Preparing for the overhaul...

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Wizard's Eyrie: Installing The Floor (Again!)

The first time I installed a floor, it didn't work out so good.  I managed to get up most of the dried epoxy, but the subfloor wasn't a pretty sight.  The question was: what should I put down instead?  I briefly considered using the flagstones I purchased from Richard Stacey, but decided they were too big.  With any dollhouse, scale is an important issue--and I don't mean, 1:12.  

Just like with a real house, smaller houses need smaller design elements.  2' crown moldings might look astonishing at Buckingham Palace, but they'd look pretty horrendous in a 1,500 square foot craftsman style bungalow.  I actually purchased the flagstones for my larger tudor home--photos forthcoming!--and that house, with its grander scale, is a better fit.  Each flagstone is about 1.5" x 2".

So, in the end, I settled on scribed sheathing.  It looks like planked flooring, which is nice.  I used the same product on the interior walls of the addition.

I epoxied the new flooring in place, lightly sanded it, stained it, and applied two coats of varnish before sanding.  Then, after lightly sanding it again, I once again applied a finish coat of stain, er, watered down craft paint.

Again, for authenticity, I gave the addition different flooring.  I also decided to have it pointing in a different direction, so the change would look a little more "on purpose".  I glued the main section in place, and finished it, before dry-fitting these new pieces.  Also, I didn't want paint getting everywhere, so I pre-stained the pieces before gluing them in.

 I dry fitted the hearthstone in place and glued around it, to make sure it'd fit.  

Coming soon: the rest of the trim.

1 comment:

Debbie said...

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I'm having a Birthday give away on there. Please come over and enter..xxx