Chateau Shingling Complete!

 I am so glad this is now complete. I am not fond of shingling, to put it mildly. I hope to never need to do another. 

It came out nicely, though there were some challenges. Not all the shingles took the stain in the same way so I was picking and choosing. I saved the iffy ones for the sides that face the chimneys. I also got done with the back and knew I wouldn't have enough shingles to complete the one wing I had left. 

Here's where I stopped and bought more shingles.

I ran to Lolly's and got another 500 and stained them. I was much smarter about staining them this time, used quart plastic narrow container. I also laid down plastic first, then the butcher paper...and swapped out the butcher paper for a second piece before I started blotting them. Was a nice cool, slightly windy day so I had some weights down on my surface.

I went back to finishing up my shingling job and am very happy with the results!

I plan on wood strips at the peaks and top of the house. I cut basswood to fit and started painting with the grey that is on the house exterior. They will be one of the very last things I attach - the top roof of the house has electrical tapewire on it and I'm going to have to make that one removable, maybe velcro. The wings have one roof piece that is removable - that will help in finishing those rooms. So until I'm done and ready to permanently attach those roof sections, the flat top will just be removable.

Shingling is moving along

 The front and dormers are now shingled. I have a sense of accomplishment and have a rhythm down now. I am also using "The Chopper" for rows where I need shorter shingles. This is by far the best way to do that, I'm not great at cutting straight with scissors.  

I also got wise to staining the cut edges with a Guardsman furniture touch-up marker before I apply the angle sections. Then on the very peak of the dormer I run the marker over that and the cut edges now are no longer visible. 

Here's the Chopper, note that the 2 wing nuts are adjustable. Easy to shift one so I can cut the short row for the bottom edge of the dormers, and another shift to cut them for the row at the top of the dormer. Just have to remember to replace the razor blade and keep your fingers away from it. 

Last time I used it was on the Foyer tile - with Tid-Bits that were formica and extremely hard to cut. 

Finally doing Chateau shingles

 It only took me a year to start applying the shingles that I stained for this Chateau. I started with marking the lines for all roof surfaces. Just doing that made me realize how much shinglind I had to do!

Next was deciding what kind of glue to use. Over the years I've tried multiple adhesives - hot glue, Quick Grip, Liquid Nails. I got a recommendation from a fellow miniaturist for one I hadn't tried - Loctite Power Grab. I got a small tube and found one size larger that had a caulklike applicator. The tube turned out to be really hard to squeeze, to the point of hurting and while I liked the adhesion, I got very disillusioned thinking about how much I had yet to do. 

I switched to the other applicator, and that actually worked much better, so I added more shingles.

I took a break for a few days and while at my local dollhouse shop, the owner gave me a tip on angles and shingling. She told me about doing a template on thin cardstock and applying a row vertically of shingles on that angled piece, and when dry, turn over and cut them on the angle. Then glue this template to the roof and continue shingling. And she mentioned she only now ever does hot glue. That sounded like a more reasonable and faster approach to this daunting task I have before me.

So I proceeded in this manner, did my templates on construction paper, and dug out my hot glue gun and sticks. Seeing that I had 3 dormers which means 6 angles to cut, I was determined to make this task a bit easier and not be frustrated with my lack of ability to get the nice clean angles that I have struggled with on previous houses that I've shingled. I wasn't going to do flashing for this and really just wanted a nice clean look.

What this meant in terms of templates is 12 pieces - 4 for each dormer. Anyway, I started, and the first was more an experiment. I had to decide the order - so the order was to do the roof surfaces first, and then come back around and butt the dormer roof sections to it. I hadn't considered that the roof section would need to extend to the top edge of the roof, and the template I had was for the dormer, just shy of the roof height. That's why you see a taped piece on my black template. 

So I got into the groove and ended up completing that left side. I'm very happy with the results and need to get back to this - do a section at a time. 

 

Chateau Shingles

I had purchased cedar shingles for the Chateau and with the grey color on the exterior, I decided it would be best to have darker shingles. I had experimented with a few grey shingles, but I don't think it would have been enough of a contrast.

I finally stained these over the weekend (needed nice weather, no rain, not hot). I had read of other miniaturists adventures in staining and wasn't looking forward to it. I got some foil roasting pans and was going to do the sieve method - poking holes in the bottom of one so the stain would drip into the bottom pan. Turns out I got too large of a size, and the bottom of these pans was not flat, had ridges for juices. That really wasn't working for me.

I was on my concrete patio, using an older wrought iron table. I had brown craft paper on top of it and this was where I would lay out the wet shingles. As I was poking holes in the roasting pan, I knocked over the stain, and it did a fabulous job of making a mess. Quickly moping up and removing the wet craft paper, as I watched it drip down to the concrete patio...not a great start. Once I was ready to start again, I placed wax paper down first, then more craft paper and began. I gave up on the roasting pans and chose a smaller metal container. I finished the first of 3 bags and was nearly out of stain (1/2 pint). Off to the store for more, and then back at it. I got a rhythm going and finally finished all. Did a bunch of blotting with paper towels and really ran through blue latex gloves like they were going out of style!

I again laid out the 2 collections of shingles today to dry and they look really nice! 3000 shingles....count 'em! I used Minwax Red Mahogany.

Here's the original 3 bags - puts it in perspective about how many I have, and what the natural color was.

French Country Exterior Work

The exterior stippling has been done - 2 or 3 coats of colors. I feel like its now where I want it to be, so I've moved on to the shingling.

I filled in the remaining areas of shingles and now have 2 coats of color wash on the shingles. I'm also happy with this. I may add some light stippling of streaks, simulating worn areas on the shingles.

Exterior work

The shingles are done, quoins are on, the chimneys are on!

I have 2 upper dormer walls to finish with texture - visible from the sides of the house.

I'm still thinking about some sort of crown/dentil molding at the top peak on the front. 

Exterior windows

I've been working on the Thornhill windows - starting with the first floor since most of that floor's rooms are done and I knew what the interior colors would be also.

Thank goodness I kept notes on how I did the color washes in the living room, so I could go back and replicate it. Turns out I had done the interior trims on some a few years ago when I did the living room walls too....I guess I had the foresight to think ahead.

The exterior trim was supposed to be grey, like a photo from a book I have. Either I just wasn't getting the right grey or it really was a bad idea. I asked DH what he thought on the grey, and he didn't really like it  - said it didn't pop for him. So back to the drawing board...and I found burnt sienna. That seemed to complement the earthtones, and made the 'pop' and contrast. So that's where I went.

I also got the front roof shingled - looking good! Then here's the interior color wash I reproduced  - not bad after a couple of years. I think for the 2nd story, I'm going to stain the interior windows cherry, rather than paint. Turns out that the 2nd floor windows don't have removable panes - can't believe that...but as a result, painting even the exterior of those window frames is a huge challenge.

For the back, I cut 2 openings - a window upstairs and a french door downstairs. So am working on those too. I think the french door turned out nicely. 

Here again is the color wash on the interior of the french door.