Construction Overview: Exterior Doors

The new french doors. Upgraded doors from ebay instead of the doors that come with the kit. These doors have real glass panels and are properly hinged. 

These are the french doors that come with the kit. The fit is not ideal and they are difficult to hinge with the curved top. Aldo the white base board looks fake, I painted the same forest green as the deck for a more realistic look. The gaps are really notable in the frame with the old doors.

The front door that come with the kit are also not ideal. I find it difficult to hinge these doors without gaps when they have a curved top. 

View of house and front doors from afar.

Construction Overview: Roofing

I am nearly finished shingling and the trim at this point. It was a big deal installing the gingerbread trim. The instructions call for recessed trim and supply a wooden stick for each trim. I left the wooden sticks out and used the trim to cover the shingle edges. I noticed real life house have both recessed trim and trim at the actual edge of the roof.

Shingling view from the inside. I am starting to get the hang of cutting angles .

This is the porch roof. It was a big deal deciding if I should join the porch roof shingles with the door roof shingles. I decided not to and opted to shingle with the angle of each roof. I think it flows.

Interior view now fully shingled.

Close up porch view.

Big house overview. There are shingles everywhere and shingle pieces all over.

This is my first dry test run shingling. I am cutting a 1/8 inch off the last row (the row at the the house edge). I am placing everything first before permanently adhering the shingles.

Matching up shingles at the roof angle

No gaps along the angles of the bay windows 

Gonna have to shingle small pieces along the angle of the bay window as there are obvious gaps.

Front view. I've decided I might not just trim the last layer of shingles but actually have the last layer of shingles cut in half. I am thinking that will blend better.

Distance view

Construction Overview: The Attic

Wood stove in the attic. All the wiring taking place before the wallpaper and flooring are installed.

This is the lighting of the attic before any flooring or wallpaper are installed. This will be a child's bedroom (right) and sewing room (left). The hole in the floor is where the staircase will come up from the master bedroom.

The wood flooring has been installed and the wallpaper. The laundry sink will not be staying here. The hidden tower will be an extension of the child's bedroom.

This is another view of the hidden tower or "secret tower." Its going to be a toy room.

This is a furniture set for the child's bedroom. In the background is the sewing room.

Aerial view of the hidden tower after it has been wallpapered and floored. Support beams at each junction help hide flaws.

The laundry sink is where the laundry room in going to be. It will be to the right of the sewing room at the top of the stairs.

The wood stove room in the attic has been wallpapered and floored. Every room in the attic is wallpapered different because there are so many nooks and different rooms. There will be a bear skin rug in front of the fire with either the dog or cats sleeping in front.

This is the area where the stairs come up. This was my old stair support rail. they look chunky and fake and were readily replaced with a more realistic version.

This is the new stair support rail. The beams are note realistic and rounded. There will be two finished poles at each end and a banister coming up for obvious safety reasons.

Distance view of the attic after its been roofed.