A Nineteenth Century Wash House Room Box - from start to finish

My inspiration for this project was a British book of cottage interiors. Bake houses also served as wash houses. On the left you'll see an old fashioned oven with an iron door. The big piece of masonry below it holds a boiler, or as it was also known, a copper. A large copper or iron kettle would be set in the masonry for boiling water. They were also used in America and were sometimes called set kettles. Fires would be set under the big copper or iron kettle and water would be heated for washing clothes.  In some places they were used for making large amounts of soup for organizations that had to feed a lot of people.
Next to the stove and boiler is a stone sink. The sink and boiler would have to be filled by the bucketful. The sink usually had a drain to let the waste water outside. Sometimes the boiler had a drain, sometimes it had to be emptied by the bucket.

OK, enough historical fact. If you want to know more check out my Victorian site, Victorian Interiors and More.

Here's a picture that shows more of the left hand side with the oven. By the way, all my pictures will open larger if you click on them.

And here's one that shows more of the right side.

First published in 2011
I decided to work on room boxes for a while, mainly because they take up less room, and don't take as long to finish as a dollhouse.
Recently I ordered an unfinished roombox, and when it arrived last week I saw it was the perfect size for the Victorian cottage wash house I had been thinking about. I had found a picture of it in a book, and it really appealed to me.
It took a few days to figure out the proportions of everything, and I started working on it a few days ago.
Here's what it looks like right now.

Starting on the left is a chimney, with a bake oven inside. This particular wash house was also used as a bake house. The funny looking thing on the chimney wall that looks like an upside down steps is part of a "brick" bracketing for an oven hood. While gluing the pieces of the second section together, the clamp on the first section suddenly went sproing..... and shot into the air, taking the little wooden bits with it. I found one tiny block of wood, couldn't find the rest. I shall have to start over.

The next bit of structure is going to be a copper for boiling clothes. Although coppers are associated with Britain, Americans also had them, only they were called set kettles. Large metal pots, often of copper, sometimes zinc, were set into brick. A fire would burn below, heating the bricks. Coppers and set kettles were used to boil water for cooking or washing. They could also be used for simmering large amounts of soup or stew.
You can see an opening at the bottom, which was for sweeping out ashes. Fuel for the fire went in through a little door above the ash opening.

The next bit is going to be a large stone sink. Right now it's represented by a block of wood sitting on two other blocks of wood. I think I may put a draining board in the corner.

I wanted a window on the back wall, but didn't want my window framing to stick out, so I cut out a new back wall with an opening for the window. I think I'll paint a bit of sky or branches or something in the space before I install the window.
Meanwhile, I've been gluing pieces to the back wall only. This way I can pull everything out which makes it easier to work on the structure. I think it will be very handy when I get started on the finishes I'm putting on.

This picture shows the hood over the oven under construction.
I built a box inside the chimney, creating a recess. I'm now working on the chimney hood. I cut a piece of styrofoam and glued it to the the wood section.I need to reshape it a bit because it sticks out slightly. At this point I'm not sure if I want to leave the styrofoam straight up and down pretty much as is, or shape it to curve a bit. I'll have to think about it.

If you've never worked with styrofoam, here's a couple of tips.
The best way to cut styrofoam is with an electric hot knife or hot wire cutter.
EDIT: I've done a lot of work with styrofoam since I first wrote this, and have learned that a scrollsaw will cut styrofoam very nicely.
When I first learned about hot knives I looked online for them, but they were expensive. Later I found out you could find hot wire cutters in the floral section of many crafts stores. I can't recall what mine cost, but it wasn't very expensive.
This is what mine looks like.

I plug it in, switch it on and within seconds it's hot and goes through styrofoam like a hot knife through butter.

The insert is outside of the box.

I decided to add a bit of curve to the hood. Did you know you can sand styrofoam very nicely with a power sander? I shaped mine on my disc sander. It gave it a nice smooth finish.
An additional word about gluing styrofoam. Some glues work better than others. I used Weldbond, which is an all around glue that will work with many items. I originally found it mentioned on the website  This To That. To glue wood pieces together, though, I pretty much stick to wood glue.
The next picture is a closeup of the oven area and the top of the copper.

To make the copper I chose to use a wooden unpainted napkin ring.
I covered the styrofoam and filled in gaps with drywall compound. I've smoothed the compound somewhat, may need to add more here and there.


During the last few days I did most of the "brickwork".
What bricks? I don't see any bricks, you say, ah, but they're there - under the plaster.
Here's how far I've progressed.

I bricked up the set kettle (a.k.a. boiler) once before, but then ripped off all the brickwork because it looked all wrong. the "bricks" were a bit too small. Actually, they weren't REALLY too small, they just looked too small. The brick boiler would have been too messy and lumpy looking in the end. I had to cut a whole new set of bricks.

What did I use to make the bricks? I used pressed paper egg cartons.
Here's a well I made for of my Gnome's Cottage. I made the stones out of egg cartons.

