Why've you gorn so quiet.....

image from Clipart Library

...do I hear you asking???  Well, Adrian and I have been busy in the garden and to tell you the truth I've been a tad too tired to work on Augusta Lodge.  I made a mistake the other day by cutting out a bit I didn't mean to when I got distracted by a wasp, so I decided to be sensible and not work on the house when I've had a full-on day in the garden 😉

The front borders have become very overgrown these past few months and I lost a fair bit of gardening time when I was having the leg cramp problems, so there's a lot of catching-up to do before the winter weather arrives.  Our first task was to clear out the wider of the two front path borders as I made a terrible boo-boo by planting one dwarf elder (sambucus ebulus) plant.....which then took over!  By 'eck, it's a rampant plant 😲  It's a shame as it is an attractive plant but it definitely needs a LOT of space to itself!  Anyhoo, lesson learned and after all that's what gardening is all about, eh 😏  The soil level in the border had dropped somewhat so we were able to use up some more of the soil mountain to top it up.  It looked very bare by the time all the elder had been dug out which of course was an open invitation to the local cat population to use it as their new favourite litter tray 😒 And although I say "all the elder" we still keep coming across new shoots so I think it's going to be an ongoing process for some time yet!

As we work our way around the garden I'm having a bit of a reorganisation of what I've planted, so that first border we tackled isn't quite so empty now. 

I'd got round to the "hedge border" and as I moved my kneeling pillow (yes, it really is a pillow 😄) this chap leapt out from behind it ~ I don't know which one of us was the most startled LOL

We have quite a few frogs in our garden, of differing sizes.  This one was very obliging and posed long enough for me to take a couple of photos.  A smaller of its brethren leapt out in front of me from the front wall border later!

And in other news I've actually done a bit of crochet recently.  Beverly asked me if I could make a tissue-box cover for her to give as a gift to one of her friends.  I think we were both astonished to find that I didn't have the right shade of grey in my yarn stash, so she had to actually buy a ball.  Naturally I pointed her in the direction of Wool Warehouse, my favourite supplier of my little yarn addiction 😄  The pattern, which I've made a number of times, is from The Royal Sisters.

Slightly less scary 😉

image from Clipart Library

I got out the Sonicrafter to make an actual hole this time, rather than simply trimming off edges.  Now to be honest I really don't know what the various blades are called, but when I trimmed the edges of the upper house base I used a semi-circular one to work my way across in a straight line.  This time I used a rectangular one with the teeth just at one end to make plunge cuts.  There ~ now you know as much as me, in fact I'm pretty sure it's highly likely that you know a helluva lot more than me 😄

I didn't take these photos at a very good angle, so you may have to tilt your head a wee bit ~ sorry about that 😏  Anyhoo, this is what will be the third floor of the completed house and is in effect Lady Constance's floor.  Her bedroom is beyond the wall and I'm taking the photo from what will eventually be her bathroom.

As I mentioned previously the floors below had two doorways so that folk could get from one staircase to the other, but since there was no access up to the attic this floor simply had the doors to the rear of the house.  This does not fit in with my plans so I needed to cut out a doorway at the front ~ the door at the rear will be blocked in later.  I took my time with the measuring ~ you know, all that "measure twice, cut once" malarky 😉  You may be able to see that the original doorways are a little taller than what is needed for the doors I purchased (from Bromley Craft Products if you're interested, who seem to have become my first port of call when I'm looking for stuff!), so there will have to be a little filling-in along the top of the other doorways.

Since I was cutting out a new hole here I was able to make it to the correct dimensions.  I must admit that I found making this doorway a wee bit harder than the trimming I did the other day, but since it's only the second time that I've ever used anything even remotely like the Sonicrafter I'm still pleased with my efforts 😊

Thank goodness, though, for architrave!

Next step is working out how to configure those pesky staircases 😕

A tad scary 😟

image from Clipart Library

I admit that I've been procrastinating but I finally pulled up my big girl panties and used my anniversary gift from Adrian ~ the oscillating multi tool.  I've been putting it off because using power tools is all very new to me and to be honest I was feeling a tad scared 😮  But needs must as I really wanted to get the base of the upper house trimmed.  It's only a few centimetres bigger all round than the top of the basement so I wanted to bring it as close as possible to those dimensions.  

