One step forward, two steps back.....

Having decided to press on with La Mignonette, I first had to deal with repairs to the electrics and some of the external trims, which had been slightly damaged during the move from workroom to upstairs and back again, with a bit of shuffling about in between.

The electrics are still a work in progress....

I've taken all of the wiring to the outside of the shop and have installed a long socket to take all of the individual plugs.  This is the first time I've tried this method and although it has a lot to recommend it (not least a minimum of soldering) it isn't the neatest solution.  I intend to tape down the wires and shorten them to fit exactly from their exit point on the building, to their alloted socket.  However that's a job for a day when my dexterity is on top form, and there's lots of natural light.

The few structural repairs were easy to fix, such as this window railing which had been knocked out in the move.....

Repairs done, I then turned my attention to the interior, and the layout of the cabinets in the upstairs dollmaker's workroom.  Back at the beginning of the project, now lost in the mists of time, I'd sorted through a selection of display cabinets with which to line the walls and contain all  the tools of Mademoiselle Emilie's trade.  I thought I'd have enough but when I put them in I found I was one single width cabinet short.....

 Buggrit!

I had a spare double one though, which I decided to cannibalise and convert into a single.

The display cabinets are supplied with removable perspex shelves, which I will replace with wooden shelves which I can adjust to suit.  I will be painting the cabinets to match the lime-washed wooden floor, which is also waxed.

Next up were interior window frames and door architraves, all of which went swimmingly.  I should have know at that stage that things were going too well.....

Flushed with success, I then decided to add skirting boards to the insides of the front.  It's a simple enough thing to do, and over the years I've done them dozens of times.  However, I ended up making a basic beginner's error, by failing to take into account the thickness of the side walls.  So instead of leaving a gap in the skirting board at each end of the front, I cut them flush to the ends.

BIG MISTAKE!

However that was the least of it.  I'd also failed to notice that there was a lip all around the floor base, so the thickness of the skirting board meant that the front wouldn't fit onto the base and kept falling off.

Naturally I only noticed it when the glue was completely dry and I tried to fit the front in place *hangs head in shame*

So, I had to remove the skirting boards, along with the wallpaper underneath and come up with a Plan B, which involved finding an image of suitable boards on the internet, resizing them to fit, and printing them out to stick in place.

Having recovered from one debacle, I then set about mitreing the ceiling cornicing, always a tricky task.  Thankfully, my years of experience paid off and the cuts were perfect.  However, I then proceeded to glue them in place the wrong way round and wondered why my perfect mitres wouldn't line up.

Fortunately, I was able to get them out without causing any further damage, and re-installed them the right way round.

Sheesh!

Let's see if I can get to the end of the week without any further foxes paws.