I like the idea of a staircase that wraps around a wall and have this idea rattling around my head of fancy railings - that I need to buy - or will have to make - or have metal etched - and I'm keeping my options open until I can decide either way.
In scale, the stair will be 15mm high (the riser) and the 20mm deep (the tread) and 90mm wide
Lucky for me, my wood hoarding has finally paid off as I had a length of skirting board at home that was 15mm thick. Score! I cut multiple 90mm long pieces and found a block at 20mm thick. This was used to keep the stair treads consistent when I glue them together.
At this point I realised I had made a HUGE mistake. A mistake I can work around but a mistake nonetheless. I made the height of the rooms 220mm. This meant the stairs have to be an equal multiple of the height of the room. 220mm (height of the room) divided by 15mm (height of the stair) doesn't work out as a nice, round number....what a dumb arse! 😄
So, I jumped ahead, without taking photos, (because I was mad at myself) and arrived at this.
Here you can see the 10mm difference between the top of the stairs and the second floor which leaves me with two options...start again or have a smaller last step and put a filler piece in. I'm going with the latter because I don't want to start again. The stairs were glued and attached to landings/ supporting frames which were made out of scrap wood. Once I had the overall dimensions of the complete staircase, I measured the opening on the second floor and cut it out. All of the staircase will be enclosed and veneered so it really doesn't matter how pretty it looks underneath.
The vertical wall supports the second and third floor; the second floor sitting in a channel I routed out.
After cutting a gazzilion treads and risers, I stained them a lovely, warm rosewood colour and glued them into place.
I measured and cut the stringers, (skirting), which will be glued to the wall and inbetween the stairs so they look nice and flush.
Once I decide on the railings, I can build the panels and stringers on the otherside of the stairs.
I moved onto the stairs leading from the second floor into the attic. This time, I learned from my mistakes and worked out where the stairs would start and finish and made a landing thick enough to bridge the difference in height.
At last I have enough walls in place to be able to shift this baby. I really, really hope it fits into the car 😄
Have a wonderful day
Pepper
a huge building like this manor needs to stairways anyway: one for the owners and one for the servants... right? ;-)
ReplyDeletegreat idea to use skirting board - never thought of that. that landing makes it easier to level the last step... need to remember this when I do stairs again. I had to go up straight and boy did I measure, re-measure, dry-fit, re-measure... hihi.
Thanks Marion, you would think stairs would be straightforward. But like everything in miniature, measuring is key :0)
DeleteWow! Handmade stairs! Very, very lovely job! Bravo! Every time I have done stairs, I've had something I forgot to account for. Will I ever learn? God I hope so! I've finally come to the conclusion that I will be reducing the width of the New Orleans staircase and thus rebuilding the whole thing. Your treads look fantastic - the rosewood stain is beautiful. I am excited to see what you decide on for the rails - I know they'll be a knockout! I'm sending positive thoughts that the building will go right into the car, and if not they'll be a helpful and willing person with a truck nearby.
ReplyDeleteHi Jodi, it was definately one of those doh! moments :0)
DeleteJust a thought, because I ran into this same issue with NOLA house. If you have thicker flooring under the staircase, it'll lift it somewhat. If your staircase isn't glued in you could put some slightly thicker wood flooring in and that'll give you an extra millimeter or two of lift for the stairs. That would narrow that last gap before your second floor.
ReplyDeleteI love your staircase though. Gorgeous! Check out Alessio Miniatures if you want some railings that you can easily make look like metal or just really pretty carved wood.
Can't wait to see it when you get it home and get more walls and stairs cut.
Thanks Sheila. I did contemplate lifting the stairs with a platform but have issues with the walls being glued in. If the floor is thicker, it would lift it by 2/3mm at most and I thought it would make that last step more obviously mis-measured. Never mind :0)
DeleteOh how I enjoy step-by-steps! And the terms: riser, tread, skirting, stringer… and most of all that warm rosewood color. Thanks, Pepper!
ReplyDeleteThanks Nancy. I do learn a lot of architectural speel making miniature houses :0D
DeleteI think the stairs look great! I wouldn't let that last bit at the top bother me for one second. No one will ever notice. It is going to be gorgeous!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Catherine. I have seen odd steps in really old buildings so I'm going with that :0D
DeleteThe stairs are beautiful and I am feeling very inspired by your work!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Linda :0)
DeleteBuilding stairs has always been my nemesis so I am taking comfort in the fact that even those who DO know how to make them, can ( on rare occasions ) miscalculate and have to fudge a bit too. Even so, your minor error is FAR BETTER than anything I could hope to achieve, Pepper and I have nothing but Admiration for what you have accomplished. I especially like the scissor stair case, but they are both Beautifully done! :))
ReplyDeleteelizabeth
Thank you Elizabeth. I don't think anyone gets everything right all of the time. It's all part of the fun, right? :0P
DeleteYour stairs look fantastic, Pepper, you've solved well the problem of those few less millimeters. The veneer finishes the stairs wonderfully, I bet it will look gorgeous later after the stairs are all done.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you can get your huge house in your car and bring it home safely.
Thanks for stopping by. Have a nice Summer!
