Tudor Apothecary Workroom Build in Progress - Plaster and Floor

The floor tiles took 4 days to dry completely, longer than I had expected. Until they were in, the building couldn't be put back together, so I am glad that it is now mostly done.

I had to decide whether to lay the tiles in rows, or staggered like bricks. They look better in more or less even rows - they aren't perfectly even, as there are minor variations in size and thickness. I cut them 1" (2.5 cm) square, then dabbed assorted colour washes on them for variety. The walls are plastered in paper clay, with a thin coat of diluted white acrylic to represent whitewash. Everything needs to be dirtied up and aged, of course, but that comes later. The chimney hood is in place, with its "marble" brackets, and the "marble" support brackets for the bricked vault.

The brick vault fits nicely on the support brackets. The arched front will be covered with a beam and plaster façade. The stove sits comfortably on the floor tiles - I had to leave an opening in the plaster of the back wall to keep it snug to that wall. I think these tiles would look good with a satin gloss, over which I will apply two coats of matte exterior varnish to waterproof them before doing the grouting. In order to make sure that will work, I have to varnish a sample tile first. It would be silly to do satin only to have it disappear when doing the matte over the top.

And a quick view of the plastered outside upper story, faux windows and all. These will be hidden behind shutters. The "stone" drip hood above the window will be placed once I have bricked the lower story. Again, no aging as yet, as I have to "plaster" the side of the box, around where the chimney will go, as well as brick the lower half of it. The window will be installed when the outside is bricked.

We had the first snow of the season today....