The first job was to trim off the front edge which as you can see in the photo above extends beyond the front of the house, either side of where the original entrance door was positioned.  As luck would have it, simply trimming in a straight line brought the whole of that edge level, and doesn't affect the opening front panels.  The upper house now sits level with the top of the basement.  The top of the basement overhung its own walls in any event and I'm still undecided whether I like how that looks or not.  If I decide it doesn't look quite right I will just add some simple moulding all round to soften the transition.

I was quite nervous when I began cutting but I took it very slowly, starting with the lowest power level. 

After I had trimmed the left-hand side, I felt a little more confident to move up to power level number 2 😄  The base of the upper house now sits level with the top of the basement at the front.  It does still extend a couple of centimetres or so at the back but I've decided to leave that be.  I think I may well be able to absorb that overhang with the plans I have in mind for the whole of the back of the house.

The upper house base also extends about a centimetre either side of the basement top so I decided to be brave and trim the side edges, too 😧

Once again luck was on my side as it just so happened that the side walls of the upper house fit in grooves on the base.  Trimming off a centimetre from the very edge doesn't affect the sides from still sitting in the grooves, although I shall have to glue them in very securely when I rebuild the house.

I clamped the base to my bench to do all the cutting and was able to keep it held pretty firmly.  I know I haven't done a perfect job by any means, but I am still happy with the end result.  Ultimately the whole of the house will be "clad" with textured wallpaper to represent harling (roughcast render), similar to how our real-life house is finished, which will hopefully cover up a multitude of sins 😉 

I've been very sensible, by the way, and have equipped myself with appropriate dust masks.  They are probably the most uncomfortable masks I've ever worn but better safe than sorry, eh?  Dust from MDF is horrible stuff and I definitely don't want to be breathing it in ~ I also vacuumed as soon as I'd trimmed each edge before moving on to the next section.  I look quite a fright, I know 😏

I had a rummage in the dolls' house garden stash and found a bench for the lads to sit on ~ they were very happy to relax and watch me, offering lots of "helpful advice" as I'm sure you can imagine 😄

And then there was the basement...

As I mentioned in my previous post not only are there a whole heap of issues with the upper house, the basement isn't problem-free either 😒  It's called the Copford basement and I've had it so long that I can't even remember what company made it!  What I do know, however, is that I bought it because I wanted an additional floor and it was close to the size of the Somerby house.

Its opening panels are on the sides so that creates a bit of a problem straightaway.  Because my ultimate aim is to have it in our new porch, every time I want/need to get to the rooms I shall have to turn the house since the cabinet it will be displayed on won't be sitting in the middle of the room in splendid isolation!  However that's not too much of a problem because I don't think I will actually be needing/wanting to get inside every five minutes.   

 

Nope, a far bigger problem takes us right back to the thorny issue of stairs yet again *sigh*  Before I removed the lower section of the back of the upper house, I balanced it on the basement (minus its base) so that I could see how things lined up.....or didn't, as you can see.  To be fair, I wasn't really expecting the walls to line up since the basement wasn't made for the house.  Had the rooms in the basement been set the other way around, though, then I think the dividing wall wouldn't actually have been that far off being in line with the walls on the left-hand side of the upper house.

I've finally come to the conclusion that the most sensible solution for the upper house is to make the rooms on the right smaller, so that the landing areas can be large enough to accommodate dog-leg staircases.  I've been saving cardboard boxes so that I've got plenty of material to try some mock-ups before I commit to anything 😄  I shall also have to go down this route with fitting stairs from the basement.  I think I shall get the stairwells cut out in the upper house, including the base, then use said base as a template for the top of the basement.  I will cut out the corresponding hole for the stairwell and see what I can do to alter the dividing wall in the basement to accommodate it.  Of course had the upper house and basement been three or four inches deeper I could have had runs of straight staircases, which would have been very much simpler all round. 

This wall needs some alterations anyway because I want the doorway between the two rooms set closer to the front wall.  It may come down to having to actually move the wall further to the left so that it is in line with the walls in the upper house.  The problem with that is that the walls are all set in routed out grooves, so I would either have to try to rout some new grooves or trim down the wall so that it is simply set between the base and the ceiling.  As they say, watch this space 😉    

So after Derek and I had had a long chat about all the staircase issues, he pointed out other problems he and Albert had come across too.

