Planning the Project- It's the Little Details That'll Get Ya!

   

 You might think that a miniature project is pretty straight-forward. Come up with the idea, visualize what you think it will look like, and then plunge into the work to make it!

  The problem for me is, when I go about a project in that way, it's so easy to put the wallpaper on the walls before I remember, "Oh yeah. I needed to wire that wall for electricity first..." or I installed all of the walls to the dollhouse before I remembered I was going to cut a new doorway to the hall. Oops.
 
 It's the little details like this that really set a project back. If it's a big enough mistake, it's easy to throw my hands in the air and walk away from the project for days, weeks, or maybe even years.
 
That's why I try to write up instructions for my project as if I were creating a new kit. It's so easy to get caught up in the moment of creative excitement only to realize that I have just put the proverbial cart before the horse.

   Miniature club members were chuckling at my latest project when they saw I had jotted notes to myself on the frame of the house (an area that will eventually be hidden by the finishing materials. Several times I've looked at the project and thought, I need to finish the other side of the roof! And just as I approach the project, I look down to see four different notes. Then I realize I don't dare finish the roof until I have gotten my club members to this stage with their houses!

  An example of all this is my latest project, which is dry-walling, then wainscoting my son-in-law's new office. (Not in miniature - in real life!) He works from home, and I promised him I'd install wainscoting and cabinets in his office. I got the cabinets all installed only to realize that the floor in his office (a basement room) slopes almost 1 1/2" in the 7' of length of the cabinets. Sadly, I got the cabinets all installed when I realized this problem. Long story short, I had to do some re-engineering and a little demolition work to get the cabinets leveled.

    Prior to that problem (which I had not adequately incorporated into my plans), I had written out detailed, step-by-step instructions so that I wouldn't forget to take care of key details as the work progressed.
    All in all, in spite of my set-back with the construction, the walls and cabinets are turned out pretty well, I think. Don't you?