The Bungalow is Finally Finished

I have finally finished the Bungalow, a little less than a year after I started it. Im quite glad it is done, it was a big job. I am pleased with the modifications I made to the original Real Good Toys kit, they have made it more "Bungalow-ey". Below is the original Real Good Toys kit.

Modifications included: 

• Creating new external window architraves, and adding new window panes;
• Entirely altering the front door;
• Altering porch posts to two columns, rather than one fat column;
• Removing porch railings and chimneys;
• Removing interior staircase (because it was completely out of scale). 

I stained the shingles a dark wood colour, as it is the most common colour I have seen in California Bungalows. 

It took an inordinate amount of time to stick down all the trims and eve brackets. But they give a very finished and nice effect. 

I have listed it on eBay, and hopefully someone (who has more space than I do) can furnish it nicely with period Arts & Crafts style furnishings! I will be very sad to see it go.

You can view the listing here. 

Finishing the Bungalow

It has been some time since I did any work on the Bungalow. This is because I moved house and had no room for it so it had to go and live at my parents workshop for a while. I had some time recently to try and finish it. I have to sell it when I am done however, because it is just too big for my tiny apartment. 

I started the labour intensive job of putting the eve brackets together and painting them. 

Next the front dormer style gable end went on. Inside this gable end I had to create a false ceiling.

Because the rooms inside were thin and deep, I decided to block them off to get rid of the roof slant and give them more normal proportions. 

Next I cut the wallpaper to shape for the upstairs rooms. I chose a selection of the Arts and Crafts style Brodnax prints. 

This time I chose to use wallpaper paste, and so far it has been very good. 

 For the bathroom I discovered that craft sticky squares make perfect tiles.

The house is slowly coming together. Hopefully I can finish it before the week is out!

Next is the shingling... the most time consuming task of all. I have chosen to stain the singles once they are glued, as I found this to be a much faster way of doing it (contrary to the suggestion in the Real Good Toys instruction book to stain them individually). 

This is the finished central upstairs room. It is looking nice. 

The First Daffodils of (Early) Spring

It is daffodil time in south eastern Australia right now. This is the lovely time in late of winter where the daffodil and jonquil bulbs think it is warm enough to flower. In light of this, and the fact that daffodils are my boyfriend's most favourite flower, I decided to purchase some hand made miniature daffodils from Etsy. I found some very realistic flowers from MostlyArt.

The flowers look lovely in the Biedermeier parlour of the Georgian house. 

They also look nice next to the John Glover painting. I think they will stay there.

Also, the outside of the Bungalow is coming along nicely. 

It is fun to see a little house at the end of the corridor when I get to the top of the stairs. 

Making an Arts and Crafts Lantern for the Bungalow

I have been looking on the internet for weeks for some appropriate light fittings for the bungalow. I love these beautiful craftsman chandelier lanterns and wanted something similar.  

This picture (below) is from the dining room of the Gamble House, a house built in California in 1908 by the famous architects Greene and Greene.

Because lights can really make a room, they have to be appropriate to the period of the house. Because none could be bought, I finally decided to take a brave step and make my own. I bought some cheap light fittings and took the globes out.

I set about making a lantern chandelier and so started with a box made of balsa wood. 

Instead of using glass I decided to use paper. I don't have the tools to use glass, though I would have preferred it. Next time perhaps...

I then made the lantern top from base wood. 

I also made a ceiling fitting. 

To make the paper look like glass I coloured it with water colour pencils (I used special water colour paper which does not warp) and drew the lead light pattern on with fine line marker. 

I stained the wood in walnut and threaded and fixed in the light globe. 

I glued it all together, but it was quite fragile (I managed to break it twice before it went in to the house).

The finished product worked so well I have decided to make all the light fittings for the entire house!

Ground Floor of the Bungalow Goes Up

This week I made some more progress with the bungalow. Before I glued the ground floor walls up I needed to finish the panelling. 

I cut down the interior wall to make a craftsman style room divider. 

I built up the divider with base wood. 

I made the panelling for the lounge room as well, and stained it to give it a rich wood colour.

I then glued the ground floor walls to the base. I pre-painted the base, though I intend to put down real wood flooring soon.

The struggle to choose the right wall paper continues...

Thanks for all your tips in my last post! They were most helpful.