Grosvenor main hallway stairs

Hello everyone. I thought I would share with you today my progress on my main entrance hall. I began by wallpapering before I installed the sub floor landing. Because I wanted the entrance hall to be light and airy I chose the soft vert aqua toile wallpaper from Dolls House Emporium which has a lovely mint green colour to it. I noticed when I positioned my stairs that there would be a large gap underneath the stairs and the landing which I didn't like the look of. I took to the web looking for ideas to "dispose" of this empty space and I came across Marie Wendts Grosvenor Hall blog on DHE where she had made a false wall to hide this gap. 

Marie Wendts blog:  http://www.dollshousecollectors.com/marie-wendts-grosvenor-hall/the-foyer-and-under-the-staircase/

I really love this idea so I took some wood (baring my mind I am rubbish at woodwork) and I cut a piece that would fit in the gap and go around the corner. I only had small bits of wood so I did have to glue some together. 

Next I needed to create a support underneath the stairs, so before doing that I varnish my stairs with a mixture of mahogany and teak to create a lovely warm colour, taking time to sand in between each coat. When the varnish was completely dry I began thinking about how to support my stairs as I was quite nervous about trying to cut the piece out with wood. So again I took to the web and happened to stumble upon the genius that is Giac over at http://englishmanordollhouse.blogspot.co.uk/ who used illustration board to make his supporting structures! I thought wow I can actually do that lol. I went and bought a pack of illustration board and tried to cut the piece out as accurately as possible before giving it two coats of acrylic gesso on the front and back as described in Giac's blog. It fit perfectly! 

 I was undecided as to whether I would want to wallpaper under the stairs or not. So for inspiration I browsed through my Georgian House Style book and noticed that traditionally under the stairs would have been panelled. 

For my panelling I began by measuring the size and angles that I would need and using a thin mount board I cut the pieces out. After giving them all two coats of acrylic gesso I glued them into position. (I even cut a little piece out for the gap at the bottom of the stairs). I gave everything another coat of gesso to fill in any gaps and placed my stairs into my hall to see how they looked. I'm very happy so far with how it's turned out; mainly because there is no more gap under the stairs. 

I won't glue my stairs into position until I have completed the spindles and bannister; which I will probably leave until I have finished the rest of the decorating. I have noticed looking at various photos of Georgian interiors that in that time period there were often two to three spindles per step which I really like the look of. Also in the "Magnificent Miniatures" book there is a Colonial house with a similar stairway to what I would like to create.

I really like the look of the stairs and the banister being the same colour and the spindles being white. Unfortunately with the Grosvenor hall kit you are only supplied with enough spindles to do one per step however by chance I managed to find ones that look very similar on eBay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/170156750515?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

so I will probably buy a few packs of these and see how I go, but that probably won't be for a little while.

Next task the living room floor! I will probably do a parquet pattern; which I have heard can be difficult! I will let you know how I get on.


P.S Thank you for looking at my blog and for your lovely comments; they make me smile.