Long Weekend.... Short Post....

 

Small Progress....

The Back Wall of the Dollmaker's Studio, Dear Readers, is the weakest part of this project. You can see above the cut and patched wall assembled from the Sugarplum Cottage kit with my alterations clear to see. What was the front door has been (inexpertly) filled in, the once upon a time picture window opening has been enlarged so far it fills almost the entire wall (so the Dollmaker's kit can be inserted here) and now I have added a little window into the attic dormer. Because the walls needed to be taller and they sit on the base I built for the Ground Floor room, the one filled-in door opening extends below the rest of the wall, and actually provides some "anchoring" onto the lower floor walls. I know, it is really confusing! The picture below shows what I mean.

Here is the wall temporarily in place.

The left side wall has been glued and so has the arched alcove

(the original Dollmaker's Vignette kit)

Because there are so many rough parts to this wall,

 I decided to "pad" it with a layer of cardboard

 cut to fit exactly over the entire surface.

 This would allow the wallpaper to have a smooth finish,

 and would strengthen the joined pieces.

 

Here is another view of all the rough edges in this patched wall!

The "fitting" of the wall padding took a huge number of tries

 to get it to cover all the little corners and gaps and cover the entire wall.

Once I was sure it would fit correctly,

 I needed to glue it to the wall while the wall was lying flat,

 to ensure that the wall didn't warp and bubble while it dried.

 

The cardboard wall padding extends below the original floor line

 so it also will cover the extended wall section when in place.

Of course, I didn't remember to take pictures of the gluing....

Except for my one dark shot showing the elastic band

 holding the wall tightly to the final end wall which is not yet glued....

to ensure that the alignment would be right when the glue dried.

The following morning I was Amazed at how much

 the padding strengthened the wall! 

It was positively Sturdy!

I had made a paper pattern from the cardboard padding

 that I could use for cutting the wallpaper....

The section of paper I had was not long enough

 to cover the entire length of the arch...

and the small piece on the left was the continuation

 of the pattern on the left hand wall...

And the pattern was not going to match in the middle!

I console myself with the knowledge

 that the joined pieces at the top of the arch

 will be covered almost entirely by the crown molding trim....

And who is going to notice that the rest of the pattern is off by 1/4 inch?

Here is a shot of the two rooms together... 

so far so good!

I forgot to take pictures of the wallpaper once it was glued on....

(It was such a rainy and gloomy day!)

But this morning as I was rushing off to work,

 I had to try to grab a couple of pictures with the morning sun shining in....

You can sort of see my wallpaper patch at the top of the arch....

And a slightly better shot of the ceiling... 

without the lamp, of course!

So you can see, Dear Readers,

 in spite of my Long Weekend,

 It doesn't look like much got done,

But it is good Progress after all!