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| Side view
(Top left) |
The Willowcrest -Front
(Top center) |
Domed Roof & Trim
(Top right) |
| About "The Michigan Willowcrest"
Joyce developed her house from pictures she had seen in a book entitled,
"America's Painted Ladies." The domed
houses, of pictures from Michigan, sparked her idea for her own dome roof
design. Construction slowed up for her
at the third floor level, where modifications were necessary to build the
dome roof.
Joyce used one original roof brace, from the kit, as a measure for the roof base support, side wall and the curved section of the front gable. She created a new pattern for braces and cut them from the largest pieces of wood scraps, from the kit. After placing the braces, she trimmed the side gable roof pieces to fit. Using lightweight cardboard, Joyce cut and fit, piece-by-piece, until she had the pattern she wanted for the side and front sections of the roof. Joyce then used her cardboard patterns to cut new roof sections from poster board and install them on the house. She applied 1/16" x 1/16" strip wood to give it the tin roof effect and painted it all Barn Red. Foundation and chimney stonework was applied by using JR Enterprises' plastic sheets of FieldStone. Warmed up with a hair dryer, it easily bends around corners. |
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| Rooms at lower level
(Above left) |
Rooms at middle level
(Above center) |
Room at top level
(Above right) |
| Joyce also used the JR Enterprises product for the kitchen floor,
with pink hexagon tiles and painted white acrylics design.
The floor in the front hall is faux marble, which is painted on a piece
of shirt cardboard and sealed with hair spray. The wooden floor in
the attic was drawn with a ball-point pen, stained and varnished before
installing the section. Exterior woodwork was also painted before
assembly, leaving appropriate glue sections bare for other pieces to cover,
to simplify a more time consuming process.
Window openings and edges were painted from the beginning, to match the color of the frame that would be applied there later. A standard tape wiring system was used before wall papering. Mrs. Tidrick said, "It took between three and four months to complete the house, before the movers could bring in the furniture." |