Dollhouse Kitchen, Painting and Tiling

Today, waking up extra early to get started on the kitchen, I first masked the windows and the oak floor in the other room, in case paint got on it. Only the top half of the kitchen needs to be painted, because of the tile going in, but a coat or two on the lower half will protect the wood so it's not a bad idea.

Here, the walls are just starting to be painted.

Now they have their first coat, and it is still nice and early in the morning.

The tile sheets cost about $5 and are large enough to easily tile an entire room. But the white tile is very plain, it needs grout. Grout... grout.... hmmmm... I tried a light tan grout color first but could hardly see it. In dollhouses, a tiny bit of exaggeration is not a bad thing, carefully done. So I added a touch of black, to make a warm grey grout. Just out of the bottle acrylic craft paint. Painted it on with a flat brush....

Let it sit for a few minutes, then wiped with a folded flat paper towel... leaving the 'grout' in the deep areas...

Much better! It took another careful wipe, or two, and a little touching up to make it right. You don't want it perfect... nothing would look perfect in a working kitchen...

After they were all done, I added the border that I had carefully cut out of the leftover floor tiles. Crazy glue keeps it on very nicely!

Here are all of the pieces, with their borders. The cutouts are, of course, for the windows. The seam in the big one will be under the sink, so that's all right.
9 am, time to start working on horses! Can't wait until lunchtime!!

Lunchtime: 12 - 1 pm  Meal: Granola bar and fresh blackberries, so I can eat and work. Of course! both of which the birds like, too.
First, I put down the floor, using two sided carpet tape. It had already been cut to size and well fitted. Then, using the same two sided tape, put up the tile walls. The seam under the sink isn't perfect, so I added a row of tiles over the top to disguise the splice. Between eating, reading FB, and taping up the walls, lunch was fun and interesting!

The first wall is up! It looks so much more authentic and detailed, with the grout.

All done for today! It lacks only the baseboard and the fabrication of a piece below the stairwell, covering that gap. (we never bothered with it in the old days) All finished! I want to play with it, but time to go back to work... a kiln firing is in the schedule for tonight and I'd best get a move on!