A cupboard under the (new) stairs

A little more than a year ago I started making a straight run staircase for the cottage  (Building stairs). After a month I discovered some problems so I changed the staircase to one with a 90 degree turn both on the top and on the bottom (Struggling with stairs ...)
I knew I still had some work to do, especially since I didn't know at the time how to do the handrail and balustrade.
After I put the cottage together again last week, I spend some time researching that. There was the fact that the stairs consisted of different parts of previous made stairs and definately looked that way. Also I figured that the staircase didn't need a turn on the bottom any more ;)

I decided to make a new staircase (a) You already figured that out, didn't you? ^^
While I was at it, I thought about the space under the staircase. Being a huge Harry Potter fan, it wasn't hard to come up with an idea. A nice cupboard under the stairs with storage space for Bianca, as a wink to the Boy Who Lived ;)

Set photo by www.catterflyworx.com

So, after taking some measurements and checking and double checking I started all over.
I've used plywood for the side where the door will be. It's the same 4 mm plywood that I've used for all the cottage walls. The other side, which will be glued to the wall between the entrance hall and the kitchen, is 3 mm Balsa.

Just checking if the opening is still wide enough for the new stairs :)

The treads and risers are 2,5 mm Balsa. Most of the risers are already glued in place. The turn at the top was the hardest. And I needed to figure out where the bannister on the bottom of the staircase should be.

I'd brought some spindle, bannisters, handrail etc at WAM miniaturen, which arrived soon.

Now I have a better understanding of how to do the handrail and the ballustrade, though I've decides not to make it before I'll have checked if the staircase fit 100% next week :) That's when the walls will be glued together. Yay ;)

But I could already finish the door. This time with hinges, but not the hard (and realistic) way; I just put them on the outside. And even that was hard enough  ^^ Glued them with superglue and them I snapped the ends of the nails and glued the head on the hinges for decorative purpose only.

Next I experimented with colours and structures for that wall. Top is a mix of grey structure with plain white paint, middle the same with a bit of bird sand for more structure, and the bottom one has a bit bit of azure blue paint added.
Eventhough I liked the bottom one very much, it might be a bit too much structure for the small wall and door, so I've chosen the one at the top.
But I'll keep the other in mind, maybe for an outside wall?

I finished it off with some Balsa slats (1,5 mm), oak stained, and a door knob.

Maybe I'll decide later to do some aging on the wall, but for now I'm very happy with the result. Let's keep my fingers crossed that the staircase will fit perfectly between the other walls.
Monday my dad will come help me so the walls can finally be fixed in place. Very exciting and also a bit worrying (a)

Productive weeks, more or less.

"Now I'm going to stain the door and then glue the hinges and nails to the door. Keeping my fingers crossed in the mean time," I said a month ago. Well, that didn't help :')

I've tried and tried and tried but every time I got it wrong and I got so frustrated that I almost threw in the towel. But of course I didn't :')
In the end I decided to remove a part of the jamb, made a new one, and made a new (wider) door and a (sturdier) treshold.

No visible hinges anymore, but (needle) pins to open and close the doors :') Not as realistic as I would've liked, but ah well ... ;)
I've already done all four jambs yesterday, stained them too, and started on the other doors.

Besides my struggles with the doors. I was very productive these weeks :)
I sold my last macrame planthanger, made 4 new ones and already sold two of those as well.

I also sold the first shawl I crochetted, so I thought I'd start making a new one. For this one I will be using Venne Nm70/2 Terra Cotta (7-3010) and crochethook 0.60. 

There are also a few things I've made that I can't show you yet, since I made them as a birthday present for a good friend. And of course she's not supposed to see them before the parcel arrives by the end of the week ;)  Hope to show you then.

Last but not least; I've sorted out my craft supplies and tidied my craft room (again :P). I should probably call it my storeroom, since I'm always crafting in my living room ;)

Lot of unfinished, or nearly finished projects besides the cottage.

Doors for the Hogsmeade Cottage, part 3

It has been a while since I worked on building the Hogsmeade cottage. I've done lots of other things, and also spend time with making miniatures for my Etsy show. And of course then it was time to start crafting Christmas miniature :)
I'd promised myself during that time that January would be the month to continue building my cottage. So, with all Christmas decorations, big and small, put away again, and all the wooden walls and parts of the cottage waiting for me on my large dining table, it was time ^^

The hardest part now, was to figure out where to start :')  I knew I was struggling with the doors but I was not sure if I'd found a solution already. It'd been four months and I'd changed the plans so many times already. And on top of that, I have a terrible memory (a)

I decided to reread the previous blogs about the cottage to jog my memory.
For those who are interested, here you'll find the first blog and the background story for the cottage: A new project!

