Loving the Lattice!

With the Fourth of July right around the corner, I just hated that the dollhouse sat with the outdoor areas so neglected. The Fourth of July and a completely incomplete outside situation just really started to bother me.

In full disclosure, I blame a miniature company from which I have ordered a couple of products for my sudden angst. They send me emails to entice me to buy all the things. Usually, I delete without opening because I know I'm not in the market and it just painfully temps me. But, just the other day, I decided to open their electronic Pandora's Box which is when I saw super-cool outdoor things perfect for celebrating the Fourth. And, that's when I knew my little family over there on the other side of the room has been neglected.

So, I finally carved out some time to tackle a project I've been super-stoked to do: The Lattice!!

Where there is not brick, there shall be lattice at the foundation:

Ohhhhh, I've been itching to make this happen!! The only thing about it, though, has been that I haven't been sure how to make it happen. I've seen lattice for purchase online, but it has to be bought in larger, square/rectangle pieces, and I wasn't sure how well they would cut down to size. Or, should I say, I wasn't sure how well *I* would cut them down to size. My cutting track record is a bit tarnished. It's also more than I want to pay when I was confident I could figure out how to do it myself.

With that, I dug into my box-o-wood pieces, and I got down to business!

I had in my stash a bag of these:

I either bought those for the lattice vision or for a wood floor plank idea I have for another spot in the house. Whatever the reason, I broke 'em out for this!

Then, I measured, in the best way I know how, how long they needed to be:

Folding a piece of paper is way easier than trying to measure such a space!

From there, I used the mitre box to see if the angle worked for how I wanted it to look. And, as I suspected, it did!

Now to make about a thousand more of these 2 1/4" suckers ... 😁 I first thought I'd use the mitre box and saw, but, it turned out that using scissors was way easier:

I just held one up to a stick and cut without drawing a guide line or anything. That whole measure-twice-cut-once mantra didn't really apply here. (It probably should have because, in the end, I must have let one slip as I wound up with a pile of them that were too long and needed to be trimmed one by one by one. Are we surprised? It wasn't as horrible as it sounds.)

Anyway, here's the initial pile -- of the good ones and the needing-more-attention ones:

From there, I lined my beloved graphing ruler up to create the distance between the bottom of the porch and the ground as verified by my folded piece of paper. By taping the ruler in place, I created a solid guide between it and the foundation to lay out the first run!

I did use the graph lines as a guide between pieces, but, let's just say it isn't perfect. I kept thinking about how people used to build log cabins by hand, and, those worked out, so ...

Then, I taped over this line to flip 'em:

Up and over!

OMG I love when things work out like that! I particularly love it since I was making up the process as I went.

Creator's Note: Why the flip? The flip itself wasn't necessary. But, keeping these pieces in place while gluing the ones going the opposite way on top of them was. So, laying out the first run, taping, flipping then repeating the process on top totally worked.

Oh, those stragglers on the end? They're actually creating the smaller pieces that complete the pattern when butted up against a wall. They just hadn't been cut up there. But, they are down here:

Now the whole strip will fit when the front wall hits the gazebo angle. See?!

With it flipped, I could make the pieces that go the other direction. I put a piece down in place. Then, I marked it, removed it and glued:

Here's another look from another section:

By this point in the process, I got smart enough to mark a
handful of pieces at a time. That's why there are a few guidelines
that you can see here.

You place pieces and glue enough times, and check out what you get!

Okay, that's just part of the first strip, and it's showing the taped side, but you get the point. I really just wanted to make sure this strip fit in the intended space! The real story is, it didn't. It was just a smidge too tall. But, it was nothing a few snippety-snips from the scissors couldn't fix! I just found ones that seemed a little long and kept trimming until it worked. Thank goodness I already trusted the scissors process AND that the Aleene's Tacky Glue held fast and strong! I really didn't have to wait to keep taking care of business because the glue dried so quickly! And, for the very few pieces that slipped when cut, it was no biggie to glue again.

After I did the first strip, which is just a little over 15 inches long, I had 5 sections of under-the-gazebo to create. Each is about 5 inches. I did work to match up as best I could where pieces fit together at foundation angles which was a little tricky. You can see it in the middle of the photo where one section reasonably, but, certainly not perfectly, lines up with it's neighboring piece:

I actually had some fun with this because I felt very accomplished! However, it took a little bit of brain power, so I made just one of the sections before turning my brain off and creating a stock pile of pieces for the rest of the project to be continued the next day:

My hand-cut method both worked perfectly and failed me completely depending on which piece I picked up. Or, all of the new pieces were actually good as I took more focused time to cut them, but I mixed them in with the first run of those that were too long. Regardless, grabbing the next piece to create the lattice was a roll of the dice as to whether or not it would fit correctly! But, it oddly didn't bother me at all to continue to find ones too long. SNIP! Taken care of! Just like that.

I did ponder for a little bit only creating lattice for the front and under the gazebo but not the rest of the house due to my hand starting to ache cutting the pieces and just wanting to be finished as fast as possible. But, then I realized I was slipping into a "find the easiest route" mindset, and that never ends well. Not going all the way to the back of the house was not at all what I actually wanted, anyway. It wouldn't have made any sense. So, I shook the thought and got back to work!

It took a day, but, I got 'em finished!

'Probably should have turned the flash off on that one. Muh'bad.

I decided early on in the project that I would treat myself to a can of spray paint to get them white knowing I would not have enjoyed the process of hand-painting these! Therefore, $4 and 10 minutes later:

Voila! Painted in no time! I think it took me longer to determine
"which color" of white to get at the store than it did to do this!

While waiting for those to dry, there was one more step to prep the house for this addition. See it?

Doesn't the house look different with the black on the foundation?! I didn't know it would make that huge of a difference! Anyway, I slapped that paint on and, after letting all paint sit overnight, I did a little dry run to make sure everything fit:

Lookin' good!!

A few pieces needing trimming on the ends, but, overall, it worked the way I planned! Woot!! So, I got to gluing and taping!

I was concerned that the sections wouldn't line up as clean as I would like, and I was right. I looked online at a dollhouse that has lattice, and that person hid all seams with shrubbery! While a genius move, I didn't want to be locked in to having to landscape for this purpose. So, after pondering a few solutions, I landed on cutting down and using a piece of floor molding in my stash! I love how it turned out!

Here's a before and after:

I am SO HAPPY with the outcome!! It's just the start of getting the great outdoors ready for living!!