Pocket Doors - Part 2

I'm making progress on the pocket doors, but sheesh, these things are a lot of work!  At least, they are more work than I initially envisioned. Let me show you.

The doors require 3 layers - a wood frame (made from 1/32nd coffee stirrer sticks that I "acquired" from Starbucks (some might say stole, since no one could ever need as many stirrer sticks as I have taken, but -ahem- technically they are getting put to good use...but if that's not the road for you, you could also use 1/32nd Craft Basswood), a middle "wainscoting layer" made out of cardstock which also holds the stained glass pane in place, and another wood frame on the back.

I built these the way you'd build them in real life (well, kind of - real life doors are a tad more complex) - the frame is made of 5 separate pieces which are glued together and squared.  This is then glued to the cardstock middle layer, which makes it quite sturdy, and sanded until all the joints are smooth and flush and any excess glue is gone.

You can see the first layer and second layer here, before I trimmed the excess cardstock off and sanded:

Each coffee stirrer measures 3 mm wide except for the top, which has an extra lip for the slide - that measures 7 mm wide.  I used the same overall measurements as my Grandt line doors, so for scale purposes, these are 7 ft tall by 3 ft wide - or standard door size.  There are 2 frames per door, and each frame consists of 5 pieces. 10 pieces per door x 4 doors.  Am I tired of cutting wood yet?

I've turned the frame over here to show you the back.  You can see the groove where the cardstock frame is smaller than the wood frame, and this will allow the stained glass pane to nestle inside without creating extra bulk.  As part of my finishing process, I'll lay a second wood frame on top of this to create the finished sandwich - but I've still got a ways to go before I can do that!

I wanted these to be Victorian in style and just a little romantic.  So I decided to add some carved wainscoting to the bottom panel. This is such a tiny space (less than 1" x 1/2")!  First I built my wainscot frame, using 3/64 Double Bead from Northeastern Scale Lumber:

2 frames per door, x 4 doors, = 8 tiny frames. Yep, I'm tired of cutting wood already.

To square the frames, I lined them up with the grid lines of my cutting mat and let the glue dry.















The next step is to add the relief carving.  I drew out a number of tiny designs and finally settled on this "arrows and hearts" style. 

Then, using a toothpick and a steady hand, I outlined the design with Elmer's craft glue.  When this glue dries it is clear, but it also creates a raised effect.  I let the glue dry and then went back over it again 3-4 times to build up the relief so that it would be visible.  I also built up the relief higher in different areas to simulate real carving.  And yes, I did this on both sides of the cardstock, because of course, I want wainscoting on both sides!

Then, once the glue was dry, I added the frame to the panel and primed everything:

Now it's starting to look like something!  I only have 3 doors left to do now...Only 3.

I'm also toying with the idea of finishing the raw interior edges of the doors with 3/64" quarter round molding.  This adds a nice finished look, but I'm not sure if it adds too much to the width of the frame, making it look "fat" and out of scale.  I'm debating still.  Perhaps I can use sandpaper instead to round the edges for a beveled look. Hmmm.

The next step is to finish the other doors and then age them. Since these are meant to be "original" to the house, I'd like to give them a little bit of wear, but not too much.  I'm not going for a shabby look, just an antique, lived-in look. Then I'll add the stained glass, glue the back frame on, and voila!  My doors at least will be complete.

Which does not mean they are ready to be installed. Sigh.

Once the doors are done, I still have some engineering to do on the wall.  I need to add the top channel which will hold the doors in place and allow them to slide open and closed. It also serves as the bottom jamb for the transom.  I need to build and install the transom frames as well.  And I need to install the wood floor for the dining and parlor as it will be necessary for the doors to slide open properly, and just makes sense to do it before they are completely installed rather than later.  At that point, I might just be done with these pocket doors, aside from adding the final trim around the outside.

