Preparing the ceilings…

So I worked most of the day today on the ceilings.  I intend to paint them all white, but I want a nice crisp white color, so I want to make sure to prepare the wood very well to achieve the best results.  I had stained the floors the other day and had ended up with some mess from the stain leaking through to the other side.  This can happen despite how careful you really are, (and I was super careful!).  Luckily most of my “mistakes” will be covered by crown molding. 

I intend to do all rooms in the house with crown molding.  I feel that the crown (and baseboards) really add something to the finished look of the house itself.  I will not be adding crown to the 3rd floor/attic area as the walls are all angled, instead I will do something else, something more appropriate, for those rooms. 

I remember with my 1/2scale Bungalow I had a heck of a time cutting the crown molding out, and am trying to avoid that this time around, so I will try to work on the majority of the crown molding now.  In order to work on the crown molding before the house is even assembled, dry-fitting is completely a necessity.  During one of the dry-fits I did, I traced the outline (in pencil of course) to where the walls and dividers meet the ceilings.  Below is a photo representing what I mean. 

You can see my pencil lines here. 

The lines on the left edge and the top are where the exterior walls jut into the house.

The lines to the right are representative of the depth of a divider that will go along this wall. 

Notice the divider is pushed straight against the staircase hole, so the stringer will lay flat against it perfectly.   

The room you are looking at above is the kitchen ceiling.  It is the room to the right side of the house on the first floor.  The room to the right is going to be the dining room/living room, and is on the first floor and has the bay window.  I will cut crown molding to fit both of these rooms and I will cut them against the pencil lines shown.  I am first going to work on the staircase opening to the right.  I want to cut crown to go all around the opening. 

These are the tools that I use...

I use a pencil, ruler, crown molding and my Easy Cutter.  I have just a basic Easy Cutter, I find it does not open wide enough to accommodate full scale moldings, but it will work perfectly here. 

I chose a crown with a pretty basic design, but you want to make sure

you decide which end goes to the ceiling and which to the floor.

I will not be using 'Butt Ends' except on pieces that will be at the back/open part of the house.  I use 'Cope Ends' for my cuts.  I find that crown cuts are difficult to master, but once you get them, you don’t forget them. 

Using my tools I was able to cut the entire crown for the staircase. 

I may know what I’m doing, but that doesn’t mean,

no matter how careful I am, that I don’t end up with mistakes!

I’m not ready to glue it down just yet, (or stain it for that matter). 

So I mark it on the ceiling. 

I put it all into place and outline the width directly onto the ceiling.

This is for 2 reasons:
#1 – I have a hard time gluing to painted ceilings, so this is a mark to know where not to get paint. 
#2 – I label the area with tick marks and corresponding tick marks onto the back of the crown itself, so I know which piece goes where. 

I then baggie it all up and put it aside for later. 

This little house is going to suck up a TON of crown.  This staircase area took almost an entire strip.  I had 1 strip leftover and I got only 2 walls of the ceiling in the kitchen.  So it looks like I’m off to find some more before I can continue.  I have lots of other things to do still, so waiting for more crown won’t slow me down!