First of all, the doorway from the basement out to the garden area is simply not tall enough ~ it's not very wide either!  What do you think of Derek's pink trainers, by the way?  He wore them all day for a bet ~ I believe he won a few pints down at his local that evening 😄 

It would be very awkward getting out of the door beneath those steps to the upper house.

The steps themselves are also somewhat steep, narrow...

and uncomfortable to walk up and down.

And just look at all that unusable space beneath what is meant to be used as the pavement!

The upshot of all this was that after consultations with Sir Peter, Lady Constance, and Christopher the decision was made that the entrance to Augusta Lodge will be moved to the side of the basement, as I mentioned in the previous post.  This really opens up the space in front of the basement, which will make a nice little courtyard garden in due course.  There are going to be a number of alterations made to the front house wall of the basement ~ it's a bloody good job I've got that shiny new tool so I can help the lads out 😄

I'm pretty sure the lads weren't terribly thrilled when I showed them the schedule of works Sir Peter and I had drawn up (that's what's on the clipboard on the right) even though I bought them a couple of shiny new saws ~ especially young Graham, who I expect sees his future holding much more physically exerting work than he is used to 😄 

Demolition...

image from Clipart Library

...albeit on a mini scale 😉

This is Augusta Lodge, which is to be the new home of Lady Constance and her brother, Christopher.  It's the first dolls' house I bought, a very long time ago, and I never did get it built ~ as you can see!  It's the Somerby House made by Barbara's Mouldings, I believe.  There were issues with it right from the start which had I been more experienced in the world of dolls' houses I would perhaps have picked up on.  And since it's just been hanging around waiting for me to do something with it, the problems have increased what with warping and bits falling off!

Now that my dolls' house tastes have become more "sophisticated", for want of a better word, I was sorely tempted to just scrap the thing altogether!  But my bloody-mindedness kicked in and I decided to have a go at making it into what I ~ well, to be more accurate I suppose I should say what Lady Constance and Christopher 😉 ~ want it to be.  Because the house, for me personally, is so disappointing I haven't really got anything to lose if my kit-bashing totally wrecks it or my ambitions prove to be greater than my capabilities.  Mind you Lady Constance and Christopher may be a tad upset if I can't rebuild it 😄 

The biggest issue is how unrealistic the stairs in the house are.  The original layout had straight staircases from one floor to the next with no landings running alongside the stairwells.  The people were expected to turn to the left or right at the top of the stairs, and walk through that room to get to the next set of stairs ~ I'm sure you can see how irritating I found this!  So even back when I first got the thing I tried to remedy the situation by moving one of the walls further to the right to make a landing, even though I had to sacrifice some of the space in the room.  As for access into the attic, as far as I can recall I don't believe there was any from within the house, even though the front of the roof was hinged to allow access from outside 😒

So I rolled up my sleeves and dug out my trusty little stubby hammer and an old screwdriver.  The latter is a little bent (not by me, I hasten to add!) and I have no idea where it came from but I thought it would be the ideal accompaniment to the hammer for the purposes of demolition.

I took it slow and steady, and the attic floor and sides of the house came apart without too much trauma.  Because the head of the screwdriver is small I was able to gently tap it into the areas where the house has been glued together and prise things apart.  The back panel is made up of two pieces and the top section came away fairly easily.  

The lower section, though, was much more reluctant, perhaps because it was covering more of the back and so was glued to more sections of the house.  At one point I seriously thought about just leaving it be, but because I need to move the stairwells I decided to persevere as the job would be a tad easier if the whole of the back panel was removed.

If I could have "flat-packed" the house entirely I would have done so but decided not to push my luck any further!  I shall just have to make the new stairwells as best I can with the floors/ceilings still in place.  I'm sure ceiling paper and floorboards will hide a multitude of repair sins 😏 

Decisions then had to be made about the front panels.  The house is being set on a basement (more about the traumas of that to come!) and the entrance will be from the ground floor.  This means that the space for the door on what has now become known as the "upper house" is redundant.  I also can't find any of the window inserts that came with the house so decided the best thing would be to change the windows altogether.

In fact the whole façade is going to be changed as I didn't really care for this stepped-out section...

..so used my tried-and-tested hammer and screwdriver technique to prise it off.  I think it looks much neater now and hopefully will make it a little easier to resize the window holes for the new windows in due course.

Still lots and lots to do including the trauma of the basement which I'll share in my next post 😳