Wood floor... any ideas??

 The floor of the dining room is finally done... and I can't stand to look at it anymore right now haha! This was so much work, cutting every single strip by hand with a knife, sanding, fitting, glueing... I have been working on it every now and then for months and therefore I'm so happy it's done!

Well, almost done that is... I still have to sand it, and oil it. There are also quite a lot of little gaps in there.
But the thing is I'm a little scared to sand it! Can I really just sand the entire surface in any direction now? It seems that if I'd sand it now, there will always be parts that you don't sand in the right direction... And those gaps... could I fill the gaps with a little glue and then just sand the whole thing or would that become a mess...

Maybe some of you who have done this before can give me a hint? What's your experience with this?

Now I can start puzzling with the bay window, it will be quite the angle cutting frenzy!! Also I'm making a chandelier for this dining room, and I'll try to make it into a tutorial.

Ice and miniatures

I just realized how long I haven't blogged. There hasn't been much miniature progress lately, real life got in the way ;).

It has been quite cold here in Friesland in the Netherlands. So all the canals froze over. This equals ice skating bonanza/heaven here in Friesland! And you won't hear me complain!

The canal behind my parents house was the ideal place to start and end many ice skating trips, and I've been doing just that this past week!


These pictures where taken very near my parents house. With frozen fingers after quite a few kilometers of skating ;p

This picture shows a view of the village where I grew up.

On the miniature-topic, I finished 1 wall... yes 1. I still have to figure out how I'll create the walls in the bay-window part. I want to make deep sills, but that will be a little difficult to do neatly. But where there is a will...

Meanwhile I'm cutting tons of little veneer strips for the floor. A big room is what I wanted, but that also means a big pile of strips to cut! That's o.k. it's quite therapeutic. And I still need to tackle the mirror for the overmantle.

I'm also working on a tutorial for a chandelier to share with you all... Better stop talking and start working! :D

I should let you all know, that I sent my proxxon saw back to the store and got a completely new one. It makes a different sound and seems to work perfect so far. I'm very happy with how this was solved! (see previous post)

Schloss dining room progress 2

I've been thinking about this hearth for quite a while, how to construct it, what material to use, how will I make it look just like the one from my inspirationpicture. Here is what I came up with. I used MDF, coffee stirrers, cardboard, popsicklesticks and some fancy woodstrips.


I'm constantly putting the pannel back into the room to see if the sizes work.


Afther the hearth was an obstacle overcome, I could move onto the panneling. This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time! There was no way panneling would look good in my modern dollhouse, but with the Schloss I can 'pannel' to my hearts delight!

I'm a bit of a perfectionist and this part required lots of time, measuring, fitting and redoing.

Here everything lies roughly in place, not yet painted or glued down, so you still see small gaps here and there.
There will be a extension mantel piece on top of the hearth, it is to flat and unrealistic like this. But I'm still figuring out what material to use now that my tablesaw is out of order...

I've seen this beautifull mirror here from Lucy Askew that would be marvelous for this room. It looks so much like the inpiration picture and it would fit so nicely, but I'm still indecisive about paying 40pounds for a mirror. I could totaly reason my way into buying it, but then again where do I draw the line when I have more than 12 rooms to decorate?


And because I needed to see how the sizes would work (and secretly for pure enjoyment) I put the pannel into the room. Offcoures all the loose parts fell down. But when I squint my eyes I can see how this will work out, and I like it!

Now I'm waiting for the veneer I ordered to arrive. A dark nut wood, or a teak floor will be the next thing to do here.



I'll conclude with this non-related picture, that I took this week on one of the last sunny days. This is my parents' cat, who thinks he owns our boat with his big hairy ... XD

Schloss dining room in progress

The dining room is the first room I'll work on, since it has been on my mind the longest and the ideas I had for it where the clearest.

I'm working on 'presentation cardboard' whatever that may be (It was the closest thing to foamcore the local craft store had).
The fireplace will be pitchblack, the overmantle off-white just like the panneling. The yellowish wallpaper will be on there and all the corner and framing wood will also be off-white.

I think the floor will be wallnut, but I'm not sure yet.

This picture was the main inspiration for the dining room. It is the frontroom of 'Hid Hero Hiem' in Bolsward. It used to be an orphanage and now it is a monument. I worked at a school nearby and a colleague was involved in the restoration of the whole building and it's rooms. So we went to visit. Needless to say it was very inspiring!

I've written about my compains to the company, I'll post the outcome.

Last but not least I've been having some problems with my proxxon table saw. Perhaps someone can help me out?

Whenever I put it at an 45degree angle, it starts smoking after a short while of sawing! Attaching the vacuumcleaner or not makes no difference. The smoke is not from the wood that is being cut, but comes from inside. The blade is not touching anything as far as I can see... It doesn't seem to be good or normal for such a saw as this one to be smoking at a certain angle...

Today after this happening again, it also gave me little static shocks! I don't feel save using it anymore now... any advice or experience on this matter?

The 'Schloss' in progress

An entire year has passed since I received the building plans for this dollhouse.
I've put many hours of my time into calculating, measuring, sawing, building and imagining since.

So whats the score at this moment? The dollhouse is almost completely put together. I have all the parts cut out, but I wont assemble it completely. I think I'll be moving in a few years, and I wouldn't be able to get it out of the room or out of the house ever again if I did assemble the house permanently!

So in the pictures the large library wing is still missing, and the huge roof and tower are not included in todays pictures either.


But the good news is that I can start with the interior, and along with that the exterior and neatly finishing all those odds and ends. And it is never to0 early to make flowers for the Schloss!

It's still going to be a german castle/mansion in the middle of the woods, meadows and mountains. So that's why I'll call it a 'Schloss'.

Some of the furniture you see is actually meant for the Schloss, but most of it is from my modern house to help my imagination.


I've bought some wallpaper and other supplies to start the real work. Oh you should see the stock of fabrics I've gathered! It's unhealthy! (I'll show that later!)

Please forgive the messy-ness of it all, the paper things in the hallway is to help design a good stairway.


I wanted to make removable walls but I can't find the material that I'd like. So for the first room I'll try a special thick cardboard, so that I can work on a flat surface and afterward install it into the house.
The house is way to deep to be making everyting straight onto the walls inside in a neat way. And I don't think I want to hear anymore funny comments about being a 'dollhouse-gynecologists'! :P haha