Crisis averted!

Hi all. So I made the decision to just go forth in wild abandon on my chateau and then spackle as needed. I have a vague plan. Make the front and side opening panels, attach them (one with magnets and one with hinges), get some of the trim pieces attached, undercoat, continue putting the detail trim pieces on and then see where we are at. I have started the front opening panel and decided it was just too heavy. I really should've made it in two, rather than one, but it is too late to change that now unless I waste a heap of gatorfoam and the time it took to cut the window openings. The upside is having to recut the sides means I can disguise the presence of the hinge a little. I also need windows. I have a heap of mould making silicone and 2 part resin, so I might try making one and casting it. In the past, I found mould making the easy part. Getting the resin right and bubble free is another thing entirely. Anyway, worth a shot. 

I also made some important discoveries whilst tidying up the chateau mess - I had forgotten that I had partially constructed cornice moulding for the salon and had purchased two Alison Davies ceiling roses. Derr. But I am further ahead than I had realised. Yay! So the salon is getting very close to being done. It is amazing how much time goes into fiddling with the last few little bits, much of which can't even be seen. 

And the stairs for the French shop reno are partially done. I got some parts to make the balustrade but will need to pin lots of wood parts together to make them, which will be tedious. You can see the stair shape in the photo; just need to cut the risers and treads for the bottom steps and glue everything together. But for now I want to focus on the chateau.

In other news, the Coxwolds is almost done. The landscaping needs finishing (I might get some flower/plant kits) and it needs shop signs and downpipes. I also need to connect the individual lighting wires to the thingo that the transformer connects to. For the record, only one light isn’t working. Pretty impressive huh? I also have a spare wire that doesn’t seem to be connected to anything. I suspect it may be a spare wire as initially I planned on having three lights over the shop counter but ended up with just one, and I think I hadn’t removed one of the two wires that weren’t needed. The house has now been moved out to the pool house in the back yard with the Mountfield. I now need to start working on furniture placement and finding accessories. Oh and a bathroom sink.

Here is the Coxwolds in the backyard having its roof painted.

And these photos are as it is in its current almost finished state, out in the backyard cottage:

I actually made a corner piece of painted MDF to sit on the pavement on the far left of the above photo but forgot to place it for the photo. Photo below shows the sitting room where the stairs come up and the kitchen with the corner pavement piece on the floor.

Landscaping to be finished. I think it needs some pots and stuff out front too.

I made a little shower screen like my grandmother had in her home.

Sorry the photos are a bit lopsided, but it was up against the side wall so I struggled to get a good angle for the photos!

So now it is afternoon and I am tired and think I will call it quits for the day. Have a great weekend everyone. I hope to show photos of the chateau salon soon!

Frustrations

GRRRR! I just seem to be hitting brick walls with my French projects. Largely as a result of my mistakes and stupid ways of building. Let's start with the French shop renovation I accidentally started. It is looking good, but I made a pretty massive mistake. I wanted an additional window in one side wall on the first floor, but I forgot that that wall was thicker and the window set in (ie not flush with either the interior or exterior wall:

So now I need to fix the window so it looks somewhat more normal and not like a massive mistake. I have so far only come up with the idea to add a little enclosed balcony/bay window thing on it to disguise the difference on the exterior and drapes that cover right over the window on the interior. Anyone else got any brilliant ideas? I can't really remove my panels and make the wall thicker as stairs will go from this room to the next floor and the placement of them will be all off if the wall is thicker. Sigh.

Also I can't figure out how to make the stairs from the ground floor to the first floor. I could make them; I guess what I am saying is I just can't work out the design. It is a tight space and I know what I want, but there is a lot of work in fiddling to get them right and even then, I just can't find enough images or information online to help me out.

I have also been thinking again about my chateau, and I think I said this in previous posts - I just want to pull it apart and start again. You can see from my photo I have installed a pretty parquet floor. This is the only room where everything is stuck in but pulling the panels and floor out would result in a heck of a lot of tidying up work. But every time I look at this house, every time I try to do something, I think, I should just rebuild..... At what point is it too late to turn back? Is it ever too late to start again? There are just so many things wrong with it that I have to try to cover up, I am not sure it's worth continuing. But starting again is a major undertaking also....... And if I did start again, I haven't really got any idea of how I would construct it better anyway. Gah!!!!! Am I alone in my constant inertia?

This is the entry. I ran out of moulding pieces before I finished the panelling and of course, not a single stick remains on this planet. So back to scratch for that too. (FYI it is not glued in, hence the whacky angle)

I hope that your weekend's mini-ing has been more successful than mine. And please, if you have any great (or even average) tips or words of soothing and advice, please post them here. I would be most grateful. XX