Flooring it: Parquet

When I originally looked into creating a dollhouse, my parents had ripped up a very damaged

parquet floor. So, I had taken the piece of wood and thought about making a floor—but got rid of it all when I abandoned the project.

So, for my miniature rooms, I was determined to get at least one parquet floor into it.

It started with a lot of searches on eBay until I found what I wanted, not parquet style lino, or new blocks, but a floor someone had ripped up from a house after decades of use. I also wanted oak.

 

The pieces were in poor condition when I got them, they had not been polished for a long time, the finish was thick and crusty, and they had a layer of bitumen on the other side.

So, I started by picking out the best pieces, and throwing away any that were too damaged to be used. I am hoping to get two floors out of the pieces I bought, but we’ll see.

I then sanded what I thought was the right number of pieces (I was right!), using a piece of sandpaper glued to a piece of card.

 

I found that the best way of doing this was to “stick” the pieces together using the bitumen on the back, it gave enough room for my fingers to avoid injuring myself.

 

They came out looking rather sad—but I didn’t want to sand them too much. I wanted some character left.

Then I spread the out on a piece of card and stained them.

 

It took a few coats to get them looking how I wanted them.

 

I then gave them a French Polish using a French polishing rubber.

 

My version was some linen with cotton wool inside and tied with string. It worked well.

Once everything had dried, it was time to lay the floor.

I didn’t want to add it straight to the box base, if something went wrong, then I would have to start again with the box. But also, this gave me the space to work around all edges of the floor, without having to try to measure into tiny, and awkward spaces.

So, I cut a piece of card the same size as the base of the “room” box.

I marked out the middle of the floor so that I would have a place to start. I also marked out a fireplace so I could cut the wood down to size.

 

I then started to roughly lay out the floor, getting an idea as it if I had enough pieces, and making sure the best was at the front, as this wouldn’t be covered with furniture.

It’s a fun job laying a herringbone pattern, every so often my brain would have a little fart as I laid the next piece, and I’d have to really think about how it was supposed to go. I don’t know why it was so complicated, but there to go.

 

Once I was sure I had enough, I began to stick down the pieces. I only stuck down those that were going to remain whole, the buts that needed to be cut I numbered, writing the corresponding number on the card in the place the piece should go. I did this from the start to make sure the best pieces would remain at the front.

 

It might look random, but when each piece was laid down the number would disappear, and it was easy to see which was next.

Now came the fun part, sticking it all down!

I used my go to glue: Beacon Adhesives 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue. I’ve started to use this for all my craft projects, after I discovered that PVA glue can warp card. You need to use it in a well-ventilated area, however, as it is smelly.

Each piece got a generous dollop of glue and were weighed down while the glue dried. This is important as you want the floor to be as flat as possible. 

 

When the first layer was dry, I put it together in the room with the fireplace just to see how it was working. I had planned that I was going to have to raise up the hearth (in this example, slate coasters) to the level of the floor, but I decided to lay the floor under it, and place the slate on top. I could have gone for flush, but I quite liked the look of it on top, and it means I can move the fireplace later if I want.

 

Balanced on top:

Once they were dry, I lined up all the pieces that needed to be cut at the front and drew a line across them. 

 

I made sure each piece had the position clearly marked—and marked on the piece that was to be used, not the scrap.

 Then, I removed them, and started to cut them down. I didn’t attempt to do all the tiny pieces, or the bits up the sides which were not complete pieces.

 I used a small mitre box (which I ruined by cutting through) and clamped it to my small Workmate.

Rather than trying to hold the piece of wood in place, I jammed it in with a shim of another (unfinished)block, and some card. Worked a treat, until I came to the smaller pieces.

 

 

It was then a case of choosing the right angle and cutting. 

Then, another round of sticking down. Again, I weighted down the new pieces to make sure they bonded well.

 I then used the scraps to find out if any fitted the sides, and the few odd pieces here and there. I would mark them, and cut them down to get the best fit possible.

 

More rounds of cutting, marking and so on, and I finally reached the end.

 

Here we are in a “room”.

 

There are odd bits of raw wood showing, I’ll give them a little stain to get rid of them, as well as the front edge.

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This charming item is an Aide Memoire, used by Victorian and Edwardian ladies to jot down notes.

This one has what could be a crocodile skin (or leather) covering, with sterling silver details. The pencil is probably original, and has what appears to be an ivory top. It's also lined with watered blue silk, which has held the colour, but has started to deteriorate.

The silver corners are hallmarked for London 1909, but the maker's mark is too rubbed to make out.

It's only 5.5cm tall, so a real miniature that fits perfectly into the study.