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Cardboard Witches Cottage.
How to create a wooden floor.
Part Two
A witches cottage is simply not complete without old creaky wooden floorboards. I decided to make them from lollipop sticks. I prepped the lollipop sticks with my angle cutting shears and cut the rounded ends off.
I wanted a clean edge to the floors so I broke from reality and glued the sticks from left to right rather than front to back. I staggered the sticks so the cut edges were random. To get a good adhesion I used wood glue and while the floor was drying I placed heavy books on top to ensured the sticks did not warp.
Once the floor was thoroughly dry I strted making it look like an old oak floor. I added an initial coat of Rustins ebony wood dye then two further coats of Rustins dark oak wood dye. This made a lovely dark old wood colour. To age it up a bit I went in with black acrylic paint and just added dark patches here and there.
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Cardboard Witches Cottage
How to design and build a cardboard dolls House.
Part One.
I was inspired by Bentley House Minis cardboard dolls house to build a witches country cottage complete with garden and greenhouse.
I started by sketching out a basic design, I wanted to keep it simple with just three main rooms, a kitchen downstairs then on the first floor a living room and a bedroom in the attic. I intend to add a privy on the side of the house once the main house is built.
I started by gluing two large pieces of cardboard together with the grain in opposite directions for strength. One the cardboard was dry I started to cut out the walls, floor and roof.
I set the walls and roof pieces aside to work on the floors first. I wanted a slate effect floor in the kitchen and wooden floorboards in the bedrrom and living room. I decided to make the floors first as it is easier to work on them before they are in the house.
The Kitchen Floor.
I made the floor tiles from egg boxes as the texture was perfect for a stone floor. I prepped the egg boxes by painting them in shades of grey, grey/blue, brown, beige and cream. I painted them totally randomly without really thinking about it. The cream and light grey I dry brushed on to reveal the lovely texture.
I thought it would make my life easier if I created a template of the repeat pattern for the floor tiles rather than trying to make the tiles fit the floor space as I went along. I created three different sized tiles in 1:12th scale a large one, small one and a long tile and made a pattern which could be repeated over the whole floor. If you would like to download my floor tile pattern template simply click on the download button below.
I glued the tiles down with wood glue for a good contact and adhersion. Once the glue was dry I covered all the tiles with mod podge to seal them in. This was an very important step as I intended to grout the tiles with poly filler and I wanted to be able to wipe off the excess grout without damaging my tiles.
The grout was applied with a small palette knife and the excess wiped off with a damp cloth, once it was dry I painted it light grey and aged it up wth moss green paint and moss flocking.
I am so pleased with this floor it turned out just as I had hoped. In the next post I will show how I made the wooden floors for the bedroom and living room.
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Painting Lundby Frames
How to Paint Plastic Frames.
The plastic frames on my Lundby tower did not match some had yellowed some were brown so I have been updating them to match and I am finally happy with the results.
The tower is made up of a house and three extensions. I decided to paint all the frames using a paint suitable for plastic called The One in a dark grey colour. I cleaned the frames with isopropyl rubbing alcohol first and then started to paint. It took five coats to get an even colour due to the frames all being different colours.
If you would like to have a go at painting the plastic frame on your Lundby Dolls House here is how I did it together with a list of the materials I used.
Materials
- The One Paint in Dark Grey
- Isopropyl Alcohol
- Two Soft Cloths
- Paint Brush
- Painters Masking Tape or Post It Notes
Instructions
Wipe the frames with a clean soft cloth, I used a piece of an old t shirt. Once it is dust free wipe it over with another clean cloth and the isopropyl alcohol to remove any dirt or grease. This give a good surface for the paint to hold to.
Once the surface is dry it is time to begin painting the frames. I masked off the carpets with painters tape as I didn’t want to get any paint on them. I didn’t mask the walls as I will be redecorating my house but if you want to protect your wallpaper it maybe better to mask them off with either painters tape or post it notes.
I found it gave an even coverage if I did thin coats of paint and ensured it was fully dry between layers. I used a flat brush for most areas and a small round brush for the balcony. In total I did five layers of paint.
I have included for reference an image of the paint I used together with the isopropyl alcohol.
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Retro Brick Paper
Printable Brick Paper.
The levels on my Lundby tower were all different ages and as a result they were all various brick colours due to fading over the decades. So in order to solve this I decided to design a brick paper to update my tower and give a cohesive look. I have designed a brick pattern with an off white background colour with a mid tone grey brick and speckled mortar. I am very happy with the results, it gives a fresh look while retaining the retro vibe.
Here is the result, what do you think?
Freebie!
If you would like to update your dolls house you can download this brick paper here completely free of charge. Simply click on the button below.
