The Painting Has Begun

Yesterday, before I started painting, I took a picture of the house from the plans for the doll house, added a couple of swatches of the paint I planned to use and scanned it. Then I put it in my Corel Paint Shop Pro program and proceeded to "paint" the house. I had to put the paint colors I would use on the picture to make sure I had those colors available when working on the graphic.
Here is the result.

It obviously is not exact but it gave me the chance to see how the colors would go together. The actual color of the outside of the house is a bit more yellow. But basically this was the final look I wanted.

So the painting began. I have painted all the basic outside pieces of the house. I have not started on the doors, windows and such. I also painted the blue trim pieces. And of course the
roof shingles are done.

Today I will spend some time on the outside walls, putting on a little wash to make them look a bit weathered (that was my husband' idea. He says all new doll houses look to shiny and this way it will look more natural. He is right of course.

I got the floors stained too, a nice golden oak.

So I am moving along.

Let the FUN begin

The long job of sanding all the doll house parts is complete. My poor right arm is not happy about it. I will be having surgery on that arm at the end of the month. Hope I don't make it even worse between now and then.

The fun starts today when I play with my paints to figure out the exact color scheme for the house. The inside walls will all be creamy white. So I can decorate with lots of pictures on the wall and pretty curtains without worrying about if they will clash with colors of the wall.

But the outside isn't quite decided. I think I will paint the shell a cream, the trim with a grey blue and a dark red. In Victorian House Colors you usually use three colors. I will play with the various colors and see what I like. I will post the final color selection later on today and perhaps be able to show some of the painted parts.

But first I have to do a bit of housework..... then it is on to play.

Sealed and soon to be sanded

I continued with my doll house project yesterday and managed to get all the pieces coated with sanding sealer so that today I can sand. I will be painting not wallpapering the rooms so need to get everything ready.

Meanwhile, my hubby did a bit of work for me. I will not be including the stairs in this house. Since it is make believe anyway we can imagine the stairs must be elsewhere......

So he filled in the hole in the upstairs floor and sanded it so that is ready to take paint and stain. I know the area where he filled in will be a bit different looking but that will be in the bathroom area so I will cover that floor with "tile" instead of staining like a wood floor. I wouldn't want a wood floor in a bathroom anyway. (LOL)

The weather here today is awful.... with icy walkways and roads. So I will stay in side and sand... and maybe start on the painting if I get the other done.

I hope tomorrow to actually have something worth looking at.

A Mini Change of Plans

As I mentioned a bit ago I had planned to make the Heritage doll house, by Dura Craft during January. But I changed my mind. Instead, I will be making another doll house that I happen to have in kit form. I bought it a while ago and had forgotten it. It is by Read Good Toys.
It will be easier to make I think as it is a better quality kit and some of the work is already done. The siding and the floors are already milled and there won't be near as much sanding and mess either.
So I have started staining the roof shingles. I am using a blue grey paint wash instead of stain. It will give me more of the color I want. Yesterday I got about half of the shingles stained. Today I plan to finish the second half. The picture below is the first half of the shingles I did yesterday. I have a long way to go. I like the way each shingle is a bit of a different shade. That will look more natural I think than if they were all the same. Shingles do age differently over time.