Arched windows in brick walls

I knew that this smelled like trouble!!!

The plan:
fitting arched windows into a brick wall. Obviously, the window frame is brick as well.
Simple, right?

The reality:
even though I got the perfectly lasered windows from Pepper already months ago, I ignored them and did other things. Until now. I knew perfectly well that this would be a difficult part of the build because I have seen friends who seem to have abandoned their project when they could not get it right 😉

So, here a step-by-step description - just in case someone else wants to have a go at this... haha.

• I cut the opening into the 2cm foambard as accurately as I could.. ha

• I decided that I wanted brick window sills on the outside
• I sprayed the windows
• I glued a 2cm cardboard strip around and fit them into the openings

• I glued the windows with frame into the opening

• I polyfilled the gaps around the window frames - and realized that the brick stencil was smaller than actual arch... my design mistake ... grrr...
• I covered the windows to protect them from the brick plastering, hoping that I won't rip off the plastering when I remove the masking tape..
• I was fed up and distracted myself, went to Zürich and bought an iphone11pro - the camera with the 3 lenses is out of this world!!!
• I plastered the outside wall and around the corners right to the window itself. Fiddly stuff. Used Bromley's stencils and brick compound. And I used the weights so that this would not warp!!!

• I rewarded myself with 10 days in St. Remy-de-Provence, France
• I then had some urgent projects at work..... by now it is November....
• I attached the magnet to house and outside wall
• I plastered the inside wall 
• I plastered the window sills (to be glued in later)
• Now I cut the stencil so that I could use this part so that the brick went round the corner to the window frame.

• I colored the bricks with water color to make them look real, applied two coats of matte acryl varnish to seal the bricks, waited...  Grouted. The grouting process is delicate because most of it needs to come off the bricks again: if done when not dry enough it will attack the varnish, if done when too dry it does not come off. And as always: weights to prevent warping...

• I made a black cardboard frame around the windows inside

• I attached window sills inside and out

More progress:

the loft now has roofing and all the ceiling lights are in as well
I made a trash bin for the kitchen and a sports bag together with my mini friends from Basel

.. and I made a dining room table

So, enough. Now it is time to finish off inside...
Hugs
Marion

Industrial Loft part 1 - brick walls and stairs

So, I now got really started with it. Having limited space for additional full houses (or in this case a locomotive shed..) I decided to make a room- or wall-box.

The support under the landing is only temporary...

For the brick walls I used the products from Bromley. Real bricks would have been fun - but the model would have become too heavy for wall-mounting. As a base I used Kappa Foamboard. The trick was to work on both sides simultanously so avoid warping. And using lots of weights to keepy them wall flat.

For about a week my kitchen looked more like a workshed ... I lived on carrots and cold meat.. and cherries, of course 😉

The experience from the stone walls of the Provence house taught me....
1. 'Making' bricks with the stencil on the foamboard
2. coloring the brick with a tiny sponge and water color in various shades
3. a coat of matte varnish
4. another coat of matte varnish
5. smearing the mortar - and wiping most of it off again!

The stairs were another issue! There just seems to be no easy way out...
- First I tried this method because it looked convincing and easy - but it used up too much of the floor space.

- Then I made a styrene model - but decided that the upper floor was too large. Missed the loft look with the very high room!

- Finally, I decided to make them 'floating' and used 2mm polystyrene, cutting extremely accurate pieces.
This meant to make a cardboard model first. But by now I knew how high and wide the steps had to be...

Two steps are extended so that I can push them into the wall so that I do not need pilars to hold the stairs in place.

The next step is making the in-between-floor on a steel construction.
I am definitely having fun !!

Hugs, Marion