Colonial Revival Update 4

Even the most organized among us lose track of time every now and again, and I don't count myself among the MOST organized!  That said, wow, last update was in June and here it is October 1!  Fall is in the air, football is in full swing, baseball is in the playoffs and yet another professional sport is on strike (NBA).  Ah, thank goodness for the stable world of miniatures!!!!

So, here is where we last left off.  The entry hall is coming together nicely and I told you we would be moving on to the living room.  So let's do that.

This is the back side of the stair wall in the entry hall.  You will notice the tape  wire has been placed to support two sconces above the living room fireplace.  The square with the cut out will provide a framed location above the fireplace to hold a picture.  Again, the tape wire terminates at the floor so a connection can be need underneath the house to some switches.  More on that later.

Here a shot of the fireplace in progress.  I have added a faux marble surround and painted the grate.  I will close in the back and add working embers.  Can't decide if I will do more but this is what I have so far.

Here I have added the sconces to the picture surround that will go above the fireplace.  I am really enjoying this (new to me) technique of layering in texture in the construction of the room.  Here to fore I just went with the flat walls.  I may be going a bit overboard but I am learning quite a bit about the process which will definitely help me with future projects.

OK, progress!  The sconces have been wired to the tape wire and the picture surround attached to the wall.  The columns are of the same material as the wainscot that I added to the hallway.  I just placed them here for now to get a feel for the look.  You will notice a small line just above the base of the column, that is where I chose to cut them down to fit the ceiling height.  They came pre-made about an inch too tall.  After some sanding and paint, these should be far less visible.

Here, the columns have been painted, the capitals have been painted gold, and the fireplace has been added to the wall.  I plan to paint the column bases black to match the baseboard moulding that will be added.

I took this shot to get some perspective of the fireplace wall from the "floor" level.  I am liking where this is headed.

Now the walls are painted a taupe color, the column bases are black, and the tape wire on the floor will support some plug in sockets, either in the floor or on the walls.

Here I am piecing in the wood floor since my sheets are not quite long enough to span the depth of the room.

As promised, here is a shot of the area where I intend to add push button switches to control the various electrical items in the house.  I used this technique with my scratch built contemporary dollhouse with good success.  The switches are push on/off switches I purchased from the local Radio Shack store.  I used crimp and connect connectors from the wire to the switch and tape the wires together at the origin.

Here you can see the wires coming through the floor waiting to be connected to a power source and the switches.  You can see by the bits of masking tape that I have begun labeling them so I don't lose track of which wire goes to which item.

As we approach completion of the living room, the downstairs portion of the main house is nearly done. I have started the construction of the two story addition kit that will house the kitchen and master bathroom.  Perhaps we will focus on that next time.  Until then, thanks for checking in on Minibydesign!