In order to finish all these things, I also have some work left in the parlor.  The built in bookcases need to be installed before I can paint, and I'm bashing the bay window to make it a little larger and add some sidelight windows for more light.


I have to say I didn't anticipate that this would require so many steps or be so complex overall. I could probably have simplified things a bit, but I'm happy with how they're turning out so far. And, one thing to look forward to is when the pocket doors are stamped as DONE, the parlor and dining will be done too :)  That's almost like getting three birds with one stone, right?  :)

Pocket Doors - An interlude

While I wait for my transparency film to show up, I decided to work on the pocket door frames - my plan was to get everything sized and cut so that when the film showed up, I could print out the leaded/stained glass pieces and glue everything together.   Unfortunately, during the process I wasn't quite sure I like my end result well enough yet.  My original inspiration for the doors was this picture:

But after building the model frame from cardstock, I'm not sure I actually like the arched door after all.  To me it looks really modern, or very French Renaissance.  And while there are definitely some french-themed elements to Victorian design (Second Empire) that will be a part of this build, I just keep feeling like these are "off" somehow.  I don't know.












Here's my dry fit of the door frame (from the dining room side) with some "stained glass" pieces (these are just paper printouts) for effect:

This doesn't look so bad, I guess.  It just still feels a little too modern to me, and I think it's the style of that arch.  And then, of course, I found this picture, and suddenly the idea of making these transoms square instead of arched seems to fit much better:

 

So I'm still debating. A rectangular transom would certainly be easier, as there are far more rectangular glass designs than the half-arched ones. Plus the trimwork would be easier. I might also need to scale down the size of trim on the door panel a little bit still as well, and maybe that will help add a more antiqued look.  Meanwhile, my transparency film should show up today or tomorrow, 

which means I need to resolve this debate quickly and get a move on!  

More and more I think I'm leaning toward the square transom...

Update:  I adjusted the trim size on the door framing and I like that much better!  I think I will go with the square transom too. The arch doesn't look so modern now, but finding a stained glass pattern to fit this particular arch shape has been very difficult.  I haven't given up on it completely (it looks remarkably feminine and delicate now, I think) but I think that transom is going to require some more work.

Pocket Doors, Part 1

I started work on the pocket doors this weekend.  Having limited mobility sure does change some priorities around, and gee, this might be hard to believe, but I would rather create mini things than watch TV!

Pocket doors are traditionally installed using a wheel system, where a small wheel attached to the top of the door glides along a track above the door.  It makes for a smooth operation and uses gravity, the track (and the pocket wall) to hold everything in place.  I thought about engineering something like this for the best fit, but finding components small enough to work with my design proved somewhat difficult and in the long run, left me doubtful of how well they'd hold up.

There are some great tutorials out there for pocket doors from some master mini makers, and for the most part I'm going to follow along the same lines.  Here are the tutorials I found in case anyone is interested:

Myrtlewood Manor Pocket Doors
Otterine's Pocket Door Part 1 (search her blog for the other parts)
KathieB's Creole Cottage Pocket Door


The key difference between these miniature doors and the wheel system is the track.  The mini door needs a guide to slide along. It's not getting opened multiple times every day, and no one really cares about gravity in a mini house, so a simple channel that allows the door to slide back and forth works fine.  Some miniaturists add a little wax to the channel to help the door slide better, and I'll probably do that too.

My dilemma now is the style of pocket door I want to do.  I'm adding these doors to both the parlor entrance and the dining room entrance, which means they will have a transom above the door track and I want them to resemble french doors.  Here's an inspiration shot:

 This door is obviously not a pocket door.  But it's not hard to re-imagine it as one, like this one:

Combined, these two pictures reflect what I'm looking for - an elegant door that allows the light to flow through, adding that modern open and airy feeling while also keeping the pocket door element that was so popular in Victorian homes.  I also like the look of the french doors, and I plan to make the window lights look like old, antique glass.  Also, because the Fairfield's foyer is so tiny, pocket doors are a perfect complement to the space and allow it to feel much bigger than it would be otherwise. (Experienced FF builders will note the staircase is no longer in the entrance hall on this build...that is getting it's own addition and will come later.)