Ilona
Thank you IIona, you too :0)
DeleteWow, gorgeous! I love them both. I can´t imagine making something like this ever. You are a Pro. I love the finishing, it looks so good and real. Are you sure these are not real ones?
ReplyDeleteHaha, thank you Alexandra. It would be so much easier if I could shrink real ones :0D
DeleteHello Pepper,
ReplyDeleteWhat a grand staircase...perfect for the manor. I love the finish you went with. I am sure the last step will not take away from the amazing staircase (the same happened in Dewel manor). Keep up the amazing work.
Big hug
Giac
Thanks Giac. It actually makes me feel a lot better knowing you had the same issues with Dewel Manor :0)
DeleteThe stairs are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Faby :0)
DeleteThat staircase is amazing! You make it look so easy...and I know it takes time and patience to get all the perfected details. Love it!
ReplyDeleteThank you, that's very kind :0)
DeleteOh boy -- have I ever been there! I have never built a dollhouse at all before this one I am working on now, and so naturally I chose to make a floating staircase with double landings between the floors. I am a Google maniac (I'm a stellar example of how you can annoy the other old folks by googling every question they ask), so of course I googled "stair calculators". Though my calculations were good, my distance from floor next floor surface above was not evenly divisible, so I had to get as close as I could. Just like you did, I made it work. The very bottom stair on the ground floor is a little high, but it is faced so you can't really see it. The top, where the ground floor stairs meet the floor surface of the first floor (or second floor, for us Yanks) also don't quite work out but it is close enough that it isn't a problem. After all, I want it to LOOK realistic but no Building Inspector is looking over my shoulder with a Code book in his hand!
ReplyDeleteI also did not want to remake my stairs, LOL!
You can find a picture of my stairs on my blog at minisunderconstruction.com, and though they are not perfect, I think that for my first dollhouse stairs they worked just fine.
Your stairs look wonderful. I like the method you used for them as well. Not sure if I will make another dollhouse after this one (we'll see how dedicated I am to this hobby as I am also a beginning painter in oils). I think you did a great job on these stairs and a wonderful job on working out the difficulties. To me, how one deals with difficulties is almost more impressive than just having it all work out right to begin with. Exercises the old gray matter, LOL!
BTW my current favorite painter is an Englishman named Michael James Smith. Has a youtube channel with videos of him doing his amazingly beautiful paintings. He has helped me so much with his videos. There's a very good reason I am the Queen of Google :-D
Thanks Franny. I've looked at your blog many times to see what you're up to and wish you had the comments on. However I can praise you here because you are doing a fabulous job for a first house.
DeleteAs long as I live, the first calculation I will ever make on any future house will be - design the stairs, measure the height and then design the room height! :0D
Me encanta como han quedado las escaleras, un resultado genial !!!
ReplyDeleteMuchas gracias Eloisa por su amable comentario :0)
DeleteLa escalera es impresionante con 3 tramos.
ReplyDeleteGracias Isabel. No aprecié lo que estaba tomando con tantas escaleras :0D
DeleteCreating my own staircase would definitely mince my brain but you have made it look so straightforward and how lucky you were to have exactly the right depth of wood handy in the stash. It's an impressive piece of work and I like the finish you have chosen.
ReplyDeleteThank you Irene. Stairs are definately one of those 'stretch the grey matter' type of exercises. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in the end haha :0D
DeleteI love that stain color! Well done! :]
ReplyDeleteMe too Brae. Looks lovely and warm :0)
DeleteHi Pepper! I really feel your pain with those stairs! It seems so simple... I have learned to always make an exact mock-up on graph paper first.... test it out and then cut the wood to fit! I have a similar unequal step in my Lovely Old dollhouse... the top step didn't take into account the thickness of the added stair treads! I am glad you are making it work anyway! The whole structure looks amazing and I hope it fits in your car!
ReplyDeleteThanks Betsy. I really need to work on planning more...graph paper would have helped me visualise the space better. Another tip stored for the next build :0)
Delete' I made the height of the rooms 220mm. This meant the stairs have to be an equal multiple of the height of the room. 220mm (height of the room) divided by 15mm (height of the stair)'
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid you lost me at 'equal multiple'! XD
Despite the mistake, those stairs look fantastic!
Haha, thanks Christine :0)
DeleteGlad to know that I am not the only who hoards wood! (among other things) The wood on the stairs look great. looking forward to seeing progress. Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteIt's getting out of hand Troy. I can't throw anything away before inspecting it for miniature value :0D
DeleteI really hope you and your car have been successful in bringing this beauty home safe and sound... Your stairs look wonderful, the color was a perfect choice and everything fits so well together - despite your little measuring error. My Uncle used to say "A millimeter is nothing to measure with"... ;O)
ReplyDeleteHugs
Birgit
Thanks Birgit, your Uncle is very wise :0D
DeleteOnce you put on the veneer with the stain the whole thing just transforms into something magical. With such a big house I can only imagine the amount of tedious little projects like this that are going to add up! ;) I hope you are able to bring it home safely, and furthermore find a space in your house to store and work on it!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kristine. One of the things I did plan is the table I have at home. A 1x1 metre table that gives me lots of space. The car however...:0P
Delete