Here's a plastered over stone fireplace from the my old time kitchen roombox. I used the egg carton to make stones

 You can find several tutorials online about making bricks or stones out of egg cartons.
The first time I tried it, I admit I was dubious if I'd like the finished results, but I was very pleased with how my stones came out on that gnome's well. Yes, that was my first egg carton work.

For the wash house I wanted the look of bricks that had been plastered over, but with a bit of brick color showing through here and there. There's actually a good reason why people used to cover bricks with plaster. Before the early 1800's interiors of brick fireplaces were often coated with plaster because the heat of the fire could cause the bricks to crack.
Some bricks, like those used in many old English cottages, were soft, and liable to erode from rain over time, so they were covered with plaster too.

I decided to make my bricks a yellow ochre color, instead of the more often seen brick red.
Once my egg carton bricks were glued on, I gave them a coat of yellow ochre acrylic craft paint.
Later I applied some plaster, also known as drywall compound, joint compound, or spackle. In some places it was heavier, in others, lighter, letting the color underneath show through.

I wanted the top of the brick set kettle or boiler to be smooth, so after the plaster dried I wet a paper towel and rubbed the surface to make it smoother. I also rubbed down some other areas that were a bit too lumpy. As long as the plaster hasn't been painted, you can wet it down and smmoth it out however you like. You can easily add another layer of plaster too, if you feel the surface needs it. I still have to fill in some areas with brick and plaster, and smooth down a few spots. I still haven't glued the insert I'm working on to the actual roombox yet either.

I want to leave the top half of the chimney piece fairly smooth. I rather like having the different textures.
Next I'll be making timbers for the wall and ceiling. I'm planning on using some square dowels for that.

 Here's a picture with the side wall timbered (still one to add), just to give you an idea of where I'm going. There's still more to do to the wall. I plan on adding plaster between the timbers, and an extra layer of thickness to the lower section. For now there's just a coat of white paint.

To see how I make timbers click HERE.

I wanted a lattice window. I've used Gallery Glass to make dollhouse leading. I also have some fabric paint by Tulip that I got years ago, that works similarly to the Gallery Glass, but I didn't feel like using either of them for this project.
I found some nice screening and thought about using that, but it wasn't quite the right size, so I'd have had to go to the hardware store and maybe the builder's supply store to see if they had what I wanted. I remembered that I had seen plastic mesh at the crafts supply store, and wondered if it would be in the correct scale. I really didn't feel like going to stores and hunting through them for maybe hours (including driving time) when I remembered the clear dollhouse tile sheets. I was pretty sure I might still have some leftover from another project, and here it is.

I measured out the size of my window opening, and cut a piece of the plastic sheeting to size.

I then took out a marker, and started drawing atop the lines. You could also draw them on a sheet of plain acrylic if you wanted to. I wanted to have a bit of texture on my "glass", and drawing with marker over the raised areas of the plastic "tiling" gave me that, without the worry of the Gallery Glass or Tulip fabric paint clogging or blobbing. I hate it when my hand shakes a little. It always seems to when I need to draw a perfect straight line.

It also occurred to me that you could stick 2 sheets back to back and have the raised leading on both the inside and outside of a lattice pane window if you wanted to.
here's a closeup of the window, framed. I still have to fill in a few little gaps with putty or plaster, then paint the trim.

All of the molding on the window is made from bass stripwood.
Here's a picture of the room so far. There's still a bit of plaster on the sides of the timbers. I can either wipe some more off with water, or even better, since the plaster is smooth, dab some paint over it.

Ooops, I forgot about the plastering. I wanted lots of texture to the wall, so I needed to plaster.
Usually I'm inspired by a picture of a house or part of a room and take off from there, but this time I wanted to reproduce a picture of a room I found in a book. Later I'll show you the picture of the original wash house.

 NOTE:
You can get the clear tile sheets from Model Builders Supply. You can see if there's a store in your area who carries their products by checking their 'retail stores' search feature under their information section.


I finished the stone sink and added a little more plaster, I wanted to smooth the plaster a bit, and fill in some gaps, but I haven't had the a chance to do so, so the area around the sink is a bit rough. Just ignore it, ok?

 I started working on the stone sink.
The sink is a box made of basswood, covered all around the sides with a strip of Rigid Wrap.
 I always worry about things coming unglued, so I decided to wrap the outside of sink with Rigid Wrap, which is a gauze, coated in plaster.
It comes in several different size packages and can be purchased through Amazon, Dick Blick, or other craft supply sources.
You just wet the Rigid Wrap, then place it how you want it and let dry. I first used it when building the Nuthouse. Later I used it to make a curved section on the Gnome's Cottage hearth, and on the second Gnome's Cottage too.

Here's a picture of the Rigid Wrap.

I wanted to be sure the box stayed firmly glued together, and also thought the Rigid Wrap would be a good base for the faux stonework.

Here's a closeup of the sink. The bits of white you see are from the plaster, I wanted to take the picture before it got dark and I didn't have time to wash the plaster bits off.

I covered 3 exterior sides of my sink with a thin layer of plaster. I also added a thin layer to the top edges and inside walls. I left the sink base bare wood.
When the plaster was to my liking, I stippled it a little with a small stenciling brush, then I patted it a bit with my finger so it wouldn't be too dimpled or lumpy.