To start, I needed to do some surgery on the wall. First, I cut a piece of matte board to the dimensions of the interior wall (parlor/dining side), which was 5" x 13".  Then I traced the outline of the parlor door, which came pre-punched in the arch style with the Fairfield kit. I wanted to repeat this arch in the dining room to add some symmetry and extra light.  The FF is full of arches - from the bay windows to the parlor entrance, and it makes sense to keep that as a consistent element where I can.

I cut out the arch and then traced that over where I wanted the dining room arch to go. In order for the doors to have enough room to slide into the wall on the dining side, I needed to move the dining room arch over slightly.

Then I checked the fit with the pocket wall in place.  You can see where the old square door was located (This was originally a single-wide door with an arch that I squared it off because I had originally intended this to be the entrance to the kitchen...which has obviously changed.)  I'll need to cut some pieces to fit that gap.  Since I'm planning to spackle the walls before I paint them, I'm not too worried about these little gaps or the structural element.

That little bit of surgery went well, but I discovered another little problem:

The tab slot for the tower front (where the door is located) leaves absolutely no room for trimwork on the foyer side of the parlor door.  I suppose that if you built this according to how it's laid out in the original kit it's no big deal, because there would never be a chance that you'd be able to see this corner of the house.  But I'm not doing that, and I took this shot through the window that I've added to the foyer, so it's definitely going to be visible.  What I'll have to do I suppose is sacrifice a tiny bit of porch width, and slide the tower forward just a tad to make room for trim. That will probably require me to cut new tower walls out of plywood, but that's ok because that's relatively easy to do.  Especially since I bought ample wood to cut walls for all the other rooms I'm adding...Ahem.


Here's another shot where you can see the adjusted location for the tower section. I've slid the tower back about 1/2", which adds an extra mini "foot" of space to this foyer room. Considering the foyer is barely 7 ft x 7 ft in mini-measurements, it's still incredibly small.  Then again, why stand in the foyer when you have such a warm, comfortable parlor and a roaring fire right there to enjoy?

Having decided on that, the last step before I was done for the evening was to flesh out the dimensions for the doors to be cut and figure out where to put my door track.

The transom definitely complicates things.  In the other tutorials, a significant top extension piece holds the door in place on the track and this is all hidden behind a solid wall. But with the transom, I don't really have much space for a track unless I make it look like there's a track there.  That's just not as visually appealing, because the trim size ends up being too large and ultimately, will look out of scale.  Here's some real world installations for comparison to see what I mean:

The trim work around this pocket door and transom has a consistent look and feel.  All the framing trim is approximately the same width, including the center beam where the track is located, so what your eye is drawn to is the beauty of the glass doors and the room beyond.  Unless you really look closely, you don't even notice that the outside pilaster trim is actually wider than the interior frame, but this detail adds a touch of elegance that helps the eye focus on the symmetry of everything else. It's a very professional finish.







But in these next two installations, the center trim below the transom where the door track resides is wider than the rest of the framing trim and the eye picks up on it being out of place right away. It makes the door construction look uneven and dare I say (considering the houses in these pics are probably 4 times the cost of my own), cheap. The second picture on the right isn't as bad as the first, but the feel ends up being more farmhouse and less old to new Victorian.  One thing about remodeling a Victorian home and keeping old elements like original trimwork, etc is that they almost never look cheap because they are works of art.  They were built with the same craftsmanship and attention to detail as the above example. 

