Floors - True2Scale -

I have already used (and blogged about) True2Scale's wonderful peel and stick wallpapers.  It really is the greatest thing since sliced bread as far as I am concerned when it comes to 'papering' quarter scale walls. They have now introduced a lovely finished (mock) wood peel and stick flooring:

click to enlarge picture

It is in the same material as their wallpaper which is a sort of fabric rather than paper.  This gives it durability and also a lovely matte finish.  I think this will look just great in situ.  I will show you when I use it, but that will be some time away so I wanted to share it now in case you are hunting up a good flooring for your project.

I can honestly say, hand on heart, there isn't a product on their stand which isn't just perfect for the job.  Most of all, for me, they always live up to their name and everything is absolutely true to scale; this includes this newcomer to their repertoire.

For UK readers True2Scale will be at Kensington in May - worth a trip just for that!

I picked this up from the Sarasota show last weekend - if you want to see the show report and what I bought there you will need to go to my Dolls House Shows blog.

Easiest way to decorate

This must be the easiest way in the world to decorate.

Three walls and the floor are covered in True2Scale's peel and stick wallpaper.

It is made of fabric so gives a lovely matt finish.  I presume if you wanted shiny tiles for example you could always 'varnish' it.  No more waiting for paint to dry on the walls, or glue to dry on the floors or even worse hoping it won't warp the building with the wet glue and paste.  This took a matter of minutes and was ready for the next stage:  in my case it is skirting boards but, of course, they are painted and need to dry.

All you do is measure, mark up on the reverse, cut with a knife, peel and stick.  Another advantage is that it can be re-stuck a few times so I just measured the height of the room cut strips that width and put it in place.  I then sharply creased the corners peeled back a little way and trimmed off the surplus.  I do like a little wrap around in the corners with wallpapering.  I even cut out the doorway in the same way which saved me having to make a template.

One caveat - the plain cream fabric was a bit see through so it won't hide any holes, marks etc. on your walls or a darker coloured 'wallpaper' underneath (my corner wrap).  You could simply put another layer on to cure this but of course this will up the price - so just test any you buy for opacity and have and think about the surface it is going on and see what you need to do to make it work.  

This doesn't put me off in the slightest and the rest of the property is on hold now until I can get to Naples and order some more 'peel 'n stick from True2Scale.

This is probably a good thing because I think I need to make a lot of furnishings before I commit to lights and skirting boards and other fixed items.  For example I want to pretty much fix things to the walls in the kitchen so I don't want them shoved forward by skirting boards and I need to know where seating is going in each room to help with lighting decisions.

So my next few posts will be sharing various furniture kits with you.  If you want to see a couple I've already done they are in another album labelled Gate House furniture.

Flooring and trims - A Trifle Small

This is where I have become officially 'the crazy lady'..........but it's not my fault.......I bet they all say that.

When I was going to do three houses over here I ordered my favourite flooring from A Trifle Small (what was once Molly's House).  So a lady who lives near to me in the UK sent a packet of stuff to me here in Florida and, now I'm no longer doing the American houses, I will be taking it back to the UK.  The best laid schemes o' mice and men (and miniaturists) gang aft agley.

Nevertheless it gives me another chance to show you the great real wood flooring I got from her.  The 'floorboards' are one eight of an inch wide, giving a real life measurement of six inches, which was a floor board standard for a very long time.  It looks like the 1/12th stuff I get from Jennifers of Walsall which I am pretty sure is from Houseworks here in the States, but I don't see this quarter scale on their site.

dark walnut

The dark walnut is my favourite and seems to make it into all my houses - so far only in the 1/12th scale, but it was such a joy to see it in Quarter Scale.  I usually just finish it with a couple of coats of matte water-based B & Q varnish and it looks lovely.

light wood

This is its light companion.  I have finished this to look like cheap pine and also painted it for painted Victorian floors in bedrooms - it could be aged, stained or finished a zillion ways. 

too white?

I have seen this tile and the next one on a couple of other sites, so they are not as rare as the wood flooring but if you are buying wooden floors from Angela you may as well get the rest. This or the other one might be the bathroom floor.

too checker board?

The third tile I will definitely use somewhere, probably around the bath or behind the washbasin, or maybe kitchen splashbacks... mmm?  It seems a shame to waste such a nice small tile; how often can you find that?

My last purchase was four pieces of coving which had a definite home in the Georgetown Row House I thought I was doing.  I am not sure they have a place in The Gate House as both the cottage and the gate tower would have been stone built.  Admittedly the walls have been plaster-boarded internally sometime in their lives so maybe someone had coving in the living room?

Such a shame not to use such nice stuff, good quality, well shaped and, most importantly for me (Mrs Fussy Britches), in perfect scale.