Rocafort Styled Room Part 2: Getting Started on The Furniture

I haven't updated in awhile but I have been working on this project. In this entry you get to see a mistake I made in judgment and a frustrating setback. Yea!



Anyway, this is a little challenging as none of the pieces of furniture are ever seen in their entirety. But here's all the pieces and large decorative items we get glimpses of:

• Bookcase (Mostly hidden by Bruce)
• Stuffed purple chair (It might be part of a pair but it's the only one seen. Even then it's barely on panel.)
• Sofa (Cut off some by the panel structure, Jason, Bruce and Alfred.)
• Rug
• Coffee table (Along with the sofa it's seen the most but cut off by the panel structure.)
• Small stand with lamp (A sliver of the wood is visible and a lamp has to be sitting on something.)
• Bust and Stand (The stand is mostly hidden.)
• Large Vase (On the wall with the tv.)
• Tv in stand (Same wall as the large vase.)

I'm not sure if I'll do the actual wall that the Large Vase and TV are by. So little is seen and it takes away from the direct view of the model. So right now those two pieces are the least important parts that I'll save for last. If I don't decide to do the wall I'll just drop them. For this entry I'll be focusing on the first few items on the list.

The bookcase is a weapons' case that comes with Wesley from the Angel line. Taking off the doors and cutting off the weapon hangers/hinges I used a white base coat over the whole thing. Then I painted over it with a brown coat and covered up the inner storage unit carved into it with a painted form piece. I made two shelves with popsicle sticks that I cut down, painted and glued inside the bookcase. Using what's seen of the artwork and other furniture I've seen I can guess how it goes underneath those shelves.

There will be a compartment right in the middle then two doors on the bottom. The original bottom to the weapons' case will now act as the top of the bookcase since there's more room for the decoration.

The stuffed chair has been more of a pain than I realized going into this. The artwork only shows the top and the size is hard to tell. I'm guessing it's not supposed to taller than the sofa though. The little chair next to Selina is the one I was originally going to use. I started thinking it was too small for the DC Collectables figures and might be too much of a hassle to put together from such a piece. This led to me getting an overstuffed Barbie chair online. I painted it the same colors as the sofa. Sadly I didn't check on the size comparisons before I got it. I decided to get it because it looked closer to the artwork. Maybe I can find something else for this piece because I don't think it works with the sofa. Which means I still have to find another chair.

I had trouble finding anything that would work for the sofa and since I'm still new at working with wood I didn't want to chance creating one. The closest I could find was a Barbie piece. Luckily Barbie sofas aren't made in scale with the dolls and work perfectly for 6 inch figures. (*1) I'm not sure if I'll make an actual back for it since no one can see it. I painted it lavender and the same brown paint I used for the bookcase. After the glaring color of the original piece the more muted hues made a big difference.

I still have to work with the cushion backing of the sofa to make it more like the one in the comic though. I have some ideas how to achieve that look but I may need to try out a few things. Technically I could solve this with sculpting clay. Just keep in mind I'm looking for studier material that won't break in half if it falls off the shelf. In my experience sculpting clay doesn't work well with cracks and I'd have to redo my work if it's damaged. Likewise the chair also needs some detail work. The rug was a good find although I need to add  gold trim around the edges to make it match the comic. Finding a red rug was hard enough since most have designs on them, getting one with gold was even harder. Funny but going in I thought the opposite was true. 

Getting a table that was the right shape wasn't easy either. The top needs to be covered up to hide the board look which I'll do with a thin sheet of wood. The side will either get the curved parts cut straight or be hidden by more thin wood. The legs and sides also have some design elements I'll need to work on. Lastly it'll need to be painted the same brown as the rest of the furniture. The floor is mostly painted to look like a stained wooden floor. The comic doesn't show what the floor looked like due to the panel set up so I guessed it looked like this. After doing a coat of white I painted it with a wash. I like how it turned out but of course I ran into a problem. As you can see the floor isn't completed and guess what? I'm out of the wash and apparently the company doesn't make it anymore. One of the many little difficulties this project has thrown at me. So here's what I have to do before the room is completed.

1. Do the frame work around the doorway.
2. Finish the wall shelf and the framing around that.
3. The "pillar" on the side wall.
4. Finish painting the floor.
5. Do the compartment, doors and design on the bookcase.
6. Cover sections of the coffee table, the design work and paint it.
7. Put golden trim on the rug.
8. Create Bust and Stand.
9. Put cushion detail on sofa.
10. Put together a new chair with cushion detail.
11. Glue/nail walls to floor.
12. Put together stand (?) with lamp.
13. Create the mirror on the wall.
14. Get all the props like books added in.
15. Paint seal?

*1 I had pictures of the unpainted sofa but I have no idea where they went on my computer. Just know it was bright pink.