So, the next stage of this build is going to be building that narrow track so that it's consistent with the rest of the trim size and seeing how that works. But, darn it all, to START I need window panes, so I need to order some transparency film. The center channel supports both the track for the door below and the groove the glass sits in for the transom above.  Glass (or in this case, transparency film) doesn't need much to hold it in place, but overall I'm only looking at a trim width of 3/16" for my doors.  I based this width on the width of the trim around the Grandt line doors I purchased awhile back and I'd like to keep things consistent with them, as I'll be using them elsewhere in the house and feel that size trim really looks in scale. I might be able to get away with a full 1/4", but keep in mind that 3/16" is just over 4" wide in real world scale, and 1/4" is 6", and that's a really wide door trim size.  If the track space is too short to allow the door to slide easily or it somehow skips out of the track, I'll have to resort to plan B - which is to go with something more like this:

This is of course a gorgeous door and evokes a very elegant, Victorian feel, but it wasn't my first choice.  It has grown on me quite a bit though, and I love that wall color and the wainscoting, so we'll see :)

An Update and A Fireplace

I haven't posted anything in a good long while because, while I have dinked around with the house here and there, I haven't made any real progress beyond conceptual stuff.  I've had some pretty major life changes as well - I moved to a completely different state and I got pregnant.  Both of which have contributed to nearly zero house-building time.  And finally, there is that old, nagging problem of "every time I sit down to work on the house I want to change what I'm doing to the house."  It makes it incredibly frustrating to make progress.

FINALLY, I think I have a working plan and something to show off. I guess being 8 months pregnant with no real desire to move above sort of puts the building table front and center for me.  I CAN sit in a chair and I CAN mini, even if I've got a giant belly and swollen feet and an aching back.  So let's see if I can actually accomplish some things!

First things first, the Fairfield is changing. My original goal was to build it stock, without bashing things too much, and that has all gone out the window.  Rooms are getting expanded, more rooms are getting added, a grand staircase is in the works and no, it won't really look anything like a Fairfield when it's done. But, I feel pretty happy that the overall concept will let me accomplish my goals in every which way possible, so there is that, at least.

The front parlor is first on my finishing agenda.  Before I can lay floors or paint the wall or frame in the bookcases, I need a fireplace, and not just any fireplace.  The style of this Fairfield is "modern Victorian."  Which basically means I want antiquated elements, but I want them to look "renovated." This is a house that was once a very grand old Victorian, but it's current owner has updated it to reflect a more modern style.  She's throwing out all the dark colors, the busy wallpaper, the heavy wood - and knocking down walls, adding windows and re-painting in favor of a house that is airy and full of light.  It's a comfortable place to relax, write, quilt, watch a storm at sea and live in - with all the convenience of a modern home. So, my goal while building is to keep/embellish a lot of Victorian thematic elements but also modernize them a bit.

Enter the fireplace. Fireplace surrounds are expensive (in the real world) and the craftsmanship and artistry on a Victorian-era mantel or fireplace surround is often one of a kind, so this is one of those elements that feels like it has to be there. Because the parlor in the FF is just off the entry way and would be the main room guests would be ushered to when visiting, I decided that the fireplace here would need to have a very rich aesthetic to complement the higher level of ornamentation. But how to create something that was ornate (read: lots of carvings) in such a small scale?

There are fabricated options out there. Most of what I could find easily on ebay or at other retailers either looked out of scale to me or wasn't the look I was going for.  Sue Cook from www.suecookminiatures.com has some phenomenal plaster fireplaces (among other things), but with a minimum of FOUR fireplaces in the Fairfield (I'll probably add one or two more), I just couldn't justify that kind of cost. 

So meet my secret weapon - The Paper Studio's "Gemstones" collection. 

These are 3D plastic stickers that come in two sizes that are scaled remarkably well for using in 1:12 and 1:24 scale trim work. You could use them for the obvious - fancy picture frames (the little one is perfect for a very large overmantel)- or get a little crafty, chop them up, and reassemble into a carved marble fireplace.  What?   A carved marble fireplace?

