Shop floor fitted

Here is the shop floor fitted. It needs another coat of varnish then it will be complete. It looks better off camera, I must work out how to take pictures of close ups.

Shop floor and exterior bricks

The mini mitre box arrived yesterday (£1.99 inc small saw) which meant I could saw the ends of my 150 lolly sticks which will create my wood floor for the main shop area. After sawing I sanded down the ends so that they are perfectly square, and have given them a coat of varnish. I chose Walnut and this type doesn't smell and isn't spirit based, so much easier to use.



I've also stipple painted three sheets of sand colour sanding paper with red and black paint, ready to cut for bricks, which I'll stick to the sides and small front areas of the house. I've been kindly advised that the correct size of bricks to 1.12 scale is 3/4 inch x 3/16 inch.

A wet, windy but worthwhile trip to York

I love wandering around York, even dripping wet in the rain the place is a wonder of history and architecture. It was made all the better yesterday when I found Miniature Scene, one of a handful of doll house shops in the city.

It is a lovely shop, with great staff and a huge range of products. I even saw my own 'Magpies' shop built and painted (though do prefer my colours and having the roof tiled properly makes such a difference, paper tiles just don't do the job right for me).

As I've already spent a bomb recently on my dolls house I decided just to top up with some accessory items and use my visit for information gathering and inspiration, and there was plenty of it.

Exterior: ready for bricks and plasterwork

Here is the house now...



And here with a light on...

I've made great progress over the last couple of days.

The upper parts of the house have been painted in an emulsion mix of white and brown (used up paints in the garage), with sand in to give texture. I like the way this has turned out. The grey part of the side walls and front will be covered with bricks soon.



Then I attached the green window frames, in addition to lintels (top and bottom) on the first floor windows. The edges needed sanding down a little to fit but that was easy.





I reattached the doors after inserting the 'glass', and glued it to the front, then finally glued the tiled canopy, leaving an hour or so in between so the canopy has a solid surface.



Throughout I used PVA glue, it seems to do the trick, is very strong, and excess rubs away easily.

The next tasks are to fit the two hinges, fit the magnet and then start on the brickwork and 'plaster work' for in between the bricks and the sandtex-style paint.

Painting the shop front

I found just the right colour green for the shop front, called Projekt Paint by Plasti-cote. It is a spray can, so very smelly and you need a nice airy place with open doors, or better still outside. It looks like it has worked well so far. The first picture is the first coat going on, the second picture shows the front just after the second application. I've also painted the windows

Note to anyone trying to mask-tape the 'glass' panels on this house before painting: look under the base of the shop front and you will see two very small nail heads. Ease these out with tweezers then remove with plyers. The doors will pop out. Then, if you slide the top piece of wood on each door, it will come out, enabling you to remove the 'glass' and making painting less trickier. Just don't lose the nails.

Talking of nails: remember to wear rubber gloves when using spirit based paints...

Slow progress!

I've now started the remaining exterior work, so the bits that will be bricked have been painted grey, which will look like the mortar. There is lots of white paintwork to do, and I've given a first coat to the dormer window surrounds.

I've used masking tape around the ceilings to allow for a 1cm gap. This will enable the coving to stick more securely. I hope the second coat of white paint goes on ok as the first coat looks really patchy.

Its at this stage that I'm starting to understand why some people decorate their house while flat-packed. Reaching the corners is really difficult and its taking a lot of time.

The shop frontage I've decided will be a dark racing green, though I'm still looking for a suitable non-gloss paint.