Three Story Tudor House - Part 2

Welcome back! Today I'm going to show you part two of the 3 Story Tudor House we've been building. Last week I showed you how to lay down the basics for the inside and today we'll be working on the outside. If you missed last week or need the materials list, check out Part 1

Part 2

It's beneficial to do some image searches to see the different kind of designs people in the Tudor period used on their houses. Traditionally, it involves wooden planks painted black on a white background on the house. Planks can be straight up and down, angled, criss-crossed, etc. It's up to you to decide what sort of design you want to build upon for your project. While black is traditional, I do tend to make my planks a very dark brown because I like the look of it better in the long run. Various shades of antique white and browns make it look more aged, which is the look I generally go for. I recommend a Google image search and a perusal of Pinterest to find images you like.

This section mostly involves cutting wooden stir sticks to fit the various designs you've chosen to then glue down onto the base. What you want to do is cover the slots and tabs with the stir sticks so that they're completely hidden. For ease and quickness, I used hot glue to attach each plank, but you can also use PVA glue.

I added extra cross sections between each floor to add more detail. I also added planks above and below each window for more depth.

I painted each plank black, making sure to get the sides of each one, so it will look pretty messy after this, but don't worry because it will quickly be covered and look neat and tidy in the end.

The next step is messy but fun. Dig out your spackle and a stir stick for application. What you're going to do is cover the “white” bits in between all the wooden planks with spackle. This process is very much a “learn as you go” technique. You want to fill it up so that you're not seeing the base any more, but you don't want to go any higher than the planks. You can opt for smooth application or muck it up a bit for some more detail that the paint will pick up nicely later.

After the spackle is laid and cured (I believe my bin of spackle said to wait 24 hours before painting), you can lay down a layer of antique white paint all over each bit of spackle.

Then, I took some burnt umber paint and went over the black planks as neatly as possible. Again, this is just my own preference, you can leave yours black and more traditional if you like.

I mixed several drops of Game Ink: Sepia in a styrofoam cup and added water until I liked the colour I'd achieved. Using a paint brush for application, I went around the edges of each section and let it dry. Then, I covered the remaining parts of the section with the same ink. This is another personal preference task – I did it, because I liked what I saw with the outcome, but obviously you don't have to.

Adding more ink to the mix to create a much darker wash, I went around the edges of each section again. I do this to make the house look more aged and rough – if you want a newer or traditional look, skip this part. 

That's it for this weeks installment of the Three Story Tudor House, check back next Friday for Part 3 (and possibly the final part) of this tutorial where I'll show you how to finish the roof!

-Jess