First, I measured the size for my fireplace.  Half scale can be tricky to do right - I always try to make my measurements match real world measurements as much as possible because otherwise, even though the difference between 3" and 6" in half scale is a mere 1/8" of an inch, it really can add extra bulk that the eye can see.  One of the biggest turnoffs for me in the "pre-made" fireplace category was that they all seemed to stick out into the room, taking up valuable floor space and making the incredibly tiny Fairfield parlor feel even smaller.  Since depth was the most critical part from a bulk standpoint, I created a basic cardstock "frame" that was a mere 3" deep - or about 1/8."  Then I cut my sticker out to frame the interior opening.  Because these are just plastic stickers, they're extremely easy to cut in any which way with an x-acto blade.

Just looking at this got me really excited!  I'm not quite done here though.  That's a nice start, but I wanted a fully ornate marble fireplace, and that meant adding corbel supports.














Here are a couple of real Victorian marble fireplaces I used for inspiration: 

To finish my fireplace, I added some gentle arches from the larger sticker to create what would be in real life 4.5 foot tall marble corbel supports.  I cut two pieces for each side and stuck them together to create a truly 3D corbel.

Then  I used my fingers to gently bend them to give them a more rounded, natural appearance.  Here are a couple of shots of the fitting process.

For the mantel, I laminated three pieces of 1/16 matte board together and sanded the edges for a nicely beveled, crown molding sort of look. 

And finally, I added a base and fireback out of matte board. Because these were going to be painted to look like iron, I wanted them to be nice and smooth and the matte board definitely has the right texture for that.  Here I am checking the final fit, and you may notice that the mantel is just a tad wide for the wall space. This is actually on purpose - it wasn't an uncommon design element in antiquated days, especially with flanking bookcases, and it's one of those quirks left over from the "old house." It also adds a little extra grandeur to the fireplace wall without taking away any space. Here are some more real-life inspiration photos to show you what I mean:

It was quite tempting to do this as an iron fireplace at this stage - the black and silver just make such a nice combination.  But I really think it will look exquisite as marble.

Awhile back I purchased some metal firebox inserts from Phoenix Models.  They were a little on the spendy side ($15 each) but these are quintessential Victorian fireplace elements and I knew I wanted them in my fireplace. I decided to use a hob grate with a custom fireback for the parlor fireplace.  This would hold a glowing ball of coals and flickering fire flames, and be set inside the firebox of my fireplace.  Here I have added my first two coats of white primer.

Now it's starting to come together!  I used gesso as a primer, partly because it has a great texture and partly because it really helps fill any holes or gaps in the pieces, sort of like wood glue.  Now begins the sanding/painting process...gesso, sand, paint, sand, glaze, paint, sand, glaze etc.  I'm not going to go through an entire tutorial on how to paint marble because there are plenty of those out there, and really, it comes down to a lot of tweaking and a lot of coats until you feel you've got the look you want.  My general process generally goes something like this (with light sanding (220 and 600 grits) between each layer):

1) Prime with base coat. In this case, the gesso was bright white, and since I was emulating Carrara marble, it just used it as my base coat as well.
2) Using Dove Grey and Licorice (FolkArt colors), I created two medium gray tones - one light, one dark, and dabbed a few lines here and there.  Then I used a flat brush to blur/smudge them.  This helps create the illusion of depth to the marble, as if there are veins deep under the surface.
3) Glaze with white again.  This creates a layer over the smudges and adds depth.
4) Second glaze of white.  Also touch up smudges that are just too smudgy - Carrara typically has very light veining, so you don't want a lot of color on the white.

****Note:  you may find you want to repeat the above white glaze several times until you build it up to your standard. Don't be afraid to experiment.  You have sandpaper, so the worst that can happen is you sand down your entire last coat and start again.

