Maine Yankee's Projects

This room box is done! See the results on the Steve Harvey Miniatures web site.

The room boxes from Steve Harvey Miniatures are done and the web site is looking great. See lots more pictures of this finished at the new site.

I got down to the last two pieces of wainscot and had to give up for tonight. These need to dry and then I need to do a bit of work to get them to fit and look right. These go on either side of the archway.

That stupid medallion fell off of the ceiling twice :-( Finally got it on there right.

That's the last of the pictures in the shop. Next stop is the photo shoot under the big lights. :-)

I spent the whole evening with the duplex on its head so that I could do the ceiling trim.

The parlor room got bright white dentil moldings all around. Dentil can sometimes look rather heavy, but painted white they look clean and understated.

The library got some plain crown moldings.

That big medallion looks right home in the parlor. The matching chandeliers give the two very different rooms that one common look that ties them together.

This was a big one and it had a few little quality problems, but it was well worth the effort. Yes, I still have to do the hardware, but I ordered working bales from HBS and don't expect them until later in the week. I'll try to finish it up on Saturday.

It is going to complete this room very nicely.

Stained and in place, the shelves are ready for the books. I didn't want Laurie to be too bored on a Saturday, so I enlisted her help in assembling these printies. That girl has talent!

I did this first test set, but it was torture. My fingers are so stubby and chubby that working in the small space was not going well. My choice of rubber cement for the adhesive was poor, as well.

So I did the cutting out of all of the printies, and then I swept down on Poor Laurie before her eyes were open all of the way.

That girl has the knack for printies. Plus, she has lots of glue stick at hand. In no time she was deep into it. She even had Li'l Bea interested enough to try it. Before I could get more designs printed, she was nearly done.

I don't think she minded too much. When she had them all looking good she took them down to the workbench and populated the shelves. What a life saver :-D

This evening I kept busy juggling three work areas in motion. Got to get the second shelf built and in place because the books are coming ;-)

The first one was simple, just do it. The second has to match the first, so more measuring is required. At one point the shelves starting going askew. I had to remove three of them and get it squared up again.

Meanwhile, cutting fitting, and painting of the prefab wainscot was interesting. The pattern needs to line up and the corners are a bear. I don't like working with this material, so this will be the one and only project I ever do with this junk.

And don't forget the floors. I have a bunch of bags of this luan "siding" that is not nice to work with, but once you get everything sanded and polyurethaned, it looks great. Keep the tweezers handy because you WILL get splinters. Ouchie. I need a sanding drum on my tool bench.

Hey, that's starting to look like a room!

Going for a Federal style, we'll be doing a low, ornate wainscot in white. So, I found this toile wallpaper on a white background and in a blue that says, "I'm clean and I'm Federal, baby." :-)

Starting from a back corner, I moved across the back and toward the front, which helps to hide seems and is easier to work at, as well.

I went with rubber cement, since this is just white printer paper, and went right over the windows. The only aligning I did was from page to page because the top and bottom will be covered by trim.

Quick as you please (you HAVE to work fast with rubber cement), the paper is up and in an hour you go at it with the x-acto blade to clear the openings. With white trim and pale wood floor, this paper is just what the room needs to make it pop!