Boxes - Wallpapering

 So, here comes the next scary step - wallpapering the box walls.  Just like when I painted the ceiling I am  wondering if the cardboard will fall apart or go wavy.

Before I start with the paper I always paint the trims so that they can be drying between coats between various steps of papering.  I already have some skirting board painted so I only need to get some small coving painted.  Normally I wouldn't put coving in a modern room but I want to have really neat ceiling and wall joins and this is probably the best way to go about it.  I have used the ceiling paint (Valspar Tidy White Matt) in hopes that it will not emphasise the coving too much.

Whenever you are papering you obviously need to measure and plan carefully.  More so for me with this project as I am using leftover paper from the original library.  I have one good sheet and several off-cuts.  If I have any awkwardly shaped area to paper I always make a template from some other paper or thin card.  Measuring rarely does it with a complicated shape as it is hard to be accurate with any angles or shapes.  Sometimes when doing things like dormer windows you need to make more than one template to get a perfect fit.  It is then as simple as placing the template on the wallpaper, drawing round it carefully and cutting out.  

For the first step here it is just a simple back wall piece.  If I was papering the usual primed MDF walls of a dollshouse I would leave a small unpapered edge at the top and bottom of the wall so that any trims can stick to the wood rather than just the paper.  As I am using cardboard here there is probably no advantage to that and I may as well glue coving etc to the paper.

I measured carefully and cut out the right depth strip.  I turned over one edge 1.5 cms and made a sharp crease.  I do this on each side of the paper to allow for a wrap around the corner on to the two side walls. 

To get the second side crease, I put the paper in to box and then, very carefully, use my nail to find and mark the other corner where I would want another fold. I then take it out and complete the fold making a very sharp crease.  The excess is trimmed back to 1.5 cms.  I always try another dry fit to make sure it is perfect before pasting.  This photo shows this dry fit in situ.

The paste I use for dollshouse papering is this border adhesive.  This particular one is from B and Q but I suppose any make of border adhesive will do.  It is smooth and silky and allows some sliding or pulling off and retrying.  

Depending on the material I am using or the position of the area needing papering i judge whether to put the glue on the walls or the paper.  If your paper is thin or weak in any way it is often best to paper the walls.  In this case I knew I had good paper but wanted to see how much paste the cardboard wall soaked up so I decided to paste the wall. 

I squiggled a reasonable amount over the surface and spread it out with my fingers.  Fingers are the best way to apply large areas of glue.  That way you can feel, as well as see, that everywhere is covered with an even layer.

You can see that I don't apply much; although, because it went on card this time it did need a little more.

 

Then came a huge panic/sad moment when I thought I had met my nemesis.  I had used this paper before without any stretching or wrinkling and this is what happened when applied to cardboard

.  

Luckily good sense prevailed and instead of jumping up and down on the box and crying a lot, I peeled the paper back carefully and then rubbed and patted it down into place gently starting at one side and working across.  It looks OK.

It was all feeling decidedly wet so I went to my, so far successful, strategy of weighing the box side down. I did add in a piece of non stick baking paper between wallpaper and wood in hopes it would allay any damage of the wood meeting wet wallpaper.  All I have to do now is try not to keep peeking and leave well alone until tomorrow, so ..... back to second coating the coving.  See, I told you painting the trims when wallpapering comes in handy.

The next day it had dried just fine - no bulging back wall and no creases.  Now it was  was time for the sides.  This turned out to be full of 'oh dears'.

I first had to fasten down the overlap strips, needless to say they decided to go into a mass of wavy crinkles, not all of which I could remove with the gentle rubbing patting malarky.  I wasn't overly worried as there would be about one inch at the top visible in the room when finished.  Even less reason to fret when, as it turned out, it had all dried perfectly fine.

Both sides went in.  The right side was easy as I had enough paper to cut it in one piece.  The left was a lot of fiddling about as I had to patch two pieces together and pattern matching is very fiddly on such a small pattern.  Again I could have saved on the sighing as it went in just fine.