5) Lay down a very thick, wet base of glaze.  Working quickly before this dries, use a liner brush dipped in more glaze mixed with your medium gray tone and draw the liner quickly through the glaze base.  These are creating your fine vein lines. You want a lot of glaze for very fine, easy, squiggle lines. Don't press hard and allow the liner to skip in spots.  For Carrara, you want the vein lines to generally all run in the same direction.  Use accents of Licorice or a dark gray tone to add depth to the lines.  Let this dry and lightly sand.
6) Glaze with white.
7) Add a layer of triple thick gloss. Note how much depth suddenly pops out!
8) Lightly sand the Triple thick.
9) Wash with plain white (no glaze.) This helps dull the Triple thick, unless you really want a "polished" marble look.  I haven't seen too many shiny polished fireplace mantels, so I went with more of a flat marble look.


You may feel the need to add more or less paint than these steps suggest, and you may feel like you have to add or subtract white a lot to get the look you want. Do a test piece first to get the technique down and don't be afraid to experiment! Marble is natural stone and has lots of variation. The more layers you add, the more real it will look.  

And here is my nearly finished product:

 

Some close up shots to show the veining, and also you can really see some of the places that could still use some smoothing.  It's really amazing what the camera (even slightly out of focus) can show you that you don't see as well with the naked eye!  I've come to rely on taking macro shots just to see the imperfections I need to touch up.

There are still some little things I need to tweak.  Up close you can see some lines from the stickers and some uneveness in the paint coats - those need to be sanded a bit so they look less like plaster and more like smooth stone. I've also decided to replace the decoration on the fireback - it's just too large for the scale.

One really cool, unintended thing that I like is that you can see that when the light isn't directly hitting it, the marble veining really pops out.  To me, that adds some realism, because that's how light affects real stone as well. I also like how the pattern of the carving has a little bit of an Octopus-tentacle look to it - to me, it adds a little bit of a nautical/deep sea feel, and since I envision this house sitting on a bluff overlooking a stormy bay, I think that is perfect.  Maybe I'll add some more sea-themed touches as I go to complement. I can totally see this house having belonged to a sailor once, and when he was out to sea maybe his wife would stand on the balcony and brave the salty winds, looking for his return.

The above pictures makes the fireplace look a bit crooked, but it's really not - that's the warpiness of the Fairfield's chimney column behind it, which doesn't sit fully level and will be adjusted further along in the building process. I'm also happy that the tab slot is still open above the mantel here, because I'll be using that to thread the wire for some candles for the mantel a little bit down the road, and it saves me a little work drilling holes. (Those should be exciting, I'm going to try fiberoptics.)

The total fireplace depth ended up at about 15 inches, or 5/8" inch. That makes for a deep mantel, but the corbels are set at an angle, so the real depth is actually only about 3" or 1/8".  The effect is that the fireplace looks in scale, but maintains that ornate, somewhat imposing styling that is so typical of Victorian homes.

I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.  All in all, the fireplace surround cost me about $3, and the Phoenix Model was $15. That's still a little pricey for one fireplace, but the satisfaction of getting what I want and doing it myself is <insert corny smile here> priceless. Not bad for a custom marble fireplace!  I've definitely got plans for the rest of the fireplaces in this house.  I might try going for an iron look in the bedrooms, and maybe - maybe!  another marble option for the upstairs bathroom.  I'd also really like to do a fancy wood-look fireplace too. Those Paper Studio stickers are definitely giving me good ideas!

I think the colors in this room will echo the cool marble tones - perhaps a cool light green, or even a seaglass blue.  For the fire itself, I used a flickering led from a tealight candle which I wired to a battery pack that will also power the other fireplaces. The coals were made from crushed plastic beads, which I painted a layer of soot onto and then added the flames - made from jagged cut pieces of plastic blister packaging and painted orange/red with glass paint.  I still have some work to do on the fire, both with the installation (the durned led does NOT want to stay in) and because I plan to wire all the fireplaces to the same circuit.  But that's more for another day.
 
