The floor is made by scoring the kit’s floor piece to simulate planks. Using an X-Acto knife, I cut out pieces along some of the lines to create broken boards. I used a nail set to create the illusion of nails at the ends of the planks and then stained the wood with a paint wash.
The wallpaper is scrapbook paper called Simple Stripes/Grandma’s Kitchen by We R Memory Keepers. It’s fantastic since it already has that worn and aged look printed in the design.
Using 1/8″ mdf, I added a ceiling to the side room to create an attic, access to which is simulated with a faux trap door (I used the tutorial on the Greenleaf site). The attic floor is covered with the same siding strips I used throughout, cut in half lengthwise, and then stained with a light wash.
On the underside, I primed the ceiling with white paint and then swirled on Vintage White paint by Folk Art. I used a brown paint wash to create water stains on the ceiling and trailed an X-Acto knife from the corners of the attic door to create cracks. I painted over the brass handle in the process. If you’ve ever seen an old house, you know painting over hardware was a common practice. :]
One happy accident happened as I was measuring for something. I had the ceiling taped in place at the time and accidentally made a long pencil mark on the freshly painted surface. Instead of trying to cover it with paint, which I didn’t think would work all that well, I used my X-Acto knife to lift the paint all along the pencil mark, creating a long crack in the ceiling.
I made the stove from a Chrysnbon plastic kit. I found this kit to be both realistic and very easy to assemble. Although the kit came in plastic molded in the proper color, I still sprayed all of the pieces with Testors flat black. I also sprayed the chrome pieces since I wanted this to look like an old stove without any fancy accents.
I added a red bulb to simulate warm coals.
To achieve the aged look, I dabbed on Mushroom acrylic paint by Folk Art and a paint by Testors appropriately called Rust. :D
I painted the wires black and glued them to the inside of one of the back legs before feeding them through the floor. I used an X-Acto knife to shave dust from a black conte crayon and used a dry brush to dirty the wall and ceiling around the stove.
The windows, door and trims were first aged by beating, cutting and otherwise marring the finish and applying a wash of brown and black paint. I applied Crackle Medium by Folk Art and then painted Sunflower yellow by Folk Art.
The lower interior window is removable so I can have the window partially open or closed completely. To age the glass (acrylic), I brushed on some Gloss Varnish by Delta Ceramcoat and then wiped away the excess. It took a few turns of this process to get a realistic look. The rolling shade is made from a scrap of fabric glued around a wooden dowel.
When the backdrop is in place, it really feels like you’re standing in a real life room. :D
