Ground Floor Fiddling

As I was assembling the ground floor/base, I remembered some tile samples I'd been given a few years ago. One of them looked to be perfect for the entrance to the Bohemian Inn. The tiles are quarter-inch cubes, which wasn't so perfect, but I had an idea.

I took the tiles off the backing board. Luckily, they were firmly attached to the net backing, so they stay in formation. I had to take a couple rows from the right side to make the pad come out right. It's a little messy, but this part of the tiles will be under the stairs, so it doesn't really matter. Here is the final design. It's glued to a piece of cardboard larger than the tiles and grouted with a brick red grout. In this photo, the left side has been sealed with a semi-gloss polycrylic. It makes the colors pop. I think once it's in place and the floor gets sealed, I'll switch to a satin finish.

I made a frame, stained it, and glued it around the tiles. The smaller clamps are holding shims, also glued.

While the glue was setting (E6000), I drew lines on the floor with a fine point indelible marker to indicate 6" planks and stained it with some old walnut stain I found on the shelf. You can see the hole that will receive the tile section. That is Alois behind the bar. He will be the proprietor when the inn is open for business.

About the bar: I wasn't fond of the mahogany red. Now that it is near the walnut floor, I really don't like it. I'd rather it be a walnut or even a dark oak, but that may be asking a bit much. In any event, I have to figure out how to dull the red. Luckily there are finished panels on the backside that I can experiment on.

The next photo shows the base face down with more shims being glued under the floor. I think with those in place, the tile section in its frame should fit flush with the floor. It worked during the dry fit. Notice the brace to the left of the hole. I was afraid it might be under the tile, but it worked out just fine.

While everything was drying, Alois climbed up to the second floor to check out where the new stairway opening will go. To fit the new floor layout, the stairs will make a quarter turn counter-clockwise and move against the far wall. I assured him we would do another dry fit before cutting the hole.

By the way, I used my Dremel Trio for the first time today to cut the hole for the tile. I was please with the results. The cut was a little bit wavy, but a little attention with an eXacto knife and emery board smoothed it out. A perfect fit.

The Upstairs Floor is In

For the past few days I've been working on the wooden flooring. The sheets were stained and coated with satin finish polyacrylic (water based), templates were made, sections were cut and fitted like a jigsaw puzzle. Today I glued it into place. The flatiron is holding down a place where two sections met and wanted to buckle. They are perfectly flat now. This is the room that will have the work tables and quilting frame. This is the room that will be the studio apartment. I like the look of the rug on the oak floor. The baseboard is just leaning against the wall. Fitting and gluing that into place will be the next step.

I gave the stair rails a coat of polyacrylic so they will blend better with the floor. They can be installed now. And we bought a 2' x 4' piece of 3/4" plywood at the lumber yard on Saturday that now needs to be painted green. It's to replace the quarter inch board under the house; it is too flimsy to provide proper support.

Oh ... I bought a bottle of liquid starch today. I'm going to use it to hang the kitchen wallpaper. I'm thinking about getting to the wallpaper ... really.

Avoidance Techniques Honed

Another day avoiding the wallpapering. I'm getting good at it.

What I did is paint the inside of the stairwell, using a mirror. There was a pretty steep learning curve as I adjusted to working in reverse, but the job is done. Did you notice the difference in the height of two steps? It must be a flaw in the original construction. But really, no one would notice unless they stuck a camera up there, or a mirror, so shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ... we'll keep this our little secret. I also used the mirror to paint the hidden parts in the kitchen, so there's now a nice undercoat, ready to receive the wallpaper.While I was in a paint slinging mood, I painted the inside of both fireplaces black. In the quilt shop, they'll be hidden by shelving, but they're ready for a log fire if or when the building turns back into a residence. Then the former dining room got its linoleum and baseboards. I put the back wall on to be sure it still fit, and then added a piece of quarter round molding to finish off the edge of the linoleum in both the living and dining rooms.I told myself the paint in the kitchen wasn't nearly dry enough to contemplate wallpapering, so I made a template of the floor of the upper room that has the staircase, thinking to start putting in the planks. But then decided to stain all of the flooring first. For these three sheets, I rubbed the golden oak stain in with a piece of cloth. Here's the job in progress. I remembered to use a plastic glove, so my fingers are not stained this time. :)

And after that I tidied up the worktable, put away paints and tools that won't be used soon, and swept the floor. By then it was time to stop to make supper.

Wallpaper? What wallpaper?