Fitting Pieces

The Salon Taking Shape

Why is Progress always Slower than I think it will be? Well, I will tell you ONE of the Reasons, Dear Readers, is because I can't imagine how many times I will need to Assemble the pieces temporarily, just to check how it is fitting , or how it will look, only to disassemble it all in order to Work on the pieces! I thought it was going to be easier on the "above ground" rooms because the room could take on normal rectangular proportions with four solid walls (or three and an opening side;) and the walls could all be "decorated " while flat and slid easily into place! Well, maybe that would be the case if I didn't insist on having alcoves and vestibules and stairways inside the walls...... all the parts I love the Most because they make the space so interesting...! And then you must realize that I am building it inside a tree.... which means the shape is NOT square... and I am trying to maximize floor space because there is so little.... and then you will see that NOTHING is just neat and square! EVERYTHING needs to be tested and adjusted in place, and None of the pieces are attached so they keep falling over and getting out of place! But in spite of all that I have made some Wonderful progress on the Salon!

To begin with, I painted all the walls in a smoky antique blue that I am very fond of.....

And I also made a niche out of Sculpey for one of the corners of the room....

(This required quite a bit of Fidgety fitting!!!)

And then I began the long process of cutting the trim out of cardboard in the pattern I wanted for each wall...

For now I am just making the around the door framing.... 

the baseboards and chair rails will be added later when all the walls are assembled....

Here below you can see them all propped in place to see how they will look.... 

(after painting them all in a soft Dove Gray....)

(Can you guess how many times all the pieces fell over...?)

I had decided to make a "Roundel " over each door.... 

so I could paint a tiny scene in each!

Here below you can see the paintings begun.....

 

And here is more detail....

It is supposed to be a bucolic countryside... 

but it is only about one-half an inch in diameter so my technique is a bit rough.....

And here you see it with the framework overlaid....

And here below is another one...

This one has sheep... Can you see them... there on the left...?

No? ...

Well, never mind...... 

I will know they are there and even if no-one ever sees them and says "oh look, sheep!"....

I will not mind!

Here is another one... over the main door... 

I Hope you can all see the Cow and her calf?

(do be sure to poke the pictures to enlarge them... or even better... use the right click and choose open in new tab... then you can zoom in Really close... Scary close!)

And here you can see it with the door trim also temporarily in place...

And here is the fourth little painting....

I hope I don't need to tell you it is the shepherd with his sheep (on the left!) meeting the milkmaid on her way home with the milk.... the cow is not in this picture.....!

And here below you can see the same picture with the delicate gold rope border added.....

Here you can see the Cow painting with it's gold border added too....

The trims have been glued on , but all the walls are still unattached....

Here you can see them all propped together.... 

and I have started to paint the fireplace Mantelpiece...

And here is a closer view..... the better to see all the flaws.....

And you can see the Niche with it's sculpey shaped backing....

 The door needs a "crystal" doorknob......

 I have finished the "marbled" pillars in the mantelpiece....

 And here the niche has been made to fit snugly... 

it required a whole lot of very careful carving away of the excess material on the back side.

I will probably put a statue on a pillar in there.... depending on what I can find that is one inch tall!

 The stairs are not finished... 

but you can see where they lead up to the next floor.....

And here below you can see the whole room framework.....

still not attached but in place for fitting.....

Here below is a view looking down from the top.... 

I have attached the floor and the opening side door!

And here is the view from the side looking down..... 

with the stairs taped in place.... 

none of the walls are attached yet.... 

but we are getting closer!

On the right you can get a glimpse of the vestibule and front door... 

right behind the wire frame support....

And on the left in the alcove you can see there is a problem with the floor which will have to be disguised somehow.... 

I will still need to make all the baseboards and chair rails.... 

for the tiny bits of wall that require them

not to mention the ceiling trim and the ceiling itself....!

But maybe it is almost time to attach the walls?

Could it be that I'm almost done with fitting these pieces?