My Mom's Half Scale Bungalow...(part IV)

Last post on my mom's 1/24 scale RGT Bungalow~

This had to be the most fun part of the build for me.  And I can't tell you why. 

I opted not to use the shingles that came with the kit, I went for the Greenleaf "Speedy Strip" shingles, (my first time shingling after all)...something that was "speedy" and "strips" I couldn't go wrong!  I had always wanted a house with red-er shingles...I liked the look of them, and when I bought the stain, Gunstock by Minwax, I thought I was golden.  Staining the shingles was a breeze...they are literally strips...so the stain went on very easily.  I kept the original packaging for them and re-tied them to it once the stain was dried...to keep them from warping...

Now, looking at the shingles here, they don't look too crazy to me, right?

GL shingles have a "burned" side because they are laser cut,

I opted to stain this side because I liked it better

Now here, they look a little crazy right? 

Not sure I would use that color stain again!

Once the shingles were stained and added, I mounted the house to it's base.  A piece of plywood cut to size and fitted with grass and felt on the bottom.

I then landscaped it...

The flower beds are made with glue, coffee grounds(I used fresh ones) and flowers from Michaels that I cut.  This is how my mom wanted the flower beds done...LOTS of color she said...

I then added some trees...

these are all from the railroad section at HobbyLobby.

You will notice we opted not to add the porch beams

(just a personal choice)

I think the house came out pretty nice all together, I'm quite happy, and I know my mom was very happy. 

Hope you enjoyed...

Next post will be more of my "creations"

My Mom's Half Scale Bungalow...(part III)

More on my mom's 1/24 scale RGT Bungalow ~

We are moving on up to the second floor!  Some additional changes that I decided to make in the Bungalow were to add some windows to the second floor.  I thought that the house lacked windows and looked very plain.  I found some Houseworks 1/2scale windows at HBS and chose them as they were the closest thing I felt that would stay within the over-all look of the house...

Be careful when you let your husband cut up your house!

These are the windows that I chose...fit perfectly!

More realistic feel in my opinion...

Assembling the bay is no easy task, I found that my glue jig helped out immensely when doing this. 

 The triangles(in the center) come with the kit for this purpose, to use as supports

Once that was glued in place I dry-fitted the second floor with the roof, to make sure I knew what was coming next...

The wood "beam/knee wall" you can see here, (separating the roof from the floor), I stained to match the floors instead of wallpapering..

Another dry fit picture...

I opted not to add a railing on the second floor, as I felt it took up space... you can see below the hallway, trimmed.  I used some spare smaller moulding to trim around the stair hole. 

Now, I have to file the next set of pictures into the category of what was I thinking!  Let me explain.  I had a total idea for where this house was going.  I picked out some great wallpaper, (at least I thought it was great) and someone else that is on my miniature forum told me (in no uncertain terms) that it didn't reflect the "Craftsman" style at all... (I still love it!)

I really let that person's judgement of the choices I was making affect me, and I was frustrated because that was a HUGE part of the rest of the color scheme for the house...as a result when it came time to attach the wallpaper to the second floor I grabbed whatever was in my scrapbooking pile, and ended up with these colors...

Bedroom

Bathroom

I have to give credit to my mom because even if she does dislike them as much as I do, she won't say.  I've begged and pleaded for her to give me the house back so I could re-do what I don't like now, (I think we would all do that though)...but she won't, she insists that she loves it.  In her *possibly color-blind defense* the colors photographed a LOT lighter than they really are...

She opted to put the Avon Victorian Memories furniture in the house, (because it's so Victorian huh?) (slamming hand to forehead)...this is the furniture I had planned for it...(still do if I ever get it back to change it!)

Maybe if I start collecting the furniture kits, (as all the furniture shown above is in kit form) she will see it and let me at the house!!! :)

Tomorrow ~ The Exterior and Landscaping

My Mom's Half Scale Bungalow...(part II)

WOW...thanks so much to all of my new followers!!!  If I missed you I'm very sorry, I had a SURGE! :)

Dora Hed

Carmen

Sharon Larkin

Lara

Teresa

Madelaine

Josje

Cristina F

Maria Ireland

Now, on to more on my mom's 1/24 scale RGT Bungalow~

I had decided early on that I would alter some of the pieces to give the house more of what I thought it should have.  That included opening up the first floor...

Here is the original wall piece

 This is my modified wall...



And here's what it looks like in the house...

(this is the living room, looking into the kitchen)

Here is the finished living room

Trimmed out with the windows and doors in place

(the stairs and furniture are just placements at this point)

Here is the finished kitchen

Trimmed out with the windows installed

(again, furniture is just placements)

And this has to be my favorite part of the house...

The trimming around the stair hole

It took the longest to do, for me to figure out the angles, but I love it!

Monday ~ The 2nd Floor!

My Mom's Half Scale Bungalow...(part I)

So the first thing I will do is show my mom's 1/24 scale RGT Bungalow that I made. 

I will start with some construction photos, so if you are about to work on this house, you can get a feel for some things I encountered...

Look how small!!!  This is the front wall panel, right out of the packaging!

My next few photos will show the importance of dry-fitting!

Here is the foundation...(assembled with wood glue)

This is how it attaches to the first floor...

This is how you fix it when you've stained the first floor when glue won't stick to stain!

This is how you fix your porch and attach your walls when you realize it's all part of the first floor...

*Tip: a well used dremel gets the stain off, and then your walls will glue in place!

This jumps ahead a bit, but it's to highlight the same issue...

Same thing with the 2nd floor...

If you can't tell I jumped like 5steps ahead and started staining the floors before doing a dry-fit.  And this particular house is a great example of why that's such a bad thing.  Unlike other RGT houses this one builds on itself, parts need to be glued onto other parts to construct the house, and glue does not stick well to stained/poly'd pieces.  So be sure to dry-fit, at least once, so you can get an idea for how the build goes together. 

Here is the first floor assembled with some trimming taped in place...

Here are some of the components that came with the kit, and some I added...

Here is the trim pieces that I pre-stained waiting for me to use them...

Windows and doors that I added that were not part of the original kit

Two interior doors with hardware that I added 

New front door

It was hard for me to believe that all these pieces...

 Would turn into this...

Tomorrow ~ First Floor

Monday ~ Second Floor