Upper hall

I am meticulously showing the slow progress of decorating because it needs to be emphasised that behind each detail there may be hours of work. After the previous stage in the upper hall, when I glued the railing, I had to do the following.  First, I put in the two side doors, which in the previous pictures I tried to avoid showing. These are the absolutely last doors in this house, and they took just as much effort as all other doors. I don't know whether it is just me or whether doors are evil by nature, but they don't fit the openings. The simple explanation is that the openings have swollen from paint, and no, I didn't paint the inside edges because some merciful person warned me not to. Still, the doors don't fit, and a lot of scratching and sanding is required. There may be an easier way of doing this if you have the right tools, but I am just saying that the uninitiated who think that putting in doors is child's play - like Lego or Playmobil - don't know anything about dollhouses. Anyway, after some hours of huffing and puffing and swearing the doors were in and the surrounds glued. Did it make a difference! It's amazing how you forget what a difference it makes. It has been a very long time since the previous painful door-inserting, but now it feels really finished... almost.

For next, I had to do the skirting which I probably should have done before the railing - but whatever you do, there will always be something you should have done before. The skirting was straightforward, but still laborious, and after gluing, the skirting boards had to be held in place with masking tape. Oh masking tape, dollhouse builder's best friend!

Now, to an uninitiated eye, this picture may seem perfect:

True, it is a huge improvement. Especially compared to what it looked like fifteen months ago. But it isn't quite finished yet. The ceiling will be decorated with Adam paper, which I will have to cut and assemble to match the existing panel. There will be another chandelier in the front of the room.  To hang it, I will have to drill a hole in the ceiling, for which I will have to remove the floor upstairs. I could perhaps attach the chandelier without drilling a hole, but I will need to figure out how to do it neatly. I will add the cornices, for which I probably will need to remove the Victorian tiles because they sit too high. When I attached them I had forgotten about the cornices. I will also add door pediments, and I think I know how I will make them, but I am not sure whether it will work.

Not least, I will need to trim all small faults here and there, round thresholds, in corners. It will most probably take me 10-15 hours to complete this room - but then, a room is never completed, is it?