Sunday 22 September 2019

The build: Laying down the foundations.

Hello my friends,

I think this title is quite apropriate. There are no cementmixers in site. Nor is there a large hole in the ground where foundations will be made. However. If you have read this blog from the beginning you know that I first started sketching and drawing several buildings in different styles and of different era's. (Georgian, Neo Gothic and Dutch Classicism) Then, when  I had chosen my theme and era, I built a maquette or mock up of the future miniature house  from cardboard and paper.

And now finally, over two years after my first sketch, I have started the first of the twenty-one rooms in earnest. therefor now is the time to tell a bit more about the construction that I have in mind.  I will not build the house as one solid behemoth of wood, paper, glue and paint. The house will be made up of three 'cabinets' one for each of the three wings as you can see in the drawing below. So we'll have the west wing, the central part and the east wing.

All good things come in three's


Every one of the twenty-one rooms will be its own roombox. The grand staircase and the ancestal gallery in the central part  will be double height and rise up almost 68 cm. (am I mad?) but the other rooms will be proper roomboxes. When finished they will slide into place in the structure of the house that also forms the outer shell of the house.

Lines, lines, lines...

The roomboxes will be made not per floor but per wing. Therefor I will start with the seperate rooms in the east wing. This means that from the service rooms in the cellar I will first make the "kookkeuken" (warm or cooking kitchen) and the "Rentmeesterskamer" (stewards room).

From the Beletage I will make the ''eetkamer" (diningroom) and the "kleine salon" (small drawingroom). Then comes the pivate apartment of sir Zonneschut with the "bibliotheek" (library) and the "blauwe slaapkamer" (blue room) and a corridor on the second floor. Finaly the attic floor will show the "kleerzolder" (clothes or washing attic) and the opbergzolder (storage attic).

When they are finished, which will take a few years I guess :-S, I will start on the second phase of the build which will either be the central part or the west wing of Huis ter Swinnendael.

All the outer walls together....

But back to the first room. If you click on this link you can read up on the 6 rooms that will form the cellar floor of the house. That page is written in Dutch but with the translation tool in the top right you can translate it into your own language  if you prefer. But as I said only two of those six basement rooms will come in the wing that I'll make first And those are those in the pictures below. 

Model of the "Rentmeesterskamer", the stewards room. 
Model of the "kookkeuken", the cooking kitchen.

My first attempt to cut the walls were not succesful. I did it by hand and the cuts were not nearly as precise as they needed to be. I am saving up for a table saw but with all the miniatures I buy in between that fund gets to be depleted every few months. ;-D

So I have drawn the walls of the first roomboxes with the help of a computer design program, in order to send them to a company that lasercuts different materials to order. I have to tweak the drawings a bit becaus I have decided that the walls that will open up the rooms as doors will be in different places than originaly planned. I plan on doing that after next weekend when  I have visited the miniature show in Arnhem.

And, as you can see in the picture of the Kookkeuken, I will have a lo of tiles to make... A huge pile of tiles...

I honestly can not wait. The game 's afoot!

Huibrecht





12 comments:

  1. Es un gran proyecto. Será bonito seguirlo.

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  2. This is so exciting!!! The plan to build it as individual room boxes if fabulous, I cannot wait to follow along on this build. The link doesn't work for me, but I am slowly working my way through your process from the very start.
    Anna
    Anna

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    1. Thank you and welcome Anna! I have restored the link. Sorry for that.

      I did not invent this way of building. I have read about in a few books and blogs and believe it is a good way to keep them Accessible after assembly.

      I hope you will enjoy the read.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. C'est une bonne idée de faire trois "boites" (la façade est superbe) en effet, le lien ne fonctionne pas.

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    1. Merci bien, Jean Claude. Je m'excuse pour le lien ne fonctononnez pas. Je restorer le lien. I faut marche maintenant.

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  5. Hello Huibrecht! What fantastic plans you have for this incredible house! The way you have planned the layout and the construction process sounds not only smart, but also the best possible way to take on such a huge project! Finishing one room at a time also allows you to enjoy the fruits of your labor during less rewarding tasks. I can't wait for more and I wish you a sudden influx of extra cash so that you can reach your goals even faster!

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    1. Thank you Jodi, I did cower away at the thought of building six rooms on an entire floor at the same time. Apart grom making the rooms easier to remove the house in its entirety will be easier to move. We have moved house this yearvand will again in a year or two when we've built our house 1:1 so being able to handle what I've built is a requirement. And yes I get to exerience the thrill of finishing a room more often. 🤗

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  6. Het zagen van de eerste wanden staat in miniatuur toch gelijk aan het slaan van de eerste paal! Daar mag wel een plaquette aan gewijd worden ;-) Je tekeningen maken echt overzichtelijk wat en hoe je gaat bouwen. Het is een gigantisch maar mooi project.

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  7. Hoi Josje,

    Een placquette is eigenlijk wel een goed idee. 😃 Gigantisch? Ja. Ik ga uit van een 20 jaren project. 😱 Maar ik heb er zin in.

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  8. These are for sure founded plans… ;O) It's a great idea to have this huge project being separated into different wings/cabinets and even single roomboxes. It will make access to the different rooms so much easier, especially during the building process. Nevertheless it sounds tricky and will for sure take some time... and will be of course very interesting to be followed.

    Greetings
    Birgit

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