A Little More Progress....

Sugarplum Structure Changes.....

You Might recall, Dear Readers, that I am raising the height of the ceiling in the second floor of The Sugarplum Dollmaker's Studio by lowering the floor level, causing the bottom one and one half inches of the walls to be formed by the plywood structure I built from scratch. In order for the door openings and the alcove openings to begin at the new floor level, I had to cut away the openings in the plywood to correspond with the openings formed by the kit. Above you can see that I have done that, making the openings for (from the left hand wall) the fireplace, the Tower stairs door, the Alcove, and the door to the Balcony at the right side. We won't consider that this would have been easier to cut if I had made the cuts before I glued the base together...! At least this way I could perch the Sugarplum kit on top of the new base and make sure the openings were in the right place!

You can see here that I still have to cut away the bottom sections 

of the Sugarplum kit where the openings are....

 as well as add the door to the stair Tower 

at the second and third floor level.

 

Here I have cut away the lower portions of the kit....

 and added the floor so you can see how they go together.

The Balcony porch will be one small step up from the floor level.

And I have placed the Alcove in its opening

 as well as cut the Tower stairs door.

(The more I cut away the Sugarplum kit pieces,

 the harder it is to keep it standing up!)

Here I have added the second floor ceiling

 to get a better sense of the dimensions of the room.

 

Here you can sort of see both floors....

I know my photos are too dark.... 

It was a blisteringly Hot weekend here, Dear Readers,

 with temps in the high 90's both days, 

so I was staying indoors with my shades closed

 trying to keep cool!

 

This is a view of the structural support I am adding 

where the Stair Tower will connect to the main part of the house.....

Glued and screwed to the base wall...

It will make the connection much more durable

 and will stabilize the second floor kit where it sits on the base.

Oh, and you can see where I decided

 there just Had to be a small window in the back wall.

(Again, this would have been So much easier to cut

 before the walls were assembled!)

Here you can see I have patched the top of the door

 to the Balcony where it was too tall once the floor was lowered.

 

And I started to build the Fireplace for the Ground floor room.

As usual, it doesn't seem like much was accomplished,

 but quite a few little steps got done.

 

And yes, I Did complete my Weekly ten leafy stems

 for the Summer Lilac shrub!

Between those stems and

 the Sugarplum Structure changes, Dear Readers,

I think I made a Good bit of Progress!