Counterpoint......

I finished the counter that the tea and cookies will go on this morning. This is how it started out. I used some scraps of 3/32" thick basswood. Two pieces were 2 x1 3/4(sides) and two pieces were 3x1 3/4(top and bottom). I simply glued them into a box shape with the smaller pieces to the inside of the larger ones. As you can see, I was working on the trinket box and the counter at the same time. The jig has 8 magnets and will hold as many pieces as you have magnets to hold them together.

Through the miracle of trim and stain, this is what it looked like when I finished.

After the box form dried, I stained it and measured up 1" from the bottom inside and added a shelf. It is recessed by 1/4". then I added small crown molding around the front and the sides, mitering the front corners and cutting the back even with the shell itself. I stained the pieces as I went so that there would be no glue showing. After that I cut a top from 3/32" basswood by turning the piece upside down, tracing around it and then adding 1/1 6" around the three sides. The back is flush with the shell.

I added "bun feet" in the form of the smallest little round biscuits that people building real furniture use for filling screw holes. You can pick these up at your favorite home store, unfinished and dirt cheap by the bag. Then I added small chair rail around the bottom on the front and sides and 1/16"double bead molding to the vertical fronts and the front of the shelf to give the piece a finished look.

I touched up the stain. Then I started sanding and varnishing alternatively 3 times with Deft satin spray. After it was finished I decided it needed a little something extra. I dug through my stash and found some fancy gold adhesive backed paper strips that I picked up at the miniature show last year. I put a strip around the top and bottom trim. You can barely see it in the photo, but it shows up when you are looking at the actual piece.

Here you see the progress I have made. There is still no fastening down of pieces, but this is probably what the layout of the downstairs. I did get the door varnished with one coat and I trimmed the DAS that was at the edge of the windows and door. I am in the zone(whatever that means) and moving right along now. I only have to finish the windows and curtains. Then the second floor goes on!

Back to work. See you tomorrow!