Not liking how the wrapped floorboards looked on the front of the Sam & Max roombox, I bought some thin basswood strips to cover the base. I never really liked the paint color but couldn’t have stained it since the roombox is made out of MDF, so this gave me an excuse to trim out the whole base.
First I ran an Xacto knife along the floorboards. These hadn’t stuck well so when I cut into them I was left with two loose pieces. I pulled off the bottom pieces and glued down the top pieces. Tacky Glue wouldn’t stick so I used Super Glue.
I trimmed around the front edge of the base first.
The thin basswood and curled up from the glue.
I used a lot of tape to flatten the pieces and left it alone to dry.
While those were drying, I capped the tops of the walls with 1/8″ tall basswood, and added molding flush with the top of this.
I used my miter box to cut the 37.5 degree angles.
The extra 1/8″ this added to the top of the wall enabled me to use 3/8″ tall molding without crowding the tops of the windows.
The molding wraps around the edge to cover the side of the foamcore wall.
I also covered the exposed bottom part of the wall with trim.
Here’s how the front trim piece looks with the floorboards butting up against it. Even though wrapping the floorboards around the front didn’t work as I intended, I’m glad I did it, because this is much neater than it would have been if I’d tried to line up the floorboards right at the edge of the floor.
When the glue on the front base pieces was dry, I added the top pieces, again using the miter box for 37.5 degree angles.
Here’s the finished back side of the roombox. I never know what to do with the back of a roombox — I want it to look nice and finished, but it seems silly to spend a lot of effort on the side that’s facing the wall.
And here’s the front. I still have furniture to build, but the office itself is finished!
Leonard’s still in there, poor guy…
Emily is a freelance writer, miniaturist, and adventure game enthusiast.
It looks wonderful! The wood tones are so warm and pretty.
Your attention to detail and design skills are amazing! I am looking at my own room box that I ‘finished’ years ago, thinking “This needs a lot of work!” LOL
It looks lovely and professionally finished Emily. It can be displayed with pride.
This looks really nice, Emily. You did a great job!
Wow. That looks incredible. I love reading your posts.
Finishing the back and outside walls do complete the project, giving it a finished look and making it look more like a building than just a room box. Nice, clean edges and your attention to detail just give the project a professional look. Love it.
These changes have really finished off the box nicely. So professional!