Two Steps Forward and One Step Back

Behind Closed Doors

A closed door that WON'T open is something that I find to be Very annoying, Dear Readers, even though I am aware that the Illusion of Another World behind a door that is Closed can be very useful and Intriguing. I wanted that Illusion of More Space in my Cupboard House, and so I planned to put a door to "Nowhere" at the back of the Entry Hall just to suggest that there was more house behind it. But once I had put the door there.... I just Could NOT stand to have it glued shut forever! And since there really was NO ROOM beyond the door... I decided to paint a "trompe l'oeil" room behind the door...... so that when you open the door......

It APPEARS as if there is a room beyond......

That you could ALMOST imagine walking into.......

But really, if you look closely, or at the wrong angle....

you can tell it is just a painted wall!
Here below you can see the painted wall without the door frame in front of it....
(and the hallway partition is also removed....)

And here is a closer view of the painting......

Just so you can see all the faults and rough spots......
It is painted directly onto the back wall of the Cupboard.......

And a small panel of plywood the same thickness as the Hallway walls

has a cutout for the door frame to sit flush against, so that when it opens.....

There is a tiny amount of depth to the space behind the door.......
which only adds to the illusion....!
Such a silly little Hidden detail.... as the door will be Mostly SHUT.....
But I LOVE it!

On another note.... you May remember that I left you Hanging in Uncertainty about the level of Detail I was going to use for the Dining Room Floor! I got Very distracted by the Holidays..... but I DID manage to complete the floor! When you saw it last it looked as follows..... I had started the edges and then got entangled in the possibility of complex patterns..... and knowing NOTHING about the pitfalls of such patterns.... I Jumped in and let the pattern take over.....

I am Pleased and proud to say that I did NOT give up!

I made the pattern work for the Whole floor!
And THIS is what I ended up with..... it may be Unconventional.....
But I still think it is quite Handsome!

Here you can see it with the walls in place......

And Clarence even came to inspect the workmanship!

(I think he is wondering what is Taking SO LONG...!)

He has to make sure the Doors are Working too......

As soon as he was done with the Inspection.....

I was able to put on the dark Walnut stain....

Which I think just makes the floor so Gorgeously Dark and Victorian....

with that mysterious pattern shining through.....

I will ALMOST be sad to cover it with a carpet......

WHEN I get around to the Carpets.....

Which could be Quite a while.....

So I'm Really GLAD it is so Handsome in the meanwhile......!

I have also made a START....

a VERY Rough and Hesitant start on the Fireplace.....

It is going to be an elaborate marble fireplace surround.....

which I am making out of wood and sculpey.......

more details to follow........

But MEANWHILE, I have suffered a Setback on the Ceiling!

I had glued the elaborate decorative molding to the ceiling around the painted central section...
You can see it below as it was just after I put up the wallpapers...

And here is a closer shot of the ceiling right after assembly.....

back in the Humid days of August...

while Hurricane Irene was drenching our world......
You can see how smooth the gilded papers are.......

Well, the other day I heard a loud "THUNK" coming from the Cupboard House..... and upon investigation I found that a whole section of the ceiling trim had simply fallen off the ceiling!!! The carpenter's wood glue that I had used simply let go!

The air is Extremely dry here right now...

and the ceiling is made out of a large thick board....

so a good deal of shrinkage seems to have happened.....

Just LOOK at the wrinkles in the Gold paper!!!!
This is Really a Bit SHOCKING!
But Really, it is probably a GOOD thing to have it happen at THIS stage of the building rather than later on when it is so much harder to fix......
But I am become aware that I have to learn a LOT MORE about GLUE!!!

And Hopefully, NOT all the Hard way!

Two Steps Forward and One Step Back