Before continuing with the door and those evil hinges I made the other door frames/jambs. I glued them in the openings, sanded them and stained them.
(you can find a link to the original tutorial for jambs here)

I showed you in August about the small slat of Balsa I'd use to fit the door. I still rather use that method instead of carving the openings for the hinges in the door, and probably ruin it :')

After checking it multiple times (a) I glued that slat to the door and sanded it.

Now I'm going to stain the door and then glue the hinges and nails to the door. Keeping my fingers crossed in the mean time ;)

This door is the one for the first floor, between the (attic) landing and the bathroom btw. The door will open into the bathroom.
The doors for the entrance hall will have little windows.

Samen knutselen / Crafting together - August

Last wednesday we had our monthly crafting afternoon. Though the weather outside was so bad, it looked more like a crafting evening ;)
We worked on our windows and brick walls. After a few enjoyable hours we agreed to finish the windows by ourself and do something different next month. Like making a macrame cushion for the garden bench or a small curtain for window or door ;)
After Jolinda and Wil had left I finished the bricks on the back wall and stained the door and window

Ready for the ladies to join me :)

I've choosen a pine wood-stain for this project.

Really like it so far :)

Doors for the Hogsmeade Cottage, part 2

Just a short update on my doors (well 'short'; it took me a few days to write this ^^). I've been feeling rather poorly the last week, so I couldn't do much, and what I did ... well poorly crafted doors were the result. But you can only learn from mistakes, right? :')

I'd started with a closed door (above, on the left) and went very well. Untill, I noticed that the jamb and the frame of the door were for the opening between the entrance hall and the kitchen, and I wanted a door with a small window there :')

So, thought I could save that door for the attic and started the next. But ... glued the whole door instead of only around the window opening (above, middle) *sighs* Maybe I can used that part if I can remove the 'glass' and make the second solid door?

Well, third time's the charm, isn't it? So, this time I did everything right, and I was very proud of the result. Untill ... I saw that the door was just a few mm too small, so it just fitted between the doorstop instead of against it :(

 

But, on the positive side; I love the way the window turned out the second time :) 

I used two sheets of gelatine and moved them just a bit sidewards to create smaller diamond shapes.

Fortunately, the jamb and frame also fitted in the opening of the attic wall.

I decided to see if I could make a better fitted door by added a thin slat of wood. Another benefit would be that I could use that for the hinges, and figuring those out without damaging the door :')

Using masking tape before glueing things is my secret :)

 It nearly fitted, so I could just cut a slice from that slat of Balsa.

 The nails will get in the door after I'll glue it all together.

  

So, I guess it's time to stain the frame, attach the hinges to it and then fit the door a final time :)

Doors for the Hogsmeade Cottage

After I finished the first set of windows, it became real quiet around the cottage.
I did manage to make a door and felt quite proud about that, even though I'd forgotten to add a treshold, and I couldn't open it more than a few centimeters before the tiny nails came loose.

  

And then summer (holiday) started, and the 1:1 world got a bit hectic when my son suddenly decided to move to the place where he's going to study after all :')
So, with everything settled down, I thought it was the right moment to continue this house building project (a)
But I needed to figure out the problem with the door first. Well, it turned out to be a rather silly mistake; my hinges were on the outside on the door instead of in between the door and the frame.
My second attempt was better, still on the wrong side of the door, but in the end I finally got the idea :)

  

Unfortunately, the door didn't look very decent after all the alterations, so, I decided to start from scratch.

  Both sides are now in one piece and I can slide it in the opening after staining it.

I also made a different door. It's based on the doors in my own old house so I hope it'll fit a cottage too ^^

The only question is, do I choose the doors closed or with a little window, or maybe solid for bathroom and bedroom on the firstfloor/attic, and open for the living room and kitchen below. (I have both in my home)

  

So, though I'm still not sure about those hinges, I feel more confident about getting the job done :)

P.S. A tutorial from 1inchminisbykris had got me started with the jamb and the frame of the door, though I had to make lot of changes in the end. Her door opening was 1 cm, mine 4 mm, she used cardboard instead of Balsa, and ... she used pin hinges instead of real hinges. And that's why I forgot the treshold and placed the hinges the wrong way at first :')
But the tutorial was still very usefull!