Making a Grand Entrance.

The last sections of the main exterior to be dealt with were the front door, portico and pavement.   There's nothing fancy here and nothing has been altered or added.   The front door has been painted matt black with a door knocker and door knob added.   I'm pretty sure I'm going to leave the side lights clear but you never know, that might change in time.

I knew I wanted to use real stone on the steps and pavement and initially random flagstones from Richard Stacey were laid because they were already in my stash of bits.   The thinking behind this was that at the time the house was built the "random" style would be fitting and you can see how they looked further down.   It wasn't until they were laid that I had second thoughts so up they all came and down went grey flagstones (again from Richard Stacey) - much better!

Next job on the list was to add detail to the pillars at the foot of the stairs.   They were crying out for something quite imposing so after a fair bit of wrestling with the Dremel I fitted these lights.

Two topiary swans were also introduced to either side of the front door.   (You can also see the random flagstones in this pic).

I then needed to add some railings (just to prevent the servants and passers-by from toppling down into the "area"!).  A little railing detail to the top of the basement wall was also added to match in with the railings already fitted to the area windows.

I'm on the lookout now for a suitable finial of some description to add to the posts.

The final additions to the basement, as it stands at the moment,  are  some supports (for want of a better word) on the basement side of the railings.   I don't know what the correct architectural term is but I wanted them anyway!

.........and that's the exterior to date.    In the next post, I'll show the whole completed frontage.

Note - a few people have asked how my sister Valerie produced the leaded fanlights in the previous post about windows.   She used imitation lead relief available in a tube (I don't have it here otherwise I could have given a product name) on acetate and cut it to shape.   They're not properly fixed in yet but will just be glued in, the same as "window glass", and I've passed on your nice comments for which she says "thank you".

An Award.

I've just received this award from Genevieve. Thank you so much!   It is so nice of you to think of me and it brightened up my Monday

I now have to pass it on to six others.   This is such a difficult task...............

Christine at Hollyhock Cottage

Sabiha at Sabs Mini Interiors

Sylvia at Lotjesdollshouse

Nina at Tudor Doll House

Brae at  Otterine.com.blog

Josje at A Beautiful World

I enjoy what you're all doing very much.

More about windows.

These are the main ground floor windows as they came with the house.   You can see these little overhangs at the bottom that had to be removed.

I wanted something a bit more imposing so..........I extended the bottom out from the sills - not enough to create a balcony but something to make them that bit different from the windows on the upper floors.

I added railings and weathered them.

The next section of the window to get attention was the fanlight.   I looked at various buildings in Edinburgh and on the web and decided that I wanted leaded glass.

I looked through several designs and finally settled on this

I cannot take credit for this!   Thanks to my sister Valerie (who's a dab hand at this sort of thing) I got fanlights I'm really pleased with.

It didn't stop there though.   Since these pictures were taken, I decided to alter the arch above the fanlight.   It wasn't important looking enough for me so, out came the balsa and a little order to Sue Cook and I came up with this:

The arches on the windows now match up with the arches on the basement.

Windows, Railings and Roof Tiles.

The next sections of Netherton to be tackled were all the windows and the roof. There are quite a few windows on this property and as mentioned in a previous post they all had these little overhangs on either side that I didn't like so they got cut off. The astragals were painted, sanded and painted again in white and the edging trim was given the same stone coating as the body of the house.

I wanted to put "metal" grilles on the windows and ordinarily I would have added the black decorative trim that can be cut and fitted and that would be it but having been inspired by Linda Carswell's Petite Folie weathered railings, I decided to have a go at this technique. This turned out to be a simple task using emulsion paint and a sponge.

Not weathered...............

Weathered.   

It makes a difference, doesn't it? The whole effect looks a bit softer, I think. Thank you for that, Linda.

I used two styles of "railings", larger ones as above on the main house windows and smaller ones in the service area in the basement and also on the attic windows.

The next alteration I made was to the attic windows. There are five windows up there and originally they fitted flat against the roof but I wasn't so keen on that look so I decided to turn them into dormers.

This was done using foamboard. I cut a template initially just to get the correct angles. They were then all fitted into place and painted with the stone coating

I also added some lead to the flat tops of the windows, down either side and under the roof tiles.

Finally I tackled the roof. It's a pretty large roof and I certainly didn't want any added extra weight (or cost) by using real slate so I opted for card tiles from Peter Clark These tiles are really easy to work with. They have a shaded finish on one side of A4 card and are marked out in roof tile sizes on the reverse, easily cut with a sharp craft knife and fixed on with pva.   The tricky bit was getting the sides to line up so that the tiles ran straight across and round the other side.

A strip of lead along the top to finish off and the roof was done. I didn't put any particular finish on the very top of the roof (I have to stand on a stool to reach that), just a couple of coats of matching grey paint.

Paint with possibilities

I'm straying away from the overall decorating of Netherton with this post to tell you about this paint I came across.   In the UK the trade name is "Humbrol" although there's every possibility it's available elsewhere or there is something that does the same job under another name in different countries.

Anyway, I needed a kickplate for a door I was working on and didn't want a brass coloured one. So I decided to make one (not a difficult task!)

A thin piece of balsa cut to size.

Next, painted with this Humbrol paint. No undercoat, just go for it with two coats.

When the paint is dry, and using a piece of kitchen roll, rub the finish and it comes up metallic.

It's excellent stuff for making wood look like metal and I think could be put to lots of different uses.

Now THAT'S a fireplace!

Last summer, husband Nick and I were on holiuday in beautiful Yorkshire and on the drive back home I was determined to stop off in Northumberland to visit Cragside.   I'd been wanting to visit this grand country house for a long time.

Cragside was owned by Sir William George Armstrong (1810 - 1900) and was the first house in the world to be lit by hydro-electric power - he was also responsible for the machinery that raised Tower Bridge.   He was so obsessed by the power of water that his family maintained he had "water on the brain".

This supremely grand chimney piece is situated in the Drawing Room.

The space beneath the canopy is large enough for a dozen people to meet.

This piece is in fact largely decorative as the room is heated from below by it's own pipe and boiler system.

Can you imagine that in miniature?

A very warm welcome and the next stage.

First of all, I'd like to wish all followers of Small & Stately a very warm welcome. I'm really pleased to see you all here and hope you like what I do with this property.

The next step, after dealing with the basement was to add some decoration to the exterior.   As I've loosely based the overall look on the Georgian buildings here in Edinburgh I was aware that they are not that highly decorative but I felt I had to add a little something to break the plain look of the frontage.   I did this using plaques which I hope come across as simulating carved stone.

These were purchased from a variety of sources including Sue Cook.

The windows were next to be altered.   I didn't like the way the trim had these little overhangs so I cut them off.   They were then (all 30 of them) painted, sanded and painted again.

Now that the exterior decorative details had been dealt with, the whole property had to be given a base coat of emulsion then painted and I chose a cream coloured textured paint.   The stonework in Edinburgh is by no means that light but the colour goes well with the decor in the room it stands!