The Cupboard House

Brownstone Beginnings

It has always seemed to me as though the Cupboard was ideally suited to become an Urban Rowhouse. The facade would be filled with windows and the elegant entryway. The rooms would have no windows on the sides or the back. The house would open at the front, unlike most modern American dollhouses which are open on the back. The Cupboard, after all, is already built with solid sides and back and lovely doors that open on the front! And while Rowhouses are a very common feature of European Cities where housing was crowded and real estate was in high demand, here in the Young years of the American Nation, the towns and small cities for the most part still had plenty of room for single freestanding houses. But there were a few cities where the housing growth was exceeding the available space and Row Houses were springing up at a great rate. Boston and New York were two such cities and both can now boast large neighborhoods of grand old Rowhouses built in the Victorian years. These houses are known as "Brownstones" because they were built with the distinctive local sandstone which is a Lovely red-brown chocolate-y color. So you can hardly be surprised that when I think of a Row House I think of a Brownstone!
But before we can get to the Brownstone, we need to start the conversion of the old Cupboard!
Here you can see it with the windows laid out for spacing. The cupboard was originally part of a kitchen built in the early part of the Twentieth century... so the construction was solid and sturdy.

Once I had measured and drawn all the window openings, I began the LONG Awaited process of cutting all those openings in the doors.

The panels are a Solid one inch thick!

It took HOURS to cut all the openings!

But at last they were all cut and I test fitted the windows and door into the openings..........
It really is going to look quite elegant I think!

Of course, the next step is to TRY to duplicate the color of "Brownstone"!

I have started by painting it a darker and redder shade..... some of the local Sandstone is actually this color...... but I think it is too red to be a Brownstone!

Next I have overpainted the red with a Stippled drybrush technique using a lighter and more cocoa-colored paint. You can see the contrast where the first color has not been covered....

The lighting was not good with these pictures, so it is difficult to tell the color...... but I think it is SOMEWHAT like Brownstone..... and for now I am going to leave it as is. I am probably going to add some architectural details to the front of the cupboard... so I will make adjustments after that.

The interior of the cupboard has not yet been painted... it still has the original mint-green paint!

Here I am testing the look of the windows and door with the Brownstone........

I think it is VERY handsome!

The ONLY problem being that with the Brownstones that were built in the Victorian era.... the window and door surrounds were carved from the Brownstone.... NOT from wood!!! I can't make myself (at least not YET) Paint ALL the Windows to simulate Brownstone! So for now, I am pretending there were some houses that used wooden window surrounds!

And I'm moving on to the interior of the building... because there is SO MUCH to do!
I have a lovely curved staircase.... made from a Houseworks kit...... I am planning on making the wall on one side curve to match it rather than have two sides with railings........ It is SO Elegant... and very like one in that Old Vermont Houses book I have mentioned before.....

I have cut the interior wall sections and painted the interior of the Cupboard a pure white..... not because it will stay white, but so that the colors I use will look right! This Victorian House will probably have NO white except for the linens on the beds!

I have started to paint the kitchen in ocher color. I am afraid that this cupboard is not very big so the rooms are going to be quite small! But I didn't want to leave out the stairways.... or the kitchen.... or the Dining Room..... so they are going to be small but Elegant!

Here you can see the beginnings of the layout of the second floor where the Parlor and the Library will be....... I have those lovely double doors from the Houseworks kits...... and I have been staining and staining and staining ALL DAY LONG........!

Another view of the rooms as they are so far..... nothing is attached yet..... this is all just to get the layout figured out.......

But I have a charming little old iron stove for the Kitchen....... these were the NEWEST technology at the time! I think it looks beautiful.... I will build a brick hearth behind it.......

And another view...... with the ocher walls and dark wood trim it will be SOOO Victorian!

And the entryway will have dark wainscoting perhaps? And Certainly some rich and elegant wallpaper.... or maybe a mural? The door at the back is an illusion... hinting at more rooms but there are none.......

And seen from the doorway........

And with a few of the windows temporarily placed......

to give you a sense of what it will look like...

the beginnings of a Victorian Brownstone Rowhouse......

The Cupboard House!