Wednesday, August 25, 2010

First floor cut to size

At this point, it starts looking more and more like a proper house:


I cut a piece of 1/4 inch plywood to size (about 15 7/8" deep and 47 1/2" long), and cut out the stairwell. It's not glued on yet, of course (I still have a lot of finishing to do) but it gives the general idea.


The rooms look so different closed in! Here's the kitchen:


I have a slight problem with the first floor -- the grain of the plywood runs the opposite way (widthwise) to the ground floor (lenthwise), which means that I'll either have to:
  1. score the first floor floorboards with the grain as usual, and have them running parallel to the ground floor's beams (visible in the kitchen)
  2. score the first floor floorboards with the grain, and change the beams in the kitchen to run lengthwise.  This will make the floorboards in the dining room and parlour look a little odd :)
  3. try to score the first floor floorboards against the grain
  4. use commercially-made scale floorboards
 Hmm.  What do you think would be least noticeable?

And what should I do for light fixtures in the kitchen?  If I'm going to have a ceiling fixture I need to plan for it, because the space above the kitchen is going to be totally closed in.  Maybe one of Ray Storey's Tudor lanterns?

6 comments:

  1. It looks fabulous and some size! I know you told us but I've forgotten - how many rooms will you end up with? I think I'd be tempted to go with the commercial floor boards. The iron on ones are pretty good.

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  2. Thanks, Irene, for the suggestion. I've never used the iron on ones before, but I've seen them used in projects and they do look very very good.

    The house will have 10 rooms, eventually, -- kitchen, dining room, hall, parlour, bedroom, library, blue and white room, servant's bedroom, attic hallway and study/experiment room!

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  3. I just wanted to pop back in -- here's a link to Bromley and their rolls of iron on veneer -- http://www.craft-products.com/dolls-house-floorboards.asp -- I like the sound of this more and more because I'd be able to groove the floors first to take the ceiling lighting of the rooms below -- I wasn't quite sure how I was going to hide the wiring otherwise.

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  4. Hello Nina,
    Be careful with the iron on floorboards as they will tend the plywood to warp as you are lamintaing on one side only !. I would concure with Irene in using individual planks. You can buy 1/16" Basswood in you area in 4" wide planks from Model shops. Cut it into 1/2" wide boards in vaious lengths, stain and then fix in place but after scoring a groove for the wiring as I did in the Emporium.

    Kindest

    Ian

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  5. I have once printed floorboards on thin card and scored them. Worked a treat. Also, I would go with the Ray Storey lights. They're what you want in your kitchen. ;-) Personally I like all their lights....

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  6. Ian -- thanks for clarifying that -- I'm not sure why I jumped from "individual floor boards" to "iron on" things -- strange. I have a great model shop near me, so that will be no problem. Thanks for telling me the thickness I should use -- I really appreciate the advice! I'll go back and reread what you did in the Emporium ...

    Marion -- thanks for commenting! I love all of the RS lights -- I haven't bought any yet, so I guess now is the time :)

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