Dollhouse Blogs

Saturday 6 August 2011

Finished Music Room and Dining Room Floors

Hello all,

I just finished the floors for 2 rooms. I haven't stuck them to the House structure yet as I still need to let the shellac dry properly and then add a coat of clear wax.
Music Room
 Dining Room


Finishing the floors went well. AS I mentionned in an earlier post I used shellac flakes dissolved in 99% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. When the wood boards were glued onto the illustration board subfloor, I sanded them with 80 and 120 gritt sandpapers. I applied a coat of shellac (I used Garnet color shellac flakes), let it dry 30 minutes, then gently went over it with a 0000 steel whool. I repeated these steps 3 times. The shellac goes on easily, but you have to work very fast and not go over your strokes. A few times I did just that and there are marks on the finish, but since I wanted the floors to look old it worked out very well.
I also finished the Dining Room floor. For this room I purchased miniature parquet sheets and glued them onto an illustration board subfloor and then finished the same as the music room floor with Shellac. The dining room floor took about 30 minutes to put together whereas the music room floor took 3 weeks (I usually work on my miniatures one day each weekend and maybe 1 or 2 evenings a week). Doing the detailed floor from scratch was much longer, however one must take the price into account: The music Room floor (20" x 36") cost about $45.00 versus the Dining Room Floor (16" x 20") which cost about $135.00.

8 comments:

  1. This is the work that, among all, scares me more (maybe because I never did) ...
    So I read with great attention to these steps and admire the result obtained by you: if there are defects, not seen in the photos at all!
    This house is amazing, given all the love you have lavished on it :-)
    The effect obtained with shellac, is indeed very bright, perhaps for a Georgia plateau, is more appropriately a matte finish ... What do you think?
    I'm undecided ...
    Since it's Sunday, I hope you can work at the house of dolls with greater devotion :-)
    Mini hugs, CIAO,
    Flora

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  2. Your house is looking beautiful. I love the floor what a wonderful job you have done. Greetings Maria

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  3. Te felicito por tu trabajo, es magnífico!!!!
    ya tienes una seguidora más te invito a visitarme,
    solo un apunte, podrias poner el traductor en tu blog, así sería más facíl.Besos desde España.
    MªLuisa.

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  4. Your floors look wonderfull! The shellac gives the wood a nice color. Looking forward to see what your next item will be on your house.
    Jeffry.

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  5. Gorgeous rooms! The floors are perfect. I really love all of the fireplaces that you have made. They are stunning!

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  6. Thank you all for your very kind comments. I truly appreciate them very much.
    I hope you all have a great week,
    Giac

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  7. Great! may be I'd have chosen a less briliant varnish but I do love how it turned out.
    Making wood floors is the job I like more. I made several in my room boxes and I truly loved it.
    Thank you for your mail, your Italian is very good and you are a great inspiration.
    I'm finishing my plans on paper and next week I'll go and buy wood for the structure.
    Did you use MDF ? isn't it a tad too heavy ? I want to use plywood in several thickness, do you know any countraindication to it ?
    Have a nice day and I'll look forward to your new post. A presto,Rosanna

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  8. Buongiorno Rosanna! I did a lot of research about building dollhouses with MDF or Plywood and the only conclusion I can make is that is it a matter of preference. I used MDF because the project was so big and it was MUCH less expensive then Plywood. I quite enjoy building with mdf becaue it glues together easily and has very smooth surfaces.
    Tanti saluti
    Giacomo

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