay windows for the "large room" side of the house!

I like the view from the side but haven't quite decided whether to replicate what I'm hoping to do with the front bays or do something different.  I quite like the idea of giving them both a little roof, and supporting them with nice chunky corbels or brackets.  Decisions, decisions 😄    

The back door will fit nicely on the small room-side of the house.  I may possibly add a porch roof ~ I really like this one from Bromley Craft Products:

but I will have to measure up carefully once I've got the door in place to see if it will fit comfortably, bearing in mind that there is a window above it.

Then of course, since I really want to fit a little cloakroom in the hall, there is a big decision to be made as to what to do with the front porch.  The photo above shows it in the position it was designed to be placed in (I hadn't attached the narrow "path" section that runs across the front of the house).  

Once I'd managed to prop up the path, I experimented with setting the porch further out from the body of the house.  The photo above shows it set with the back of the porch more or less level with the front of the house.

This shows the porch set much further away from the house.  It would, of course, give me more wiggle-room in the hallway for the cloakroom but I will have to see how it looks with the bay windows in place.

I think I need to create a simple cardboard mock-up of the cloakroom and set it in position in the hall, which should hopefully give me some idea of how far out from the house the porch ought to be set to make things work properly.

So that circles right back to cardboard mock-ups again, then, I guess ~ I really can't put off this step much longer, can I 😏

Puttering about

image from Magnific.com

I'm no further forward with actually making alterations, I'm afraid, as I'm still very much stuck in the "what to do for the best" stage!  If I'm honest, I'm putting off what I know is the inevitable route I need to take ~ which is to start doing some mock-ups in cardboard 😖  Realistically I know that it's the only way to find out whether my ideas will actually work.....it's just a shame that I am the queen of procrastination 👑😄

If I use the small room at the back as the office, then it's really going to be a tight fit to get a kitchen/diner in the larger room without closing it off from the living room.  I really like the idea of having a pair of French doors between the two rooms, but space-wise this is only going to work if the kitchen or dining area extends into the small room.  Everything is dependant on me being able to build a sensible master bedroom and bathroom in the roof space ~ so methinks I shall just have to grit my teeth and get cracking with some cardboard mock-ups 😏

Moving round to the front of the house, you can see that there is a good space on the righthand side of the hall that could be utilised for a tiny downstairs loo, but I will have to move the porch to sit outside the house and also slightly alter the run of the stairs.  Hopefully I won't find that too difficult to do!  Thankfully I have a good example to shamelessly copy from the The Mountfield Facebook group 😉

Whatever I do with the two rooms at the back of the house, I've decided to relocate the back door over to the small room...

putting it where the window is currently positioned. 

 

I've also decided to add bay windows to the two rooms on this side.  I had these in my stash and was going to make use of them, but have since discovered that I could actually get windows from The Dolls House Emporium to match those at the front of the house.  I decided to order a pair so that the additions are the same shape as the originals, and they arrived before we went away for my Dad's 90th birthday celebrations.  It will only add a teensy wee bit more floor space in both rooms but every little bit helps, eh 😏

I am, of course, waaaay behind both with working on the house and sharing photos of what I've got done thus far.  We're still plodding on with the big garden project so I'm not really getting much spare time to work on the house.  We're trying to get as much done out there before the winter weather sets in.  Once that happens, though, I'll be able to devote as much time as I like to getting on with Brunswick House 👏