To finish this room, I'll be adding bookcases to either side of the fireplace, a set of pocket doors, wood floors and a coffered ceiling. The pocket doors come first though, since the rest of the room dimensions will change once the pocket wall is installed.  I'll be working on those next...and hopefully be able to show them off soon.  I'm really ready to get this room finished...I can't wait to set an armchair in front of that warm, cozy fire :)  If only I could shrink myself to fit!

The Easy Cutter Ultimate - a review

Today I got an Easy Cutter Ultimate (from Hobby Builder Supply.)  So that I could finish cutting this:

and turn it into this:

Kitchen Appliances!

My refrigerator looks small next to the massive stove - but it's 5 ft tall in scale!

I got my Aga stove from Scale Designs today!  I'm stoked because now I finally have all my kitchen appliances, and all I have to make are the cabinets (well, at least when it comes to what I have to make structurally, that is...) I have been drooling over this unfinished stove for several months and finally decided that I needed to get it before it was gone. It's made by Rosemarie Torre and is the only 1:24 scale Aga I've seen made in the US and the only one with such exquisite detail. The listing on the website indicated the hood was no longer available so all I would get is the stove, which was fine by me - I was planning to insert the stove into the alcove of the "old" kitchen hearth, so having a hood wasn't really necessary.

Circular Stair - Part 1

Real-life inspiration for my mini-version

The spiral staircase is an elegant, beautiful and utterly silly invention. To be effective as a staircase that allows for a person of average athleticism to travel to a second floor as well as the moving of furniture (otherwise, you'd have to use a crane, rope or other mechanical means to haul your solid oak library desk up over the balcony), it has to take up a lot of floor space.  And if you don't have the floor space, then it becomes a steep incline best assailed by people who climb mountains in their spare time.  It is, of course, quintessentially Victorian.

The Fairfield does not have a lot of floorspace to convert to stairs.  But it demanded a lovely, grand, eye-catching spiral staircase. Here's how I did it.

Updates & News

It's been some time since I updated.  A LOT of time, I guess!  And since then, a few things have happened:

Greenleaf's Fairfield Dollhouse

First, I decided to postpone the "big" dollhouse (Clockwork House) in favor of starting smaller.  I made that decision because it was moving into the rainy months and I didn't want to be trying to cut the wood in the rain, plus we are considering moving, and I really didn't want to have to figure out how to move an assembled 4 ft long dollhouse. But I also made the decision because I wanted to hone my skills and build an even finer steampunk mansion.  Which is why I decided to start on something smaller - a half-scale kit, The Fairfield.  I have liked this kit for a long time and when I found it on ebay for $25, I decided to go for it.  I promised myself that I would just do a straight build - no experimental stuff or kit-bashing involved - and I promised my husband it would cost less because, well ya know, everything is half the size.

The ground floor is built and inspected!

Inspector Gryphon checks for a level floor.

After a not-so-fun experience gluing my floor together in reverse, it has been reassembled in the proper way.  We shall here-after make a note of paying attention to the blue-prints when assembling the structure and also note the importance of dry-fitting and husbands to the process.  Ahem.

However, I was in luck: Inspector Gryphon was available to drop in and ensure my first floor was up to building code.  He may have received a bribe of almonds, which may have influenced his feelings on the matter, but no one will ever know.

Next...the walls go up!

Stained Glass

After researching what other dollhouse enthusiasts like to use for realistic stained glass, I finally decided on Gallery Glass.  It's a stained glass paint that goes on opaque and dries to a wavy, glass-like finish, and it achieves my goals of looking realistic and challenging my crafting skills. I bought a kit off of Amazon for $15 which has small pots of just about every color Plaid makes in the gallery glass paint.  These small pots go a long way when it comes to miniature work, so for just a few dollars you get a lot of color choices to play with.  This picture shows my first attempt; in retrospect I probably should have tried a less ornate design but - le sigh - I've never been known to do things the easy way!