This was when I spotted that the wallpaper on the back wall was upside down and on the side walls it was the right way up.  I am an extremely fussy mini maker and in normal times that would be a redo for sure.  That was not going to happen this time.  I had no more paper and it was from Chinoiseries which costs an arm and leg and takes ages coming from Belgium or somewhere.

If you click on the photo above and enlarge it you would be hard pressed to tell the difference.  Also, there will only be about the top inch showing above the shelving when everything is in place.  It kills my little pedantic heart but I am making myself move forward.

Indeed my husband and I even disagree about which is right way up and which is wrong.  This is wrong way for me as its pointy bit is at the bottom and has two curly 'feet; at the top.

This is the right way up for me, sort of vase of flowers with proper grounding on the bottom.

It is in such small scale it cannot possibly matter.  Does it sound as though I am trying to convince myself?

I have also cracked and spent money and set myself a further challenge with the next lot of box wallpapering.  I bought a spray glue.

I avoid sprays like the plague - they just don't like me.  I either overspray and get glops or under spray and have to keep doing it over and over.  It is just not a knack I have.... and that is with various paints.... I have never used spray glue.  Watch this space.  I have visions of having to be rescued by firemen after I have stuck myself to some object or another.  Maybe that's just my fireman fixation kicking in ....


[If you want more detailed explanations for painting and making trims and wallpapering I have several posts and some videos to help.  You can find them by going to my Dalton House blog and looking in the left hand column for what you want]

Library - re-assemble

Grrr, aaarrrgghh and similar expressions.  This re-assembling the shelves turned out to be a job I eventually had to walk away from before I had anywhere near finished.

I had some challenges just putting pieces back together as there were lots of breakages, splits and cracks which needed fixing, such as the one in this back panel.

.... but this was nothing compared to the ultimate challenge yet to come.  After a while of gluing and fiddling around I got the four main pieces looking OK.

... then the nightmare began.  I had forgotten completely how fiddly and frustrating it was when I first made these to fit the shelves in.  It was so, so, annoying.  I considered putting in tiny battens to attach them to but realised I would have to accurately cut 3 tiny pieces of wood for each of 24 shelves and it would probably not look all that nice.  I am also not convinced it would help with sticking them in place any way.

It has to be a tight fit for all three sides to make contact and it certainly that, so just getting them in the place is a nightmare.  Where to apply the glue? When you have 'sorted' that, the pig of the task is how to  make sure they are level horizontally and from front to back.

I had assembled all the 'frames' ready as shown in the above picture - all except one, which didn't have its side or top on as I was waiting for some damage to dry.  Needless to say I then discovered a much easier way to do it.

With two sides open I could put the shelf in place easily gluing two edges and could even use a square edge to set the shelf so it was level in all directions.  Grrrrrr  This will help with just four but leaves me with twenty others to do.  I had eight in place by the time I had to walk away.

Next day I managed to get the shelves in by applying a bit of nous combined with brute force.  First dot the where the shelf will go with a few tiny dot of Superglue gel.  Then put the shelf in above its location diagonally, taking advantage of the space.

Then, taking much care, flex the shelf a little so it is now short enough to get into its place before settling it in

 

I made that sound easy.Eventually though I had all four pieces reassembled. 

They need a top trim to neaten the front edge again.  Although looking at them now I am wondering (if the paint I got proves to be a good match) if I might not bother with adding the trim.  I think I could sand the edges smooth and touch up with paint and maybe add a picture light over each section.

Or cabinet lights?  I can't decide which would look the best and work the best.  I welcome any help here from anyone who has used either.   Mmmm on consideration the fastening plate is probably bigger than the front edge of the top cabinet trim.... another grrrr.  

