A Sign of the Times

First of all, since I know you've been waiting impatiently, here is the solution to the awkward doorway -- a false wall. Foam core board. I think I put the wallpaper on sideways, but since this wall is so hard to see, I'm sure no one will notice if you'll keep the secret. The flash made shadows on either side. In real life, the slight gap is not noticable.I added some napkins to the table and hung curtains and put some colorful cloth in the baskets in the sink unit, which you can't see in this view. I also added a drainer basket with dishes in it after this picture was taken. This room needs some clutter (do you know anyone who has a refrigerator with nothing on top?), but is essentially finished.

I put curtains in the apartment today. I'm not over the moon about them, but they are a muted blue/white/pink pattern that works well with the upholstered chair. Ummm ... the curtains don't look quite that wonky in real life. The camera has a mean eye.
I still haven't found a nice mirror for the bathroom, so I made this one from a decorative mirror piece, some balsa wood, and a bit of the fabric from the apartment curtains. That's a line of gold puff paint around the mirror. Don't know if I'll use it, but it does go with the colors in the wallpaper. And the sign of the times in the title? Here is it --- the sign for over the front door. I printed the words in blue on ivory paper, cut a wooden spool in half and painted the thread on it, and mounted it all on a 2" x 4.25" mini table top that I got at The Great American Dollhouse Museum last week. It has a couple coats of varathane and will get a few more before it's finished.

Wallpaper is Up

The railing is in place on the stairs. I had hoped to make the upper part removable, but in order to run the handrail all the way to the top, it was necessary to glue everything in place. None the less, I like the way it turned out. The rest of the baseboards have also been installed, both upstairs and down. They lack only the quarter round to finish them off, but I haven't ordered it yet.

Then -- I did the wallpaper in the kitchen, finally. Making the templates took waaaaay longer than hanging the wallpaper. I used liquid starch for paste and really like the way it handled. I could slide the paper around to get it seated properly, which was very helpful in such tight quarters. It was easy to paint on with a brush, and it did not bleed through the paper. The blue tape is holding the baseboard in place and holding together the two sections of linoleum while the glue dries.

I must confess, I did only three walls. The other side of the wall that divides these two rooms was just more than I wanted to deal with. It is painted white, but I think it will be covered over with shelves on either side of the doorway and maybe a shelf above the doorway as well.

So, except for the quarter round, I believe the house is finished, except for the fourth wall, which needs to be cleaned up and painted. Yet to come, landscaping and interior items.