In my last puzzle house post, I expressed uncertainty about the outcome of my homemade apex trim experiment. After reading the comments people left about the pictures, I decided to make a few modifications. I removed the newel post and shaved a bit more off the top, so the bottom points of the trim line up with the bottom edge of the block at the base of the post. And I painted the whole thing with Sandy Feet to match the rest of the trim. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

(Even though I masked it, I got a little bit of paint outside the lines. Should be easy to touch up.)

Next I moved my attention to wallpapering the upstairs rooms. I really don’t like cutting wallpaper for funky-shaped rooms like these. I tried unsuccessfully to cut wallpaper for the inside ceiling of the gable and had so much trouble, I gave up and painted it white. Easier said than done! This is a very small space and it was hard to get my hand in there, let alone a paintbrush. I ended up using a small piece of sponge and a short-handled brush that was with the rest of my paintbrushes, but I’m pretty sure it was supposed to be for applying eyeshadow. The finish isn’t perfect, but it’s good enough.

While that was drying I finished cutting wallpaper for the two rooms, then sprayed all the pieces with matte sealer to protect them.

I’m wallpapering this house with scrapbook paper, which was a bit tough to ease into the smaller corners due to its stiffness. In the larger room there’s a seam where the ceiling meets the straight part of the wall that I’m unhappy with. (It blends in in the picture below, but it’s very noticeable in real life… to me, anyway!) I think I’m going to have to cover it up with trim. Maybe chair rail or some kind of paneling.

Then I got to work cutting the window trim. I had enough to do all of the windows except for the top and bottom edges of the bay. This weekend I’m planning to make a trip to the dollhouse store to buy some more of that, as well as half scale crown molding for the downstairs rooms. Painting trim is one of my least favorite activities, so I’m staining it with Minwax Early American instead.

In tangentially-related news, last night I saw an ad on TV for a new Glidden paint promotion. Last year they gave away quart cans of paint for free, and I got the Belgian Waffle that I painted this house with. This year they’re giving away testers, which are about the same size as the small paint bottles available at craft stores. (The Sandy Feet I’m using for trim on this house is from a tester.) The promo doesn’t start until June 1—here are the details. I’ll be there!