So, a couple of tips from this week's adventures:

• when gluing fiddly pieces together:  use wood glue, not too thick, and let it go off a bit so it is more tacky and the big secret to success is to put occasional tiny bits of Superglue gel - apply with a toothpick here and there to give instant grab
• try always to look at your work as model making and not real life in miniature.  I just didn't see the leaving a side and the top off solution because, in real life, you build your cases and then add your shelves.

  

Boxes - Painting

Already in this process I wouldn't recommend a thick porous cardboard  for room boxes.  Ideally if you have a means of cutting it I would definitely go for thin MDF.  However the card is working OK for me so far.... read on ....

I knew in advance moisture would be an enemy to my plan and on first painting the ceiling it began to concern me.

I gave the ceiling one coat of an artists acrylic paint - good old Plaid.  My thinking was it is less wet than household wall paint which is where I would be going next.  I am sure gesso would give it a decent first coat and help seal the surface.  I was also recommended to try a spray matt painters' varnish which would certainly work.  These two ideas were kicked into touch as the whole reason for choosing card was to keep the cost down to an absolute minimum and use pretty much what I already have.

It went on well and covered the grey.  When I looked carefully I could see a bit of bowing on the front edge so I waited for the paint to touch dry and left it overnight under a piece of wood.  I wasn't very concerned about the finish if the wood marked it as it was a first coat and there will be at least two more and a light sanding

It dried perfectly and does seem to have made a decent base coat and even strengthened the cards so after step one I am more pleased than I expected to be

Always pleasing when a spirit level says something is OK

We managed a trip to good old B and Q and my favourite counter  - Valspar - where I picked up two of their tester pots - Tidy White Matt and Tidy White Silk.  I always use these for ceilings and woodwork. Valspar tester pots are all round fabulous.  £3 for a useful amount of paint (236 mls), a choice of a gazillion colours and shades and the paint quality is excellent with good pigmentation.  Win, win and another win.

I have also discovered, courtesy of my grandson's latest bag of paint brushes, the joy of Sponge Bob brushes.

It picks up just the right amount of paint and covers well and quickly with (of course) no brush stroke lines.  It then cleans up easily.  this has been used three times and washed under a cold water tap.

The finished result is (so far) working just fine.  This is the ceiling after one coat of artists acrylic and two coats of white household paint.  It will get a rub over when absolutely bone dry (couple of days plus) with an extra fine sanding pad - more of a buff than a sand.

The box had stayed 'square' with no bowing and the tape is not affected by the paint. The next challenge will be applying wallpaper.

Library - disassemble

This was the very nearly finished library in Dalton House before it moved on.

I ripped it out in hopes of re-using it for a room box.  Sadly there was a lot of damage.  Three back panels split and the cornice trims around the top took a beating.  There were bits and bobs of other splintering and, of course several sides and all the shelves fell out.

I had already experienced a similar event with the two kitchens I thought I could retrieve and reconfigure into anther room box kitchen.  I quickly discovered that was not going to work and have ordered a completely new flat pack from Elf.  With that in mind I almost immediately gave up on this room and would have binned them; luckily I dashed off to make dinner and that was it for that day.  The following day, with closer inspection and fresh eyes, I could see possibilities.

Let me just say, by now I had a spread out heap of assorted broken and unbroken pieces.  The first task was to try and properly assess the damage by roughly sorting into a right hand set of bookcases and a left hand set.  It was a heck of a 3D jigsaw puzzle.  The pictures you see here were taken some time later and have quite a bit of re-assembly in them so they don't look too bad.

Having done this I could see that if I can get things to glue back together successfully and be able to get some more trim from Elf and be able to match the paint, I might be on to a winner.  Any repairs, with luck, will be well hidden by books and boxes. 🙏   There are a lot of ifs, buts and maybes going on there.  

The lesson to be learned from this little epistle is:  if you ever intend to dismantle anything for re-use, taken a gazillion detailed 'before' photos of how it was and as you dismantle put the pieces down in a logical order.