Chapter 85 - Ceiling to the Left Side Porch Second Floor, 2 Comfy Chairs

July 24th  - 25th 2014

The first thing I noticed is that the piece chart was missing for this Chapter.  Luckily, all the pieces were familiar as I had already made the porch ceilings before and the comfy chairs had the same pieces as well.  So, I slapped together the ceiling, painted the remaining pieces that needed it and installed the ceiling (which I won’t walk thru again as I had done it so many times before - at least this is the last one!).
I also had to attached a few more decorative pieces and the wooden runners for the shōji windows.  As usual, a tight fit.  But I’ll just end up having to sand down the upper piece to make the shōji slide.  At this point, I’m used to it.

Internal detail of the ceiling inside the porch

Finished porch roof.

Next was to make the comfy chairs.  I really didn’t want to use the fabric that came with the kit as it’s pretty boring.  So I pulled out the fabric pieces I had bought at Ajisai and found a neat blue.  Before I could start upholstering the chairs, I had the sand the wooden pieces and round the edges a bit.  The chairs are not stuffed - just wooden blocks covered with fabric.  So the too straight edges really don’t look that great once the fabric has been glued on (I did try one chair without rounding and didn’t like it much).  The kit came with pieces slightly raised in the center or bowed to give a more realistic look to the chairs.  But they just needed a bit of rounding out and smoothing to complete the effect.

Left side after sanding. You can see the raised seat detail. The backs were the same. To give the chairs more dimension.

After that, I had to position my piece to figure out how the pattern would fall on the “cushions”.   The easiest way was to make little pattern pieces and cut the bottom cushions first, then the back.  Course I ended up over cutting the back of one when I was fitting it but as usual, these chairs are well used so I wasn’t too concerned.  Once the upholstering was done, I could sand the bottom cushion fabric where people would have been sitting to make it look worn.  The cotton responded really well to the sanding.  I then stained the wooden arm rests and the peg legs and just waited for things to dry so I could glue them into place. 

Working on the seat cushions.

Gluing the back covering to the chairs and the chair backs to the seats.  Staining the arm rests and peg legs.

Adding the legs and arm rests.

There are areas where the cotton fabric did unravel a bit and was hard to manipulate (it’s a very fine cotton) but overall the effect is quite lovely! I like it! So kitsch hotel/motel 50’s!!

Chapter 67 - Ceiling to Right Hand Room, Television, Chair

October 3rd - 6th 2013

Ceiling was straight forward - again just measuring and glueing the decoration across.  I drilled a hole and inserted a second light for this room seeing as I had ordered additional LEDs from Evan Designs.  That way I can add a bathroom light and one to the hallway as well.  I am still bummed that I lost a LED somewhere.  I think I lost it when I took it with me to the model store to ask for appropriate gauge wire - which they didn’t have.  Model stores here suck really.  Very limited amount of materials.  So, I ordered the extra wires off Evan Designs too this time.  Fool me once....

Measuring and glue the wooden strips.

Glueing the celing in place.  Always need a vice.

Finished Red Room.  Just need to decorate it.

Friggin TV antenna.  Had to glue and reglue it in place.

Variety show circa 1963!

The TV was a pain just like it was last time.  But I decided to make it look a little more 60’s-ish.  I painted the front red and added a pic of a variety show woman for the screen.  The antenna was a royal pain in the butt but eventually I forced it into place.

Using double sided tape to attach a green fabric strip to some light cardboard.

Had to do this strip twice as I ruined it durng construction of the chair.

To hold all the strips and fabric in place on the odly shaped sections of chair.

Finished TV and Comfy Chair.

The comfy chair was the same as last time.  Still, I had to redo the strip that covers the front since I had glued it on wrong and when I went to take it off, ripped it apart.  Not to worry.  I am very frugal.  Made sure I had paper and fabric to redo any mistakes.  I dirtied up this chair just like the other one using some old green eyeshadow and it will in fact go into the porch with its twin.  Looks like the bamboo bedroom is finally complete.  (...then again....)

Comfy chairs now in place on the Bamboo Room Porch.

Chapter 55 - Railings to Right Side Porch First Floor, The Comfy Chair

September 3rd - 5th 2012

Started off with the Comfy chair since it was a new object to make and I had been thinking of how to change it a little.  I wanted it to have some upholstered look buttons on it but not on the seat.  I had drilled some holes hoping to be able to force the material thru it and simulate buttons (which I’d glue on).  So, after cutting and trying to get the material to stick (using adhesive tape and glue) I realised that this wasn’t going to work so well because the structure of the chair is all wood (even the seat and back) and just was too rigid to give a sort of soft comfy look.  The only thing to do was to put a little bit of stuffing into the backrest to take away from the wooden stiffness.  I had a pretty tough time getting the fabric to fold around the rounded edges.  But it eventually went in as best as I could manage.  I painted the legs with a little gold to simulate metal capped peg legs and added also a coffee ring on one of the arms.  I then used some old green eyeshadow to make the chair look used and “sat in” - just shading the seat, back and where someone’s head might lean. Not too shabby looking but looks used none-the-less.

The seat cushion is a piece of wood! Ouch!

Once covered, it looks like a cushion.

Some extra glue around the seat and back to keep the fabric attached.

Attaching the back to the seat. I had to hand drill open the holes a bit to allow the legs to fit.

Finished chair, coffee ring but too clean...

...some old eyeshadow in the right shade...

...did the trick.  Bit filthy.

The railings were pretty fast and easy since been there, done that.  I had to sand down some areas for the curve on the end of the railings.  Then just painted and varnished them up.  Ready to go !

Putting the railings together

Final pieces sanded with slight curve

Right hand porch nearly completed.