When the plaster was dry I began to paint. - Remember, as long as your plaster,(drywall compound, stucco, etc.) is unpainted, you can smooth it or fix any cracks, or add more plaster with no problem.
The colors I used to create the stone look were: Payne's Gray, Medium Hauser Green, a dark brown and a warm white.
I described Payne's Gray in the timbering section. You can use any kind of off white when you need to lighten a stone color, just don't use plain regular white. It just doesn't give the right effect.
Terre Verte, or Green Earth, adds a nice touch to painted stonework. I didn't happen to have any handy, so I used the Medium Hauser Green instead, which worked very well.

I squirted a bit of each color onto my palette, which happens to be a foam plate. I took a dab each from my Payne's Gray, warm white, and half a dab from the green and brown, then I swirled them together till they were somewhat mixed, but splotchy. I could then see what color I needed more of, and I added more of the warm white, then a little of the gray, etc., always keeping the color on my plate not quite mixed. Having the color all smoothly mixed on the plate is bad, so don't do that. if your color has been over mixed, add more of the colors so it'll be splotchy again. If you try it, you'll see what I mean.
Next I started putting paint on the sink, adding dabs of color, then spreading the color around with a stippling movement - never brushing it on. I'dd more paint as needed, sometimes adding more green, brown or off white to my mixed swirl of paint on the plate.
The stone effect you see on the sink is more the result of the paint than the plaster, the plaster just helps a little.

Stone sinks come in different shades, grayer, browner, greener, whiter. Some are smooth, others rougher. My wash house sink is supposed to have a rougher surface than perhaps some stone kitchen sinks.
Don't be afraid to experiment with faux painting techniques. Use scrapwood if you have it, paper or cardstock if you don't, but plain paper will absorb the paint differently and sometimes results will look different than they would on wood.


Next I decided to make a rack to put next to the sink.
I measured several times before I cut the pieces and glued the rack together, then I slid it into place to mark where I needed to glue the other support. I realized I had overlooked something. There was a post in the corner of the room, and it was in the way of the rack. I made alterations in the rack so it would fit. No problem.

Then I measured and cut the support, but it wouldn't fit. I sanded a tiny bit off the end - still didn't fit. I sanded some more - still didn't fit. I kept on sanding infinitesimal bits off the end, and it finally came out a little short. By this point I didn't care. - It'll be all right in the end.

Next I put the rack into place and tried to slide the support between the rack and the wall to make sure it all fit before I started staining and gluing, but the support kept falling out. I guessed it was because it's being a tiny-tiny bit too short did matter after all.

I made another support, and this time it looked like everything was going to be OK.

This morning I went downstairs to double check the rack and support so I could stain them. They wouldn't fit. Maybe the little gremlins came in during the night and pumped the wooden slats with enough moisture to make them expand, I don't know, I only knew the pieces wouldn't fit.

I'd had enough of this piddling around with the stupid rack and decided to make a new one, one that fit better.

Using the rotten crummy old rack as a template to show me what not to do with the second rack, I cut new slats. I came out a slat short. No problem, I have another strip of that wood. No--- turns out that strip was narrower. I hunted through all my scrapwood - and believe me I have a lot of scrapwood - boxes of it --but I didn't have any pieces of that particular dimension. I broke up the discarded rack and used the longest piece, even though it's a little short. It'll be all right, I'll rig up something to support that short end.

Right now the glue is drying on part of the rack. Next I'll have to carefully flip it over so I can glue a skinny little support near the other end of the rack. It'll be all right in the end.

Do you ever feel that your dollhouse has a mind of its own? Annie: a dollhouse story

The floor is made of drywall compound, I just spread it out and drew out stones. I admit, I could have done a neater job, but I hadn't worked on this in so long I was just wanted to get going and get something accomplished. I was afraid I'd get sidetracked again and wind up putting the wash house back in its corner.
I tried several different color washes for the stones. I was unhappy with my colors, one color would look good, then in another light it would look a little off. In the end, after deciding I had a pretty good color floor, I felt it still needed something, so I wiped some wood stain over it. Ta-ta! Much better.



 I wanted a wooded washboard, so I made myself this one.

I also wanted a wooden peel for taking bread out of the bake oven, and a washing bat or paddle for the laundry. Sanding the edge of the peel was tricky, but if I had a working mini oven  I could slide this peel right in there and pull out my loaf.

 I sprayed a mini tan dust pan with primer, and dipped the brushy part of the brush in primer spray. Then I painted the dustpan with black acrylic paint that was mixed with just a little water. I also dabbed some of the black paint on the brush to make it look sooty.

That's when I remembered I could use some brushes. The long handled one would be for cleaning the ashes out of the oven, the small one for just regular scrubbing chores.

The brushy parts are made from black stick on Velcro. I just cut snips of Velcro, stuck them onto the brushes, then I snipped a bit of the loops off so they'd look more like brushes instead of little bits of Velcro.