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Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Up Against a Brick Wall....

Or....How NOT to wire a house....

Believe it or not.  What Tessie is holding in her hand is the whole wiring system for the Crooked Cottage! It is one wire and only leads to the attic. I will have to attach an exterior transformer

I cut a splice in right behind the second floor chimney so that I will be able to put a fire in that fireplace if Nellie wants one.

The white thing to the left is the chimney.  There is a channel down the center back as a place for the wire.  Thank goodness, it is large enough to run several wires.

I have seldom seen a Tudor chimney that was not bare brick. A lot of them had patterns running through the brickwork.  I am tempted to redo the whole thing in brick.  I hate to ruin the integrity of the dollhouse, but it just doesn't look right to me.  What do you think?
Next problem?   That one and only wire comes out of the center beam of the ceiling inside the second floor.

In doing research, I am not finding any ceiling lights in small cottage Tudors.  Oops.

I am going to have to run the wire down the back and put a candle or rush light on the table.

The fireplace on this floor is just deep enough to put a small grate in.

I was a good witch.  I didn't try testing the wiring whilst Tessie was holding both ends of the wire.

Now to the real problem...The bottom floor has a fireplace that is only about 1/2" deep and there is no hearth at all.  Just wood floor.

I am debating cutting a hole in the wall there.  That would give me another 1/2".  Then I would have one about the same size as the one on the second floor.

I will also have to run some wires through there if we want any kind of candle or rush lights on the ground floor.

Problems.  Problems. Problems....What to do?  I think that I will work on solving them before rushing headlong into doing the job. 

Meanwhile, Joan is having Wednesday Witches mini group at one.  We haven't had it for three weeks.  I need a Witch Fix.

See you tomorrow.

9 comments:

Phyllisa said...

Hi Casey. I love English history and have recently gotten interested in researching the Medieval and Tudor periods again. I'm doing a scene from The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer.I have no house to work with yet so for now I'm working on collecting furniture and accessories, of which they did not own a lot of. I was looking at the Crooked Cottage yesterday for ideas on houses near that period.I will definitely be using the bed you made as an example for mine. And if you make the lower floor fireplace a cooking fireplace, I can use that too.
I say make the chimney brick, otherwise it will always look wrong to you.
Phyllisa

Caseymini said...

Phylissa, I have decided to make the fireplace deeper by building it up on the inside of the house. I tried drilling a hole for the wires and the walls are of some kind of very dense 1/2" thick board, kind of like Masonite. Very hard. I got it drilled, but not easily. I am not even going to try to saw it. As for following what I do on this build, I wouldn't suggest it. Too many headaches involved.

SharonS said...

I can't remember what the chimneys of Tudor style homes looked like when I visited England, but I guess the difference would be true "period" vs. how the exterior might have been altered over the years.

I'm with you, Casey. I just don't think an all brick chimney would look as nice against the white exterior. What about bare bricks only as far up as you have bricks on the exterior, then leave it white? What DO you call the "white" on a Tudor house...surely not "stucco".

I always think the great thing about miniatures is that you can build them any way that YOU want them to look. If you think brick doesn't look quite right running all the way up the wall, it is probably always going to hurt your mind's eye if you change it...regardless of how appropriate it is.

Véronique said...

I think your instincts are right about the chimney. Brickwork will look more authentic. Thank you for not frying Tessie! I would miss the bickering between the two of you too much :-)
Véronique

Caseymini said...

Sharon, I think that you misunderstood. I didn't see any all plaster chimneys on Tudor cottages when we were in England and haven't found any on the net. I DO like the all brick chimneys and would rather have that look. I am going to keep looking today,but I don't really think that I will find any all plaster chimneys. If I don't, I will feel justified in changing the chimney to brick, even though someone else built the house.

Caseymini said...

LOL! Veronique, I promise not to "fry" Tessie. What would I do without her?

elizabeth s said...

Hi Casey! You know that once you get a thought of how something Should be, rather than what it already
is, then there will be NO REST until you get it done. I think that your ideas about the fireplace are good ones and the addition of a hearth, brick, rushlight or candlelight and a firebox that is deeper, will all contribute to your eventual Peace of Mind!

elizabeth

Deni said...

yes the chimney should be brick!but after watching Restoration Homes from the UK It all depends what other people have added to it over the years, I think your idea of doing it brick is a good idea as it will just bug the heck out of you if you dont!!
I have made the fireplaces quite large in my tudor as I like the inglenooks
Its looking good!!!!!

Deni said...

OH BTW I put up a photo of the chimney for the tudor we made with Rik Pierce you could do that!

http://denisdollhousemania.blogspot.com.au/